So you want to be a copywriter in Dubai -I

It’s been a year now (well, slightly more), that I’ve been copywriting for a living. It’s been mostly fun and awesome. Occasionally it’s been frustrating as all heck. Through it all, I’ve reached some conclusions on the copywriting hustle in Dubai and Abu Dhabi:

Hunger. Starvation. Anna Hazare. Inspiration & Art

It’s the furore over Anna Hazare and his campaign to combat corruption in India that’s inspired this post. He’s been in the news constantly over his plans to fast in protest against graft, with the powers that be dutifully ensuring him further coverage. Ok, less Anna Hazare. More his hunger. It makes one question whether [...]

Perspectives bending over perspectives – a Suhoor at the new Shelter

I was at the Shelter yesterday for a Suhoor event. T’was fun – rather a reunion of creative, faffy types. For those not in the know – largely you guys not in Dubai, glossary: a) the Shelter was one of the city’s earliest semi-lassiez faire collaborative spaces – which could be used for social events [...]

Know what’s wrong with these images? Gender stereotypes going beserk.

These pictures throw up a swell of first reaction- curiosity, unease, interest, and in some cases possibly even a bit of revulsion. Why? Utterly simple. The gifted photographer Bojana Tatarska  has challenged our inherent gender biases in media by reversing gender roles. Look at the coy faces. The averted gazes. Those come-hither postures. Hark at the titillating [...]

The man behind the labyrinths…

Happy birthday, Jorge Louis Borges.The Argentinian writer was born June 14th, 1899, and would be 112 today if he were still around. Borges is not Kafka, but there are certainly similarities in the way they both explore not just the outer reaches of thought but also the inner nooks and crannies of how we think. He [...]

Autotuning the dog of war…

As Tripoli is surrounded, and the rebels advance into the heart of Gaddaffi’s realm, a new era is upon the embattled country. Gaddaffi, leader for 42 years, has remained stubborn to the last, and had zero qualms about using heavy artillery, etc, against his own, before these weapons of death were neutralized by NATO strikes. Tomorrow, when [...]

Life on the Fringe

The organizers call it the greatest show on Earth. You have to give them mad props, and nod in passive agreement. It happens 3 weeks every August. It’s happening now. Say helloooow to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – where i’m going to be next year, even if I have to sell some of the bulbous organs dangling [...]

My introduction to Whispering Jack Smith

My introduction to Whispering Jack Smith occurred randomly, as these things occur. He was a baritone singer of the roaring twenties, and enjoyed a faint renaissance in the 40′s. Anyhoo, ‘Gimme a Little Kiss’ is one of his songs that’s been covered by quite a few artists, including Billy West and Sinatra. Check out this [...]

The power of crowds & Adopt a Camp

Crowds are awe-inspiring. They make one nervous. They entice the breakdown of decorum, of self-interest, and make one move as one with a wider, almost irresistible force. A crowd can be a mob, and mobs are scary to those who like rationality. Crowds are capable of this: But crowds are also capable of this: These reasonably amazing [...]

The Unknown Citizen

The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden remains a favourite poem. I ran into it recently after quite a while and felt like sharing. Auden wrote it as an ode to a nameless, faceless man who fits the exact centre of the most normal of distributions, who carries his way at the apex of the most [...]