Samir Shukla
By Samir & Divakar Shukla
This month Saathee magazine turns 20. We started as a 4-page, photocopied “flyer” and now publish the full-color glossy magazine you hold in your hands. There was no business plan or any financing or loans involved when we started the magazine. It was on a lark, over family dinner at mom’s house, my brother Divakar and I said let’s do a newsletter. We were sitting around trying to think of a name and I started coming up and making a list of Indian words for “friend” – mitra, dost, and other words were bandied about when my father-in-law uttered the word sathi. And it stuck. We turned it into the more poetically spelled Saathee, put together a 4-page newsletter, and printed about 800 copies.
The dinner conversation was in early 1998 and we finally put the first issue together and released it in May 1998. We have published for 240 consecutive months and present to you the 20th anniversary issue that you hold in your hand.
Saathee’s ongoing mission is about “bridging America and the Indian Subcontinent.” We have grown as the community has grown. Going from printing a mere 800 copies in 1998 to 14,000 copies today with two editions (Charlotte / South Carolina & Raleigh / Greensboro). Saathee.com was added a few years into the journey and has now become one of the most visited South Asian websites in the Carolinas and the Southeast.
The road hasn’t been easy but well worth the journey. We thank family, friends, well-wishers, readers and our advertisers for our continued success. Special shout out to Bipin and Smita Parekh for having the distinction of running their realty ad continuously in Saathee from the first issue to the 20th anniversary issue.
Comments, suggestions and feedback are welcome.
Looking forward to the next 20 years!
