Thinnai Theory of Branding

Recently, a friend had asked me to share my perspectives on building a personal brand. I want to propose "Thinnai Theory" of personal branding.

In my ongoing studies on Dharma, I see the need to discover everyday knowledge through my cultural lens.

One of the subtle ways in which colonization plays out in Indian minds is by creating a false wedge between spiritual and material. To bridge this fractured, polarizing wedge is to rediscover the familiar through one’s own cultural lens.

As someone who has spent time in the past in the enchanting worlds of marketing, and branding, I often wonder: Can I talk about them using concepts that are available in my backyard?

Traditional Indic Architecture had a vital concept and design called "thinnai". It was the space for learning. Traditional schools in Tamizh Nadu before Macaulay brought radical colonial reforms were called "thinnai pallikoodam" (thinnai schools).

It was the space where wayfarers and travellers stayed and were duly cared for. Thinnai was always a space of vibrant activity. Its social context was in continuous flux.

In the online world, I see similar dynamics.

The website I build to describe who I am and what I do is my house.

As much as the care I take in ensuring my house embodies who I am and the values I care for, I take pains to describe who I am and what I strive for in the website I build.

My social media pages and the newsletters I write are my thinnai spaces. I use them to play with my learnings, my knowledge, and my questions. Everyone is welcome to engage with me in my thinnai space.

As my grandmothers and grandfathers did in their yesteryears, I share my stories and learnings.

I discuss everything there under the sun - from agriculture to philosophy to technology to spirituality. Whenever someone wants to engage with my work and myself deeper, they visit the website and a relationship begins.

Now, why this theory?

Through this, I distinguish the purpose of each space of my online existence. Learning happens in my thinnai spaces - I bring my pet ideas (like this one), my pet theories, my vulnerable experiences, soul-stirring conversations and life learnings into this space.

Through interactions in thinnai spaces with fellow people, I discover something new about myself.

My home is static My thinnai is dynamic. As in, I don't want to often tamper with my home's structural design. I design it the best way I can and leave it with minimalist sensibilities.

Ofcourse, every time I come back from vacation, in my line of work, I redesign everything - my home, my thinnai- my newsletters and my social media pages.

I don't want my website to talk reams about me.

Basic stuff should suffice. But, the space of thinnai is a constant exploration. It is an experimentation space. It is also a denotative space. I explore how I make sense of the world and myself.

People are free to make sense of who I am and what I do through the flux of activities happening in thinnai. When they resonate, they become friends and the relationship begins.

What do you think of this thinnai theory of branding? I am all ears.