a long lost column i wrote for dna once...i happen to like it :)

This column is addressed to all readers who think I am nothing but a frivolous, self-obsessed writer whose only love in the world is clothes. This is about my journey from a newspaper to a fashion glossy back to a newspaper. I think you will see a new side of me now.

It started when I landed a job at a fashion magazine after working for five years on the desk of a national daily. Maybe it was the way I was dressed, or the editor just liked my over-the-top confidence, but here I was, a special correspondent with a magazine. I couldn't have been happier. I was where I had always wanted to be. I was finally realising the importance of the Fendi bag. It was an epiphany. No more Quark, no more boring trend stories… no more newspapers.

But they are right when they say - you can take a person out of a newspaper, but not the newspaper out of the person. Who says that? Well, that's what our story is about. So I attended my first edit meeting with uncontained excitement. I got a celebrity interview and a shoot, and when the results came, they complimented me on my styling. But that was only because I was yet to show my newspaper colours.

At the next edit meet, I suggested a feature on the slum tours of Mumbai and ironically, the Abraham and Thakore-wearing lot applauded. "Yes, yes, you must do it". I was warmed by their concern and set out right away. Accompanied by two Britons who were more interested in figuring out where Shilpa Shetty lived, the Bollywoodish guide, Krishna Pujari, took us on a magical tour of Dharavi. This was the place where the poor carved their living by running one of the world's largest small scale industry hubs. I was touched, I was shaken and I was inspired by their courage and entrepreneurial skills. Yes, I wrote a great article, until the copy editor looked at it. She read the first line in disdain, "From an airplane window, the slums of Mumbai look like miles and miles of grey, filthy landscape".

Filthy, she circled, "Darling, when you call it filthy, it doesn't really make me want to go there." She read the next line. 'Potholes', she circled, "Sweetheart, this is really not inviting. Could you make it more…" she snapped her fingers, "snappy and magazine like…"

I was at a loss, but I reworked, and reworked, and reworked. After I gave in my fifth draft, the copy editor looked at me sweetly and shook her head, "No darling, you are not getting the feel. It has to be…" she snapped her fingers again, "More snappy. More hip."

And then it came. "It's not a newspaper, you know. It's a magazine. Do you get that?" No I didn't. After all, it wasn't a report of Haseena Jethmalani's latest party, nor was it an interview with Kareena Kapoor. It was a tour of Dharavi, and that too a reality tour of Dharavi. "Make me want to visit. Make it exciting. Make it glamorous," she smiled. And I quit.

But I took their advice, and I am back at a newspaper. I found out that Quark or no Quark, at a newspaper, a Fendi bag and reality can exist side by side. If any magazine editors were hurt during the process of writing this article, I apologise. I still owe them the fact that I am a well-dressed albeit a bad newspaper writer. Ciao.

some of my work ...do read if you have time

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main45.asp?filename=hub190610the_sting.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main46.asp?filename=hub140810Bollywood.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=hub240410pret_a.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp?filename=Ne301010The_cub.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp?filename=hub231010I_head_you.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=hub080510the_marriage.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main46.asp?filename=hub240710whywomen.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=hub130210how_to.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main45.asp?filename=hub120610nagpadas_hoop.asp

10 things to do before i turn 30

i will be turning 30 in April 2012, so have another one and a half years to go. and i realised there are a few things i just have to do. don't want to be an old hag without doing a few things :). so here goes.

1. Go on a date with Ranbir Kapoor. Impossible kya? am keeping it local so at least there is a possibility of it coming true. if anyone can make it come true, please help. aapka bhala hoga :)
2. Send out samples of my work to publishers. submit a manuscript. writing is my biggest passion and if i don't do this, will regret it, and i don't like regretting anything.
3. Go on a Euro trip. Had enough of Samantha Brown flaunting her passport to europe. i wanne shop at Shakespeare and co, eat baguettes, go to the moors, and walk a lot. yes, and shop a lot too
4. design a fashion line. i have some ideas and i am going to make it work. it will work. The only thing i can reveal is that it will be inspired by what else but India.
5. Be only 50 kgs. am already on that mission
6. Maybe, just maybe, no, pukka, make a documentary about Haryana. I want to tackle it head on and i think it will be great fun. It needs to be talked about and i don't just mean honour killings.
7. learn how to cook.and i mean how to bake, grill, the works. Indian, chinese and italian for sure. Can't keep longing for good food in Mumbai. have to make it myself.
8. Get over my fear of flying. working on that everyday. Any tips.
9. Save at least 5 lakhs. this should be on top of my list.
10. Do some charity work at the grassroot level. make some loos, teach some kids, will do anything at all. have no apprehensions. (if anyone knows of a great cause, so let me know please)

so that is that. there are many more. Like being a better person :). but will be working on that forever.

project cinch waist with only 20 days left to go

There are only 20 days left
and till now, it's been quite a waste...
if i exercise, i eat too much
if i eat little, i don't exercise.
But since Friday, i have been on the track that i need to
so...will be taking stock this sunday
wish me luck!