Rembering Gulshan Ewing: The glamorous, kind hearted editor of Eve's We

Its a tribute to an editor both personally and professionally when news of her passing away causes the people who worked with her 35 years agomdashmore in some casesmdashto genuinely mourn the loss and to exchange fond memories of her on a ubiquitous WhatsApp groupGulshan Ewing was the editor of the popular womens magazine Eves Weekly for 23 years from 1966 to 1989 and also editor of the film magazine Star amp Style She began her career with the weekly tabloid Current under the editorship of the doughty Dosu Karaka and went on to Femina from the Times of India stable and then Eves Weekly owned by the Somani groupShe had been living for many years with her husband Guy in England and passed away on April 18 at the age of 92 after contracting COVID19 Her daughter Anjali who was with her says she passed away peacefully It is possible to have a good Coronavirus death There was nothing horrific or distressing about it Anjali said in a messageGulshan Ewing with Nargis DuttWhile some publications have described her as a society editor and highlighted her meetings with British royalty and Hollywood film starsmdashand she was undoubtedly a glamorous and elegant lady with friends in high placesmdashshe was also an extremely downtoearth kind and encouraging woman and editorHer innings at Eves Weekly and Star amp Style were the high points of her career Readers of an older generation will remember Eves with much fondness for its set menu of cookery recipes knitting patterns the heartrending emotional stories in a feature called True Confessions which many young interns were disappointed to find were far from true the somewhat trite humour column Madam Im Adam by An Alves Called Johnny and the uniquely frank Frankly Speaking by the inimitable Devyani Chaubal the only real Indian gossip often right on target columnistLater a younger generation and dynamic assistant editors pushed for stories on issues such as dowry deaths rape and domestic violence that were being revealed for the first time in mainstream publications in the late seventies and early eighties Still later Eves began including more general issues but with a womens perspectiveGulshan Ewing with Raj KapoorAt just 24 and with an internship at Ms Magazine under her belt Ammu Joseph was made assistant editor in 1977 with some very interesting consequencesWhat I most appreciate Mrs Ewing for was trusting me enough to let me take Eves Weekly in a completely new direction as long as I didnt interfere with some of her favourite features like True Confessions says Ammu who has written and cowritten six books on journalism and authored several reports as an independent journalistGulshan Ewing with Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer KendallMrs Ewing presided over all these changes with grace and equanimity recognising that her readers were changing too She allowed her editorial staff the freedom to experiment to bring in new columnsmdashwomen in cinema women and the law women in sportsmdashin effect to segue from a traditional womens magazine into what some might call a feminist magazine though some of the traditional elements remained because they were and still are important to usMrs Ewing may have grown up in the era when womens journalism was about recipes and household hints beauty tips crochet and knitting patterns beauty contests and a whirling social circuit but she was almost intuitively able to grasp that the changing times required a feminist sensibility says Pamela Philipose who was Eves Weeklys assistant editor from around 1981 to 1988 and is now the Public Editor of the distinguished online publication The Wire and author of Medias Shifting Terrain Orient Black SwanPhilipose says it was because of this feminist sensibility that Mrs Ewing allowed subjects such as violence against women and gender equality to feature in the magazineAnd through it all she kept her connection with her readers She selected the letters from readers that were published every week across two pages many of them from women asking for advice in a rapidly changing world She personally answered the best letters which she chose herself recalls her personal assistant Bernadette Kumar then Nair She never threw away letters There was a TampC Type and Clip file in which all the letters were keptWhen I joined Eves Weekly in 1979 I had no degree in journalism but like everyone else I learnt on the job because we had wonderful mentors and we were never hobbled by petty politicking which often starts at the topMrs Ewing was the least petty of people We were all women on the editorial staff with the exception for a while of the chief sub editor an old school gentleman who once gave a headline in which he spelt complete as compleat intentionally of course referring to Izak Waltons 1563 book The Compleat Angler Mrs Ewing came into the room chuckling away and told Mr Rao that she was in the Managing Directors bad books because she had employed a chief sub who couldnt even spell completeCharu Shahane now a senior broadcast journalist with BBC News in London recalls how as a young reporter she was terrified when somebody she had written a critical article about threatened to have her beaten upGulshan Ewing with Amitabh BachchanMrs Ewing came up to my desk smiled and said Whats that Hindi phrase Ulta chor kotwal ko daante the thief taking the policeman to task My worries vanished and I learnt to deal with criticism without fearI never heard anyone in any department say a mean word about Mrs Ewing and she was not in the habit of saying anything nasty herselfAs the editor of Star amp Style she had many contactsmdashfriends may be a more appropriate wordmdashamong the film stars of the 1970s and 1980s She was close to the triumvirate of Raj Kapoor Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar recalls Nalini Uchil assistant editor at SampSThe first and only Star amp Style awards function that we organised was attended by Raj Kapoor in 1987 though he was in very poor health He was wheezing heavily and breathless when he arrived but he came for her On stage he recalled with fondness his association with her and asked her for a dance and they waltzed on stagemdasha sight never to be witnessed again It was the last public function Raj Kapoor attended Nalini remembersPhotographs of her interviewing Indira Gandhi meeting Prince Charles dining with Alfred Hitchcock smiling with Hollywood heartthrob Cary Grant have surfaced in the last few days The pictures have come as a surprise to many of us who worked with her since she never boasted of her celebrity statusThere are many many more than those I have quoted who will remember Mrs Ewing very few people in the office called her Gulshan or maam as is the style today In these days of revolving door editors few are remembered and fewer still with such gratitude love and respectGoodbye Mrs Ewing and thank youThe writer is a senior journalist and has held editorial positions across The Illustrated Weekly of India Sunday Observer The Times of India in a career spanning 23 yearsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news