Way back in the early ’90s, one of my regular haunts in Mumbai was a small book shop on D N Road, in the Fountain area. Just down the Bata shop there was a virtual hole in the wall, selling magazines mostly. The manager (maybe attendant) could have fitted well in a grocery shop too. But he knew everything there was to know about magazines. I used to visit the shop regularly hunting for The New Yorker, Life, Atlantic Magazine and Forbes, among others. I was a huge fan of Forbes and still preserve some of the old issues – including the 75th Anniversary issue, dated Sep 1992. I remember reading Steve Forbes’ and Caspar Weinberger’s columns and eagerly looked forward to articles on India. Known as the ‘Capitalist Tool’, they used to publish a quarterly lifestyle supplement, called Forbes FYI. It’s tag line: Capitalist Cool. Nice, no?
I was glad to hear about the launch of the India edition of Forbes. I haven’t got hold of a copy yet, just read a couple of news reports. The folks at Network 18, the Indian partner have got a Flickr set of the launch and also a Twitter feed. At Rs.950 for an annual subscription, it is a good buy. Looking forward to reading Forbes again.
The one other international magazine I long for in India? Condé Nast Portfolio. Mr. Bahl, please?
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Conde Nast Portfolio ceased publication even in the US a couple of months ago.
Don’t think so. Check out the May 2009 issue.
Yes, that’s the last issue and was published in early April. Check this article from Adweek.
Thanks, Gopal. I guess with only 15% of circulation coming through news stand sales, it was difficult to keep it alive. Looks like the business-lifestyle combination didn’t go too well with the audience & advertisers. Pity, since the few issues that I went through were quite riveting.