Baisakhi Bazaar at Club Patio by Pitaara and BuzzouQ

The eve rather the night of 13th April 2013, I walked into Club Patio at South City 1 Gurgaon.
Pitaara and BuzzouQ had collaborated and created Baisakhi Bazaar.The club has turned into my second home over the last six months.It makes me feel good,the guard is always smiling and Suruchi is always on her feet.You must go over to Club Patio for yourself and confirm what I am saying :) And before you go looking for Suruchi she is the one who does the deal making,just kidding ...actually doing my best to r remember her post....I am one of those who never knows who is who :).She heads sales and marketing,hope I got that right.

Anyway back to our Bazaar...i walked up couple of steps and saw a brightly lit and colourful glass panel...wow,me was truly delighted,looked good.

I had arrived as a chief guest :) at 9.00 p.m not intentionally just one of those un planned delays....just like the un planned baby :)) this article seems to be bringing out the wicked side of me.


So back on track the Bazaar...i wanted to meet the participants,check out the goodies and do some shopping....so I was hurrying.

Enroute I met Manish Sinha proud owner of Tikdam and cinnamon stays with all his beautiful bar art with him....he was sad it had turned windy so he packed up...a quick conversation ensured he had got a promising business lead...first event an official launch for Tikdam...nice :)

A walk around the space and conversation with many of the women entrepreneurs who were there I discovered loads of happy women.

One said Ma'am Thank you for inviting me and sharing this wonderful platform with me...we had met recently at I Inspire....she had these most awesome hand painted Ganpati's.

The one right next to her Venita with her organic line ...was happy she had stepped out and brought her work to people and opportunity to understand the market at a very low cost...she was happy her father had come to see and fussed around her...made me happy.

Another pretty lady named Sapna she has been with us at BuzzouQ earlier was glowing and reminded me that she had new collection of kids dohar's...and had been looking for me..I have a niece whom I am happy to buy the world for :) and I obviously went show and she happily announced Oh only one piece left super man rest all sold out...WOW :)

Met Meenu another of our BuzzouQ participants and she was emphatic in saying Club Patio works for me.

Walking along I came across some amazing Salwar kameez though not my size ....great opportunity for someone to encash on :)

And then I met Monica accompanied by the pretty Gayatri Singh...always a delight to meet her.So beautiful in her Saris.Monica came to me for mentoring and stocking with Buzzaria and is honing her skills in marketing and understanding the market for her beautiful outfits.

Saw the wonderful photo booth...spoke to some other participants....went to grab some food and did I do some grabbing :) the joke became me :) a plate of food flew in my direction and so for few minutes we were all part of comedy circus....so guys loads of free entertainment too:) we just couldn't stop laughing.


And then I discovered some elephant poo stuff and I was amazed and I asked did people recognise the products and the NGO Sarthak went yes :) they did I said wow and went on to tell them who I am and they looked at me and said Oh Ma'am we were just wondering how will we ever reach you and Voila there i was in front of them :) ways of the universe :).Ma'am we want to sell via Buzzaria...cards were exchanged :) more B2B was in place...I was soon too find out.

A lady just appeared and quietly asked me can I get your 5 minutes...I was like sure,she continued,Ma'am I know you are very busy,I have come all the way from Aligarh,can i speak to you....I want to get my tarot reading done first...sure we will talk over coffee.



BuzzouQ is a platform created for entrepreneurs,creating an access to the market,for all of us to tweak our products and our marketing.BuzzouQ is the event arm of Blue Lotus....and you can call it sister brand of Buzzaria.

Pitaara created by Shephali Kasliwal...let me tell you....an awesome women/mom entrepreneur....I am grateful to Suruchi for our collaboration. Shephali has been on her toes and you could say fingers to ensure the success of this event....hats off to her work and I bow to her tireless energy.God Bless...she also has her own brand by the name of knotty angels and had created Pitaara for other's just like her.

Back to the lady post tarot across a cup of coffee,asked for an appointment to show me her cushion covers which she wanted to stock at Buzzaria and she wanted design mentoring too...with a promise to meet her later this week...thank god though we decided on a later date not knowing I had the flu...and would have cancelled appointment...and she must have asked me 6 times I won't forget her :) and I promised her 6 times I won't :) she once again said its important for me to get this right and I once again assured her I am with her.

Meanwhile I kept bumping into a short lady dressed in cream and black carrying loads of shopping bags...on introduction...Oh you are the one who owns Buzzaria ...you know the first BuzzouQ I bought an Aloe Vera gel from you it was the best ever...felt good...we carry 50000 odd products and Aloe Vera gel is one of the products.


I must profusely thank Priyanka Arora she handles all BuzzouQ work...she is a work from home mother.

Arushi Awasthi for her creatives.

The Blue Lotus interns - Arav, Aneesh,Prathvee.

Pooja Rajgaria -who pitched in at the last minute as our team did so want to put up Buzzaria stall and some of our team members were occupied at American Embassy and Pragati Maidan and Lado Sarai.

