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​This illustration is of a row of confectionery-coloured shophouses on a Singapore street. It also happens to be (ahem) done by yours truly.  Sketching is a hobby and I have a shop on etsy.com where I have put up prints of my illustrations for sale (shameless plug).  And this illustration has outsold the others and in fact, sales have gathered momentum in recent weeks.
 
It did set me thinking as to why this particular illustration.  A clue came from one of my buyers who said “I was looking for something Singapore related to decorate my apartment in Helsinki and most of the ones I found were kind of generic in the sense of what a tourist would see Singapore as. This print however reminded me of the Singapore I remember growing up there!” 

It's December, and the Music Season in Chennai is in full swing. For the next three weeks or so, we shall bathe in the melody and movement of classical music and dance. And I thought it would be fitting to explore an interesting analogy between Indian classical music and classic brands.

​We were in Bhopal last weekend, running one of our Marketing Masterclass simulation sessions. With our flights scheduled in the evening, we managed a trip out to Sanchi on Sunday morning. The complex sits on a peaceful and meditative site atop a hill and is a magnificent symbol of an emperor’s message of peace. The Great Stupa, visible from the plains and railway line below, is clearly the showpiece of Sanchi - with an architectural legacy that is manifested even in the dome and balustrade of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

And that did trigger a thought…

What connects the Great Pyramid of Giza, Cologne Cathedral, Empire State Building, Petronas Towers and Burj Khalifa?