What have you been doing since you quit your job at AT Kearney?

Initially when I started off I spoke to one of the alums (regarding the book which I wished to get published) and he said “At the end of the whole thing if you have the book or not at least you would have learnt a lot about yourself and life in general.” I think he was spot on, I have learnt a lot with respect to writing better, how to write consistently over a long period of time, committing yourself to a number of words every day, what are the operational issues of writing, the state of mind of a writer. Initially I use to write whenever I thought of something new. However if one is writing a regular column for a newspaper or magazine on a weekly basis and that too a satirical column, whether you are feeling satirical or not one has to write it and send it whenever required. As a writer your operation is writing.

We heard you have been running your kitchens by freelance writing. Who are you writing for?

I write a column for the JAM magazine every week and also a satirical column weekly or fortnightly for a business magazine (Hindu Business Line).

How did you come up with the idea of Monday Mumbaikar?

I was writing my book, which was scheduled to finish by mid May, but now it has dragged on till the third week of May. There are some sites, which I refer to on a regular basis like the New Yorkers online site, couple of other magazines like The Black magazine from San Francisco, there is also another magazine called the Morning News of New York. These all are extremely good magazines because the quality of content is excellent. They are almost as good as any professionally managed magazines. When you read blogs you realize there are many people who write week in and week out. They write excellent material and some of them may not wish to write on an instant medium or an instant medium may not be able to afford them. I know many such individuals online, so I thought of getting them together under a single umbrella to write about sports, politics, satire etc. The entire Bombay taste to it was for two reasons, one is to frankly replicate the New Yorker and other such online magazines. These magazines are global, cosmopolitan and they talk about many issues but still maintain an inherent city attitude in them. This is good for them in terms of branding and also financially as they go commercial for advertisements and publicity. They have a clear and specific clientele. For us it’s the Mumbai space. The magazine is coming on well with many people showing interest.

Sounds great. So what is your team of writers looking like?

I wrote the post for honorary positions of writers sometime in early May to which I got approximately 300 responses. I also requested some individuals to join us. Till date we have 20 people on board. There’s one person who’s handling IT and tech and the content management system. Apart from that we have got 19 writers. There’s a conscious decision to make it as even a mix possible. It’s very easy to have 19 individuals from IIMs writing but we wanted a balanced mix so while we have got couple of individuals from the IIMs, we have also got a design student who has graduated from France and runs her own company in Delhi. We have also got a professor from US, a civil servant, guys who are studying in school, a freelance writer who is writing in newspapers.

How is the progress till now?

As of now we intend to launch the magazine on the first Monday of June. We have the writers however there is some ambiguity as to who will write in which section. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel. Implementing the best practices of the current magazines is our basic aim. We have 19 individuals each of whom will handle a separate section. There are two or three sections, which will be handled by multiple individuals who will also be the editors for those sections. As of now I am trying to put the whole team together. The name (of the project) will be decided soon for which we are conducting a poll amongst all of us, once the name is decided the idea is to block the URL by tomorrow evening and the space will be bought by the day-after morning. We would know what CMS (Content Management System) should be used hopefully by the end of next week, we should have the entire touch up, the whole look and feel done, the template, the design, the page loading, content management including individual IDs for everyone done bu this Sunday. Regardless of where the editors are in the world they can login and update content on the site. We are hoping that we have enough content to start by 5th June.
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Why does the magazine have the name ‘Mumbai’ in it when most writers are not working out of there?

The Mumbai tag has become like a monkey on my back ever since I decided to use it. It is not that we are going to write about Mumbai, though there is a section which is city oriented. It is also about the attitude of the city life. Movies, political issues, global issues, etc. The whole New Yorker (website) attitude is snappy and stylish. Only in spirit will we have a Mumbai touch to it, we are trying to have a name that is about straight talk, unbiased and balanced. We don’t plan to start it in any other city. We plan to go all India with this single concept.

Now for the tough question. When do you think the magazine will start making money?

As of now there is no income, everybody on board is free. We have had discussions about this but all of us have decided to concentrate on good content. First we want our readers to identify us as a weekly magazine with high quality content. We are all willing to wait for a year, at the end of the year we should have high quality archives, high quality content and a steady readership base. Right now we are not going in for a registered user base but that functionality is available. Probably we will hold it out if we have enough traffic coming in. If that comes in we would we would have a solid enough proposition for advertisers to come in. The idea is not to make money. Honestly, the idea is to get good writers together, give them an opportunity to write regularly, it’s different from writing blogs or magazine. We are writing to replicate it without the problems of mainstream writing.

How do plan to take the magazine content to the next level?

