Coming In From The Cold
More and more of Belgaum's well-educated-and well-heeled-youth are staying back, and constituting a purchasing class that marketers are finding difficult to ignore.

It was in 1860 that the grandfather of Hasham Abdul Karim Bandukwala migrated from Gujarat into Belgaum, and started Gunboris which, as the name suggests, began as a gun store. Today, the 80-year-old third-generation Bandukwala still sells a few rifles, has "diversified" into a dealership for Whirlpool and Kelvinator refrigerators, also stocks assorted gift items, and for some, um, strategic reason is also a seller of Libertina bras. ''Gun licences are restricted these days, so I have to stock other items too,'' smiles Bandukwala, who recollects that his store at one time would cater to customers right from Pune to Bangalore.

A few blocks away in the same shopping area of Belgaum-which is actually the town's main square, with its four bustling sides known as Ramdev Galli, Khade Bazaar, Ganpat Galli and Maruti Galli-Bandukwala's nephew, Shuaib, has been running a Wills Lifestyle store for three years now, which stocks most of the Wills contemporary range in the Rs 450-1,500 range. Bandukwala junior has got into a nine-year agreement with ITC, does an annual turnover of Rs 40 lakh, and comfortably breaks even. But he's still a bit restless. ''That little extra is not there. If I had a variety of brands, I would be able to attract more buyers," he explains. Many more than the eight to 10 footfalls he gets on weekdays.

A walk around the market area reveals what Bandukwala is talking about. All conceivable ''urban brands,'' right from Adidas to Reebok to Louis Philippe to Van Heusen dovetail delightfully in a riot of colour with local brands, including the ubiquitous Polo Jean Joint, peddling its wares at "direct factory price."

But it's the contrasting retail efforts of the senior and junior Bandukwalas that in many ways typify how the traditional and the modern are coming together swimmingly in the town of Belgaum, which many decades ago was even more important than Bangalore in the south-western scheme of things because of its location-equidistant from Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad-and the quality of its education and healthcare system. Today, Bangalore has left Belgaum behind, but the colleges and hospitals are still top class, and the good news is that fewer doctors and post-grads are making tracks for outstation and overseas opportunities (the only doctor of Indian origin on George Bush's panel is an MBBS from Belgaum).

Brands do matter: This Wills Lifestyle Store represents the buying power of the people here

Two doctors in their white coats and stethoscopes slung around their arms are sipping on cappuccinos at Café Coffee Day, bang opposite the 41-year-old extension to the Civil Hospital. Four Goan students kill time, taking in Tata Young on MTV, fondling their camera phones, and grin sheepishly when asked if they're on holiday (Goa is a 100-odd km away, and the Goans come mainly to shop, whilst raucous tourists from Kolhapur-110 km into Maharashtra-come for sheer pleasure). A middle-aged executive just back from the Income Tax Office housed in the same complex contemplates the day ahead over an Expresso. Also in the complex is a busy Hutch Shop, a six-month- young HDFC Bank branch, a UAE Xchange, and Karvy's broking outpost, the Finapolis.

That pretty much sums up the action on Ambedkar Road, which you could say is one of the four centres of action in Belgaum. Most of the bustle of course takes place in the market square, where just alongside the Wills Lifestyle Store is nestled Reliance Webworld, which is preparing to launch the Java Green café in addition to broadband, videoconferencing and virtual office services as well as high-speed gaming for its 11,000-strong customer base. The upper scale Tilakwadi constitutes the third buzzing area, home to ICICI Bank, an authorised reseller for Compaq, and a local café, Café Blue Rock, perched ideally in the ICICI Bank and ICICI Home Finance complex. The final piece of happening Belgaum is Nehru Nagar, which houses the hotels (mainly three-star) and restaurants as well as UTI Bank, a newly-opened Chevrolet dealership and a huge first-floor local furnishings showroom.

Right from the Maruti 800 to the Toyota Camry, you'll find every possible car on Belgaum roads. That's because virtually every manufacturer-Fiat, Ikon, Honda, Toyota, Skoda, Hyundai and Maruti and Tata-has an outpost there. According to the estimates of Satish Halkarni, Manager, Ballad Hyundai, Maruti would be selling 80 cars a month, Hyundai some 20 and Tata (Indica and Indigo) another 40. ''The competition is fierce,'' says Halkarni, as DSAS like ICICI's Car Point are willing to go as low as 5.75 per cent with their finance schemes.

