First person’s account: Ashish Khazanchi, NCD, Publicis Ambience

The good news is that we have as many entries as we do; the not so good news is that this year doesn't seem to be as good as last year.  However, the quality of the work that has made it to various shortlists is quite good and we still have the film and other categories to look forward to.

Overall, it's not as heady as last year. A lot of this sentiment can be attributed to the downturn.The number of entries has gone done from India, including the "wild card" entries. The wild card entries could have made it to the Bronzes at least. But that part is now ruled out.

Slowdown notwithstanding, the buzz is still great at Cannes. By Wednesday, we will see people celebrating on the streets -- and, perhaps, a lot of those celebrating would be my colleagues from India. Indian adlanders are quite optimistic about the next few days.

With my jury duties (which meant being in a dark room for the larger part of the day) out of the way, I'm looking forward to catching up with friends as they arrive from India and the rest of the world -- and, hopefully, the partying will begin. Not as big as last year, but partying nevertheless.