Story Archives - GUJRAT INDIA

The Growth Story and Segmentation of Chemical Industry in India

The chemical industry in India is counted among those industries that began working immediately after the country’s independence in 1947. So, it is one of the oldest contributors towards the Indian economy. At present, the average annual growth rate of the industry is 12.5 percent.

The Indian chemical industry is divided into a number of segments and each segment has significantly contributed towards the overall growth rate of the industry. Various favorable factors have supported the industry to show desired progress rate. You can learn about these factors and have an overview of the industry from the following discussion.

It was till 1991 that India was a closed economy. However, the adoption of liberal policy in 1991 benefited most of the industries, including the chemical industry in India. Since then, the industry has gained recognition in the global economy. Today, it ranks 12th in the world in terms of production size. Also, the industry contributes 13 percent towards the total export from India at present.

It has been estimated that in the coming few years, the industry is going to attain the worth of 100 billion US dollars. To achieve this target, there is need for the improvement in the following areas:

More entrepreneurs are required to steer the industry on the path of expected growth.
Growth of the overseas sales network to help industrial chemical manufacturers in India to find international buyers.
Increase in direct employment within the industry.
Stress on chemical manufacturing knowledge and specialty.
Improvement in the health and safety standards.
Increased use of information technology in the industry.
And of course, the increase in specialty chemical plants.

The chemical industry in India is divided into various segments. Some of the main segments and their progress statistics are as below:

Inorganic chemicals constitute one of the major segments of the country’s total chemical production. A growth rate of 9 percent is recorded for the segment that includes alkalis, fertilizers and detergents as main chemicals.
Drugs and pharmaceuticals are among the most exported chemicals from India. This segment of the Indian chemical industry ranks at 4th position in the world. The growth rate of 8 to 9 percent is recorded by the segment.
Agro-chemical products include pesticides and fertilizers as the main chemicals in this category. The 10 percent domestic market growth rate is recorded by this segment.
Dyes and paints segment has a growth rate of about 12 percent. The segment also includes polymers and other related chemicals.
Petrochemicals in the Indian chemical manufacturing industry have the fastest growth rate of 15 percent.

Considering the growth trends in different sections of the chemical industry in India, one can easily place the industry among major contributors towards the overall growth of the country’s economy. To improve the sales network for the Indian chemicals, the manufacturers and suppliers need to rely upon the online b2b networks. The b2b directories are the places where small and medium sized chemical manufacturing enterprises can gain more benefits.

A Journey to Remember, a Short Story, Part 1

Vacations always get over sooner than one realizes.

Our vacation is over and has come to an end. But the point of fact is, even to this day Strong, Arindya and Sati couldn’t take this in their stride even as it has driven them furlong into the realm of mortifying nostalgia. Nothing can now bring them back to the real world, or so it seems.

Naturally, to be able to get away from the grime and tussle of life in the city is a jubilant feeling like no other, thought Arindya, himself forlorn in deep nostalgia. Alas, another vacation wasn’t anything nearer to happening anytime soon, so therefore learning to live with it, not surprisingly, is hard enough. But that’s another story though, for another time.

Not satisfied with a nice full week’s fabulous expedition, they were still craving for more. Such was the torrent of their newfound addiction. Arindya’s college buddies Strong and Sati corroborated having come across the same alluring feeling that never let go of them even after the precious trip taken all those years ago – a little more than a decade ago – is now far behind them, lodged in the labyrinths of their collective memory. I guess good friends all think alike.

Our journey, The-Three-Musketeers’ journey, had turned out to be the most special mention of our lives. The journey that we undertook more than a decade ago, at the start of the new millennium: 2001, has always been a high-point of our collective remembrances. We often find ourselves chatting away over cups of hot tea and pakoras, and sitting lazily in the wicker chairs on the sultry terrace bathed in dusky evening moonlight cascading down upon us, and tenderly recalling those wonderful, younger days of our lives.

Burning Driftwood

All the highs and lows of my life’s first friends-only vacation came into my nightly dreams like burning driftwood that always remained aglow. The glowing embers of memories kept on burning in my heart as the early morning sky began to rescue its warm, sweet, hopeful Sun from the mystery pools of the dark night. A new dawn of life then shines upon the horizon ending its nightly escape from the clutches of unrepentant darkness. Golden memories are like warm glowing embers that settle inside the spaces of your heart.

If not for the endless days and nights of consternation that went into planning our first outing – a chance at as they say ‘getting away from it all… ‘ – to get away from the daily grind or routinely boring sort of sclerotic lives we were living, than we would have found ourselves slowly seeped out of life and hung up to dry like washed linen on a wiry receptacle of juvenile delinquency. Thank God we saved ourselves from turning into lazybones and just do nothing. Getting to be peripatetic is such fun.

For Strong, Sati (our very own Kumbhakaran!) and Arindya things were not looking up bright nor were they really leading ship-shape lives. But at long last, when things began falling into their rightful places, they struck wanderlust and simply packed and moved. We sung together in our throaty voices, emulating the mellifluous voice of Kishore Kumar, our made-for-the-occasion friendship song while travelling all the way towards finding freedom and abandon:

To be one with the world…

We are in heaven…

In the lap of Mother Nature…

We are in heaven,

O sweet feeling…

(Arindya wasn’t aware of what was to come upon him when after he returned home from a life altering journey to Nashik. The three wanderlusts have travelled to Aurangabad, Ellora, Nashik, Tryambakeshwar and Shirdi.)

In my heart of hearts, I knew this is it. The beginning of one of those things that maketh a friendship last long, for life long. The vacation was probably meant to do that. We were known to be best of friends and we wanted to give it a touch of emotional appeal: a fine companionship fetching its own little permanent space in our hearts, for memory keepsakes. And that’s what exactly has happened besides Arindya’s falling in love with an elegant stranger.