The rich pool of an educated and prospering middle class also results in healthy pc sales of 200 a month, 60 per cent of which is accounted for by the Soho segment. There isn't much of a price differential between metro and Belgaum prices, but the difference is that plenty of bundling-web cameras, educational CDs etc-is done to woo consumers. Kiran Karchi, Chief Executive, Syscon Systems, the Compaq reseller, points out that all-in-ones (printers, scanners, copiers) are also selling well. ''More people are interested in branded items today because their buying power has increased and also because there are various finance schemes on offer.''

The equity cult is fast spreading in Belgaum amongst an interesting mix of the retired and the youth. India Bulls, Kotak, Karvy, Shriram Investment are present along with four BSE sub-brokers, and Karvy, which has some 975 clients, does an average turnover of Rs 75 lakh a day. ''Trading is becoming more common, and investors are becoming more familiar with the stockmarket lingo, says Diwakar Nayak of Karvy, who has been into stockmarkets for seven years, three of them in another town, Udipi.

Belgaum may have lost its pride of place over the decades thanks in a large part to a still-simmering battle for the town between Maharashtra and Karnataka-Marathi is spoken more than Kannada, hence the demand that it be a part of Maharashtra. But as more entrepreneurs begin grabbing new-found opportunities, more doctors and engineers decide to stay back and explore the potential, and more and more marketers exploit the burgeoning purchasing power of the local people, Belgaum can still make up for the time lost courtesy petty disputes.

-Brian Carvalho

Din There, Dun That
Dehradun now has all the trappings of a town on the move: big brands, bigger cars, and kingsize aspirations

Some 250 km from Delhi lies the picturesque town of Dehradun, the capital of the state of Uttaranchal. And if you're going there from a bustling metro, things can appear quite serene. But make no mistake; Dehradun, a town with a population of around five lakh, is witnessing a vast change in its consumer landscape. It's a process that's been playing out over the last few years, and in the evening the town is resplendent with neon signboards of top-notch consumer brands, giving an almost surrealistic feel.

So, what has changed in Dehradun? A lot, according to locals. Says Pradeep Nath, a chartered accountant by profession who also has interests in hotels and real estate: ''Over the last four years, all big brands have come to Dehradun, in food as well as other categories. Barista, Café Coffee Day and Domino's are already here; McDonald's and Pizza Hut are also coming in. ''The town is beginning to resemble Delhi nowadays,'' chips in Nath's petite wife, Sangeeta, a dentist by profession.

By all accounts, Dehradun has not been immune to the fast-spreading tentacles of consumer brands to small-town India, both Indian as well as international. Call it strategic coincidence, but it's probably not a surprise to see the famed health centre, VLCC, on the first floor of the same building that houses a branch of the pizza giant, Domino's Pizza. So you can gorge on calories and shed them at the same time.

As far as brands go, it's difficult to miss anything: in apparel, Levi's, Dockers, Wills Lifestyle, and Pantaloon; in food, Barista, Domino's Pizza and Café Coffee Day; in footwear, Reebok, Adidas and Nike; all the major mobile phone players and private banks; and every make of car in India.

Resembling Delhi?: Closely, multi-brand outlets in Dehradun sport all leading brands

And yes, there's night life too in Dehradun, with a couple of restaurants having small dance floors. That's a boon to someone like Shivani Windlass, who came to Dehradun from Chandigarh three-and-a-half years ago after getting married. Distressed at the complete absence of night life then, she had a tough time adjusting to the conditions, as it were. Now though, she's happier.

However, despite the obvious desire of every brand of consequence to acquire a presence in Dehradun, certain rumblings persist. Says Rahul Windlass, Shivani's husband and Director (Operations), Windlas Biotech, ''Most leading brands are coming in now, but our friends and we still prefer to go to Delhi for shopping. That's because we get more variety there at the same price, even for the same brand.'' Which is a pointer to the fact that though large brands have sensed the potential of small-town India to bolster their revenues, there's still probably an underestimation about the level of awareness of the small-town consumer.

