"Innum paramugam eno?"

The best examples pertaining to various strategic management and marketing tactics can be seen in Indian pre-marriage activities. You have slick marketing, product augmentation, strategic alliance, horizontal diversification, pricing........well the list is endless.

And these are being followed since time immemorial. One such made an indirect contribution to my being here to write this blog.

The year was 1953. My father, a 23 year old fresh Engineer then from rural Kerala and hailed from a very poor family. As was won't those days, educated poor Brahmin boys were in demand in the marriage market as the girls parents looked out for well educated boys as a way of securing the future of their wards.

Mother was a second generation Bombay born girl, eldest daughter of a family 5, her father having migrated to Bombay in 1930's from Kerala in search of opportunities in the private sector in the big metro. Mother was not very attractive to look at, - 17, thin, very dark and a possessing a reserved demeanour. Father was not impressed when he went to meet my mother at her house, though his poor parents didn't mind the least since mothers family was relatively affluent.

Father had almost decided to refuse the alliance, when someone remarked that my mother sings classical music well and asked her to sing.

Mother sat on the floor opposite to father and started singing. She had studied music for 6 years and had a nice voice. You can call this her USP.

The first song was a small one invoking Lord Ganapathy, as was the norm. Father was impressed with the singing but was firm that he was not marrying this girl.

But little did he know that he was no match for the slick marketing and entrepreneurship of the Bombayites.

Mother started the second song,

'Easane intha ezhaikku iranga innum thamadama...........' This song in the beautiful ragam of Chakravakam loosely translated meant 'Lord, why the delay in condescending to this poor girl'.

It touched an emotional chord as father felt the pangs of guilt as a young girl was asking him (begging) him to marry her through a melodious song. Remember the setting. He was sitting amidst a high pressure crowd of 10-15 relatives of hers, and was already mellowed with high quality sweets and savouries. You also need to remember that for a Palghat born boy, Bombay in 1953 was a whole new world. It was the land of opportunities, like US of today.

Father started wavering a bit. Then came the next song,

'Innum paramugam eno...........................' meaning 'Why are you still diffident? and why don't you take a favourable decision'.............................

Bang!........Poor father fell for it. He thought the songs were suggestions from God directing him to take a positive decision. He consented to the marriage little knowing that all of this was a smart marketing plan implemented to perfection by mother's family.

To the day she died, mother vowed that she never knew the meaning of the songs she sang and that she was asked to sing these songs in the specific order by the elderly ladies (marketing veterans) in the family. And till he died, my father never forgave my mothers family for conning him into the marriage.

We are all naive as compared to those marketing geniuses.