A new monthly pocket-sized magazine goes offline in an online world

There was a time when Srishti Garg thought she would become a doctor Both her parents are doctors and she had taken up PCB in standard 11 preparing to follow what she believed was the path laid out for her Then she watched The Devil Wears Prada 2006 before heading to physics tuitionldquoI immediately called my mom and I told her lsquoI canrsquot do science anymore I feel like my calling is somewhere in fashion and journalismrsquordquo she recallsThat calling eventually led her to study fashion communication and build a career in content Now it has also found its way into a small A5sized magazine called Nepo Baby Magazine a monthly deliberately unserious publication that Garg describes as ldquoyour algorithm in your handsrdquoThe idea came from being overwhelmed by the very digital world she worked inSrishti GargldquoMy brain was fried because of my screen time and I hated how much time I was spending on social media But I also didnrsquot have the bandwidth of picking up a book and reading it So I just wanted a quick fix for my brain where I didnrsquot have to open my phone but I was still getting chatpata contentrdquoSo she decided to curate something she herself would want to read ldquoIt had everything It had some gossip It had recipes It had Sudoku It had word puzzles It had journalling sort of like a brain activity where you could do something with origamirdquo She even attaches origami papers between the pagesThere are letters from the editor a bigsis advice column her monthly favourites and sections ranging from a nighttime routine to interactive activities ldquoYou donrsquot have to necessarily open your phone to consume contentrdquo she says ldquoItrsquos sort of like your escape from the digital world and yoursquore touching grassrdquoThe magazine is intentionally easy to carry ldquoItrsquos sort of like an A5size pamphlet sort of thing You can literally just put it in your tote bag or your purse and carry it around with yourdquoThe name meanwhile is an Internet joke turned into a publishing identity ldquoMy boyfriend and I always keep talking about the fact that if we were Nepo Babies our life would have been so much easierrdquo Garg laughs ldquoBeing a Nepo Baby is everyonersquos dream occupation You get to have everything at your own access The world feels lighter and easier on yourdquoBut there is another layer to the joke ldquoTherersquos a running joke that Nepo Babies donrsquot work right So we just wanted to make it sound like Nepo Babies are so unserious and they donrsquot work but we actually dordquoEach edition changes according to Gargrsquos month and crucially her readersrsquo feedback ldquoAfter every edition after people have read it I post a story asking them lsquoOkay what did you like What didnrsquot you like What do you want to hear more from this magazinersquordquoWhile Sudoku templates are sourced online Garg designs her word puzzles herself filling them with words her followers associate with her and her community ldquoIt also makes the community feel a little bit more specialrdquo she saysHow to get itThere is no conventional subscription Instead Garg announces a specific date and time every month when she posts a Google Form for the next edition Readers have to fill in their name address and PIN code make a payment via the QR code provided and upload a screenshot of the payment proof The first 100 people to successfully complete the process get a copyThe first edition had just 50 copies all of which sold out in ldquofive to 10 minutesrdquo The latest edition increased the print run to 100 copiesAt Rs 99 Garg says affordability was important ldquoMost of my followers are either in college or they are students I didnrsquot want to create something overly expensive I wanted them to actually enjoy it without putting a hole in their pocketrdquo