For love of long-form journalism, Anuradha Mahindra turns to IQ

While Mahindra & Mahindra CMD Anand Mahindra is busy plotting the next step to expand the $15.4-billion farm equipment-to-aerospace group, his wife Anuradha Mahindra is quietly expanding her canvas in the
publishing arena.

Already the publisher and editor of 'Verve' -- a magazine targeted at modern woman -- Anuradha Mahindra has added one more title with a new publication named IQ, The Indian Quarterly.

Away from holding up the mirror to the new age woman with 'Verve' by focusing on trends, styles and fashion, Anuradha Mahindra in her new venture is trying to turn the clock back with a wider audience in mind in today's age of social media.

"At a time when views and thoughts are being disseminated in 140 characters, and thoughts transmitted virtually without the presence of sound, IQ, The Indian Quarterly, is a magazine that endeavours to create generous space for new voices and a platform for both written and verbal conversation," Anuradha Mahindra told PTI.

In the letter from the publisher in the inaugural edition of the new magazine, which is tagged at Rs 200, Anuradha Mahindra wrote: "In the recent years there have been fewer and fewer magazine vehicles for the thoughtful long-form journalism that so many of us love and enjoy. With IQ we hope to fill some of that gap...."

With some well-known contributors such as Mark Tully and Lawrence Osborne, writers from other fields like submarine specialist Raja Menon and artist Atul Dodiya, among others, on board, she said IQ will be "symbolic not just of India's new status in the world, but also the sophistication, elegance and cosmopolitanism of the best Indian creators and their products."

Inspired by 'The New Yorker', which "exhibits a distinctly Manhattan sensibility and always contain articles
about the New York City", Anuradha Mahindra said: "IQ will manifest the fact that it is edited and published in Mumbai through its cosmopolitan and open-minded perspective on the world and on India."