MA_STERS

NAME: ISHA BHANSALI

TIFFIN:

Tiffin is a result of lack of an appropriate medium in Mumbai which reflects the voice of the youth. And even though it is meant for the young readers it is not rash, trying-hard-to-be-seen and not aggressive. It is meant for the straightforward twenty-something who is an important part of the city’s culture. With the number of immigrants increasing every day, Mumbai is a cultural hub in itself and yet makes its distinguished identity from the rest of the country or even the world.
Thus Tiffin is a cultural and people-magazine that focuses on street art, style, music and photography, amongst other genres. It highlights non-mainstream areas of city’s culture and is more realistic as it talks about the ordinary layman or the person-next-door. This issue of Tiffin is full of people who are into different and artistic professions. They might not be important enough to make headlines in tabloids but are still interesting enough to know. Through the intense feature on Indian rock bands you will see the new turn that Indian music has taken over these years. Style in this magazine is simple but is complemented with street-photography; this makes the identity of the city. The photo-essay is done mainly to give an insight to what a photographer thinks while he takes his favourite shot. Blogs, events, festivals and extra attention to outstanding artists complete the magazine. Not to mention Dharavi, an important part of the city; this is suddenly the new favourite subject at every mention of Mumbai.

What you read in Tiffin is what you might find written in one-off columns in a few newspapers or probably might not have even heard of the people written about in the magazine. The large gap encouraged me to choose this subject and after its market research I concluded on the immense potential of the magazine. Tiffin was mostly encouraged by various journalists who are important practitioners in this industry and have boosted the desired existence of such a magazine. The fast growth of the print medium in the city and the increasing strength of the youth’s exposure and participation in the city’s culture have proved the importance of Tiffin.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

MR ANDREW TUCKER
MS CATHERINE LAMB
NITIN PATEL (photographer)
ANITA WANKHEDE (Graphic Designer)
RUKMINI BHATIA (Illustrator)
RANJONA BANERJEE (Journalist, DNA, Mumbai)
MEGHA MAHINDRU (Editor, Beat, Delhi)
HANSA RESEARCH
NATIONAL READERSHIP SURVEY COUNCIL, Mumbai
MS PREMA (who works for Mahila Milan, Dharavi)
MS NEYSA MENDES (for Pentagram, Them Clones and Indigo Children)
MS SWETA DATTANI AND GIRIBALA SHAH (Who’ve helped me get in touch with a few interesting people who are in the magazine)
ALL ARTISTS WRITTEN ABOUT IN THE MAGAZINE

• MA Fashion Journalism course information