I just finished reading the second of VS Naipaul’s books that my aged father presented me for my birthday this year along with Sam Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands. I have already written about The Enigma of Arrival and Shattered Lands on my blog, and if I thought that Letters Between a Father and Son would be… Continue reading When Writing Runs in The Naipaul Family
I have been writing on the travails of the advertising industry on my blog for the past couple of years at least. These are based on my observations from the outside, since my career in advertising in India was wrecked over two decades ago by unprofessional organisations. These problems have now reached an existential crisis… Continue reading How the Advertising Industry Can Reinvent Itself
The year is ending with Trump doing a whistle-stop tour of several Asian countries – Southeast Asian and East Asian this time – signing several trade agreements along the way. Of course, the highlight at the ASEAN conference in Malaysia was the peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand, one of Trump’s many showpiece peace treaties… Continue reading Asia Becoming Theatre of US-China Competition
What a huge fuss has been kicked up over Bihar’s 2025 assembly elections! This, when there was no new candidate, no major new party contesting the elections and so any big surprise or wild card was ruled out. Some might argue that Prashant Kishore’s Jan Suraj party was the big surprise element in this election,… Continue reading When Economic Policies Are Made on The Campaign Trail
While reading Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and The Making of Modern Asia which my aged father gave me for my birthday this year, I was thinking that this is a book for international readers since the history of India’s partitions has been told many times. But through the first chapter itself, I was surprised to… Continue reading Shattered Lands Surprises, Though Not Pleasantly
It’s almost 20 years since I left New Delhi for my aged parents’ home in Chicalim, Vasco, Goa in October 2008. When I watch scenes of the smog-filled air in Delhi-NCR play out on English news channels at this time of the year, year after year, I count myself lucky to not be living or… Continue reading Time Indian Cities Promoted Metro Rail Travel
It was long overdue. In fact, GST should have been launched in 2017 with no more than a couple of slabs. Ideally, it should have been just one at 18%. But in a country like ours where most of the population can barely afford even the daily essentials, perhaps a rate of 5% on some… Continue reading How Car Companies Should Make the Most of GST Rationalisation
The Indian economy is growing at a reasonably rapid pace, though nowhere near the 8%-9% growth recorded in the early and mid-2000s. Still, considering the two huge shocks the world economy has faced in the past two decades – the 2008 Financial Crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic – we have to say that India has… Continue reading It is Time to Build Brand India
The IMD has announced the withdrawal or retreat of the South-west Monsoon for this year, and I thought I'd share a small and quick video I made to bid it goodbye. These are video images of the swaying palms next-door to our flat and the sea at Bogmalo Beach, which is not too far from… Continue reading Farewell to the Monsoon in Goa 2025
In an earlier blog post on media brands, I had written that BBC’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza was found wanting, and that I was particularly disappointed because I happen to be a regular BBC World News viewer and because I had done some advertising work for BBC when they were launching India-specific programmes… Continue reading How the BBC Can Become More Competitive
Peripatetic Perch 