The level that we are aspiring for is high; we are looking at getting the site updated weekly, getting 16 to 17 articles every week, getting fresh content coming online every week. We are also planning to have a cartoon strip every week and we have a cartoonist who is going to do that for us every week. Our first aim is not targeted towards getting huge traffic but it is basically targeted at getting in good content, there is no point having 16 sections and getting only six updated every week. We are probably going to start with 11 or 12 sections… maybe music, politics, sports, etc. Our main goal is getting consistent content every week. After three months we can think of having few more sections. Maybe one year down the line we want steady content and steady readers. As I said earlier we have 19 writers who are coordinating everything and we have many people who are contributing writers. Maybe slowly we may increase the number of writers.

Who all do you have on board for the sections?

Except two or three writers, no one writes for a living, a couple of them are freelance writers and the rest are casual bloggers. In fact there are some who are not even bloggers. They have just sent their sample writing, there are people who used to write for Mid-day, Times of India, a couple of other columnists but the rest are all bloggers who haven’t had an opportunity to write for mainstream media.

Do you plan to give more people a chance?

People won’t commit to much time because there is nothing to pay. I have told all of them now that even if we make advertising revenue from next year, all the money will go in paying for the server, maintaining the site etc. We don’t foresee making any money at all. Right now I’m happy with the number of people we have on board… a 19 member team without paying basis is good enough.

Are you worried that some team members might lose steam on the way?

It’s a challenge. Even now it’s difficult to keep the enthusiasm level consistent but so far they have responded well at least they are good writers in the sense that their blogs have been good. I don’t think they are handling pieces bigger than they can. Like the cricket guy is a hardcore cricket pundit, he follows cricket on season, off season, he knows who’s the big talent in the cricket scene, they all have the passion for writing, hopefully this all will translate into a commitment for the magazine.

I’m trying to ensure that people don’t think that it is a highbrow magazine. That is. if you are intelligent then only can you read it. Multiple ideas were rejected because they were sounding hoity-toity. It’s a cultural shock if you have to write every week, lets hope they last through it.

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Do you think your IIM credentials have been useful to you in this unconventional career?

I think more than the IIM credentials the blog credentials helped a lot. We all are readers of each other’s blogs so that helped. A couple of guys on board are my batchmates. One of them is handling technology and the other is going to join as an interviewer. Otherwise the IIM credentials didn’t help in any way.

Your writers are not reporters, so they might not have first-hand information when writing an article. Is that an issue?

That’s an good point. Yesterday I finished the content outline and sent it to my writers. What I’m working on right now is a code of ethics for the writers. For example I don’t mind if the music and movie reviews are based on anything. But if my writer is telling me whether reservation is good or bad for the OBCs, I like to tell my writers upfront that if you are making reference to any data then there has to be proof on that data. We plan to stick to a certain code of ethics like any mainstream magazine. I don’t want people saying that 27 percent people in the country are OBC thus there should be 27 percent reservations. For example Morning News, when they refer to facts they have a very clear footnote system which gives you a link from where the writer has taken the data from. We are trying to establish a system of accountability for such data.

How do you plan to attract traffic to the website?

I’m confident even if the just 19 writers on board give a link on their blog, each one has 500-1000 people visiting their blog weekly, even if half of that translates into visitors it gives us around 10,000 people visiting us weekly. If there is good content and regular updating, blogs go completely on word of mouth. In the beginning we are looking at only word of mouth publicity. For example an online company was trying to push something, so I had their banner put on my website and in turn I asked them to put my banner, when I was ready with my magazine. We are just trying to do the ‘I scratch your back you scratch my back’ kind of partnership. As of now we are only looking at blog links and word of mouth.

What is the whole editorial structure like?

I’ m just trying to pull the whole team together with IT, technology. We have 11 editors for sports, politics, music, lifestyle, features etc. Currently we are getting the editors to write at least for the first two issues. Once we have the site on we will get contributing writers on board. If you are writing a long article with research, for example music, we suggest that you pitch to our editor and then go about writing it , assuming it’s going to be published. Everything is going to be channeled directly through the editor; there is no central structure yet. Our planning is for two weeks ahead. We plan to launch our magazine two Mondays from now. The last word on the story is the editors’ because I don’t know anything on sports or sensex. I can just give suggestions with respect to grammar and language. Thus I have taken utmost care that the right people are heading these sections. Some of the sections have two editors but the final call is with the lead editor.

What would be the major difficulties you could come across while managing an online magazine?

Physically the people on board may not meet each other ever, as they are spread all over the world. The biggest challenge is that all the readers are all highly educated, well read and opinionated people, so if somebody comes out with an article on politics which is strongly opinionated at one end it will be very difficult to push it with the whole team. So when you have non-journalist and non-mainstream media individuals it may be difficult for them to look at it in a very professional way. The biggest challenge right now is producing 16 to 17 articles every Monday.

The Internet is an interactive medium. How do you plan to involve the users?

We are looking at the basic comment system and rating for each article. Over a period of time we are planning to have a message board system. Currently we want the content on board. We are making it interactive through guest writers. If one of writers wishes to take interviews of certain individuals for a particular issue, for example we are writing about the Churchgate renovation, the Mumbai guy might need to take an interview of the BMC or any other authority. We are not only armchair journalism but also want to talk to the relevant people. We don’t want to be as pointless as the Rediff comment system where people just go and spam the comment board. We want to get more educated discussions on the notice board and get more people to write in. We are also thinking of having a debate wherein people having a cross opinion are welcome to write in.

