Hi
I read the column, made a few calls and am starting a new publication that speaks to the young 20-30 something urban and cosmopolitan Indian woman

If you are interested in being a part of it
email trusha@redindian.co.za

It can't happen overnight - but rumour has it a certain media house is publishing one.

Well I already emailed Trusha. I say all interested parties should rise up. It's time to rock the media world with our very own Indian Magazine.

The pubication is meant to create a space for Indian women, not show off for anyone else. let't create and meet our own standard instead of making this another showpiece devoid of substance.

A mag for indian women is a superb idea and I think it will be nice if this idea can be put into action....If u have a vision follow it ...most people suggest ideas and then it comes to be known and then they fall through ....come on go for it !!!!

If u are an indian and proud of it ..u should be able to show off with grace and confidence ...if it has to be a showpiece why not ...all mags have showpieces and that is what sells ....it is a competitive market out there ...so u have to have something that u are proud to showpiece...devoid of substance very unlikely ...there is lots going on in bollywood and amongst indian cultures and groups which certainly needs to be publicised ..now is the chance for others to get to know us indians .

enough already with Bollywood. it's demeaning that so many SA Indians think Bollywood is the be all end and end all of a culture spanning 5 000 years. That's like assuming that all Americans are Britney Spears.

doesn't mean showing off - it means taking the time to put together a product that puts its target market first. the focus of the magazine should not be to let others know about Indians. it's a magazine for Indian women. if someone else picks it up and learns something new - great, but primarily, it should be to give indian women a space to look at their own lives through their own eyes instead of being filtered through a white editor's eyes.

And enough with this ridiculous inferiority complx about showing everyone (subtext white people) how good Indians are. how about just being comortable in our own successes and not attributing everything we do to being Indian? our culture gives us fantastic grounding (when it isn't giving us issues) but not every single Indian in SA drives around in a BM. that comes with a certain level of self-motivation and individual passion. it's not a trait distinct to Indians - in fact its just racism to assume that because you're Indian you should be x y or z. But it is good for young Indians to have role models coming from similar backgrounds and the same race and cultural group to show that being Indian shuldn't be a hindrance or a point in your favour - but that if you put your back into it you too can possibly achieve success. it's really about time we stopped punting the "proud Indian" mentality, but really started developing self-reliance, accountabilty, and self-respect regardless of others view of our race and regardless of our own prejudices about ourselves. and as women - whether we like it or not, that job falls to us.

It dont think an inferiority complex is always necessarily at the root of pride, i agree, no need to show everyone how good we are, how far we've come, how about just showing each other... We're Indian and we're women, ooops, already two challenges that face us at the outset... i'm certain Indian women want to know how other Indian women made it to the top of the food chain, its aspirational and inspirational, and whether its guidance on how i can get there or just a celebration that one of us has, its all the same, i'll still read it, be proud of it and want to be a part of it.

a lowlife gangster jailed for beating his wife is proud cos he's indian. a high-flying successful business woman is proud to be indian. i don't get why a circumstance of birth is something to be proud of? being indian in itself is not something to be proud of. it's a nice little crutch to rest your meagre laurels on. to me it bears similarities to how poor whites under old SA clung to a belief in superiority because of their whiteness.

Add personality to culture and then, there definitely is something to be proud of. my view is that this indian pride is rooted in some sort of inferiority complex, which a magazine or a public conversation may or may not bear out. personally - i think it adds an untoward and undeserved air of superiority to our public discourse, and doesn't allow for truthful, soulsearching internal discourse.

being proud of being Indian begs the question - what defines Indian, other than race.
it's an opportunity that could go both ways. I'm worried that right now, the defining is being claimed by the Bollywood fanatic crowd. It leaves little room for Indians to be more than that definition or to not be singled out, ridiculed, and all round insulted as oreos or coconuts because they don't conform.

That said - i do want to read stories about successful Indian women in a south african and international context and not have that success defined by any narrow view of what success is. I want to know how they can straddle the demands of modern and ancient cultures etc. and i want to see women who look like me on a magazine cover. because that feeds my soul beyond Femina, which sees me as "ethnic", token and marginalises my experiences.

So i think we agree on most things ':-)

I don't know what yall are talking about, I say the more Bollywood the better! I love looking at the pretty pictures and the font better nice and big too ...

So Trusha, do tell us what you envision for this magazine. Will it be Cosmo, Fairlady, Femina et al Indianised? Because if that's the benchmark of a magazine that meets the needs of Indian women today, I say don't bother, the above mentioned magazines already make a good job of forgetting they have Indian readers.

