Mahnga roye ek baar, sasta roye baar baar. The expensive one cries once, the cheap one cries again and again. The Rekhta dictionary lists the proverb in Hindi and Urdu.
Its Hindi entry explains that a costly thing has no flaw, so it breaks down late. A cheap thing is defective, so it breaks down again and again. The English entry reads: “expensive things may be difficult to buy but cheap stuff is a permanent nuisance.”
Godrej began making furniture in 1923 with a steel cupboard, the Storwel. At one time, The Week reports, “people had to book their Storwel almost nine months in advance.”
The cupboard became a wedding gift. “It became a tradition to gift a bride or a newly wed couple a Godrej Storwel,” Kopal Kulkarni, a former design lead at Godrej, told ThePrint.
The Royal Enfield Bullet has “the longest and unchanged production run of any motorcycle,” Wikipedia notes. In 1949 the Indian Army ordered Bullets for border patrol. From 1955, Bullets were assembled in Madras from kits sent by the factory in England.
Enfield India went on to make the 1955 design almost unchanged. The brand’s slogan is “Made like a gun.”
In 2019 the adhesive brand Fevicol marked its 60th year with a 90-second film by Ogilvy India. The film follows one sofa through the life of a family. “Over time, the sofa travels across generations,” Storyboard18 wrote.
One of the catchphrases of its television ads is Fevicol ka mazboot jodh hai, tootega nahi. It is a strong Fevicol bond, it will not break.
The iron pillar in the Qutb complex in Delhi weighs more than six tonnes. Its inscription dates from the late fourth or early fifth century, the Gupta period. It has stood in the open air for about 1,600 years and has not rusted away.
The iron has a high phosphorus content. A thin, even layer forms on its surface and protects it from the Delhi climate.
Incredible India, the website of the Ministry of Tourism, describes the Kanjeevaram saree as “a family heirloom in most South Indian homes.” It mentions “the excessive use of real gold zari threads.”
The Government of India recognized the Kanchipuram sari as a geographical indication in 2005-06. Saris “woven with heavy silk and gold cloth are considered to be special and are worn on occasions and festivities,” Wikipedia notes.
Hindustan Motors built the Ambassador car until 2014. Sources give 1957 or 1958 as the first year. The car “dominated the market for several decades, mostly due to its spacious size and ruggedness,” Wikipedia notes.
Live History India summed up its reputation in three words: “Dependable, reliable and durable.”
In October 2015 Ambuja Cement released an ad with the wrestler The Great Khali. His house is not built for his size, so things keep breaking. A ceiling falls on his mother. His aunt tells him to rebuild the house with Ambuja Cement.
The ad was made by Publicis. Its tagline is “Giant strength for the Giant.”
In July 2022 Business Standard visited Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh, New Delhi. “Rumour has it that there is no device that cannot be repaired here,” the paper wrote.
A trader told the paper: “Almost 90 per cent of the parts we use while repairing phones come from China.” The paper added that “what traders call original here are essentially working parts.”
On December 24, 2022, National Consumer Day, Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal launched the Right to Repair portal. It began with mobile phones and electronics, consumer durables, automobiles and farming equipment.
The portal is meant to “allow customers to seek repairs of their devices elsewhere.” It hosts product manuals, schematics and software updates, so that people can “repair their devices on their own or through third parties.”