Pooja is in love with Buzzaria...thank you Pooja...she has in the past been with the brand Holii and worked with craft council of Bengal.

And Shephali - Thank you for the beautiful marketing and the collaboration.

And Club Patio and especially Suruchi ...though we do have some resolvable issues with operations :) something to do with tents which fly :) seriously tents and not flying carpets :)


On the eve of Baisakhi we all had fun and loads of happy faces and I shouldn't end this note without mentioning Kashish Sharma our very own tarot reader...a born gypsy :)

......and my driver Rohit who ensures that our entire team is fed and dropped home in one piece :)))

and all the others who contributed by taking up stalls and buying and promoting and supporting and doing workshops and of course creating excitement....

What a Buzz !!! The Baisakhi Buzz

C ya Soon we are BuzzoQing very soon.....
Stay Connected....and stay Informed
......With April Blessings

Mamta Mamta
15th April 2013

Baisakhi Creatives which wern't used

These were used :)

And what people had to say

43

Weekend Buzzaria at ATS Noida Sept 2012

Moushumi arrived at Buzzaria,the day of the inauguration,brought in by Aarti and that was my first connect with her.Couple of weeks later we were again talking this time with the thought of her doing a Weekend Buzzaria at her home in ATS Noida.She would get Aarti to talk on her behalf.She was hesitant and nervous and unsure of most things.Her twinkling eyes which I am now used to were filed with concern in those days.
A year later Moushumi has come into her own.Wow :) I love it,each time I see the transformation.The empowered women is a delight to watch.

Her 4th Weekend Buzzaria is around the corner and she is confident and excited.In the last few months she took Buzzaria on the Move to Goa and was with us at  The Indian Market Place we created at Diwane Khas, Taj Delhi, the two BuzzouQ's and the Fashion Make Over by Social Potpourri at Buzzaria.

All the above events have allowed her to connect to her skill sets,the journey into learning social media has allowed this stay at home mom to add a new dimension to her learning curve.

I am so proud of her and now she is guiding Priyanka another stay at home Mom,Priyanka has a small baby and a 90 year old grandmother to look after.

Each time I see my work as THE Entrepreneur Alchemist create results....my soul starts to sing.
Moushumi keep it up,your journey has just begun and you have far to go.I am so happy for you :)

For all those this attached invite is the next Weekend Buzzaria she is setting up...do attend :)

Me - Mamta Mamta :)

GodBless Candles and Blessings

Nuteez Shorts

Nuteez Gal's

Arushi modelling for Nuteez - I am Wild :)

BluPear at it's best

Kashish and BluPear :) Footwear that make your feet Happy :)

Buzzaria ...Need I say More...

Kashish and Free Spirited ( loads of connect with the brand name )

Mimathyma

Handmade Toys filled with Love ( machine washable)

Twisty Pads by 61C

Kashish and Roses and so much more

Soap Really!!! By Nourish

Hand Painted Paisley's

Coffee Caper by The Elephant Company

Sippers by The Elephant Company

Recycled - Tyre sling Bag by Green the Gap

Quirk Box Floor Lamps

I Pad Covers 

OWLS so beautiful by HandsOn...and my mascot :)

Crow

Gayatri's collectibles The Hip and happening COW :)

Crow - A delight for many( too many in love with this stuff )

More hand painted stuff ( Art as accessories)

Coaster and More by Very Indian

Meri Jaan a hot favorite with all

The Exhibition @Gurgaon

Last weekend we had taken over my friend Sangeeta’s living room and her life :)


My very own Indian Bazaar…was born in April 2011.An experiment, which brought immense happiness, contentment and excitement .Me and the family whose home I had taken over all were so exhilarated with the entire experience that I repeated the entire exercise, a month later.Voila!!! We were very successful, yet again, being in love with retail, I was super excited.Two months in a row, same location, both the exhibitions super successes…WOW!

I tried counting the number of colors,failed miserably:)

The first exhibition, the first customer was my friend Sangeeta and she asked me to hold an exhibition at her home. I dilly dallied for couple of months and then kind of closed in on some date.Spreading the word, sending sms, emails, designing the marketing all brings up lots of harrowed folks, but, then the adrenalin rush when the final products are all ready is a great ego booster.This time we had designed a poster, first time we saw all our brands on a single surface, felt GOOD!Designing each logo, coming up with the brand idea and then the brand name, most of it, is though, all jumbled up inside you and from the clutter; you have to reach the space of complete clarity.This process takes sometimes very little time and sometimes, months and years.    






                                         We are a start up, and like any start up have lots of teething issues, and also I found people cannot fathom the variety of brands, it will eventually sink in…The entire idea being so new.At the end of this exhibition, I felt the exhibition requires its own unique identity, Moving Bazaar,Bazaar on the Move, Home Bazaar, and many such options floated around and then I decided on “Weekend Buzzaria”

I am sure the Giraffe never expected this 

My team and I met Sangeeta and her family and all her friends, for those three days we were part of their lives. Phoebe the 6-month-old Yorkshire terrier stole our heart. The domestic help, the two maids who informed me when I entered ,Oh she won’t answer her phone as she is not near her phone:) this was in response to my query of where is Sangeeta? They loved the stuff and spent hours helping us set up the Bazaar, and what do I find, the next day, they came shopping and not only that they invited their friends too. This was simply fantastic. 


