Café Complete Wellbeing

One of the winners of the role models and our initial choice for the cover of the Sachin issue was Amitabh Bachchan. Once again we were sitting in Manoj’s office taking stock of our progress and planning [we do that a lot], when Amol walked with an envelope and hands it to Manoj. The look on Manoj’s face was a Kodak moment. What he had in his hand was a letter addressed personally to Manoj signed by the Big B himself saying that “I feel privileged and honoured”. We all jumped and surrounded Manoj to have a glimpse of it. Everyone wanted to touch the letter like it was something holy coming directly from God. I even took a photo of the letter with my phone. I took a separate close-up of his signature—Amitabh Bachchan. His signature is as impressive as the man himself. It has character. And I have it on my phone. J

On another occasion, we were yet again having a discussion in Manoj’s cabin [don’t get me wrong, we sit for creative ideation] when Amol barged into the room saying “Ashwini, [our assistant editor] call for you from Mr Bachchan’s office.” What next? “Call from Mr Obama’s office?” Why not?

When the intentions are right, things start falling into place. We all knew we were doing something great and something good when we were bringing out the Role Models issue [December 2008]. We wanted to take our magazine to the next level. We were putting everything in place, so we had planned for a great cover story, pictures and layouts. We had no idea what the cover was going to be. We had contacted all the top role models of the survey for an interview. We had sent out questions to all of them. There was a time, when we had the skeleton in place, but no flesh to fill it. There was some uncertainty.

It was my first or second day on my new job at Complete Wellbeing. The entire team was huddled around the table in Manoj’s cabin. When suddenly Shivani [our editorial consultant] announced that we had Sachin Tendulkar’s interview. At first, all were still. Silence. And suddenly there were shouts of joy. The clouds of doubts had parted. A sliver of light had shined through.

Not only that in his very first answer Sachin said, “What? My countrymen think that I am the happiest. What an honour? I will cherish this compliment forever.” Can you believe it, Sachin Tendulkar saying that to Complete Wellbeing! Sachin is known to be very selective in giving his interviews.

Things started falling in place faster after that. It was like the whole universe was readjusting itself to help us achieve our dream of doing something great. We then got in touch with RBS for the cover photograph and RBS agreed! The RBS contact person later told me that they had asked Sachin’s consent before giving us a nod. Meaning it was no accident. Sachin had known all along. We had arrived!

When I came to meet Manoj for my final job interview at Complete Wellbeing, I had to wait for three hours to meet Manoj [Editor-Publisher-Business Head]. When Manoj finally met with me, he was both tensed and excited. He and Rahul [Associate Editor] kept exchanging glances, something was obviously going on. “Is there a problem, Manoj?” I asked. “No. No problem. We have planned something so huge, the world will talk about us.” Manoj said. His words were prophetic. He was talking about the survey. And when the Complete Wellbeing Health and Happiness Survey was finally published in the December 2008 issue, the world took notice. We got fantastic media coverage. Neo Sports, CNN IBN, Star News, Star Maza, a double spread feature in Mid-Day, front page news on economictimes.com…everyone was talking about Complete Wellbeing and its survey.
Every day, Manoj would walk in the morning and declare, “One more channel covered us,” and all our faces would light up. “Ye!” we’d shout. The mood was electric. When I decided to join Complete Wellbeing, I had an idea that I was joining something unique and that I was at the right place. After the survey, I was sure.

The 2nd anniversary issue features a new photograph of our editor, Manoj Khatri on the First Word page. Manoj is wearing a T-shirt that Team CW gifted him on his recent b’day. He looks young as ever. Like he says – 25 till I die! We had also gifted him a bottle of David Beckham Instinct, which he says he was wearing when this photo was being clicked.