Speaking of myself, I would say it was our one great outing, more of a pilgrimage to be sure, that had washed up ashore something of a philosophical musing which, oddly, to this day, is still quaking in my unaccustomed heart. In fact, it never let go of me ever. It still quakes inside me. Like a chronically emotional guy I would constantly have myself believe that ‘things’ have ‘changed’ and that there’s no way to find out whether it was for the better or for worse; even as it went on to carve a secret alcove in my private life. Why worse? Because I knew for a reason that my journey, especially from Shirdi to Hyderabad, would turn out to be extraordinarily heart-wrenching for me and I’ll have to live my life heart-broken. So here goes the tale.

All love stories have one thing in common; you have to go against odds to get there. For me the temple town of Tryambakeshwar was the greatest allure of all my life’s worth could hope to get honoured with. So great was the sweet atrocity of the lost love that Arindya thought a tell-all memoir was all that was left to do and relive those moments all over again. His sense of loss, his seemingly decadent life was waiting to be relieved for the purposes of getting it written and ultimately retold in a manner that would bring him some kind of relief. To unburden. You know, the worst feeling in the world is when you know that you both love each other but still you just can’t be together.

That Thing Called Love

Yes, you said it right. Indeed, it was love at first sight! Or was it a false alarm? Or was I being a darnedest fool? Didn’t I have ever had a proper handle on the two thinly-veiled, albeit different, paroxysms: Infatuation or Love? Turns out, I never did. I never knew it clearly enough though, not then, but surely, now I do know. An idea can change your life. But ‘change’, a brooding change at that, (if not the real Love itself) can make a hostile bid on your way of life! A thing of beauty is a joy forever and I have lost ‘something’ on my return trip back home and I am left undone. I know not what to do, how to do in order to be able to get it all back into my life. This is a mystery (I simply call as ‘change’) which failed to warm up to me with any evidentiary feeling of what it has ‘changed’ after all. I am unable to place that thing properly amongst the bare necessities of my life, but am feeling it all right in the empty center of my being with a great sense of remorse.

Is it a kind of passion that strangely afflicts lovesick puppies all the time? Or is it something to get serious about and needs a little personal scrutiny? Was it love? Or was it supposed to be a plain human reaction after all that rushes up your psychic mind some kind of hormonal hara-kiri when you see a beautiful face, a thing of beauty? Whatever it was, it surely came by slowly and beautifully, that old sweet feeling of – I dare say – love? Oh! Is it all about that good old culprit that goes by the sweetest name in the world called Love? If it is so then it will kill me on a regular basis!

It indeed does weird and wonderful things to your heart, I strongly believe that. The ‘change’ that I was so proudly kept repeating over and over again in my mind is known by nothing else but Love. Pure and untouched. Warm and Cozy. Humble and Secure. That thing called Love slowly spread within me like wind-rippled sand in a forlorn, forsaken desert, and little by little the deeper meaning of the word got me totally baffled and confused. Afterwards, I grew very restless on account of such emotional stirrings and I knew not what to do except accept my Destiny as a one-time readymade parcel service from the heavenly counters of The God Almighty. Oh yes! I am eternally thankful for that service!

Call it thrill or the regular drill, the other side of falling-in-love coin is an unchartered territory of emotional warfare. You can deal with it if you think you really can, or else you lose your love and go home in several pieces. Your heart is felled first, always a ready victim of ‘unrequited love’ and longing, considering the circumstances.

After having lingered on such a thought-process in my mind that began materializing like a zany commotion of deep-seated melancholia, I came to realize that it was indeed the mysterious workings of the persuasive power of ‘Love’ that suggested itself by, both subconsciously and feelingly. Furthermore, the matter of such a delicate nature was so tellingly mystifying that I was finding myself shy and uncertain in equal measure to be able to get a comprehending grasp on its unmistakable magical power. I felt I have been given this evident opportunity to figure it all out, and so I will I thought.

Somewhere in my heart Love was being bucolic.

It slowly came to light in Arindya’s minds’ eye that he has been touched by an Angel; that lovely species whom one unstoppably falls in love with. And there was never a name for her, for name didn’t really matter I suppose. As if transfixed I stood there with unblinking eyes looking her way. Realizing my eyes on her, she turned towards me for a fairly long moment and looked up at me. Her eyes, lips, cheeks twinkled a bit; then knowing that I had still devoted my attention on her, her face broke into a saucy smile. After a moment or two, with a calming poise she fervently put her hands together in front of the deity praying.

The clear light of day of the afternoon Sun and the serene October air appeared to be blending together to bathe her beauty with divine loveliness. Heavens opened up their doors and windows and Gods and Goddesses assembled together to have a precious look at their loving creation; even a grant of a tiny glimpse at her would no doubt continue to reassure and comfort them of their blissful eternity and immortality. They were being jealous, apparently! And I merely an Earth-dwelling mortal dared to romanticize the lovely sight I was likewise being treated to, and standing right there transfixed I fell into a trance I never seemed to have got out of. A serious bout of daydreaming crept up my soul that completely stirred my living being! I was being as if zealously ‘guarding’ her from something I could never know of what. Gods and Goddesses? Possibly. They too were looking at her, remember?

Holy Moly! No… ! I remember Adam and Eve’s satanic mistake in the Garden of Eden before they were necked out of unceremoniously!

Indeed, I opened my heart at the main entrance of the temple to yield a precious place for her to step right in. No doubt, I treasured up her memory (including her divine angelic smile) in the deepest vaults of my unbidden heart ever since.

A Journey to Remember

A journey to a holy place can sometimes make you feel profoundly rejuvenated and transformed; especially when you find that the journey you had has rendered a new dimension of poignancy to the basic perception of your own life.

One doesn’t just go and fall in love in a temple. It doesn’t happen that way. But you can’t help it when it happens, can you? Love can subtly suggest itself anytime anywhere, whether in a temple or in a park, or in a train or in a bus. I thought to myself, in my limited understanding, that for me Love will always be something that cannot be ‘set up’ to ‘gain’ something from it, but which is ultimately intensely natural and a thing that can only be felt deep within and treasured for a lifetime. Love makes life live. Love makes you feel enormously optimistic at heart. It makes you smile secretly and satisfyingly in the assuring fact that she is the one made in heaven for you, Then again, when others see you smile without obvious reason, they think you are kind of… ‘myyaaad’. So what is Love after all?

