🤫Going behind the scenes at Himal – and you’re invited

Let me begin with some big news –  Himal turned 39 last month!

When I think about what it has actually taken to get this far –  the times the magazine has narrowly avoided closure, the editors and writers who stubbornly kept going when it would have been easier not to, the readers who have stuck with us through it all – I can’t help but get emotional. And I can’t help but think – what if Himal had not managed to survive? How many investigations would never have seen the light of day, how many stories that challenged nationalism and xenophobia, how many essays that kept Southasian voices and ideas at the centre of the conversation?

That’s why we’re celebrating the anniversary, and celebrating the belief that Southasia deserves journalism that isn’t beholden to any government, any corporation, any border.

None of what Himal does would have been possible without you. Honestly, every reader who has stayed with us, read and shared our work, or become a paying Himal Patron to support our mission is a huge part of why we’re still here.

Which brings me to something we’ve wanted to do for a while now, and that turning 39 has finally pushed us to act on.

As we turn towards our 40th year, we want to bring our supporters deeper into the Himal community as full partners in the project to keep Himal going and growing as a world-class magazine for Southasians everywhere. Starting next month, we’re launching the Himal Patrons Meet – an exclusive online gathering once every quarter between the Himal team and the Patrons who support our work. 

Part newsroom conversation, part community call, this will be a chance for our team to tell Himal Patrons what we’re working on, what’s keeping us up at night, what we’re excited about; and where our Patrons can ask us questions, challenge us, and tell us directly what we should be doing better. No polish, no pretence – just an honest conversation between the people who make this magazine possible.

The 39th anniversary feels like exactly the right moment to start. We’ve earned the right to look back a little, but more importantly, we want to look forward together. We’ve already marked the anniversary by launching a full rebuild of our website, newsletters and payment system – all so we can give you a better Himal, and strengthen the technical foundations on which we’re building the magazine’s future. But the tech is only part of the picture. With our quarterly Patron meet-ups, we’re also investing more in the human connections and commitments that power the Himal dream. 

All best
Roman

Roman Gautam Editor, Himal Southasian

Southasia Mixtape 📻🎶

You might have heard Susheela Raman before (in the films of Mira Nair, for instance), but I bet you’ve not heard my pick for the Southasia Mixtape this month. It’s got some sharper edges than the earlier work that made her name, but I think that’s why I’ve been especially stuck on this one – this isn’t your standard East-meets-West “fusion”. For one thing, Raman’s mix of Southasian musics is already wider than usual: brought up in Carnatic music, then trained in Hindustani vocals, and here adding qawwali samples too. And her range with Western music is also mesmerisingly wide, taking risks and not shying away from experimentation. It all makes for a sound worthy of her diasporic life across many continents – and a great example of how global Southasian music can be.