Fundamentals, though, are an issue. The sight of the evening town, with the neon lights unable to display their splendour for lack of power, is certainly not one for sore eyes. Says Windlass, ''Uttaranchal is supposed to have surplus power, but we still suffer power cuts every day.'' There are bright points though, as Windlass concedes: "Law and order has improved. Even three to four years back, it was common for businessmen to receive death and extortion threats. I had to go to my office accompanied by a gunman for many months. But not any more.''

Commerce, one supposes, thrives if the fundamentals are right. And once commerce, in the form of glitzy consumer brands, begins to make a mark on the consciousness of the customer, aspirations rise. Sample this from Pradeep Nath: ''If there's anything I aspire to, it's a Sony plasma TV, which is very expensive. It's not available here, but if you place an order, it can be delivered within 15 days.'' Chances are, he's going to avail of the option sooner rather than later.

-Alokesh Bhattacharyya

Wine, Burgers And Song
They love Mitsubishi Lancer's global appeal, self-confidently sip on the Vino and abhor the Versace and Gucci fakes. They can afford to do so.

Father's day sees a mad rush for Archies' galleries. Neat neon lights and glow boxes advertise allegiance to urban shrines: draught beer, jeans, sports gear, shoes, big screen TVs, DVDs, laptops, cars, ice-creams, gift shops. The neon gods flashing include homegrown names like Nibble, Body Hub ('For complete body solutions'), Knockout Pub, Lorango, Oxford Hospital, Yankee Tunns, Baker's Inn. Then there are the more familiar brands: Ebony, Wills Lifestyle Store, Lee, Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Weekender, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Archies, Café Coffee Day, Baskin Robbins... That's Jalandhar, whose 9 lakh or so population is swinging to not just bhangra beats but the delightful sound of ringing cash registers. Don't believe us? Read on...

Lifestyle Store Ebony Holdings' Jalandhar avatar has some 20,000 identified regular customers, and has been registering a 15 per cent year on year growth since inception in 2001. Customers from the adjoining towns of Phagwara and Nawashahar constitute some 15 per cent of the customer base. Monthly business: Rs 1.5 lakh per month, which rockets to Rs 6 lakh in the festive season.

Meet Surjeet Singh Gaba, who has a company not very imaginatively titled Singh Land Mkt Pvt. Ltd. He owns one Adidas showroom, one Weekender, one W store (for women), and a gallery called Century Cottons. The four shops are clustered together, two on the first floor and two on the ground in the Model Town market area. Gaba estimates the total number of walk-ins per day at 300-400. He sells around 150 pairs of Adidas a month in the Rs 1,000-6,000 bracket.

Let's now spend a few minutes at One Stop Shop, which began as a gift shop in 1991. It switched to garments four years later, and three years ago, the owners flagged off a second shop, Over Take, which stocks brands such as Marks & Spencer, Provogue, Lee Cooper, Spykar, Adidas, Nike (the highest- selling brand here), Reebok, and Pepe, among others. Encouraged by monthly sales figures of around Rs 70-80 lakh a month, R.K. Clothing Co. (the company owning these stores) is putting up a Levis and Dockers outlet next month.

Rising demand: Cafe Coffee Day with daily sales of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 is opening another outlet soon in Jalandhar

Now why on earth is Jasveer Singh beaming, and Vinod Kumar moping? Both have their respective businesses, and in those businesses lies the answer to the contrasting moods. Singh owns a newly-opened exclusive Lee outlet, the first for the town. He also has a cable network business but diversified into branded apparels because the ''market demands it''. Kumar for his part had a tailoring shop for 10 years in Model Town. In 2000, he revamped his shop to sell belts, purses, sunglasses perfumes, caps, inner wear, shoes and a similar scramble of men's products. The brands stocked include Calvin Klein, Versace, Gucci and Armani. Yet, Kumar is looking for an exit option, as sales are dwindling. It isn't as if consumers in Jalandhar don't want a Versace or a Gucci. It's just that all his goods are fake. ''People want the real thing now,'' he laments.