“Love doesn’t mean to win someone,

But it means to lose yourself for someone.

It is not done by the excellence of mind.

But it is done by the purity of heart.”

The great novelist Eric Segal’s immortal lines “love means never having to say you’re sorry” conveys as much of what lovers practically feel all the time but hardly ever can utter in those very words. That’s one way of looking at it. Yet Love manages to get conveyed; if not in words then the eyes do the trick.

All this were personal definitions that Arindya gave to his newfound feelings that were compelling enough for him to freely believe in love at first sight. And this hell of a feeling was met with approval by the Angel he met at the Tryambakeshwar temple in the picturesque district of Nashik.

As apposed to Strong’s suggestion of “infatuation” that I might possibly have been a case of, I had nothing short of The Bard William Shakespeare’s lines to counter his (Strong’s) sly riposte with:

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove… “

I have believed that this piece of sonnet explains everything what Love has been, what Love is, and what Love will always be.

When does such a thing affect you? Does it affect you especially when you find yourself atop a precipice of your life and you have nothing better of your own but to claim that it was NOT infatuation? No doubt, she was an exalted species of pure feminine beauty, and I had to hanker after the girl only because of a so-called ‘exterior’ quality on her – her eye-catching beauty? No, I don’t believe so. And that’s exactly what didn’t happen to Arindya at all. People might say different things, for they are, well, people; they are meant to say things: uncharitable or appeasing. But in the end you are the only one to know for sure whether or not you were in love and what really happened to you. For me it was Love all right: Love at first sight, Love for ever and Love forever after.

He knew it was far from anything what some people never really get to acknowledge when someone happens to fall in love. Arindya was not travelling alone but he sure was feeling very lonely for the first time among his friends. He had Strong and Sati for good company, yet why does he have to want for something that was not at all his in the first place? Strong and Sati were great friends, but Arindya’s dilemma was nobody’s business but his own heart’s catch-22 situation to get around and deal with it. Does he have to draw a line somewhere considering that this complicated question, which is writ large on his face like a dark shadow, is showing no sign of leaving him alone? What does Arindya, the chief progenitor of all things immaterial, think about this entire quandary of his own making? Pushing oneself off the precipice, and end of the matter? Flat on the rocks below?

Or finding something to latch on to, setting adrift on a grand new boat of hope, against the time and tide of luckless foreboding, even tackling the normal wages of one’s daily life should become the normal course of action for him? Which one? Which goddamn one? Where is Arindya’s once-glorified “enormously optimistic” dramatic feeling gone? Cut its way off to a better soul, which was better than Arindya’s? Oh well O well, probably, it is here; it is here, somewhere, trampled. Arindya will find it. He will have to.

En Route to Tryambakeshwar via Nashik

Booking a room for us three lads at a local hotel was, thankfully, not a tricky business to deal with. During the tourist season, naturally, getting even a single room is a big trouble, but we eventually found one in a nice hotel not very far from the Maharashtra Tourism office-cum-hotel plaza on the main road. To tell you the truth, we enthusiastic bunch of all-guys travellers did get lily-livered sometimes when faced with indigenous, maddening signboards hung on hotel front offices such as “Sorry! Rooms Not Available”, “No Rooms”, “All Full”, “Houseful” or even “No Vacancy”, as if we were looking for jobs! We have been pretty much up to facing whatever challenge was popping in front of us. But we sure disliked these ‘unwelcome’ signboards where ever we spotted one.

No wonder Sati (our very own Kumbhakaran!) was the one who went to the bathroom first to bathe and spill over some cologne fragrance under his tropical rainforest-like armpits, and I and Strong smiled sheepishly at each other to resolve who would go next up! Sati’s childlike enthusiasm to always be the first one to use our hotel’s bathroom was no less legendary than Strong’s preference for window seat whether in bus or in train! I was more like a confused mute, a concerned spectator sandwiched between their ever-amusing comedy of errors (always-use-first bathroom and window-seat preferences included). Must say I hardly ever made any attempt to get out of my reverie, for watching them do their own thing in the pocket-sized, beige-toned hotel room was hilarious!

And yes, not to forget Sati’s insatiable penchant for rounding off his meal with a huge bowl of curd-rice was laughed out loud over Strong’s all-weather-always-better garam garam idly, sambar, rasam and rice preference, never mind curd-rice. I didn’t exactly dream of McDonald’s or Domino’s platters, but my mouth did remember to flood at this unexpected suggestion of a well-tasted hemlock that I have drunk not very long ago! Umm.

Before we embarked upon this journey, Strong let out a secret of his to me that if he doesn’t eat rice in the dinner, he doesn’t get sound sleep at night! I nodded: possibly! Of course, all three went out to dinner and sat in a vegetarian-only restaurant to eat a belly full of sona masoori rice.

Our first leg of journey was a long one to complete. We travelled from Aurangabad to Ellora caves and back. After a night’s intervention, we alighted from long-dead King Aurangzeb’s kingdom Aurangabad and traveled in a MSRTC (state-owned local bus service) bus to Nashik’s central bus station via several unmanned railway crossings, roadside shacks, and quiet villagers, who faithfully lived with their precious cows, hens, cocks, goats, and buffaloes and bulls, even an occasional donkey or two. I spotted several cows grazing and mooing blissfully in the grassy meadows; the hens playing with their tiny chicks in the open yards and goats braying in the vicinity of their human caretakers. The bus ride was bumpy but we enjoyed the bumps with shoulders colliding with the passengers seated next to us; we slammed, banged, crashed all at once into the front seats knocking our breaths out of our lungs, and bounced several inches off our scruffy seats before our heads bashed on the overhead bunkers pounding on our senses.

Apart from all that bumpy encounters we experienced, our bus ride to Nashik was pleasant enough. In fact, in Aurangabad, though a nice little place to visit, we hardly found any other option in the name of good inter-city bus travel apart from the one we decided upon for our journey. That was the year 2001; things might have changed a lot now. These days, when we find each and every city of our country taking a turn for good economically, old things being replaced with the new and how: city squares, shopping centers, fine dining restaurants and all coming up like crazy. I am sure Aurangabad city too had transformed itself now into a fine tourist destination that it was always bound to be.

