Sunday, August 1, 2010

Episode 1: Introducing Judita


Well it was not a surprise to anyone when they saw it raining. London was like this for centuries and would be like this forever, like a leaky diaper. Everyone prayed that the sun should be out by lunch. The sun was a seldom guest to city and whenever it came out, everything looked festive.
Rain or shine, it didn’t matter to Ms. Judita Shah. She was a crisp as one Features Editor can be. In the circles of work, she was a horror. In the circles of nightclub, she was an absolute darling and in parties, she was the one stealing the spotlight. Only ten years in the fashion business, the twenty-six-year-old “Fashionista” was going places. July 31st was the day when she first entered the business of fashion. She was only 16, innocent and cute, perfect for a photo shoot. She got bored of being on the screen after an year of work. She started as an Assistant Photo Director for the company where she had her representation. The camera loved her as she continued doing modeling till she was 20 when she was asked to be a reality show contestant for “Stranded”. It made her an instant TV sweetheart.
On her 21st birthday, she was engaged to her hot boyfriend Esteban Romero. The very same day, her new show “Model: Tres Chic” was aired. Everyone adored her as the host and admired as the judge. On her 22nd birthday, Esteban dumped cake on her and left. The next day she was offered to write a column for Gloss Monthly, the newest addition to the fashion magazines in UK. The following day, Playpen publishes a 12-page saucy photo shoot, once done by her ex-boyfriend Esteban as a token of remembrance and eternal love. Hours later, Gloss Monthly asked her to not to write. The next morning, she got an offer to do porn and she refused.
Later that year, she was offered a position at Glimmer as Lifestyle & Decor Columnist. When she turned 23rd, she again got engaged to Esteban. The next day, Esteban was featured in a shoot for The Gaze, the IT magazine for homosexual men. Revenge is sweet and that was one good birthday present. When she was 23 years and a half, Esteban took her to court. The controversy bubbled and like they say, “There is nothing such as bad publicity”, it worked wonders for Judita. She was offered to work as Junior Editor, Lifestyle, Food & Wine for Vivid. Today, it would be almost 3 years since she joined Vivid.

Vivid is a major fashion magazine. What editors of Vivid think as fashion will be eventually fashion. It was the holy grail. The magazine was only 5 years old but when it started it had staff from renowned publications like Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, InStyle UK, Numero, etc. Today, Vivid has circulation numbers next to British Vogue. The relationship between Judita and Vivid has been as potent as a real life-time relationship. Year after year, the love grew and Judita got promotions. As she worked religiously, Vivid was taken seriously by fashion pundits. Once it was heard during the London Fashion Week: “Judita is the next Anna.”
It was Saturday, July 31st. Vivacious Publishings rarely opened on Saturday and even it opened, it was for some staff who are trying to meet deadlines because of some creative leak. But today was different, in the company’s five-year history it was the first time that everyone was asked to come to work. Over the few weeks, there had been rumors about the future of Vivacious Publishings. Some say they heard that it might be sold to British Vogue. Some say Numero would be buying a stake in the company. Some say that they heard the company was moving creative processes to China to cut costs. Nobody exactly knew what was happening.
Oh well, the secret had to be revealed. Judita was asked to meet the Board of Directors for an important meeting after lunch. As like her ritual, Saturdays was liquid lunch. Judita drank her peach and strawberry juice.
“Damn. Yasmina forgot ice again,” said Judita. “YASMINA!”
As she was roared to get her assistant Yasmina, her desktop phone rang. She was curious as she never got a call in the middle of the lunch hour. She thought it was the call for her to meet the Board of Directors.
“The Meeting. But why?” thought Judita. She thought maybe that old cow thing of an Editor-in-Chief Isabelle is asked to leave and she would become the new. As the thoughts floated her mind, she picked up and said hello. Shortly after, she hung up and checked herself in the mirror. Yes! She was still looking crispy. A bit of retouching and there. She was as good as she came this morning. A bit of the exotic j’Adore is sprayed. Smile test! Hair wave test! Everything is fine. Judita moved.

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