Take a look at your social media feeds. Did you notice that Christmas Trees are in full bloom, albeit made of steel and synthetic ferns? This is the time of the year when that full-bearded guy, dressed in red and sporting a gigantic smile is not Baba Ramdev but Santa Claus. But is the Christmas cheer real? Or is it as fake as the stockings lined with cotton wool bought from a vagrant at a street intersection?

Worldwide, Christmas is peak-season for brands and marketers and India is now no different. And the consumers seem to be enthusiastically joining the game. As “Merry Christmas” gifs clog up the Whatsapp-ruled airwaves it’s time to wonder though about the version of Christmas that is being embraced. Is it all about consumption, and not about compassion. Is it about having, rather than giving? Should the focus be on Christmas story, rather than on the stores?

Admittedly, this is hard. Even the West has, sometimes unconsciously, gone this way and it’s been that way for ages. Remember that the universally-accepted jolly, red-clad image of Santa was actually a Coca-Cola creation. So maybe the right question to ask is, what should the responsibility of the brand be? Perhaps, it should be to tap into its own inner consciousness and be the best version of itself that it can be. These are the brands that serve a larger, more impelling Purpose by fulfilling the fundamental needs of their customers. They collaborate to enhance life – and isn’t that the true spirit of Christmas?

Have you seen the latest Fall ‘17 Collection from that international fashion brand? What about that new Winter-special selection? When you think of winter in India do you think of snowmen and sled runs or mustard oil to apply and Saag and Roti to eat? Winter in the USA is a very different feel from winter in UP. In most places in India, Fall is an accident that happens not a season. Clearly, when it comes to seasons and the emotions and linkages they evoke in people, not all places are the same. International brands follow worldwide templates – especially the templates that work well, but is there a case to abandon them based on where they have to be applied?

If the messaging of brands and the sales-focused promotions they roll out have to resonate with the target audience (and they must), then it is critical for them to allow for the customer’s frame of reference being different in different places. This is of course, true of all the communications the brand sends out. So, while mention of a bright sunny day brings with it memories of picnics in meadows in the UK, in India the instant emotional reaction may be to think of sweat and dust. Your brand may be global – but remember that the customer is almost always local. And that doesn’t change from season to season!

Pune is on the move, literally as well as figuratively. Early morning, late evening, and for the more battle-hardened Punekar, even afternoons are all great times to hit the streets. Pune has voted with its feet and the winner of the fitness race is- drumroll please- Running! Punekars are more conscious of their fitness than ever before. Across all ages, genders, demographics, and economic persuasions, running is their chosen way to become and stay fit. On the eve of the Pune Running Beyond Myself (PRBM) Marathon, it’s worth considering what makes the Punekar run.

Could it be that running is a metaphor for life itself -a promise that if you put in the hard yards you will reach your destination? At the most elemental level, every human is born to run. Here it’s the sincere effort that counts, and crossing the finish line is one big reward. Then, there is also the sense of enjoying every step of the journey. An event like this is a chance to run for the fun of running and to be a part of a community- family, friends, office colleagues- all doing the same thing together. PRBM’s exhortation to #OutrunYourself, only takes this to the next level. A call to all Punekar’s to push themselves to the limit and achieve more than they thought possible from themselves. This is a race with only 1 competitor – yourself. This is an opportunity for each runner to tap the fullest extent of their own inner potential, not worry about beating the others running the course, and to then win – over oneself, of course! It’s time to lace up those shoes and join the start line on 19^th November!

It’s been a year since Indians were given the shock-treatment. Our cash-flush monetary system suddenly turned cash-deprived and despite public chest-beating by some political figures, the public by and large, enthusiastically embraced the move and the personal hardship it brought with it. Now, a year later, it’s still hard to separate the fact from fiction. Politicians and economists call demonetization either the biggest blunder in the history of India’s polity or the most ambitious masterstroke in its political history – and some call it both! With all that, despite dire predictions of economic doldrums and chaos in life as we know it, it’s fair to say the people still largely view the move positively. What chord did the note-ban strike to evoke this response?

In the face of what is seen as a largely corrupt ruling class, we Indians had come to expect, at worst complicity, and at best inaction. Even the few actions that were taken were seen as powerless and targeted at the small-fry. Demonetization flew in the face of all these categorizations – the people saw it as a big, bold, and extremely public step that seemed to hit those with the most to lose the hardest. Right or not – here at last was action. Well considered or not – here at least was intent. At the heart of the move the people identified the desire to do something! And in a long history of doing nothing – doing something, even if the economists don’t agree, was still a response they could get behind!

To quote Michael Jackson slightly out of context – grisly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom. But don’t be alarmed by all the witches and zombies crawling all over your social media timelines – it’s only India’s PDA for Halloween. Kids trick or treating, parties with adults in risqué costumes, and even corporates having scary make-up days have all become par for the course over the last couple of years. But don’t we have enough festivals of our own – why this enthusiastic embrace of something with no resonance in our own culture?