Strong and Sati (our very own Kumbhakaran!) were jousting with each other to look at the seat occupied next to a hulking woman travelling with her fair and fine-looking daughter. They (Strong and Sati, that is) craned their heads, flashing their gazes at the object of their attention, tried several tricks up their sleeves to get her attracted to them, but all their actions came to a naught. She was far ahead in her own dream world but apart from looking at their general direction, she was, apparently, way out of their league. And Arindya, he had already gazed at her for a moment longer than necessary, tried to be really interesting and all that, but it seemed that he was met with a rebuff.

The bus ride through the countryside had us totally rattled and disheveled, but we took no notice of that. We were on a mission here and totally up and about to accomplish it, so who has the time, you know, for things that don’t matter much.

After reaching the central bus station of Nashik, we took a bus to the great Tryambakeshwar Temple. Tryambakeshwar (TryambakeÅï¿½vara) is located around 28 kilometers from the urban center of Nashik, tucked away into the pacific greenery of the wonderful countryside of Nashik. The ancient Hindu temple is situated at the bottom of the Bramhagiri mountains, where the river Godavari is said to have originated from.

The first day of the October month was agog with beautiful indulgences of the blushing cottony clouds ambling across the blue expanse of the Gods above…

I still remember the shimmering countryside meadows sparkling under the veil of moon-struck light illuminating everything from the sky above. I recollect the face of a serene-faced girl with lotus-like eyes I had never seen before or ogled at. Dressed in a soft yellow salwar with tiny ashen-grey polka-dot like flowers spread all over her lovely attire that greatly embellished her graceful countenance; she looked a million bucks. Without hesitation I resolved that she might be the very embodiment of a dream-like, unheard-of Angel that hardly often do we ever get to see in other normal circumstances. It tugged and pulled at my heart when she found my eager, will-you-be-mine eyes and winked impishly. She winked her huge eye-lashes at me. At that moment my heart forgot to beat. I saw her at the Tryambakeshwar Temple offering prayers and trying to hand over her casket of coconut, red kumkum, agarbatti and yellow Marigold flowers to the Sanskrit-chanting purohit, entreating him to break the coconut and flowers be put at the jyotirlinga of the presiding deity Lord Shiva.

Leaving Tryambakeshwar was hard enough for Arindya. He realized that he has fallen in love, really hopelessly and leaving the pilgrimage town of Trymbakeshwar meant bidding goodbye, farewell, and adieu to her, perhaps forever.

While journeying back on a bus to Nashik, my plain lunatic heart began to thump furiously at the thought of not having to see her ever again, perhaps, never in this lifetime. No wonder my days of being an eternal optimist were gone. What am I to do now without even an ounce of it? What a life I have!

The chimera of optimism anyway doesn’t work in such a circumstance, does it? I had no way of knowing her, and finding her again at the same spot is a foregone conclusion even if I come back looking for her. Life doesn’t treat us that way. It isn’t that easy to get excited about. It has its own exigencies to care about first. Besides there are so many other unknowable factors that come into play, whether you like it or not almost all of them will be pitted against your wish and will. Mankind is always left in the lurch to enthuse themselves by indulging in the mucky discourses of defunct challenges and useless competition. No wonder, in a dog-eat-dog world such is the twisted fury of God’s own creation!

I can’t even expect a ‘co-incidence’ thing to take place and then somehow I come rushing back to find her. Life, it seems, has its own book of destiny to keep. The thing is a brave man makes his own destiny, but the question is: Was I brave enough to be undertaking a task of going back to Tryambakeshwar and find her – all by myself? Perhaps, I might as well just do it. There is after all a wee bit chance, an opening, for anyone who knows where to look and how to look. But Arindya could not possibly have fathomed that secret, for he was not in Destiny’s good books. If passion is what it appears to be in Arindya, then the desire to find her, to see her, to touch her, to embrace her, will always remain a desire, no matter how vaguely life leaks away thinking about her. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling for her. I was dying inside to touch her, hold her. Never will come that moment when I can get close to fulfilling it. I am not in a position, Oh! Dear Lotus-Eyed Angel, to fulfill that passionate desire of mine… It will stay that way.

Eternal passion!

Eternal pain!

Not in this lifetime, my love. Not in this Hell that I am being bludgeoned through and still managing to survive with my besieged chest full of memories. As far as Arindya’s future prospect is concerned, howsoever well-deserved or even if there was one in the first place, it had dead-ended, stopped dead in its path, prematurely. That has come to be known as his portion of sad destiny ever since!

If there is any hope to know what she thinks about our little, private rendezvous at that old Shiva Temple, I would drop everything and go rush in her general direction. On second thoughts, that won’t be necessary because I understand for the same sacrosanct reason that she understands: we have been destined and decreed to be together only in our next life, not in this one. Compromise appears to be the darker side of man’s Destiny, full of twists and turns and blind corners. Such is God’s will. Take it or leave it.

Love Is a Sad Song

I remember how the silvery white moon had shone from high above wandering somberly in the largely cloudless, inky October sky like a loving soliloquist soul, peeping at us lovingly through the tinted windows of the bus we were travelling in, wishing us a silent goodbye after we reluctantly bid adieu to the temple town of His Holiness Shirdi Sai Baba.

“I swear to you

I will always be there for you.

There’s nothing I won’t do.

I promise you,

All my life I will live for you;

We will make it through… “

Then out of nowhere a forgotten strain of an old Hindi song decanted into my mind. I was instinctively humming it aloud in my heaving chest thinking about the lotus-eyed girl I saw in the sanctum sanctorum of the great temple:

“Dil ke aasman pe gam ki ghata chayee

Ayee ayee ayee teri yaad ayee…

Teri yaad main sari duniya bhulayee

Ayee ayee ayee teri yaad aye… “

The tail-end of the journey was a heart-pounding experience for all three of us. Strong, Sati and Arindya were still awake and far away from any sign of wanting to get some sleep. All that trekking, hiking, climbing mountains and forts and circling historic temples in faraway places like Aurangabad, Ajanta-Ellora Caves, then visiting Panchavati and walking on the streets of Nashik did not bog us down. We were fatigued no doubt, but kept up our tempo in full gear. Strong and Sati were still afresh with keen energy and so was Arindya.

