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The impending arrival of the long awaited "good times" emerged as a powerful meme in the 2014 general elections in India. The vague but exhilarating promise of good times was not only translated into catchy campaign slogans but also acquired its own fast-circulating hashtags, domain names, and strong everyday presence on social media. In this article, I open up the notion of good times through an account of #acchedin and locate it within the longer trajectory of neoliberal economic reforms. I ask what good times might even mean in a nation that has transformed itself fully into commodity-form to become an attractive investment destination for global investors. The newly crafted Brand Modi, the natural inheritor and prime agent of 1990s Brand India, now works in tandem in anticipation of the long awaited, and ever elusive, transformative epochal threshold of good times ahead.

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The idea of a post-1990s reformed India is shaped by an imaginary of a fractured body of the nation-a 'new' nation in tune with the neoliberal desires of a structurally adjusted world and the 'old' nation constitutive of superfluous matter in excess of that seductive world. This imaginary is not only etched in popular discourses but also in the policy-making apparatus engaged in the task of creating a global identity for India. Taking the Brand India initiative-promoted by the Indian state to produce positive images of the nation for global publicity-as a case study, this article argues that in this shift from nation building to nation branding, the very idea of prosperity and equity has now become first and foremost a matter of image. In this world of images, one can also witness how a competitive strategy to seek more corporate investments through concerted brand campaigns has redefined the relationship between the nation and corporations. While earlier it was the corporations which sought the endorsement and patronage of the sovereign, now it is sovereign nations which are seeking to become the most 'favoured investment destinations' that purvey global capital. India. Right place, Right time. 1 There are two Indias in this country. One India lives in the optimism of our hearts. The other India lurks in the skepticism of our minds. 2

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