Ignore the economist, look for signs

When Publicis’ Richard Pinder was in Mumbai a few months ago, I asked him what he thought was the state of the global economy. He said all that he had to do was to look out of his Singapore office at the harbour; there were hundreds of thousands of idle containers.

The containers tell a story.

Each morning and evening, I look at the outdoor sites at the Bandra Mahim junction; they tell a story as well. The last month, for example, points to significantly better days than we’ve been seeing; most of the sites are ‘tenanted’.

The outdoor sites tell a story.

On September 9, we were pleasantly surprised by the number of A Listers from outside Mumbai who made it to the party. A few days later, at the event to celebrate Rajasthan Patrika’s Concerned Communicator Awards, the number from outside Mumbai was impressive as well.

The outstation guests tell a story.

Nissan launches two cars at the same time in India.

The launches tell a story.

Yesterday, I had lunch with a senior from school at Spaghetti Kitchen at Phoenix Mills. The restaurant was packed with diners holding shopping bags.

The diners and the bags tell a story.

Like Pinder, I prefer the ‘signs’ to the pronouncements by economists and governments and experts and analysts.

I prefer the signs of optimism I see in the outdoor sites, the travelers, the launches, the full restaurants, the shopping bags.

For a global view, perhaps I should send Pinder an email and ask him about the view from the Singapore office.