“Oh figure about those younger years

There was only you and me

We were young and wild and free

Now nothing can take you away from me

Even down that road before”

End of Part 1

How To Predict A Call From the Media – The Could It Happen Here Story

Wouldn’t it be great to know ahead of time when and why your company or organization would be getting a telephone call from the media? Believe it or not, you already have that ability right at your fingertips. Sure, there are instances where you could pretty well guess that a phone call is coming such as in the case of a strike, a product recall, an environmental disaster or a workplace fatality. But what about those times when a call comes in that you were not expecting? While half of your brain listens to the voice on the other end of the line, the other half is frantically asking, “Why are they calling? What did we do? What has happened that I don’t know about?”

What’s happening here is what is known in the news business as the Could It Happen Here Story. Whenever there is a story gaining national attention, local news media outlets will always try to localize the event. When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 which resulted in the deaths of 168 people, news outlets across the country went into Could It Happen Here mode. Officials were questioned about security at local federal buildings and federal workers were asked if they felt safe in the workplace in light of the Oklahoma City incident. When tornadoes strike a portion of the nation, local media outlets air stories about local preparedness for such a disaster. When several children were sickened after playing on a lawn newly treated with chemicals, landscaping companies across the nation were forced to defend their own practices.

The bottom line is that if there is a story that is making national news and if the story is in any way connected to your business, there is a possibility you could be on the receiving end of a Could It Happen Here call. Your job is to simply be aware of the possibility. As you read the morning newspaper, listen to morning radio news or watch morning television news, keep a careful eye and ear out for stories that relate to your business. If you find one, rehearse mentally what you would do and say if you got to the office and the media called. That way, when the call comes in, you’re prepared to confidently tell the media that because of your company’s standards, policies and professionalism, it Couldn’t Happen Here!

Virgin – Richard Branson’s Success Story

Famous Quote

“I don’t go into ventures to make a fortune. I do it because I’m not satisfied with the way others are doing business.”

Growing Up

Branson dropped out of school in 1967 at the age of 16 and started a magazine called Student. He hoped it would be a forum for politically-minded youth. He soon was publishing essays and interviews from such figures as Jean-Paul Sartre, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, and Robert Graves. Despite such a roster of great minds and literary figures, the magazine never made money and seemed bound to fail.

Starting the Business

Branson began marketing his next idea in the pages of Student; selling albums at a reduced rate through the mail. It rapidly became a more profitable business than the magazine itself. The staff of Student suddenly found themselves the employees of the Virgin discount record store. “Virgin” because no one had been in business before. Virgin had been going strongly but it was discovered Branson was dodging his tax payments. He was arrested and jailed.

Building an Empire

An out-of-court settlement was reached and, determined to keep the balance sheets carefully, Virgin Records was founded in 1973. Mike Oldfield’s progressive “Tubular Bells” was the first record released through Virgin and became an international success. But, it was the signing of the Sex Pistols to his label in 1977 that truly established Virgin Records. Though the Pistols broke up soon after, Virgin became the largest indie label in the world. Bands like the Rolling Stone, Peter Gabriel and UB40 were signed to Virgin.

Over the next six years, Branson started over fifty different companies encompassing everything from filmmaking to air conditioner cleaning. Though he was making more than $17 million dollars from his various companies collectively, Branson insists that money is not the motivation behind his involvement in so many ventures. Rather, he enjoys attempting to do something more effectively than those who have tried before him.

In 1984, Branson started Virgin Atlantic Airlines – a company that would prove to be a great challenge as well as the cause of financial distress. Branson ignored discouraging comments that told him he could never compete with British Airways, and to look to the example of those who had failed before. The reason being that he had observed how airline companies did not look after their customers adequately enough – so he would be the one to bring affordable and enjoyable flights to the public. Virgin Air was immediately recognized for its service and luxury. In-flight massages, hydrotherapy baths and seat-back video screens were all part of the experience on-board a Virgin aircraft.

With fuel prices having doubled in the early ’90s, terrorist attacks making people afraid to fly, and BA launching a campaign to put Branson out of the airline business, Virgin Atlantic struggled to stay afloat. Branson was forced to sell Virgin Records in order to raise enough money to keep Virgin Atlantic and pay off his creditors. The sale of the company that gave him his start was a crushing blow.

From this point on, Branson developed a new approach to business called “branded venture capital”. Through this method, Branson licenses the well-known Virgin name and logo in exchange for a controlling interest in the venture. Consequently, Branson has his company’s name fixed to more than 200 different companies, among which are Virgin Bridal, Virgin Publishing, a blimp company and a modeling agency.

Branson is known for his unusual business practices (no central headquarters, no board meetings, and he can’t operate a computer), his showy publicity stunts (like driving a tank into Times Square and buzzing over Big Ben in an Airbus jet), and his adventurous exploits (he was the first person to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon and has attempted three times to fly it around the world). It might be thought that such an approach to business could have ruined him, but Virgin is a towering $5 billion dollar giant. And Branson keeps dreaming for the future. In discussing the prospect of starting a shuttle service into space, Branson has said, “Why not? It’s virgin territory.”

Setting Up a Textile Business: A Success Story

22 years ago, when Joseph Rotich resigned as an Information Technology manager, who would have thought that he would one day own a multi-million textile company in Eldoret, Kenya. “Square Deals Uniforms Limited”, the company that has grown over the years to such a level that it can now compete with the top entrepreneurs of the region, is estimated to be worth Sh30 million.

Leader’s vision is one of the most essential qualities that could be attributed for a success in business and entrepreneurship. If there is a sentence that could sum up Rotich’s vision, it is this one of his quotes:

“We have to monitor each other and change the quality of the product to suit customers’ needs otherwise you will be left behind if you don’t adapt in business.”

When an entrepreneur starts talking about setting up a business, the first question he is asked, is: “Where did you get the inspiration to start this business?” Let’s read further and learn the answer to “what was the inspiration behind Rotich’s endeavor?”

