Dear ABCDlady Readers,

This month marks our five-year anniversary! I still recall our first few months — I had come up with the idea of ABCDlady in February of 2004. What is really surprising about our origins is that I had very few South Asian friends and didn’t have a huge Desi support system behind me at the time. After encouragement and coaching from friends Devika Koppikar and Leena Jobanputra, I attended the South Asian Journalism Association (SAJA) convention in July. I had no other plan but to meet people who would be interested in helping out. I had no writers, no editors, no models, no photographers and no real budget. I didn’t even have a journalism background — I felt completely out of my league. I just had an idea of what ABCDlady could be.

And then I met Angilee Shah, Shweta Jha and Rohina Phadnis, the magazine’s future managing editor, beauty editor and editor and writer, respectively. Devika Koppikar decided to help out as an editor also. Later, other key people joined the team: Roopsi Risam (current managing editor), Rima Chodha (production assistant) and Rachna Vohra (editor). Without these people and the countless others who also pitched in, including our families and friends, ABCDlady could not have been.

Fast forward five years to today. I take pride at the four journalism awards we received from SAJA and in being featured on NPR. And I can truly be thankful for how much we have all grown with ABCDlady. This month, we decided to get back to our roots, literally.

First, we hear the touching story of Dr. Anant Anantaraman, who took the grief from losing his family in a plane crash and turned it into something constructive: he built a school for poverty-stricken children in India. Dr. Anantaraman has done far more than throw money at the project — he uprooted his life as a professor and research scientist in Ottawa and moved to India to run the project. Check out why we think he’s this month’s Desi Making Waves.

This month, we also meet Carol, a South Asian woman who went to India and came back with a figurative sister. Read about Carol’s experience with poverty in India and how she saw herself in a little girl she met.

We’re all aware of the obsession with being fair skinned among some members of the South Asian community. South Asian advertisements, Bollywood movies and society still buy into the belief that being fair somehow equates to being beautiful. We take a look at other ethnicities and find some surprising similarities.

This month, we also have a special focus on family. Do you have difficulty finding time to see your mom, dad, brothers and sisters? We chat about ways to remain close, despite our demanding schedules and never-ending obligations. We recommend getting together “just because” with a South Indian meal with a twist – try our Cuisine expert’s rava dosa and red pepper pesto chutney. For our parents out there, we chat about sibling rivalry and ways to prevent it from the start.

With fall’s arrival, we have to take a sneak peak at what’s in. Find some must-haves for your budget.

And finally, our Love and Sex expert talks to someone considering losing her virginity to her boyfriend.

Here’s to the next five years! I’d like to express a special thanks to everyone who has helped us along. I couldn’t name everyone here, but know that you’re greatly appreciated. Click here to enter!

Sincerely,

Navdeep Kathuria
Editor-in-Chief, ABCDlady