Asterix's best friend Obelix was the most powerful in all of Gaul because he fell into a cauldron of magic potion as a child. Is it possible that Zohran Mamdani, son of an Indian filmmaker and an Indian-origin political scientist, fell into a vat that bestows extraordinary public relations acumen? Six months into his tenure as New York’s youngest mayor in a century, Mamdani is turning heads with his glib messaging. While cutting red tape to ease life for bingo players, he claimed to be “in the pocket of the Big Abuela”, thus endearing himself to elderly, women and Hispanic constituents in one sentence. Industrialists who sermonise about high CEO-to-worker pay ratios should pay heed to Mamdani’s reason for refusing an 18 percent salary increase: “Because nobody asked for it”.