The BluPear Chappals crossed all income barriers :)


Sangeeta’s mother in law and sister in law live on the ground floor. Aunty I have known for 30 odd years as Sangeeta’s husband Vicky (Vivek Chopra) is my classmate from school. Though this was the first time, I was getting an opportunity to show her, what I do. I had brought everything to her doorstep.

Aunty Sukirta is an energy healer, has been teaching Reiki for a very long time. She does PLR sessions, angel card readings, crystal therapy, theta healing etc, so Aunty does not really go on regular shopping jaunts. When I saw my Bazaar from her eyes, I felt so good…so very good.


A friend’s friend Anjuli visited with her friend and they were amazed at the range of products, they fell in love, with the Skirts, the Chappals and the Jewelry. They shopped to their hearts content, continuously declaring that they are very conservative shoppers, they do not know what has come over them. Then they came back the next day, Ira, with her daughter who was wearing her mother’s slippers bought the previous day. Oh, I was on cloud nine seeing this little girl smiling her feet dazzling with the silver BluPear Chappals, and she bought one more for her daughter & her daughter’s friend. Anjuli came back too with her husband to look for more skirts,Mimathyma skirts were a big hit.

All tables were covered with Jewelry - no food here :)

The star of the show though was Shweta Chopra, Sangeeta’s daughter; her birthday is around the corner.All her aunts bought her gifts of her choice; she got herself lots n lots of Mimathyma skirts.Shweta is in first Year College and is not into truly ethnic Indian attire, but she loved the skirts as they appealed to her as fun n young and yet Indian enough to make her mom happy that she was willing to wear something other than her shorts.I am sure we will come back to the Chopra household this time invited by Shweta, next year, very close to her birthday…Ha-Ha


Vir for the first time saw so many women all in the span of 3 days shopping to their hearts content:)and that too at his home. Moreover, of course when we had issues, with the tempo guy and the packing staff, not turning up and dear Vir, even with his fractured arm, decided to assist us in best possible fashion. You see he was the man of the house for those 3 days as his dad was out of town.


Namita,Sangeeta’s sister in law, came straight from school, she is a teacher, she looked at me with her twinkling eyes and said you know I saw your poster I had to come straight to the first floor, without even going home for lunch, I just couldn’t resist. The glee I saw made me forget all the stress n strain of setting up the bazaar:)


I can go on and on about Sangeeta’s hospitality, the lovely coffee, the food, the garden her lovely home and her smiling and calm face, but she will make mince meat of me:)
Oh I can surely tell you she is a wonderful Business Coach, and also completely involved in running the training workshops on Productivity.(Mission Control Productivity Workshop)


I also got a chance to meet my school batchmate Kamal, after some 30 odd years. He spent practically an hour pouring over all the jewelry and picking up stuff for his nieces, daughter and wife. It was very gratifying to see that a Man could also go through such a humungous range ofproducts and ask us the why and how’s about many of the pieces.


Our bazaar did attract a fan from FB Arunima, who came in saying she saw the Chappals on FB, bought one pair, went out down the stairs and after few minutes came back and said give me the other one too.
I think that has been the fastest return customer :)


Thanks Anu Behl for coming all the way from GK2....for the IamRa Bracelets


Thanks Nilufer for taking our visiting cards to your dinner party :)
Thanks Kiku, Meena, Nandini.
Thanks Kavita, Sagrika, Anita, Anu, Dr Deepika, Kanika, Mehek, Sarviki, Urmi and all the other whose names I could not gather. 
Special thanks to the gentleman who came and asked for the cards with store address and said we look forward to visiting your store, start it soon. He spent an hour choosing stuff for his wife and daughters.
Special thanks to Sonu Vandanaa Chhabra, Sonia Sharma (I am sure you saw your groove), Preiti Singh, Sumita Pant Joshi


We are still, fine-tuning, the art of moving our goodies. Moreover, while going to Gurgaon found us in a very helpless situation. In walked an old friend Sunil heading back to Gurgaon and offered to carry a carload of stuff:) And in the bargain i discovered he is a collector and one of his passions is to collect Hundis (Promissory Notes) Then on our way, back I asked my cargo person who happens to be Sunil too, to help us out, he and his dad came to take the stuff but the helpers did not turn up:( Sunil who now turned into an angel moved all the big boxes all by himself and got us home well before it turned midnight :)If anyone is looking for a good cargo guy Gautam Roadways are good people.


Now off to do more planning work for the next one this one is atAabha’s home in.Noida

Love n Happiness n Happy Shopping 

Mamta Mamta