That's because those people are sitting on more cash today. A manager with one of the popular national banks says his branch holds around Rs 40 crore in deposits. Individuals depositing a couple of crores is a common occurrence, he adds. The only foreign bank present in the city, Standard Chartered, opened office opposite Narinder Cinema in G.T. Road last year, with asset-based banking products, life insurance, and a total headcount of 15. Customer acquisition? 0 to 5,000 in 12 months flat! Branch manager Rajneesh Malhotra says a typical customer is below 40 years, and runs his own business. Business clients include those in import-export, leather, hand tools, and sports goods. Debit cards are a hot favourite. Housing and auto loans are being introduced from July.

Northern Motors Pvt. Ltd., sole dealers in Punjab for Hindustan Motors-Mitsubishi, averages sales of 15 to 20 cars a month. Some four units of the Lancer Invex petrol version launched early this year have already been sold. Maninder Kaur, marketing executive since 1998 with the showroom, says that the crowd is becoming increasingly aware of the relative merits and demerits of various makes and models. Adds Harminder Singh Rangar, Manager, Automobile Division, Hindustan Motors. ''Our customers fall in the 22-45 age group bracket, and love the Lancer's global appeal as a racing car.''

Hyundai witnessed a 50 per cent growth last year. Little wonder then, the company has two showrooms in Jalandhar-Kosmo Hyundai and Goel Hyundai. Kosmo alone has walk-ins of 15-20 in a day, and sells 200 vehicles in a month. The buyer is typically in business, or the armed forces, if not a bank employee, says Ranjeet Chauhan, Manager with Kosmo. The city has a potential for around 700 cars per month, 1,200 if the compact car segment is included, he adds. The average age group of customers is between 30 and 40, and most are repeat buyers, purchasing their second or third vehicle. Chauhan says he knows customers who have bought one car a year every year for the last three years!

Dominos Pizza-set up about three years ago-is scouting for locations for two more outlets, says its 26-year old manager Harwant Singh. He handles some 60 delivery orders and 125 takeaways daily. The outlet employs some 17 people; three of them are girls working for pocket money. Nibedita Batra, a BCA second-year student working with Singh, says she uses the money to buy clothes, hang out and pay for college text books. Not in that order though!

The Café Coffee Day outlet in Jalandhar, set up in June last year, has a floor area of 1,500 sq ft-plus and caters to some 250 customers daily. That's daily sales of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, says Amandeep Singh, manager. The coffee major is coming up with a second outlet in BMC Chowk soon.

Families are very important in the scheme of things for Yankee Tunns, a beer and wine pub. Of the 150 customers he gets daily, owner Satinder Pal Singh says women find it fashionable to sip wines. He also organises parties for families and school children. The most requested items are burgers and pizzas, which his customers have with Gilafi kebab. Wine and pizza may appear a strange combination but when money talks, proprietors like Satinder Pal can only take heed and oblige.

-Sudarshana Banerjee

Metro In The Making
Being a seaport has always ensured prosperity for Mangalore. Now an infotech boom promises to bring in newer, bigger, money.

In terms of geographical size or population of Mangalore might not match the other major cities of Karnataka like Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad or even a Mysore. But the sheer abundance of natural wealth and, more than that, the entrepreneurial culture of the place, will ensure that the per capita income in Mangalore would be the same as that of any major metro.

Mangalore, with its seaport through which most of the major import and export activities of Karnataka happen, is a bustling town. Named after Mangala Devi, the goddess of good fortune, Mangalore (the Portuguese corruption of the word) lies on the backwaters formed by the Netravati and Gurupura rivers. The city has been historically a ship-building centre.

The undulating terrain is blessed with abundant rainfall, verdant greenfields, innumerable water falls, beautiful beaches and rich variety of flora and fauna. The Mangalore port is India's ninth largest in terms of cargo handled. 75 per cent of India's coffee and a bulk of its cashew exports pass through Mangalore. A number of industries like Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers, Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals are located here.

It is not just old economy either. B.V. Naidu, Director of Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore says that software exports from Mangalore have rocketed by more than 38 per cent last year, touching nearly Rs 456 crore. Infosys has a full-fledged development centre at Kottara as do several other software players including several local ones.