Following back the chain of events that led to the formation of the leading industry–known for its designs and supplies of finished uniforms to schools, factories and hospitals as per the order–to the dream that began in 1970s, Rotich got the idea of textile industry from his father who was running a flourishing tailoring business those days.

While reading about his success for the first time, at this point I was wondering why things aren’t adding up? How could a man with the dream to start a textile industry, suddenly change his mind and move on to pursue a career in IT. Rotich puts it this way: “Though I had yearned for tailoring, I decided to take up an IT course but in my mind I knew I would come and start a textile industry.”

In 1981, he got employed at Revatex as an IT manager, after serving the company for five years, he started his own boutique. With a will to strengthen her husband’s small business, his wife, who was a textile tailoring lecturer at a university, resigned from her job and joined him soon after. Rotich explains it as: “Since she was an expert in tailoring, she considered strengthening the business and she had to resign to assist me. The pay for lecturers by that time was also little.”

In 1989, Kenya Industrial Estate funded the expansion of industry and facilitated the purchase of more machines. The industry that started as a boutique with 20 sewing machines, now has more than 50 sewing machines, with over 70 employees. Rotich proudly states: “I started with a small network of clientele as per their order but, now my sales volume has increased even reaching customers in Nairobi.”

According to Rotich, perseverance and passion are the key qualities of a successful entrepreneur. He wants people to learn from his experience if they want to make a significant contribution toward driving Kenya to prosperity and success.

If there’s anything else other than the spirit and attitude of an entrepreneur that could be held responsible for his success, it’s the potential that particular business/industry holds. Textile business is very profitable as there are a lot of options to explore and exploit to one’s benefit. Rotich’s success story tells us that starting a textile business requires careful preparations and proficiency of relevant knowledge and skills. If you are seriously thinking about it, you need to decide how much investment you could make, you need to look for a feasible location and make yourself aware of the prevailing competition in that particular region. Following paragraphs are going to pour some more light on some of the things that need to be considered before you set up your own textile business.

Looking for a feasible location involves looking for a place that has got enough space for the required machinery and labor and making sure that the location being chosen satisfies the ventilation requirements of the textile industry. Without ventilation, toxic materials involved in the processing of fiber and dust from the fibers may cause pollution and may damage the health of workers. For storage of textile rolls, storage space is required, you should make sure whether the place has enough storage space. While you make deal with the owners of that location, don’t forget to ask them about the lease terms they can offer and that what utilities are covered in the same deal.

If you want to generate big income and huge profit, start at a location with less competition. Seek the advice from other business owners with the experience of working in the same industry. While you do that, make sure that you seek the guidance of entrepreneurs and competitors outside your region.

While investing for the equipment, look for the suppliers that offer good price as well as reliability. Make sure that they offer solid warranties and are capable enough to supply troubleshooting and maintenance facility in case of equipment failure or break down. In order to prevent a situation where you run out of all the budget, plan beforehand and while you do that, take into account all the equipment maintenance costs, operating costs for at least one year, labor cost, and etc.

No business is free of risks, so is the case of textile business. While Rotich’s success story presents textile business as a profitable venture, it may prove to be a very bad experience for someone who is unaware of the risks involved. Starting a business with not enough funds to invest is like digging your grave with your own hands. One of the options that may be considered in such circumstances is that of franchising; it allows you to work under the security and stability of a known brand and have exclusive right to sell the product and make good income in very short period of time. In the same way, you can compete with other entrepreneurs from the platform of the established brand.

Story On Legwear

People generally look at the face first. The second is the shoes and exactly next to the shoes what one observes are the socks, the safeguards of the feet, which prevent the feet from rubbing against the shoes, give the feet a tender feeling and add some style element in ones attire. As fashion has become more individualistic, every product that gives the look and reflects personality has drawn the attention of designers and fashion experts. From hat to legwear, every item worn by a person adds to the overall persona and appeal. In this varied scenario of dressing, every part of the attire has gained a makeover… legwear being the latest. Now various designing looks are given to the pair of clothing so that they have their own importance inside the clothing.

Knitted hose have been a part of clothing for the past 1,000 years. At the outset it was worn by men and not women. The first stocking knitted on a circular machine was made in 1589. The market has improved since then. The first nylon stocking was made in 1938 and the first tights were made in 1966. Over the years stockings have become less popular and, most recently, knee-highs and ankle-highs have become more popular because women now wear more of trousers rather than skirts.

Nowadays, the use of legwear increases with each season. With the introduction of design aspects in the legwear category and the aim of making one such product changing, the legwear production industry is experiencing a huge demand in the summer time too. Hot Sox, DKNY, Givenchy- licensed by JET, American Essentials- the licensee for Calvin Klein and Michael Kors, Leg Resource Inc., Infinity Classics International etc., are a few products that satisfy the demand of designer legwear. Many departmental stores have special hosiery departments that keep the best brands. Designers like Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs and Dolce Gabbana make legwear collections more appealing.

With many aspects of a jigsaw, the new collection offered on the shelves range from elegant classic and natural appeals to fascinating flamboyant styles. The new legwear styles take into consideration the several demands of the present trend and show off perfect style and beauty. The variety is so vast that legwear has appeared as a hip extension for designers to show their abilities. Since legwear is worn by everyone regardless of age, gender or profession, ¬ there are various designs that are made for each and every segment. The legwear market is gaining a specific space in the market, more so due to skirts and now dresses which have gained popularity as the hot fashion products. Legwear designers foresee a bright future for tights, sheers and socks.

Many producers across the globe are trying to renew particular styles in the legwear category in each and every season and market them for the season. Holiday- specific legwear that are aimed at holiday themes, patterns and designs specific only to the holiday season are now a thing of the past. Today, many legwear manufacturers target socks and sheers as they make a good gift due to its affordability and usefulness. The promotional market is another area where it is considered that legwear can solve the purpose.

