 We have with us Josie Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of BVD-O-India, celebrated admin, creator of some of the most famous and award-winning campaigns in the world. At BVD-O-India, the entire creative process is rooted in the whole team sitting together, ideating together, sharing lunch at the ashram together. So how is Team BVD-O dealing with isolation? Hi Josie, are you missing the ashram? Well, you know how it is, life changes and you work with it. It's like a virtual ashram, you know, now, with all of us on these virtual calls. We light the hours at home and some of us light incense sticks. So we feel like we're in the ashram. But it's amazing how everybody has adapted to the new way of working. Our meetings start on time and we are getting more done. In fact, there's no lockdown and ideas. Of course, we miss the corridor chats and the ideation process that you talk about or our terrorist conversations, but we try to work it out between and during video calls, you know. So yeah, social distances making the team come closer. That's a lovely line, no lockdown on ideas. So how do you start your day these days? Well, I mean, for me personally, because I do a lot of work for both India as well as a client, a couple of clients across the world, which is just happening. So I'm not able to name them. There's a lot going on for me. It starts at 9.30 a.m. and goes on right through to about midnight. Of course, you get your spaces in between to try and help out at home, you know, since we talk about share the load. But yeah, our day starts early and ends late. Individual brand leaders bring the team together. People are quite eager to come together to be honest. More than I've seen it in an actual work. There's a natural human need, I think, Shabana to communicate and participate to eradicate the isolation. That's what I've seen. And ideation sessions with team across India and across countries around the world. So yeah, so that's, it's quite, quite an interesting new world for me. So talking of the award festivals, you have been a regular either as a jury member or as award winner at many of these, most of these festivals. So are you missing the festivals? Well, I mean, you know, we go to creative festivals really to renew ourselves, right, to be inspired to re-energize, to break through the curtain of past, touch the edges of the future. These times that we're going through is exactly that. The festival of ideas are happening all around us. Look at the exchange of learning, the reinvention that we're seeing around us. The ingenious ways people are learning to grow and thrive. The celebration of creativity is what we are living in right now. So it's, I think the festival is all. When we were talking the other day, Juzi, you said something really beautiful and it stuck in my mind. You said that life is a startup and work is a startup. You also said you've equated the COVID-19 crisis period to an element of rebirth. So can you talk a little more about it? I mean, it's in the early days, I was wondering what we were going through, what I was going through, my personal feelings, how I was feeling. And I realized that actually it's a complete sort of, you know, when you go for a vipassana or you go inwards, if you can't go outwards, you go inwards. And in that process, I realized that I was actually what we're all going through is a rebirth because it's like starting up all over again. It's a crash course for all of us and we're all graduating at the same time. And the other side is going to be slightly different. And therefore, it's like you're crossing over to something new. And therefore, it's like a rebirth. So there's a whole new world waiting for us. Great. What are some of the things that you have told yourself during this period? Actually, that's a great question because I think this is when you start, you know, putting new sort of codes to your life and new sort of order. And you realize that nothing is sacred and that you have to keep an open mind. And you know, it doesn't matter where you came from, you've got to look at it from now, the present and tomorrow. But keep your creative engine well oiled. See that everyone is working in full force and your own creativity is being well used. But enjoy the present. Reinvent yourself as you go along and maybe it invites you to reinvent the system. And most importantly, don't judge too soon. That's what I would say. Overall, that is one very positive thing you said. But overall, what do you see as the positive outcome of the COVID-19 lockdown period? I think in the beginning, everyone would feel that there is an uncertain time or that we're going through some sort of crisis. But I think these are the times that you go through the darkness to get enlightenment. And that's the way it's like the night and day. You know, there will be sunlight right after night. So for me, I do feel young again. I must tell you everything is a first. I've never felt this way before. I do feel like a creative trainee. I'm excited and eager to see what's on the other side. I feel there's only opportunity and possibility. Yeah, that's how I see it. It's just, it feels like it's good for me. I don't know. So we have seen amazing resilience of the human spirit. We've seen an outpouring of empathy, of kindness, and people have learned to live with bare essentials. So do you see these values end here going forward? I sincerely hope that all that you're saying and the values that we've seen taking place end yours. But there are some things we can't predict. You know, you've got to let it play out. Experts say that it's going to be a very slow return to normalcy. I think in advertising, we always like slow motion. So it's time to enjoy every detail of what we're going through right now. Tomorrow, I feel will write itself and we have something to look forward to. That's how I would look at it because if you try to control the future too much, you have nothing to look forward to because you're already controlling it. Right. So what will it take for the media and advertising industry to get back on track? Do you see this affecting consumer behaviour in any way because people are not buying too many things? People will not have spending power going forward. I don't know. I'm very optimistic. I feel the economy will bounce back with communication playing a very key role. I find that communication, especially done by and today all kinds of bodies are going to come forward. It's not just marketing companies or brands. It's going to be lobby groups, industry groups, governments, institutions because they will realise and they realise and agree that communication will lead to greater morale and better excitement in the market. I think it will lead to, it will impact consumer sentiment positively and I think when you impact consumer sentiment, that collective optimism will kickstart and feed the economy. That's what I feel that communication has the power to sort of change the energy. And so I'm sort of optimistic that what we do as an industry will help sort of kickstart the excitement. Fantastic. So if I were to ask you like a broad question, how do you expect the world to heal itself? You know, I was watching this guy who had gone through this COVID. He had the coronavirus and he went through it and he's a celebrity. I don't want to name names. And he said something very beautiful. He said that when he was going through it, the virus was dragging him down. The virus was almost telling him lie down, do nothing so that it could take over his body. But he fought it. He said, if I fight it, if I don't lie down, if I just stand up and I exercise and I get into action and I just do what I do, I can fight it. And that's what happened. He used action to fight that virus and to sort of let his body find its own immunity. And I feel therefore the world, if we must heal or expect to heal, it's got to do that. It has to be based on action. It has to be based on exercise. You know, like what we're doing, all of us, we're exercising our mind, our brain. We're discussing heart and soul, exercise your body, legs, muscles. I feel you've got to jump and move and dance and think and ideate. The best immunity for me, I think to the COVID blues in the future as we go along is our own sort of inner rock and roll. That's what I'd like to call it. We all have the power to change the energy. And when we have positive conversations, we change the energy. And that's how you kickstart the world. You know, and so I thank you for that. Thank you, Shobana. Thank you, Josie.