Married couples know exactly what the loaded question means.

It's code for 'Are you pregnant yet?'

In a country where births are now conducted by the time prescribed by astrologers, this is where it all begins.

The time of birth can be controlled down to the exact minute, and C-sections are the choice.

No ambiguity. We've gone from accepting natural birth cycles to making it part of an elaborate workaround. 

Once the time of birth is fixed, the rest of the horoscope can unfurl to the future predicted.

At the time of marriage, there are no surprises or having the wrong planet appear to cast a shadow

But conception is still  beyond the bounds of control

And the pressure to perform is leading to a situation where fertility is bought - at a steep price.

There's been a gradual but clear shift - infertility treatment is referred to as fertility treatment.

The social stigma is around infertility. That must be avoided. 

Who needs fertility treatment, the husband or the wife is never brought up. 

Only that they need some help conceiving.

And that makes it acceptable to everyone concerned.

In India, the past, present and future overlap uneasily.

Ripping the rip offs

Fakes are brand leeches

They feed off brand reputations built at great expense over time.

The customers for fakes are a curious mix.

Some of them do it to flaunt labels they can't afford. Whether its bags, watches or clothing.

For others, its dangerous. Especially when it's low quality medicines or cosmetics. That causes real damage

For brands, it's bittersweet. Knowing they're now big enough to be counterfeited.

But the double whammy is the loss of reputation and revenue

Proceeding legally against the shadowy companies does little damage in the long term. Fake business models are portable

Companies have tried everything from affixing 3d stickers to educating customers but keeping it out of the distribution chain is tough, especially when the profit margins for fakes is much higher

A company called Sproxil tried a different route.

They work with the supply chains of large drug companies in Africa to fix unicode stickers on the products.

Customers scratch the stickers, send a message and get a verification if the product is genuine

That seems to be working. Retailers don't want their reputations hurt.

And customer education, though slow, is catching up.

For fakes, losing distribution is fatal

This could work globally.

How do you convert signatures into a business model?

One way is to get close to famous stars and organise autographs for fans at a prescribed price.

There won't be too many takers, though.

Especially now that star selfies have become popular.

Authors do this to promote books.

At a book launch they may end up signing personal copies for the tens or hundreds of devoted readers.

Cramps for a single day but probably worth the effort.

Any other ideas?

So can signatures become a big business?

What if they solve a problem?

On any given day, millions of agreements and contracts are signed by the top management at companies.

The big ones may be signed in the glare of the public eye.

But behind the scenes, hundreds of papers detailing agreements and contracts have to be signed and records maintained for legal and statutory requirements.

And that's where signatures become a business worth billions.

Docusign has efficiently, steadily built a business across the world since 2003, with half a million paying customers and hundreds of millions of users worldwide

Digitally creating and refining the process of affixing signatures and maintaining records securely for companies.

A global business growing at a CAGR of nearly 25%

Now, imagine what it could become.

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