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BAUWAJI

 Jamshedpur, a city that developed due to the largesse and vision of JRD Tata and

the Tata Company is a melting pot of cultures and demographics It is a city that

is a hodge podge of Blue collar !or"ers, e#ecutives and managers of the Tata

$ehemoth, teachers, $usinessman and lastly the %oating population of students

!ho travel to this city for &uality education  Jamshedpur, fondly called Jampot,

proudly called 'The (teel City,) !as India*s +rst planned industrial city, laid out

$y Julian ennedy of -itts$urgh, !ith parallel streets, unimaginatively named

from A to ., /ast and West The city is a verita$le oasis in the middle of a steel

plant 0reen shady roads lined !ith houses, the (u$arnare"ha &uietly !inding its

!ay through the city, Wide e#panses of tree lined par"s !here children played,

 The Dalma hills resolutely loo"ing do!n on the city as industries churn out their

!hite $illo!y smo"e into the s"y, Jamshedpur is a city that anyone !ould love to

gro! up in It is in this sleepy city , tuc"ed a!ay in a small grove stands a small

tea shop But to simply call it a tea shop !ould $e an insult to the place It !as

a"in to calling Disney land a children*s par" This !as a place that had a history

attached to it, a rich past In Jamshedpur this name spar"ed o1 an instant t!inge

of nostalgia and remem$rance It !as no run of the mill tea shop and rightly so

no one called it that It !as "no!n $y a name that today stands synonymous to

&uality and 2ealous customer focus 3ere every$ody loved to come to BAUWAJI

In a !orld that is constantly on the go, in a !orld that is ephemeral and dynamic

Where people change, !here things change in the $lin" of an eye, the mind

craves for sta$ility It craves for an escape /scape from the mundane !orld of 

!or" and family, /scape from change 4i"e -eter -an and his ageless character,

people crave for something that reminds of them of their past A place !here

they feel the threads of history forever $ind them, !here they e#perience that

!hile outside nothing is the same, here nothing has changed It is this innate

desire to hold on to the past and indulge in an e#perience that stands the

ravages of time, is !hat endears Bau!a5i to his customers

 To the uninitiated the shop !as never called Bau!a5i in the +rst place /ven

$efore Independence, !hen World War 6 !as no!here near its completion, aman called RB (ahoo set up a small tea stall under a $anyan tree 3e had three

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sons, and as they gre! up they lent a hand in his tea shop In Bho5puri, the

young sons are fondly referred to as 'Bau!a) and the shop came to $e "no!n as

Bau!a5i after his youngest son Today no trip no trip to Jamshedpur is complete

!ithout a ritual visit to the $anyan tree sit7out for a glass of chai, infused !ith

fresh7pounded cardamom and strained !ith a deft t!ist of a red gamccha 

 Tea is the great leveller It $rings calm, &uiet, contentment and !armth In the

hot city of Jamshedpur rife !ith people all !or"ing hard to earn a honest day*s

living, they re&uired something that !ould $e an a$andonment of the senses

 Tea demands that you move into it slo!ly and savour the moment And it

re!ards you !ith !armth and delicacy of taste and refreshment And yet Bau!a5i

realised very early on that tea !as 5ust a ple$eian commodity The customers

"ept coming for the e#perience Just li"e any $ig $rand never changed its $rand

logo and colors to prevent customer fallout, Bau!a5is ensured that the am$iance

of his shop remained 5ust li"e it !as in the yesteryears Just li"e the 89*s people

came and !aited near the shop and rela#ed on the small stones and !ooden

logs There !as no !hi1 of modern creature comforts around 3is customers love

it and gladly !ait on the logs and indulge in animated discussions In the !ords

of the great mar"eting 0uru David :gilvy, mar"et success !as due to three

factors7 location, location and location And !hile one can say that Bau!a5i !as

luc"y to $e in the near vicinity of ;4RI , 4oyola (chool and the Tata (teel plant

the fact that customers from as far a!ay as Adityapur and places even farther

still drop $y is an a<rment of the fact that Bau!a5is appeal has more to do !ith

luc" and location

It is interesting to note that Bau!a5i charges premium rates from his customers

and yet people don*t mind paying it, even if tea is hardly a lu#ury good =ar"eting

e#perts li"e to theorise !hat The attitudinal de+nition of loyalty implies that

loyalty is a state of mind By this de+nition, a customer is >loyal> to a $rand, a

company or a service provider if they have a positive, preferential

attitude to!ard it In purely economic terms, the attitudinal de+nition of 

customer loyalty !ould mean that someone !ho is !illing to pay a premium for

Brand A over Brand B, even !hen the products they represent are virtually

e&uivalent, is >loyal> to Brand A The average rate for a cup of tea in Jamshedpur