The city is a centre for business, trade, banking, education and healthcare. Mangalore, which is the headquarters of Dakisha Kannada district, is virtually called the cradle of the Indian banking industry. Mangaloreans are also famous for their ability to run the hotel business.

High on per capita income: Abundance of natural wealth and the town's entrepreneurial culture explains Mangalore's unprecedented boom in the recent times

Mangalore is a cosmopolitan city with a mixture of Christians, Hindus and Muslims almost in equal proportion. The presence of Jesuit missionaries as well as numerous other educational institutions has ensured 100 per cent literacy in the city. Simultaneously influenced by both the big metros Mumbai and Bangalore, Mangalore has managed to pick up the go-getting attitude of Mumbai and the grace and style of Bangalore. While beedi barons, coffee, cashew, cardamom, pepper, Arecanut estate owners form the old elite, the infotech boom has led to an influx of new money. Given the fact that Karnataka has been an energy-deficient state, Mangalore is attracting huge investments in this sector given its hydro capacity as well as the fact that a full-fledged port is located here. Over the next four years, investments of around Rs 20,000 crore is likely to be pumped in to create 4,300 MW of power generating capacity.

ONGC has announced that it is likely to set up a 2,000 MW gas-based power plant in Mangalore. Even at Rs 3 crore a MW, this project alone could draw Rs 6,000 crore. A 1,015 MW coal fired power plant is being set up by the Nagarjuna Group at an estimated cost of Rs 4,000 crore. The world's largest single barge mounted power project of the GMR group is already operational at Tanir Bhavi.

Says Tony Fernandes, an Coffee exporter: ''Mangalore is seeing unprecedented boom in spite of the fluctuations in the prices of commodities and various cash crops. Mangaloreans have always been commerce-oriented and are able to adapt to changes quickly. That is why India's banking industry was born here.''

Little wonder that several auto showrooms have cropped up, including Tribhuvan Motors which sells Fiat vehicles, Standard Hyundai, Peninsular Honda, Cauvery Ford, and Frontline Chevrolet.

An active nightlife with a number of pubs and shopping malls exists. Says Arun Suvarna, an apparel trader at Saibeen Complex, Lalbagh: ''Because of Portuguese influence for several centuries and because it is port town with constant interaction with outsiders, enjoying the good things of life comes naturally to Mangaloreans. The latest craze is low waist jeans among teenage girls.''

Ideal's ice cream parlour on Market Road is spread over three floors and Prabhakar its proprietor claims it is the largest in Asia. ''People here want to eat out and the average income here is sufficiently large enough to indulge in it.'' Bangalore had better watch out. Here comes Mangalore!

-Venkatesha Babu

Potholes And Polaroid
Don't let the bad roads and bullock carts fool you: Moradabad wants the good things in life, and people there can pay for them.

At first blush moradabad may not appear exactly what BT had in mind when it decided to explore some of India's smaller towns. Mayank Pathak, City Lead for Reliance Infocomm, hails from Bareilly, another town in UP, makes no bones about what he thinks about Moradabad: "Bareilly is much more happening," he shrugs.

But when money is not in short supply, life can't be that bad now, can it? The town's economy revolves around exports from its small-scale industries. Says S.M. Nasir, the owner of a spectacles shop that sells Ray Ban, Polaroid and Police sunglasses: "From Delhi to Lucknow, if there's one place where there is money, it's Moradabad." Adds Mohammad Aqib, who runs an advertising business. "Everything we need is available right here. "

If brands ranging from Levis to John Players to Lee Cooper to Peter England, from Reebok to Rayban, and from Samsung to Sony have tuned into Moradabad, Amit Gupta, 25, son of a brass handicrafts exporter, explains why: "Most people here are exporters, and many others are related to them. So if one person starts an exports business, others naturally follow in his footsteps." Gupta, incidentally, owns four cars, and has sauntered into the local Maruti showroom to enquire about his next potential acquisition: A Suzuki Grand Vitara.

