When PG [P Ghawali, our art director] made the Sachin cover, we thought that was the best cover we had ever made. PG was so proud and happy that he was grinning from ear to ear all day. [PG has a black and white beard and when he grins his whole face lights up. It is a happy sight.] He took a printout and pinned it up on the big notice board. How regal Sachin looked. Simply majestic. No one ever passed the noticed board without looking at the cover at least once. Sometimes people used to forget where they are going and would just stand there looking at the cover [now I’m stretching and you know it].

Soon it was time to move on to the next issue. Since we had created such a noise the last time with the Sachin cover and the survey, we badly wanted to maintain the momentum. We didn’t want to be a one-issue wonder. We had tasted appreciation and recognition, once. Now we were spoilt. We wanted it again.

We had too many options. That’s because a lot of role models we had contacted the last time, were still to reply back. Once again, this was totally out of the blue. The writer [a very good friend of mine] who I had assigned two celebrities — the aces of the lot [Cake walk. I told you we were big, didn’t I?] hadn’t reverted on the status. So I called and when I heard what she told me, I almost died. “What interviews?” she had said. Finally I recovered and sent her the questions again.

Two days later: I was once again meeting someone [that’s really not what I only do], when I get a call from this friend. “Mila?” she asked. “Kya mila?”. “Shahrukh Khan interview!” “Oh, you sent, meaning you got him!”. And I ran for my desk. The rest as they say, is history.

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.

One of the things that Complete Wellbeing is very good at is bringing together facts in front of you that you would otherwise not read elsewhere. Most of us are not even aware of this information, and usually falls under you don’t know that you don’t know category. And like rest of the articles, these articles too stay valid for a long time.

We will be taking multiple steps on the site to re-package or re-represent such information to bring it on the front. Interesting questions is one of the first steps we are taking to do this. On the home page, you will see a randomly picked intersting question that will take you to one such article.

Homepage which shows the interesting question at bottom of the image.

The yellow rectangle is the block that highlights the interesting question. This is just one step, you will see many more in coming weeks.

Feel free to point us to any article which we might have missed or wrongly used. We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to give us any thoughts or feedback or suggestions that you have. Be it about ideas, content, design, presentation or just about anything related to the wellbeing world, our dialogue is just one click away.

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.

Being number one is not always a matter of pride! Like having the highest number of diabetics in the world.

One of the goals that Complete Wellbeing is passionate about is to displace India from its position as the world’s diabetes capital. We regularly carry articles in the magazine and also participate in events that aim to create awareness about diabetes. In march 2008, we tied up with the CII to promote their campaign against “diabesity”, a term coined to highlight the compounded effect of diabetes and obesity.

We also wholeheartedly support World Diabetes Day observed on November 14. Like last year, this year too we have carried four articles on diabetes in the November 2008 issue, including an interview of cricket star Wasim Akram and a contribution from the International Diabetes Federation [IDF] . We have also carried a personal account of one of our reader’s who defeated diabetes.

Recently, we also added World Diabetes Day campaign’s banner ad on our website to — help spread awareness about diabetes. I think the flash banner that the IDF has created for the 2008 campaign is neat. I especially like the glow effect after “lighting the candle”.

The 2nd anniversary issue is out. Hot from the press, the all-white issue looks fabulous. Four new features, a fresh new design/layout and a complete departure in cover design make the 2nd anniversary very special. Judging by the advance orders for copies of the 2nd anniversary, I am confident that our circulation sales is going to break records. Complete Wellbeing has already been voted as India’s best magazine on wellbeing by hundreds of readers. The hits our website is getting are only increasing by the day. I am especially optimistic about the “compilations” feature on the website, which I think is extremely useful.

Next few weeks, you will witness many more changes on the website. Abhijit will write more about the new features soon. Till then enjoy and celebrate.

On behalf of the team, I wish Happy Diwali to all readers of Complete Wellbeing.

India’s diabetes reputation is poor. Being the diabetes capital of the world, we must do all we can to stop,  and then reverse, the spread of this deadly disease.

Like last year, this year too, Complete Wellbeing is supporting the World Diabetes Day campaign.

The World Diabetes Day is celebrated every year on 14 November. The campaign is led by the International Diabetes Federation [IDF]. In 2007, World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations world day, following the passage of the United Nations World Diabetes Day Resolution in December 2006.

We have invited contributions from the IDF staff and also decided to publish their social message advertisements in our November 08 issue as well as on our website.

The sale of Complete Wellbeing’s print version has been steadily rising over the past six months, thanks to Amol Joshi, our circulation sales head, who joined us in May 2008. Ever since he took over, the availability of Complete Wellbeing has improved dramatically.

First, it was his decision to switch from India Book House [IBH] to Living Media [India Today Group] for retail distribution of the magazine. This step alone improved the our sales immediately. Some unique ideas to get vendors interested in picking copies worked in our favour.

The next initiative was to start a Poster Display Scheme [PDS as it is more commonly known in the magazine retail jargon].

Amol has some more fantastic ideas up his sleeve, which you will see revealed in the next few weeks. As we begin preparations to print the anniversary issue of Complete Wellbeing, I expect to see our retail as well as subscription base leaping manifold.

I am happy to witness this amazing growth of reach [and therefore influence] of Complete Wellbeing.