In The Binary City.

(From Business Today (India))

The Taj Presidency may not be the proper place to discuss what's civilised or not about Bangalore, located as the hotel is in that very city. But Suhel Seth, CEO Equus Red Cell and BT Crossfire moderator for the evening, took the liberty anyway. The three civilised aspects he spied were: "Its people, of course, the weather, and the fact that people come here on time."

Sponsored by Royal Challenge and held in association with Liberty, the debate's topic was 'You cannot create a great brand without advertising'. In support of the motion stood Gurcharan Das, playwright, former head of P&G India and author of Indian Unbound. And against it stood Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys Technologies.

Das opened by making a case that even the PowerPoint presentations Nilekani goes about making for Infosys, are in fact a form of advertising. "Nandan understands that the human mind is not a computer. The human mind retains just around 5 per cent of what it sees and hears. To be in this 5 per cent, you need advertising. One, to occupy a distinct space, but two, to remind your customer about …