Money matters: A relatively less-happening small town, Moradabad has all leading brands thnaks to export-money

The local automobile market is dominated by Maruti, simply because no other car manufacturer has a dealership at Moradabad. And its sales are on the rise. Compared to last fiscal when it sold 721 cars, the first quarter of the current fiscal itself has seen the dealer overshooting the target of 340 vehicles by 10 per cent. And the car that sells most here is not the entry-level Maruti 800, but the Alto. As for television, sales of flat-screen TVs outstrip the national average by a bit. According to Jaspreet Singh, the local dealer in Samsung products, 25-30 per cent of all TVs sold are flat-screen, compared to the national average of 10 per cent. With so much money around, banks are doing well also. The branch manager of a leading private bank that started operations in Moradabad in March 2003 says: ''We open on an average 500 new accounts every month. '' Don't get fooled by those bad roads and bullock carts: Moradabad has aspirations, and the purchasing power to match.

-Alokesh Bhattacharyya

Pumping Up The Volume
Air-conditioned paan shops, a three-screen multiplex and a disco, Rajkot rocks, and the youth rule

The first thing that hits you about Rajkot after spending a few hours there is that it's a pretty small town (that's why we're there, right?). Nothing is more than 15 minutes away from anything! But Rajkotians will tell you the town is gradually expanding. One of the newer shrines of urbanisation, Cosmoplex-a three-screen multiplex-has opened on the Rajkot-Kalawad Road, a good 20 minute ride from the heart of the city. Cosmoplex also boasts a Food Zone, which serves a variety of cuisines including Thai, as well as a Gaming Zone packed with all the latest video games.

Rajkot is a proportionate mix of a wannabe city and a small town, best represented by a horse ruminating in the middle of a road with bumper-to-bumper traffic on either side-bang in front of an ICICI Bank outpost! Other than Cosmoplex, other signs of activity are more subtle, but they're there nevertheless. Options, the first lifestyle store in the entire Saurashtra region, stays open throughout the day, a departure from the '1-4 closed' routine that people are used to. Lords Banquet Hall, which serves the perennially popular 'Punjabi and Chinese' food, recently opened another eatery, Temptations, to cater to the increasing demand for 'western food' like pizzas and burgers. Big Bite, another fast food joint in the city, is equally popular with the youngsters and the family crowd alike.

It's not exactly easy to find signs of night life in Rajkot, but then perhaps unlike a Trichy or a Moradabad, you'll find them all right if you look in the right places. There's a disco at Motel, The Village, on the outskirts of the city. Although the restaurants are open till past midnight, there aren't too many entertainment options for youngsters except for the pool parlours that are pretty popular, and the occasional cyber café.

Rajkot has been a business city over the years, with agriculture and agro-based products contributing substantially to the economy. Over the years, people have been dabbling in shares, but fixed deposits still remain the preferred investing option here. ICICI Bank alone has eight ATMs in Rajkot, and HDFC Bank, three.

Bigger by the day: Food zones, such as this one, and multiplexes are changing the face of Rajkot

Rajkotians love to shop and this is apparent when one looks at the shopping districts in the city. There are a wide variety of plazas like Heera Panna or Pramukh Swami Arcade, which house a multitude of shops selling products ranging from shoes to gold to cellphone connections. The City Mall, the first mall in the region, is barely a week old. Options, which is in the heart of the city, houses brands ranging from Louis Philippe to Blackberrys in menswear, to Omega and Rado and Swatch. Step inside, and you could forget that you are in Rajkot.

One common observation everybody in the city makes is that the spending power has increased over the past two years. ''People, especially those exposed to life in big cities are increasingly willing to spend money on premium products,'' says Brijesh Mehta, General Manager, Options. ''They might not know how to pronounce a brand, but that's not going to stop them from buying it.''

Another reflection of increased spending is that Rajkotians have been bitten by the travel bug, with Goa being the favourite destination, especially during the Janmashtami week. ''For the past two years, people have also been also going abroad a lot-mainly to the Far East,'' says Minesh Mathur of Sunshine Travels. Add to this the tag of having travelled abroad and it is easy to see why foreign destinations are so popular

-Priyanka Sangani

Pizza Or Idle?

Buy an egg biryani and get a Chicken 65 free-if you thought bundling freebies to entice consumers is a trick taught only in B-school, you obviously haven't been to Tiruchirapalli or Trichy, the 23 square mile town down south, 320 km from Chennai. The biryani-chicken combo is the most unique selling proposition of this roadside restaurant hugging the railway station.