Sheer with decorative backseams dotted with red flowers in both black or white or sheer red shapes and floral vine pattern are enormous. Sheer shapes are also being made with rhinestones: rhinestones decorate the backseams and are sprinkled on sheer black colour. Kayser-Roth Corporation in its HUE line, Fine Line Hosiery and The Randalman, NC Company are some of the companies that offer a design element to legwear. HUE came out with rhinestone backseams, tuxedo striped sheers in black or nude, lurex rib sheers, shimmer sheers in black, gold or silver; lace trim tulle thigh highs and stockings with built-in garters.

Traffic- stopping graphic prints, romantic openwork, textured legwear, solid opaque, school girl knee- highs, ladylike sheers and ribbed knits are a few of the latest vogue. Forecasted to hit the fashion field are knee-high socks that are anticipated to become one of the new fashion trends. Knee socks in bias plaids, classic argyles in both traditional and gloomy colours, contrast herringbone, heavy tweed styles, stripes and femme angora openwork are arrived in the market. Feature covers colour flecks, fur pom poms and embroidered stitching. In socks, surface attractiveness is vital with visible textures giving preference over patterns. Moretz has set up sock styles with a various tweed textures. Use of luxury blends with wools, angora and cashmere, and romantic affects continue to be the largest in ladies apparel, which provides another increment to the sale of tights and trousers.

In pink, white and black, there are various categories available with contrasting trim and seed stitching on the top of the feet with a flower around ankles. Tattoo sheer pantyhose, checkered thigh highs, cotton knee highs with bows, lycra mesh stockings, lace leggings, skulls and crossbones midcalves, fuzzy multi stripe, striped tigers, argyle clock, micro velour diamonds, shark bite 3D socks, rugby 3-striped, surprise rib and branches tights are a few sets that perform the genesis of designing element spotted on the ‘essentials’, as accepted by today’s generation. The persistence of beadwork, embroidery and crochet in apparel and accessories compliment the net/ crochet designs and opaque textures used in a sizable way in legwear. Opaques (dark and ribbed) and cable knit tights, men’swear patterns and footless tights are anticipated to have a huge market share.

For many producers, collection of fashion tights covers bold plaid opaques, textured tights in leopard, houndstooth and herringbone, antique openwork, crochet and nets and colourful, crazy tights motivated by Pucci’s graphic designs. Fine Line Hosiery offers many plated tights in diamond, floral heather patterns and ribs. The beauty of legwear is further enhanced with the use of colours in the perfect mix. Browns command the colour palette along with affluent burgundies, warm greens, gold and robust tones. Attractive palettes of blue cover turquoise and teal. Inky blues offer a sophisticated casual look with a laid-back attitude that matches the best with denim wear and offer a break from the khaki family. Colours of inky blues include Rio, Wonder Blue and Midnight. Metallics have become the new mortals.

The new transparent lines of curved hosiery from Hanes are available in many flesh tones that are transparent enough to facilitate consumers to harmonize their skin tones with superior support. Captivating its influence from movement in the beauty industry, which is blowing up with products meant to offer a tanned, shining effect to the legs, Hanes also deals with Sheer Radiance, a line of edge that offers a slightly tanned and shining look to the leg. Leg Resource Inc., which makes legwear for Anne Klein and Via Spiga, among others, is all about facets with zigzags, curlicue motifs and sewn-on lace. Items from Infinity Classics International, a Brooklyn-based producer and marketer of hosiery for Italian line Levante and British import Jonathan Aston cover ultrasheers and sheers; opaques in chevron, spiral or diamond patterns and fishnets in mini and maxi weaves. Silhouettes include a regular growth or an unusual low-rise ‘hipster’ cut.

The legwear market covers only a small fraction of the total apparel business, the US imported legwear worth $ 1.24 billion in 2004. Canada imported $ 120 billion while EU imported Euro 2.66 billion, a 21 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent increment, correspondingly over the previous year. Though, India could raise its share only in the EU market from 1.39 per cent to 1.47 per cent.

US market of legwear

US import of legwear boosted by 20 per cent in 2004

Legwear, including hose, pantyhose, tights, socks, stockings and other hosiery products and a necessary apparel items are quite popular world over. The US imported such items worth $1.1 billion in 2003. The imports rose by about 20 per cent to reach $ 1.3 billion in 2004. Legwear imports add just 2 per cent to total import valued at $ 65 billion of apparel into the US.

Stockings and Tights – UK market

Today’s hosiery market is divided between sales of tights (84%), stockings (3%), hold-ups (4%) and knee-highs (9%).

In 2004 the fine hosiery market was about £250 million; with more than half a million pairs of tights, stockings and hold ups being purchased every day. Legwear is the most regularly purchased item of clothing with women purchasing on average of ten pairs a year. The average price of a pair of tights in 2004 was £1.19; though. In UK Pretty Polly, Elbeo Levante etc are the leader in tights and stockings.

India’s legwear market in the EU’s perception

For legwear in the EU market, China with a contribution of 1.5 per cent was better than India and all others in the Indian subcontinent. Though, legwear imports from China in the year 2003 decreased in value terms by over 4 per cent despite a raise of about 13 per cent in volume terms. Here again, Pakistan with a contribution of over 1 per cent was at number two position and imports of legwear from Pakistan raised by over 46 per cent in the year 2003 as against 2002. Among China and other competitors in the sub-continent, India gained number three position with making 0.55 per cent contribution to the legwear market in the EU. In 2003, import of legwear from India rose by about 13 per cent.

EU a large market for legwear

The market for legwear in the EU is quite larger than the US. The EU imported legwear worth Euro 2.66 billion in 2003, increased by 3.6 per cent from Euro 2.57 billion in 2002. Legwear imports add to the total apparel imports valued at about Euro 83 billion of the EU to the size of 3.2 per cent.

Over the last two years, the business from India has increased significantly. Many producers have got a growth of almost 40-50 percent in their business. Experts believe that the export market of India will keep up provided the manufacturer can produce the products with latest trends with other yarns that are no longer restricted to any particular weather, besides cotton legwear. Though in cotton legwear still manufacturers have to move fast to sustain in a long run.

India has colourful presentation for buyers in Legwear – Cotton still well demanded

Europe is a larger market as compared to the US in legwear with advancement in blends and designs. Though, India has only a 0.5 per cent of share of legwear worldwide with its strong existence in the cotton socks segment.

