in vacant or in pensive mood

The recent victory by TVK, led by Joseph Vijay, the superstar, made me look Tamil Nadu politics from the lens of a curious strategist.  Tamil Nadu has a long standing love affair with Cinema Politics. It's a state that has managed to convert reel power, superstardom to a political machinery for governance. And it has a track record of 6 decades. Vijay isn't an aberration, he is the norm proving the fundamental system. But as a strategist, I felt that this state doesn't elect politicians but archetypes and characters who are required for the story of the times.   Each of these people become successful when their party's manifesto resonates and aligns with the unmet needs of the voters and resolves the cultural contradiction of the times. Their archetypes truly shine when all of these align. Let's start with Karunanidhi .  He came to power as a highly educated, intellectual and powerful orator, script writer and the architect of pushing the Dravidian philosophy to the...

Here's a prime example of simple questions absolutely stumping you: "Can you explain the the difference between feeling and emotion?" That's a question I was asked by a carpentry teacher with whom I have had several philosophic discussions. But this one was different, it felt different.  My mind felt that it knew what the answer was but somehow, deep down, I wasn't happy with what I shared. I intuitively and almost instinctively felt that emotion had a higher weightage or bore a deeper meaning in our lives, than feeling. So my response was that feeling was how we reacted to our surroundings as a response to any physical, mental or physiological changes, and emotion was our enhanced sensorial and conscious mind acting upon those reactions. So, I told him that feelings came first and emotion later. But I also felt that emotions could be unconscious and in our banter, strangely felt that even feeling could be unconscious - especially when we don't know what we ar...

The Instagram algorithm is fascinating. I came across a profound intellectual and philosophical piece of content not from any self-proclaimed Indian guru but an American stand-up comedian. This is Pete Holmes' bit. He draws a fascinating philosophic parallel between characters in a book and the author. He simply says that most people look for God in this universe - something that he has created - and that is akin to the character looking for the author in the book he/she has written, in which the character lives.  I'd add that each character is themself a version of the author. Every version of the author exists in each of the characters he writes about. They just can't see it from inside the book.  Why I said that the algorithm is fascinating is because I just finished rewatching Loki Season 2 and this bit immediately drew me back to the Finale of Season 2. For those who haven't watched the show - let me first give you announce 'spoiler alert' here. Loki, the g...

I started my career in advertising with Bru Coffee. I was the junior account executive on this account in at Ogilvy, Mumbai. Needless to say, this was a huge opportunity, the magnitude of which I understoon only a few years later. For context, I am from a Puducherry - a charming small town in South India. So naturally,  a move from here to Mumbai is a BIIIIG jump. But that was still smaller compared to my professional leap. I was handling a Unilever account - a client few within the agency get the privilege of working on. The cherry on this surprise cake? I was working at Ogilvy - the mecca of modern advertising. A culture shaper in the Indian advertising scene. I had entered this behemoth without prior advertising experience, working on a client many aspired to handle, in a city many struggled to get to. And all of this was handed to me on a platter - all I had to say was YES. All of this would have been much harder if not for the account I was working on. Bru Coffee is a Sout...

The 2026 T20 World Cup has introduced something new - four official phases to a 20-over match: Launch. Consolidate. Accelerate. Finish. As a strategist, I found interesting yet funny, I have 3 observations to make.  Firstly - I get it. What started 20 years ago needs something new, fresh to keep audiences glued. It needs better 'marketing'. It needs a je-ne-sais-quoi that could attract viewership. It needs new news. And the 4 phases are just that. A rebrand of sorts.  It's complete marketification of the game. Introducing boardroom lingo into homes and regular conversations.  It's definitely different from regular 50-over matches. Power-plays can't be called just power-play anymore. Everything needs to be shorter, more intense, more adrenaline-fuelled. If you notice the words - they are practically synonyms. Apart from consolidate phase - which in my personal opinion is an aberration - all words practically talk about speed. Consolidate sounds more a marketingstrate...

I had this strange sensation a couple of days ago while I was meditating in the Ashram at Pondicherry. I was, in my head, imploding myself to lifelessness and trying to feel a sense of oneness with the Higher force.  I have been doing this many times, along with the opposite experiment of expanding myself into a universal largeness to feel small and again, connect with a higher force/being. Now, although I have been doing both of these, I had a strange feeling this time because as I was trying to come back to consciousness and into myself - I had lost all sense of my body in my head. I actually felt that I was nothing. I couldn't feel my physical presence, my body, my arms, legs, the fact that I was sitting Japanese style, the ground - nothing.  The feeling was wonderful and immensely moving almost a spiritual epiphany of sorts. Although there definitely is some solid scientific reasoning of this sudden senselessness - what I was feeling then was nothing short of a momentary s...