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Editor’s Note: The core of every celebration
Festivals are about families. And togetherness. Today’s Festive Issue goes back to the core of every celebration: Family
A few months after I took over as editor of HT’s iconic Sunday magazine, Brunch, the marketing team came to me with a request. The festive season’s kicking in, they said, and we want you to come out with a Festive Special Issue. It’ll be a big hit!
Now in the world of journalism, editorial and ad sales have always been Church and State. Editorial is about good content, new ideas, and nuance, while business wears the hat of practicality: looking at the quality of the hard product, distribution, and revenue. A good editor today must be cognisant of both.
So, as broad-based and “nuance-less” as it sounded to do an entire magazine, generically themed “festivities,” we agreed.
Seven families came together for our first cover that featured as many as 17 people!
These included industrialists, fashion designers, artists, and actors. But, unbeknownst to them, as they struck the perfect pose together, our photographer was instructed to capture a moment of tenderness instead. We didn’t want the perfect picture, we wanted the emotion only family members share.
This became our iconic “eyes-closed cover” that celebrated unique facets of every family and showcased their love. It also spurred a series of similar covers that warmed your hearts.
A December 31 cover titled “What We’ve Learnt From Our Children” had parents listing lessons their toddlers had taught them; “Grandmums and Granddaughters” celebrated a bond that’s often overlooked; and more recently, “Pride Parents” applauded fathers and mothers who had accepted their children and their life’s choices with dignity, despite their concern.
Today’s Festive Issue goes back to the core of every celebration: Family. Our two covers celebrate love, loss and light. Chef Vikas Khanna lost his sister earlier this year; he and his mother Bindu talk about how love also means life goes on.
Five other families give us a glimpse of how they celebrate different festivals: from Bhai Dooj celebrated by Aku’s chef Akriti Malhotra at home with her partner Shruti Dutt and brother Ankur, to Chhath Puja at Samant Chauhan and Shweta Singh’s.
Artists Mithu Sen and Samit Das let us glimpse their Durga Puja celebrations, while designer Ashish Soni and his sister Smita show us a festive brother-sister bond.
Proud Sikhni Hanisha and her Zorastrian husband Jamsheed, both chefs and restaurateurs of great repute, share their Gurpurab celebrations and show us how mixing up ideas and identities always leaves us richer.
Festivals are about togetherness. And Indian celebrations show just that.
We at HT Brunch wish you all the season’s best!
From HT Brunch, October 22, 2022
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