The US imported legwear amounted to $ 1.3 billion in 2004, while EU imported Euro 2.66 billion worth in 2003. In the subsequent periods, Indian exports raised by about 13 per cent to the US and 38 per cent to the EU in that order. The total quantities exported in legwear from India to the US and the EU accounted to 21.32 per cent and 94.44 per cent respectively, which were cotton legwear. With increased incursion of Asian countries, mostly China, the US Socks Industry is susceptible to rising imports. US manufacturing plus outward processing of socks decreased 13.2 per cent from 2001 to 2003.

Though China escorts offensively with new machines pursued by innovations in yarn, compositions and blends, India has begun building a strong existence with huge exporters investing in socks production and the traditional exporters aiming at expansion. Even foreign investors are peeping at India as a feasible manufacturing hub with application of a variety of yarn blends though cotton remains the key potential.

Colour, prints and new designs were the most accepted legwear fashion for 2005. As many fashion accessories are used in various designs and styles, likewise legwear also has a preference with various designs and looks with many interesting styles. Plains, plating, ribs, links, sports terry, anklet, various motifs are some of the regular designs made from India under the legwear category for both the domestic and the export market. From black to pastel to light colours, there is no substantial variation in the types that Indian producers are offering to both the markets. Besides the stylish and gentle like hosiery, novelty yarns like Lurex in soft colours, short shorties and knee high with delicate embroidery combined with appliqués have made the legwear more trendy and stylish.

At the end of the quota regime, Delta Galil Industries, a foremost producer of intimate clothing, supplying to brands like Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Nike and Ralph Lauren, started a $5 million socks factory in Silvassa in the Union Territory of Daman, Dadra & Nagarhaveli (INDIA). The factory will use over 200 looms plus specific finishing equipment to satisfy a target of one million pairs of socks per month. The company considers that the factory’s production will make $ 15 million with buyers in Europe and the US once it is fully operational. The company penetrated the Indian zone in an attempt to locate low-priced production locations to increase its competitiveness with an objective to develop business.

While this company from Israel observed business benefits in India and entered all the way post quota, Trend Setters, a famous name in garment export from India already has a devoted 100 per cent export production socks unit since 1999. TSI Industries Pvt Ltd, Faridabad, makes cotton, nylon and cotton blended legwear with elastane for kids, ladies and men’s category.

However, since the technology needed to produce ladies leggings is not available in India, the company ventured into cotton lycra leggings apart from its usual products. The total production capacity of the unit is 800 dozen pairs of socks per day. The company functions generally on the design patterns, colours and packaging offered by its buyers. With good output the company intends to put in Matec machines by 2006 to increase production and ranges.

In starting period of time, India made the export as well as the import market with only 100 per cent cotton items. It has also slowly started for other yarn compositions and blends. Some of the new compositions cover polyester, acrylic, wool, nylon, polypropelene and polyester viscose with a maximum of 5 per cent of spandex. Besides others, polypropelene is used only for the domestic market. Other yarn categories are intended both for domestic as well as export purposes. As other fashion accessories are offered in various designs and styles, likewise legwear has left the plain look behind and brought forth various appealing styles.

With a manufacturing capacity of 10,000 per/day, a New Delhi-based exporter of socks, Olympic Overseas Private Limited, produces socks for ladies and gents, as well as stockings. Apart form the common yarn types like cotton and nylon, the company even uses polyester viscose for both the domestic and the international market. The Rs 1.5 crores company supplies to France, UK, Germany and Belgium, working with importers and wholesalers like Benjamin SA, a key importer from France. Olympic Overseas offers only socks. They make stockings for the domestic market but not for international business. According to industry experts International demand for stockings is for fine quality yarn in which India is not that strong. Overseas has offers ‘arguile’ designs (shapes like diamond, rhombus, and triangle) and customized legwear in nearly 20 different styles. There are four set and size of legwear which they offer; the ankle length; the normal size that is 5-6″ above the ankle; then comes the long set that is immediately below the knees and finally stockings. In the international market, long socks are offered in the size of 1″ above the knee.

V. V. Hosiery is another Delhi-based legwear company of Rs 5 crore conglomerate, selling products under the brand name ASTRA. It mainly concentrates on ribs, links, sports terry, anklet and cutter motif styles. In addition to socks for gents, ladies and children, the company also exports stockings to various countries. It generally uses cotton and polypropelene. With a production capacity of 10,000 pairs per day, out of which 50 per cent is exported, the company has recently set up the export business of socks through importers in Dubai. Another hosiery producer who makes socks on demand is Office International Inc., the Tirupur based producer who focuses on children’s winter socks made of cotton with embroidery and prints.

A Mumbai-based trading house, Lee-On Impex exports sports socks for gents to Indian exporters like East Asia Trading and players from Kuwait and Australia. White is the most popular colour preference for the category which they are working for. Dark colours are used for striping. The conglomerate supplies on an average 2,000 pairs of sports socks per day. In gent’s legwear, navy blue, brown, black, light grey, dark grey, white, olive and green are the most popular colours which are in demand. With these shades, other frequent light colours are used for ladies legwear. School socks for children are patterned by shades of white, grey, navy blue and maroon. Pastel and baby colours like pink and rose are the preferred colour combinations in fancy socks.

New products for Winter 05 were remarkable. Many producers have created socks with air passages for Autumn Winter 05. Olympic Overseas has exported their usual products with specialized designs and looks for the season. Seamless stitching on toe, pre-shrinkage and softening finishes and antibacterial treatments were also well demanded in the season.

Fishnet stockings, fishnet thigh highs and micro-net are fashions in the stockings’ market. Generally, nets provide airy comfort to the legs. In addition, a unique type of remedy like beading and ruffling, the international trend for legwear, includes some shoe treatments into legwear like gel bottoms to offer socks more of an athletic appeal. Attractive floral designs are ample in ladies’ legwear. Many international companies who have arrived with these trends are Kayser-Roth Corp., Soxland International Inc, Levante, Hot Soz and Wolford, among others.