The slowness of digital life

Digital connections = Speed. Instantaneous reactions, Instantaneous gratification, Instantaneous outrage and so on. Everything is instantaneous. Or not? Recently, while my own phone was getting recharged and I had no option but to look around, I saw a person sitting there, with phone in hand. Waiting with anticipation for a like, a comment or some […]

Specific diseconomy

Win awards with scam Fight competitors with self-destructively cheap pitches Create walled gardens for petty rent seeking Delude yourself by thinking that creativity is the sole preserve of your kind Do not grow your people, nurse a few egos Advocate brave disruption to clients, but do not attempt it yourself And when someone does try […]

The philosophy of advertising

What is common between a car, a cancer clinic, an app, wall paint and insurance? . . . #YOLO (You only live once.) I have worked on brands in each of these categories which ended up talking about #YOLO (more or less). YOLO – is a restless soul’s yearning for a fix – usually with […]

The absurdity of brands

“They deify what crushes them and find reason to hope in what impoverishes them.” So said Camus of Sartre and Dostoyevsky. (and the postmodern me am quoting him not from his text but from a wisecrack video.) He could just as well have said so about apple fan boys and enfield fanatics; essentially, all consumers […]

Travel Travel, Adopt a Camel

Travel as a personal narrative There are two things that give sense to our lives. One is the ‘anchor’ and the other is ‘change’. These two are the yin-yang of our personal narratives. ‘Anchor’ is things/ people/ places that gives you a sense of solidity about your identity. You perhaps are a Delhite. You perhaps […]

The truth about bullet riders

This was written in response to a Quora question. The question was “Why trend to purchase bullet bikes increased in India?” I think bikes (as most other things) are bought not only for its functional relevance but for its psychological relevance. (If you can commute ably with a 35k bike, why would you spend a […]

Truth about ‘being human’

Salman Khan is not merely an alleged criminal, a terrible actor or one of the most influential and loved people in India. He is a new archetype for the 21st century India. He is an archetype that answers a quintessential Indian yearning. Unfortunately the yearning reflects how pathetic and infantile humanity can be. When infants, […]