Dear Readers,

This quarter has been an unexpectedly difficult one. We were expecting an easy winter after everyone’s exams got over, but things didn’t go quite as planned. The good part is, thanks to the heroic efforts of some members of the team, we still managed to outlast the siege!

The result is a slightly different kind of update. Today, we’ll be telling you what went on behind the scenes at Snipette rather than anything new we’re launching or planning.

Holding Fort

It all started in January, when Badri took the month off to take a well-earned break after having held fort with Neel for the better part of the winter.

The plan was for Dee to keep things running along with Akil and Nia, the other two senior editors at Snipette. Unfortunately, Akil and Nia hadn’t accounted for how hectic life becomes once you turn 18, which meant that they had hardly any time for Snipette.

The end result was that Dee had to step up from being a very occasional editor to the main person keeping things running—and though it was a huge struggle, they rose to the occasion! With a little help from our founding editor Manasa, they managed to keep things running until Badri was back. Which is a great achievement given that, despite being the lead artist, they’ve till now been one of the least experienced in the team with regard to editing!

One Fortress Falls

Badri returned near the beginning of February, and almost immediately things began looking up. We managed to get to a comfortable space in terms of articles, and with two people behind the scenes everything was much smoother. Along with this, they were able to have a very important conversation with Akil, Anjali and Nia.

It wasn’t an easy one to have, and we’re very sad to announce that Akil is leaving Snipette, and Nia will be taking a step back, though not without both giving us some valuable input on how we can take on their roles and keep things growing. Their absence is being felt in our chat server, which already felt like a ghost town due to Rhea’s absence. Akil has written a letter conveying her final goodbye as an associate editor, which we are attaching below.

Akil’s Message

Dear Readers,

I didn’t believe the day of me leaving Snipette would arrive as quickly as it has. I have been slowly but increasingly pulled away from this magazine and the work I do here, making me realise that I won’t be able to give Snipette as much attention as I need to.

I have spent two brilliant years editing, writing, and being a part of the team, learning so much more than I had ever imagined. In fact, when I had accepted Badri and Manasa’s offer to be a part of their magazine, I hardly knew anything about editing, or writing professional emails, or typesetting, or any of the hundred things one learns when joining this chaotic and humour-filled team!

Snipette has not just been my entry into the written world, but it has also brought me friends and acquaintances (I’m looking at you dear authors) all over the world. Every article I’ve worked on has brought a piece of the world and its knowledge and art to me, and so, I often find myself passing on these little amazing facts to those around me―I doubt this will change ever after I leave.

Despite me leaving, I hope to return to write articles, as and when I have something to share with all of you, or rather more likely, when our article pipeline is desperately empty!

Lastly, I wanted to share a little quote that I love, from On the Road by Jack Kerouac,

What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing?―it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.

For the last time,
Akil, Associate Editor

…But Another One is Built

While things looked gloomy with Akil leaving, it wasn’t all ruin and desolation. We’d like to welcome on board our newest member, Popo, who has been helping us with outreach and networking.

This hectic winter really made us take a step back and realise that, great as our work may be, we need more people to know about it. This is partly about sharing our work and knowledge with a wider audience, but also about finding more potential authors and editors.

To that end, we’ve been actively reaching out to schools and colleges to see what Snipette has to offer them, and how we can work together to build an even bigger castle than the one that’s crumbling.

The Fastest Typesetting Ever

While the rest of the Snipette team was handling the online version, typesetter Diya also had a slight problem on her hands—college was much busier than anyone could anticipate, and she needed to get the print edition ready before her schedule filled up. And it is thanks to her efforts that, if you have a subscription, you’ll be holding a copy of the magazine.

You could imagine our surprise when we opened our shared folder for typesetting one day and discovered that almost half of the articles were fully formatted and ready to go to print. In an insane twist of events, Diya managed to finish typesetting on her own within the span of 24 hours—a feat that has never occurred before in the history of Snipette! Words simply aren’t enough to express our gratitude to her.

Life goes on

Let’s be honest: the future of Snipette looks a little uncertain. This winter has taught us that for Snipette to be sustainable, we need to not only have the drive to work, but also enough of a network that others can pitch in when some of us get busy.

That said, we are doing fine at present. Nia is focusing on helping Dee and Neel graduate to becoming part of the “core” Snipette team. This involves general training on different aspects of Snipette, but also throwing a spanner or two into the works so that we can practise how to respond to a crisis! Meanwhile, Rhea is back with a bang after her exams and generally breathing life into proceedings, bringing much needed cheer to Dee, Badri, and Neel.

All in all, it’s been a rough quarter but with a happy ending—and some of us are looking forward to designing spanners 🔧

Until next time,
The Snipette Team