Open Minds 2017: Public Square

Santosh Desai: Columnist

Writing on the Wall

Open | 04 May, 2017

One of the most read columnists today, Santosh Desai interprets socio-cultural change as only an ad man can. He came to writing accidentally through the back door of advertising, where he had mooted the idea of looking at brands through the lens of Indian culture.

The complex interplay of continuity and change in India needs to be sensitively decoded. This is as true for politics as it is for business

Desai now heads Future Brands. Philosophising on the idea of ownership in the age of Uber and Airbnb, writing about Narendra Modi’s new ‘grammar of idealism’, or exploring the familiar terrain of consumerism, Desai is an important annotator of the text of modern India as it is being written.

(For the complete list of power of argument in 50 portraits click here)

consumerism intellectual media modern India Narendra Modi thinker