India, Oct. 25 -- Some sell products and some sell dreams. Septuagenarian adman Piyush Pandey, who passed away in the early hours of Friday after battling multiple health complications for over a year (according to his close family friends), was the latter. He was that rare breed who turned advertising into a living conversation between a country and her people. Long before India became a marketer's delight, he had already found the music in her markets, her laughter and her small imperfections. He taught brands to speak like people, and people to see themselves in brands.

When the genial, moustachioed Jaipurian joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1982, Indian advertising still carried its clipped, colonial hangover - English, aspirational, and fo...