PIYUSH PANDEY: PARTNER, FRIEND AND CREATIVE GENIUS

It feels fitting that words fail me today—when the most prolific wordsmith I knew has passed.

- BHARAT PURI

For nearly four decades, Piyush was far more than a colleague, creative partner, or fellow board member—he was a dear friend. Our lives intertwined so deeply that we became family. Our journey together began at Asian Paints, when I was a young and somewhat impatient product manager, and he was the Hindi copy chief. Someone from the copy department had just translated “Celebrate with Asian Paints” into “Asian Paints Ke saath jashn manao.” remember being appalled and insisting I speak to someone who actually thought in Hindi. That's how Piyush and I met. He immediately understood what I was trying to say. Before I reached home that evening, he called me, “Partner, I've cracked it— Har Khushi Mein Rang Laye, Asian Paints!” ‘That was the start of a friendship and partnership that would last a lifetime—across Asian Paints, Cadbury and Pidilite.