Now in Print

There’s a lot that’s been written about the Bhopal gas tragedy over the last week. Add me to the list of journalists who had something to say.

My story on the events that unfolded and what has happened in the 25 years since is in the December 2009 issue of Elle magazine (India). Don’t forget to check out photojournalist Alex Masi’s incredible photos that accompany my work. (You can also see some of them here on Time.com.)

On the Masthead

I talked a bit last week about the feast or famine syndrome of freelancing. I was referring specifically to the amount of work, but the same tends to apply to paychecks as well. When they come through, they come through at once. When they don’t, they don’t.

Most professional journalists work with the goal in mind to have as many regular clients as possible, who they can depend on for regular work, say a feature a month or week (depending on the frequency of publication). Once you’ve reached that step, the next is to start getting regular paychecks, in the form of either monthly retainers (where the client pays you a set amount per month or week for a certain number of pieces) or the prestigious Contributing Editor position (called the Contributing Writer position in India) where you get not only a regular paycheck (and work), but a slot on the masthead, invites to the editorial meetings if you’re keen on it, and typically a choice of stories you want to cover.

I am very pleased and excited to tell you that the Editor-in-Chief of the Indian edition of Elle magazine, with which I got started on the path of journalism, offered me a Contributing Writer position last week and I have accepted. I write for them pretty much every month anyway, so little changes in that department, but I’m interested in the future of the magazine and hence have decided to participate in edit meetings and the like now and again. The monthly paycheck and raise can’t possibly hurt either.

Starting next month, look for me on the masthead!

Now in Print

I didn’t realize this when I posted earlier, but apparently, I have two articles in this month’s issue of Elle magazine (Indian edition).

My feature article “Panties and Principles” discusses moral policing, how not much has changed over the last ten years, and why it’s not just the “moral police” that’s doing this policing.

In January this year, Hindu activists attacked women in a Mangalore pub. An outcry followed, the Pink Chaddi campaign gained popularity around the world, and urban men and women vowed to fight against such violence. But who is really doing the moral policing, asks Mridu Khullar.

I also wrote on the latest trend in arranged marriages for Time.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1916150,00.html

Now in Print

For the August issue of Elle’s Indian edition, I write about turning 25. The editor says in her Editor’s note:

In this month’s special feature, ‘The Turning Point ’, we invited six writers to share their milestone moments. What they all had in common was that leap of faith, that bold decision, albeit one that had been brewing in their minds for a while, which led them to achieve the results they wanted.

–

In the August 16-31 issue of The Caravan, check out my opinion piece “We Don’t Need No Men,” on how Indian women are traveling solo and very happily so. It was inspired by this blog entry on my experiences in Surat. My favorite part of the piece (and still one of my favorite stories) is this:

After being frisked three times while flying from New Delhi to San Francisco, the journalist in me had finally had it. As part of an assignment two months later, I met a security official at the San Francisco International Airport and asked him straight out: “Why do they always frisk me? Do I look criminal? Oh, it’s my skin color, isn’t it?”

“No, no,” the officer hastily explained, not willing to appear racist. “It’s not your skin color. It’s because you’re a woman traveling alone. Single women are typically marked out for checking.”

One Percent

Then I remember something a friend said about how we’re only really able to control 1 percent of what goes on in our lives. So we should try and focus on that instead of driving ourselves crazy about the remaining 99 percent. I set about to control my 1 percent.

I write.

- From an article I wrote (Discovering Ghana, ELLE)

Discovering Ghana (Elle, September 08)

Remember how slow the magazine business can be? Finally, my Ghana diary is published. You’ll still need to get the print issue to read the whole thing, but a part of it is now up here:

http://www.ellenow.com/elle_diary.htm