Complementary Chicken 65 in Trichy is only the first sight that jolts you into a state of attentiveness as you make your way out of the railway station. Rickshaw drivers pulling in for pizzas at the local outlets (there are no Pizza Huts or any such chains), and maidservants on a Rs 500 wage packing Maggi noodles (instead of idlis) for their kids make you realise there is something about Trichy.

Famous for its temples laden with architectural and sculptural marvels-Srirangam and Triuvanakoil are just two of them-Trichy is a delightful mix of the traditional and the modern. The flower bazaars, the commodity markets selling timber, jaggery, pulses, textiles and a zillion other things, including chemicals to make your own detergent coexist peacefully with 'Burma Bazaar', an attractive grey market hub offering everything from 'imported' phones to snazzy suitcases.

And then you have the private banks, the stockbroking houses, the car showrooms, the multinational home finance firms, the mobile phone service providers, and the ubiquitous ATMs. For marketers Trichy is strategic because it is centrally located to cater to the places deeper south. It has amongst the country's oldest international airports (with daily flights to Sri Lanka), while Kochi, Trivandrum, and Chennai provide further links to West Asia and Singapore.

Slow, but steady: The Nilgiri's department stores boast some 1,000 walk-ins a day

ICICI Bank is the most pervasive, with four branches. ARA Securities is the largest stockbroker in Trichy with 2,000 active members. Says N. Velleyen Srinivasan, Director, ARA Securities: "There are 11 broking houses here. Awareness is spreading." A single road with residential-cum-commercial constructions on either side is dotted with eight ATMs. Honda has a showroom for its four-stroke scooters and last fortnight, the first Hyundai showroom opened up in Trichy. The office of Citi Financial is crowded, mostly with home loan aspirants. "But they don't want credit cards yet," shrugs T.P. Gopalakrishnan, Branch Manager at Citi Financial. The Nilgiris department stores boast some 1,000 walk-ins a day, which double over the weekend, but there aren't too many such supermarkets to be seen.

Yet residents like K. Raghunathan, a leading criminal lawyer, aren't satisfied with the infrastructure. The corporation is strapped for funds, and taxes have shot through the roof without any tangible benefits. There appears to be a yawning gap between the monied few who build fancy apartments for investment purposes and the majority. But you realise that awareness and aspirations are rising when you hear the story about the maid contemplating action against the government via the consumer redressal forum for not giving free curriculum books that were promised to school children. Another indicator: Trichy's largest gym has some 30 regular women members!

-Nitya Varadarajan

Flying High
A conspicuous spot on an airline's radar screen, and with a thriving software park, Vijayawada is headed for life in the fast lane.

If anything indicates the growth being witnessed in small towns it is the fact that some of these towns and cities are back on the aviation map. As I do a quick scan, the first thing that hits me, is that even on a weekday, the Air Deccan ATR 42 flight to Vijayawada from Hyderabad is nearly full. There are, as yet, no five star hotels in the city. A number of three star and budget hotels have however sprung up. Café Coffee Day has set up shop on M.G. Road next to a branch of ICICI Bank. It is packed even on a weekday evening with a young crowd. Sriramulu Reddy, a 20-year-old student of Loyola college, says ''Vijayawada is changing at a fast pace. Everybody sees things on television and wants similar things.'' Twirling her Nokia 2100 Chitra Devarakonda, a friend of Sriramalu and a student of Monsal Institute of Fashion Technology, says: ''Earlier people would not consider courses like fashion technology. Even hanging out with boys was considered an aberration.''

Boom, boom, boom: Consumerism has picked up here in the recent years

N.S. Siddiah, the officer in charge of the local Software Technology Parks of India, says with pride that software exports from Vijayawada have increased by 50 per cent in the last year, admittedly from a small base of Rs 2 to Rs 3 crore in 2003-04. Shoppers throng the various commercial establishments well past 9 pm. Various hawkers, shopkeepers and hoteliers compete for custom late into the night. The proprietor of Modern Hotel where we end up wants to know more about Bangalore's Darshinis and says: ''People now don't have time and we want to follow the same fast-food model to serve our clientele.'' Clearly Vijayawada appears just about ready to switch to life in the fast lane.

-Venkatesha Babu