33: Is medium really the message? with Gangadharan Menon
Gangadharan Menon gave up advertising after a successful stint of 28 years, He worked with agencies like Trikaya, Rediffusion, Ogilvy and Mather, Mudra and Chlorophyll and more… He decided to wind up his advertising journey, to take up his first and second love: teaching and travel. He now teaches at Rachana Sansad College of Applied Arts, Mumbai, and does travel photography and travel writing. His articles have been published in The Hindu, The Times of India, DNA, Hindustan Times, Mid-day, and in Hornbill, the journal of Bombay Natural History Society. Through his writings he encourages people to discover the joy of travelling in India, a country that is made up of many countries. 1. A Canadian professor, philosopher, Marshall McLuhan wrote a phrase in his book “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man”, published in 1964 - “Medium is the message”. What does this mean according to you? 2. What does a word mean to you? 3. What is the ontological connection between words and media? 4. Is it really possible to find meaning of a word? 5. Why haven’t we got really strong hard hitting copy (har rang kuch kehta hai or khaitan - sabse tej or hamara Bajaj) in the recent times? Is truth missing or power to write missing?