Smokescreen
How a world-famous cigarette brand got around India’s restrictions on tobacco advertising by enlisting young adults as “brand ambassadors.”
Company Man
Like everyone with a nodding acquaintance of the history of that time, Sanjiv Mehta assumed that The East India Company had ceased to exist until he was contacted by the group of English businessmen who had quietly resurrected its name. With appropriate approvals from the British Treasury and the Royal School of Arms, they secured the rights to assets like the coat of arms that Queen Elizabeth I issued the Company in 1600, and the Merchant’s Mark—probably the world’s first trademark. They recruited historians, built relationships with museums and started with distributing tea and coffee and publishing books. And as they looked to streamline their distribution network, they got in touch with Mehta.
The Insurgent
Shortly after Anna Hazare broke his fast-unto-death on 9 April, a group of young people encircled a small man with a black moustache at Jantar Mantar and began shouting the famous pre-independence slogan: Inquilab Zindabad! (Long Live Revolution!). He continued walking toward a group of cars when a young man wearing a red bandanna pushed through the crowd, blocking his way and screaming out, “Sir, don’t call off the fast. Repeat the revolution.” The man returned the smile, and slid into the car. This man was Arvind Kejriwal, a 43-year-old social activist from East Delhi. Though Hazare is the recognised face of an anti-corruption campaign that began with his fast on 5 April, Kejriwal is the architect of the movement—the man journalists swarm to, seeking an interview.