By Mihir Chitre
The third day was won by the people I met. The Young Lions Meet-up introduced me to some rather interesting people who I happened to spend time with. A guy from Belarus was probably the first person I met from that country. Two American University students had interesting ideas of the creative business. One of them told me, she wants to do only cause-driven advertising. That reminded me how amazing it is to be young. Sometimes even that young. Often, the less you know, the better it is.
Later in the day, I met a lot of wonderful Indian people from journalists to agency heads to clients and of course, a few young achievers. Walking down the promenade against a setting sun, talking about the French food some of us have had was beautiful. There are happy hours at the Palais Beach every day from 5.30 pm to 7 pm. That’s where the actual Meet-ups happen. A Canadian guy told me about his experiences in New Delhi and how India is a country where if you spend enough time, you'd be in love with it. I wonder what is enough. I even wondered if he wanted to say just enough.
At Cannes, life is a beach.The day ended with the much-talked-about Times of India Party. The whole Indian contingent was around and I had a ball of a time. Also, not that I craved for it, but I never thought I’d have dal fry in the south of France. Mahesh Gharat told me about his memories of working with Arun Kolatkar and I was thrilled to hear about one of my favourite poets at an advertising party in the south of France. After all, nothing is more grotesquely beautiful than the memory of a dead poet.
The write is associate creative director, WYP & Medulla Communications.