Perhaps, the answer is in us rather than in the festivals we choose to celebrate. Life has become complicated, rushed, and stressed. We yearn for warm connections and meaningful moments with others. We long for more human contact and for a feeling of belonging to a community. We do not want to be alone but to be a part of something. The version of Halloween that we have chosen to adopt has at its core the sense of “coming together as a community to do fun things”. On this day every one bends the rules and dress codes just that little bit – but all together. And it is this sense of coming together that we are probably celebrating.

So, as long as we seek that human connection in an increasingly disconnected world we will be only more attracted to occasions like these. The festival itself is just the vehicle – so get ready for Thanksgiving. With Tandoori Chicken and Cranberry Sauce perhaps!

In the design limelight these days is the cheetah-inspired logo of the bullet train created by a 2^nd year National Institute of Design student Chakradhar Aalla. The logo works on multiple levels but what of the bullet train itself?

After the project was launched with much fanfare it has seen more than it’s fair share of criticism. In a nutshell, the campaigns have been along the lines of “Does India really need a bullet train.” For a polity that is somewhat obsessed with development, questioning whether development is going too far is somewhat unusual. Design may have an answer to offer though.

At heart the Indian Railways is a people’s movement. The Railways is all about the big numbers- carrying more than the population of the entire world in a year. This is a vast and complex enterprise at the backend but the visible parts are all about simplicity – a place to stand, a seat to occupy, or a simple berth to lie down in. The Railways has always been about getting the common people the places they go to over the course of their common lives. Trains that fly, that cost untold crores to action, and that will (probably) ferry the high and mighty is a story that is far removed from the simplicity at the heart of everything the Indian Railways represents – and this is why the story is easy to sell.

To tackle the blowback the Bullet Train has to be framed in terms that matter to the common man. How will the coming of the Bullet Train help them, make their ride better, safer, and smoother? Or how this may be something for them to be proud of? Everyone must get a ticket to ride – and that’s when the green signal will really click on.

It’s that time of the year again. Time for lights, sounds, celebrations, sweets, and families. Despite being under a bit of a legal and meteorological cloud this year, chances are the fervor will be higher than ever. What is it about Diwali that attracts us so?

Legend has it that the festival celebrates the return of Lord Rama to his kingdom after a long exile and after having vanquished a formidable foe. At the time the “diyas” probably served a decorative purpose, but these have now come to symbolize the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, clarity over obscurity et al. These are all elevated concepts though – more spiritual than physical – so why the enthusiasm for the festival?

Could it be that this is a festival that is rooted in celebration – even at the heart of the legend itself? The occasion shines a light on reasons to be happy and makes them the focus of the festival. Making your home beautiful, eating good food, and wearing your festive best are the substance of the occasion – not the byproduct. Even the presiding deity of the primary “Pooja” on the occasion is the deity of material wealth – Mahalaxmi.

Man must aspire to a higher purpose but it is true that all of us respond to simpler, more instinctive needs. It is this sense of celebrating the real and the worldly at the heart of Diwali that attracts us. Happy Diwali!

Depending on which side of the political aisle you stand, GST is either the tax that destroyed the Indian economy, or the legislation that will elevate India to previously unheard of heights. Whatever be the political affiliation, it’s fair to say that 3 months into the new regime, implementation has not been problem-free. From a design point of view – what’s the moral of the story?

Well, as with most “brands”, to make sense of the situation we must look deeper. As far as the people were concerned, at the heart of the case for GST was not unification of taxes – that was the means to the end. At the heart of this case was simplification. From big businesses to small traders, from freelancers to consultants, the attraction was that things would become “simpler”. For the common man and professional, simplicity means having to deal with the government less and it is this metric that GST seems to be crucially falling short of. With a complicated slab of rates, effort-intensive compliance needs, esoteric definitions subject to myriad interpretations, and an unclear communication on the consequences of non-compliance, GST does not come across as “good and simple” yet.

Michael Bloomberg said, “Taxes are not good things, but if you want services, somebody’s got to pay for them so they’re a necessary evil.” No doubt, the average Indian understands that– the question is just how simple will the government make it for us to pay that tax?

India observes the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on 2^nd October every year. The last century and a half have seen the man became a Mahatma and even something much larger. Today though, the world, even beyond India, is tilted towards a “me-first” version of muscular self-identification far removed from virtues like “Seva” and “Ahimsa”. So, what is his relevance to us now?

The answer, as always, lies in the design. The Mahatma had a clear picture of what was “right” and he communicated this sense to millions by making his life a living example. The people saw his extreme frugality, his capacity to endure, and his taking of the righteous path even if it was more difficult, and were driven to follow suit, even if this meant going beyond themselves. There was no ambiguity in his message, no gray areas, no compromise, and no scope for rationalization. At the heart of his message was simplicity and truth – and this is what inspired people.

It is that core that is relevant even today. People (and brands) are drowning in noise and extremely distracted. Conflicting messages and “alternative facts” add to this entropy. The Mahatma would probably advise switching off the distraction, switching on your inner moral compass, and focusing on what you know inside to be good and true – and that’s inspirational.