Among the many books I presented my aged father for his 93rd birthday last year, was one by Nobel Prize winning Egyptian novelist, Naguib Mahfouz. Titled The Meaning of Civilisation, it is a compilation of his newspaper articles for Al Ahram and is the second volume in what was originally a 3-volume book in Arabic.… Continue reading Civilisation and Egypt as a Modern State
As we go into the summer of 2026, there is no denying the fact that it is going to be a season of impasse, from which there is no easy way out. World leaders have got us into this dreadful situation but cannot find a way to extricate themselves and the world out of the… Continue reading Season of Roadblocks and Stalemate
You might wonder what would an advertising professional – a writer at that – know or have to do with the 4Ps of marketing propounded by Philip Kotler decades ago. It’s true, I am not a marketing professional, but having read and studied the 4Ps of marketing as part of my post-graduate one-year course in… Continue reading The Relevance of Marketing’s 4 Ps in the Digital Age
As part of my work for several years putting down my thoughts on brands, and also my more focused Brandology work this year, one of the many areas that I have been exploring is the connection that brands have with companies. Actually, these connections are several and operate at many different levels. The important ones… Continue reading How Brands Are Connected with Companies: Titan Wristwatches (Part I)
If at the start of 2025 and now in 2026, we thought that Trump’s tariffs would adversely impact the US economy and the rest of the world, we now also have the impact of Trump’s war in Iran to contend with. The latter could, in fact, take a much bigger toll on the global economy… Continue reading The Global Economy Faces a Double-Whammy in 2026
A couple of months ago, I happened to chance upon Indian Philosophy by Dr. S Radhakrishnan, a two-volume edition published by OUP in India. I was actually browsing on Amazon India searching for The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell which I wished to re-read and add to my now-depleted library of books thanks… Continue reading Indian Philosophy a Compendium of Indian Thought
It’s that time of the year again when some of India’s states are going to elections in a huge expression of our faith in democracy. Of course, this time these come against the backdrop of the SIR (Serious Internal Revision) exercise of our electoral rolls that has become particularly controversial in states like West Bengal.… Continue reading State Elections in India and the State of Their Economies
As part of my writing on Brandology – the art and science of building brands – I decided to explore some of the thorny issues concerning certain sectors of the Indian economy. After airlines, I wrote about the telecom industry in my previous blog post and the kinds of policy reforms we must see in… Continue reading How Vodafone Idea Can Tune in to Growth
Regular readers of my blog would know that I have been writing about the need for policy reforms in our airlines and telecom industries, as I think they both suffer from serious bottlenecks and are unable to grow at the rate at which they should be growing. Commercial airlines are important for a fast-growing economy… Continue reading India’s Telecom Industry Must Dial Up for Reforms
Even as there was relief in India over the long stalemate on tariffs ending and there being a lowering of tariffs to 25% from 50%, there has been no time to celebrate or even sign the final trade agreement with the US. Because, in the meantime, the US has decided to go to war with… Continue reading Indian Economy Buffeted by Tariff Wars and Real Wars
Peripatetic Perch 