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Being an unknown magazine, will getting interviews of biggies be difficult in the beginning?

We are lucky because we have one person on board who has been doing that for a mainstream newspaper. As I said we have some writers who are already established writers, so we are hoping to pull their strings and their contacts to get interviews. We are ambitious; we are sure it’s going to be difficult. I’m sure no one on the team has any misunderstanding about that. It is online so maybe people won’t come and talk to us, as it’s a big, mobile forum. I’m hoping like how PaGaLGuY gets people from Business Schools to talk, we will also get the right people to talk. We also hope the journalists on board can use their contacts to get these opportunities. I can also use my consulting background to get contacts.

Who are your competitors?

There are no competitors as of now. There is no pure online magazine like ours, so that’s a good thing. When I started it I didn’t think about competitors. There is sulekha.com, which is basically a collection of all writers; there are magazines that have their online sites. We will probably be the only pure play online magazine which handles a lot of things.

You blogged that you would replace ‘Monday Mumbaikar’ with a new name. What are the names currently in consideration for the magazine?

The difference of opinion with respect to the name of the magazine is already visible among the people on board. We have nine names doing the rounds. So far the first nine voters voted for nine different names. The name, which was most likely to be the ultimate choice, was Monday Mumbaikar but we scrapped it as it was difficult to pronounce. I found myself saying Mumbai Mondaykar several times. The others were The Injector, The Weekly Sponge, The Weekly Wisecrack, The Central Line and The Western Line. We had a lot of Mumbai centric names, which we didn’t choose, like The Seven Island, The Mumbai Chevada. Few of the most popular ones were The Weekly Polymath, The Weekly Polyester. We had a lot of names that were trashed and a lot of names that were already taken as URLs.

What else are you planning to do besides your online magazine?

Currently both my columns are working fine. I would like to start another blog soon. Alongside I am trying to push my book to a few publishers. There are also a couple of book ideas that I don’t want to start on until I close the earlier one. There are a couple of other opportunities, like to join a full time media job, which sounds interesting but is not finalized as yet. There is also a new concept of content management BPOs, where they need MBAs who had some consulting experience and who were good at writing. This sounds interesting to me. My three initiatives now are the columns, the blog and a job.

We read on your blog that you’ve finished writing the book. What’s the book about?

The book I am writing is fictional and partly autobiographical. It has three individuals who are 22-24 year old, fairly well educated, doing well, who come to Mumbai. The book is about a year in their life. It talks about how they face different career choices, life choices and how each of them chooses various ways of answering it. The premise I am trying to put in the book is that while growing up in India in a well-educated, affluent family one has to follow a certain algorithm. Given a choice between A and B, A pays okay but is less risky, B pays more but is more risky. Yet people tend to go for B. It’s basically how these individuals deal with their algorithms. There is a central protagonist who I have ambitiously modeled after myself but all three individuals go through a transition. The story is done but it needs 10,000 words more and a few additions here and there, it’s a couple of weeks work. I have to it read again to find inconsistencies. For example the character names have changed halfway through the book.

Any regrets since you left your job?

None at all. It was only last week that my bank balance went to Rs 107 and I was completely broke. Luckily cheques came in in the nick of the moment. It’s fascinating.

Did you go through any lows?

Even though it may be a very romantic, fascinating and exciting thing to do but it was very well thought of. I had enough money to last me for six months and to take care of my rent, food, transport, everything. Practically there have been no regrets. But sometimes you feel you cannot spend much because you are on a very tight budget. You can’t go to the Barista outlet every now and then like you used to and that sometimes hits. But apart from that it’s been a worthwhile experience till now.

Where do see yourself five years from now?

I don’t know where I will be five years from now. It is hugely dependent on how successful my first book will be. If it’s rational and feasible I will pursue writing. If not I will join a firm to which I will commit myself for at least five years. The other books that I am planning to write will take a lot of research, so after five years if it all goes well, I will be the author of a fairly successful book, working in a decent job and running an online magazine. The outcome of any of these experiments will not affect my writing whether the magazine or book works or not.

What do your peers from IIM Ahmedabad think of your work?

They think it is exciting, risky and creative. I don’t think it is risky especially if you are from one of the IIMs or coming from a decent professional background. Batchmates have also been extremely supportive. Like I did a small corporate writing project for a company, which came through a batchmate of mine. They have also offered help incase I went broke.

Sidin Vadukut shot to national fame with his legendary blog (http://sidin.blogspot.com/) on the disadvantages South Indians face in amorous pursuits on account of their names. He is from the batch of 2005 at IIM Ahmedabad. In January 2006 he quit a consultancy job to take to fulltime writing.

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