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is Rs ? to @ Bau!a5i charges Rs hence Bau!a5i as a $rand drives consumer

loyalty

 The secret to Bau!a5i*s strong customer loyalty !ould pro$a$ly $e a host of 

factors or one, Bau!a5i ma"es it a point to remem$er his customerspreferences $y heartThere is no customary hailing the $oy or person in charge

of ma"ing the tea -eople am$le in and ta"e a seat as Bau!a5i rustles up his

magic and !ithin a matter of time you are presented your regular* , and that too

to your personal preference3e "no!s the !hims and foi$les of his regulars and

never fails to delight them In terms of attitudes, then, increasing a customerEs

loyalty is virtually e&uivalent to increasing the customerEs preference for the

$rand It is closely tied to customer satisfaction And $au!a5i surely "no!s ho!

to satisfy his customers

In mar"eting parlance 4oyalty is concerned !ith re7purchase activity, regardless

of any internally held attitudes or preferences In the $ehavioural de+nition,

loyalty is not the cause, $ut the result of $rand preference And Bau!a5i $ecomes

a strong rallying point for the customers $ecause of a plethora of reasons

 Just as the individual assesses the meaning of himself and other individuals in

the environment and determines ho! other individuals relate to his plans, so do

all individuals in a situation engage in the same assessment of themselves and

others in the interactional situation When a person identi+es himself and others,

he names or categori2es the participants in order to determine !hat is

appropriate $ehavior for each These $road categories are called >social

positions> li"e hus$and, doctor, friend etc The set of $ehavioral e#pectations

held to!ard the occupant of a given position is called >social role> (ocial role

performances are learned $ehaviors that are culturally determined and

developed over a period of time As the individual encounters many di1erent

social situations, the individual develops a repertoire of self7images !hich are

di1erent from one another and emerge as the situation re&uires That self !hich

is dependent upon the parameters of the social situation is the situational self 

image Thus a man in the a$ove situation $ehaves di1erently or presents a

di1erent self image !hen he is having tea at home, than he does !hen having

tea at a roadside tea vendor !ith friends (ym$olic interactionism, a su$set of 

sociological theory, o1ers a theoretically7sound !ay of conceptuali2ing $rand

choice for fre&uently7purchased products !ith !ell7developed and easily7distinguisha$le $rand images The concept of the situational self image, deriving

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from sym$olic interactionism, is de+ned and posited as a !ay of lin"ing past

research on self7imageF$rand7image congruency !ith that on situational e1ects

:nce an individual decides !hat image to e#press in the social situation, he

loo"s for !ays of e#pressing it and decides on !hat goals to satisfy and ho!

irstly the hedonic e#perience of sipping a hot piping cardamom laced tea is

aimed at satiating the senses =oreover Bau!a5i is a place that is a trip do!n

memory lane for customers 0enerations of customers have come $ac" to him

and reminisced a$out the times their fathers and grandfathers used to sip tea

here

It also satiates a very functional goal of having a daily dose of tea and the heady

nicotine rush associated !ith it or many of the customers, the day is

incomplete !ithout their favourite cuppa

And +nally Bau!a5i serves as a rallying point for his customers from all !al"s of 

life The Bau!a5i $rethren feel connected to each other through a common $ond

It serves as a sym$olic goal for people to $e associated in a larger community

and $e part of the city*s heritage (ome customers have admitted to have made

close friends at Bau!a5is after having met regulary The morning $adminton

players !ould sort out their di1erences over a sip of his tea rom the hoi polloito the common man, everyone is !elcome here Among the claustropho$ic social

mores of class distinction, Bau!a5i !as a $reath of fresh air Tea !as a great

leveller of human $eings Bau!a5i stood for egalitarianism among his customers

It didn*t matter if you !ere a hot shot and a regular, if you came late and placed

your order later than the person in front of you, you had to !ait patiently

And lastly it !as the simple mindset of Bau!a5i of treating his customers as part

of family that earns him undying loyalty from his customers 3is customers invite

him to each and every family function and they too are invited in turn According

to an anecdote, during his daughters !edding, the automo$ile sho!room o!ner

refused to ta"e payment from Bau!a5i and gifted him the $i"e (uch is the

a1ection that he elicits 3e is loved and revered in a city that values hard !or"

and perseverance At the end of the day Bau!a5i*s simplistic yet touching

comment proves 5ust !hy he is successful in !hat he does today7 Mai din bhar 

logon se baat karta rehta hun..Unka haalchaal puchta hun, who mere

haalchal puchte hain…Chai!! Chai bechna toh sirf ek bahan hai