On a serious note, I hope this idea actually comes to fruition, and please, all I ask, is give the dark Indians some exposure! I don't know about everyone else but I was SHOCKED when I went to Durban recently and DIDNT see a plethora of skinny, fair-skinned, straight hair inguenes.
Carry on.

http://niralimagazine.com/

would be fantastic.

a little less of the stereotypes and a lot more on the reality - and dealing honestly with issues.

While I hear all the comments I think that the Indian women of today is extremely unique and I find that it is for that reason that not a single publication actually caters for my content needs. If and when they do remember the Indian women consumer - they place a pic of her amongst other black woman or feature a bland sanitized story about her struggles that could really be the challenges of any woman - not necessarily an Indian one!

I find the challenges I face as an Indian woman quite unique - because of the nature of our race and our culture.
I am not sure if other races can actually relate nor understand - which means when I pick up an O'mag or a Femina or an Elle Mag and I read of a single mum trying to balance work and play - the story is lacking because it doesn't feature the other challenges specific to Indian woman - culture, family, tradition and their balance

I am not going to give too much away - but this will be a lifestyle mag - with stories of Indian woman, by Indian woman

I plan to set up reference groups to engage woman and have the mag truly meet their content needs
so watch this space

lets hope it will stay on the shelves longer than Indigo. (this was a magazine published purely for asian readers, by penta publications, about 6 yrs ago)it was fabulous. it had everthing in there from books & movie reviews, to fashion, etc..

Are you from Indigo? what happened to it and why did it stop circulating?

http://sita-in-the-city.blogspot.com/

Has anyone heard from, met, spoken to trusha?

I would actually call it RANI. I fully agree that it should primarily be a SA magazine to assist the indian women out their. Many SA indian women are reaching high profiles and yet the cultural and religion is assumed to set us back. Well where i come from and through a process of learning I have come to learn and accept to be proudly an Indian and a Tamil. But i also learnt of the diversity of various indian religion and culture and i am proud to be one.
If the magazine has the capablity to impact in that manner as well as uplift women then I would like to contribute in any way to encourage, I am in.
Please contact me if you like. luxmi@tiscali.co.za

Dr, thank you for the offer, but with an impressive team, like the one you have already assembled, what openings could be available on your team. These people usually come with an entourage or favourites that they would rather work with, or are you looking for tea ladies and paper pushers

Interesting that Sutra mag is targeting a similar market and plans to launch soon - and thanks for the offer Dr but we will decline jumping ship to work for you ... the indian market is dynamic enough for there to be multiple publications to cater for varying content needs ... success will be judged on quality of content and stories that people can relate to ...
I say if there is competition ..
Bring it on!!!!

L am very enthusiastic about this publication,I believe that the South African public has waited a long time for a magazine of this nature to surface. Although it is out of the ordinary to see a CEO of a company so involved in this area of the initiative, I find your hands-on approach assuring of the success of the magazine. I would love to know more about the team that will help you put this publication together!! Obviously, from your description of the mag, you have access to a very talented and diverse team.

I am so pleased to see that this topic has caused such as stir. I for one am not into the whole Bollywood scene and I think that any self-respecting indie mag should definitely address what the perceived 'essence of being Indian' is... therein lies the crux of the issue - that the country and the world sees us as cute sari-wearing curry munchers (I am being deliberately facetious to illustrate my point)... and why does it have to be a magazine when the market is flooded with female consumer publications at the moment... I actually wrote three articles for Indigo when it was around and while it was good, it needed some work on the quality.

How about a website aimed at framing the face of the South African Indian woman? This would be able to reach a lot more people and there would be much more opportunity for hot blooded Indian femmes to contribute?

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2408717449

great facebook group talking about this stuff

It is time that someone comes up with an idea for marketing this a bit better than giving out the CEO's phone number. I do believe that on his "numero uno", this WILL fail horribly, also, there should be more done to advertise and market a very unique product. Most of the South African Indian culture and life style, events etc. are unknown and unexplored by the rest of South Africa.

If this magazine stays in SA, it would become large quick and very hard to beat, after that, should the international community come to the party, then even better. (Champaign for everyone)

Although, I believe that looking at this magazine as an Indian woman liberation or racial vendetta medium would be wrong, It appears this is going to be about quality, style and entertainment of and for people who wish to associate themselves with a publication based on female Indian culture.

