a vogue life Written by Sneha Sadarangani Frescoed walls, stilettos on the linoleum, racks of haute couture and the smell of glossy magazine pages hanging in the air. Enter Vogue. An internship at the Bombay office of this uber-chic magazine replaced my lazy days of summer sunshine. While I had never actually read the magazine and cannot differentiate between Cavalli and Trussardi (hey, give me credit for knowing their names), it turns out that Vogue is more than ‘white being the new black.’ It’s about a lifestyle. It’s a dinner table set for the refined palette, incorporating travelers’ tales literary recommendations and profiles of A-list achievers. Vogue caters to the uptown reader, the froth on the cappuccino. I quickly found my niche in the Features department, dissociated from the fashion and beauty buzz. My boss, Divia Thani, had a dry wit and an aversion to the frills and fancies of the oh-so-exclusive. My first assignment was a guide to the honeymoon destinations of the rich and famous. Divia rolled 36
her eyes as we went over the list: Maldives, Barbados, Bora Bora and the like. Her advice? Don’t bother with the sightseeing spots, they just want to fuck. By the time I finished the article, I had scored 19 out of 20 on US Weekly’s ‘How well do you know your celebrity honeymoons?’ quiz. While I hardly expected a Devil Wears Prada scenario, there was none of the anticipated dirty politics of a high-end fashion magazine. The work environment was laid back and the employees were amiable. I did not witness anyone accidentally-onpurpose spilling coffee over someone’s white silk shirt right before a presentation or any blatant stealing of someone else’s creative vision. Rivalry only seemed to surface during a Vogue and GQ pool tournament. As both magazines are under the Condé Nast banner, they share office space… and a competitive spirit. Employees from each side donned their game face as they battled it out for the massive trophy, indicative of the skills so clearly essential to their jobs. As GQ clinched the win, I half expected the cue sticks to turn into weapons,