On the other side, As for controversy, Bring it on, any publicity is better than none.

Although this might be a silly comment as the mag has yet to see the printers. (Good Luck Guys)

It's a given the hype of the South Asian Diaspora is a great attention grabber but are there any dedicated individuals who can committ their precious time to a project like this. As with many start-ups their visions for a premier mag like the ones mentioned never even see itself off the Mac Designers pc.

For one there is no solid investment committment from the business community. Indian lifestyle as such has a long way to go especially with the vomit that we currently get from print mags that boast the payline that they are the magazine for indians. I just wish they could put their specs on and read the crap they print.

Anyway I have been in the market for the past 5 years and have seen the ups and downs of many mags that have tried and sorry for you its not happening soon.

The definitive urban indian has resorted to the web where I found my opportunity to propogate RELEVANT Indian Lifestyle news. I would love the opportunity to go print but sourcing a sound partner with the monetary pull is a mission. I'm focussing on finding one soon and maybe just maybe I can go print and give the South Asian diaspora the market presence it requires...

Naufal Khan
Head Raja, The Desi Company
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It is amazing that Naufal seems to come across as a supposed authority on Indian Market, yet is the same person that has not, and is still not willing to put his own money into a venture that is there for the community, especially in the print arena.




He still works at Thompson's Tours, as a webmaster, and already has had a few run ins with the other real community based indian websites in South Africa.



I, for one, am shocked that he claims to be a 'Head Rajah' and has 5 years of experience in the industry. Which industry I ask (esp. since he is the webmaster and still in the employ of Thompson’s Tours), tourism?




I was invited to the launch of SUTRA magazine at Mount Nelson Hotel and personally met with great personalities like Amanda Gowing -formerly of Glamour Magazine, and GQ, AB Moosa from the Avalon Group of Cinemas, Bebe Evans- Free Spirit from SABC, Mr Shaw - Incredible India, and various CEO's and other executives who personally witnessed the fantastic launch of SUTRA.




I am sure that SUTRA is not exactly where it wants to be as yet in the industry, but surely will do so esp. having Gavin Rajah as its Creative Director.




As a real business executive it might make sense that you actually contact SUTRA and join them in their venture that is available in many chain stores at the moment. I think that since you are still waiting, for an investor, the SUTRA people from what we have heard have ample funding to support this venture to make it viable.




All in all Naufal, to be "Head Raja", you actually have to be in the industry, or offer positive criticism!




As an Indian woman I am proud that there is finally a magazine that is Indian focussed on the real me in SA and is not filled with outsourced content from random people, like many websites are! I am sure that there will be much criticism from people like you only because SUTRA has launched, but I am willing to put forward my constructive criticism towards the magazine (which I have already done).




Come lets all stop being typically Indian and being so negative when someone tries to progress, let’s work together and build a publication that is really for us!



The media needs to see us all come together as proud Indians who can do more than just bring each other down!



Come Naufal, act like a ‘Raja’ and show some pompous and glorious grace in helping your own people!

So looks like we in for a spat here. Okay well bring it on. Yes I have had run ins with other Indian sites as I do not tend to run with the rest of the crowd clearly for the reasons that are well known - I do things differently.

No I will never put in an investment into another magazine here as it will never yield the ROI it truly deserves.

As for the magazine you so wish to boast about lets look at the history behind it. Nirvana Lifestyle was the brainchild to be launched here. It then failed to go to print, I was asked to take over, I declined. Why? As there is no committment from local business.

Secondly if I wasn't someone that was of use, why did the Yash contact me for assistance? Why did Kommal contact me for the investment?

I'd love to see where this mag goes...

As per your comments, and your email to us, our company would like to make it clear that we have no association with the people that you have mentioned.

I contacted you as a South African website, together with a database of 15 other websites, as well as other PR companies, as part of our on going PR strategy to expose the brand. No assistance was sought but rather an opportunity for you to become a part of a growing brand.

I just confirmed that your allegations about Dr Kommal and investments, are unfounded.

Kindly note that this forum as per our understanding, is for public consumption, and not for you to involve our company in your matter with other peoples criticism of you and your comments.

Your further matters and concerns should be addressed to our email, if it in anyway involves our company. However if it has no concern to us, kindly refrain from associating us with your personal matters with others.

Yash

http://www.sutramagazine.net South Africa's prestigious indian publication has been contacted by a multinational to JV and expand the publications reach... I'm guessing they can see the potential of this niche market....someone said MEDIA## Group or Avu##?