Much like Verve’s unusual cover character this month, an amphibian creature that lives a double life, being able to survive both on land and water, is the spirit of Verve which always straddles two worlds: style and substance, fashion and thought, celebrity and merit.

Many images of Bollywood have remained with me as the ultimate fashion moments. Memorable from among them, are Madhubala’s flowing kalidaar kurtas and kohl swept eyes in Mughal-e-Azam;

Come January and it’s the season to bring out the crystal ball and gaze into the future. At Verve, this mythical crystal ball gets passed around the editors and each year they come up with unique prognostications for what lies ahead.

There is a palpable mood of excitement in Bollywood these days. Madhuri Dixit is back! And with her the era of the diva returns. Every once in a while an actress appears who combines grace and charisma, mystery and allure all translating into an unforgettable screen presence.

Get out the bling handbags and metallic make-up; the season to glam up is here. Once again shine makes a comeback in fashion and beauty; the sure-fire mood lifter as we crescendo on New Year’s Eve. Till then, it’s shimmer all the way.

India is all about cricket and Bollywood,” declares Deepika Padukone, the leggy, 21-year-old, to Verve’s fashion editor during their freewheeling chat for this month’s cover story. But how could a supermodel who has set the ramp on fire believe that anything exists beyond the world of fashion?

Naked people have little or no influence in society’ said Mark Twain in the same breath as his pithy statement, ‘Clothes maketh the man’. Columnist Madhu Jain supposes Twain meant that ‘clothes bestowed individual marks of distinction or power on bare bodies’.

Everything is a brand these days. A restaurant is a brand. A chef is a brand. I like to think of a restaurant as a place I can go to for a good dining experience and not as a venue that could ‘enhance’ my lifestyle.

I am not much of a mountain climber and the closest I have come to trekking is charging up two floors, from my office on the third floor to the one on the fifth, stilettos and bones intact.

When I look back and try to recall some previous issues of Verve, I find that they remain lodged in my memory not by month of publication or date of release, but by some special association of a story, a cover shoot or a fashion spread.

Luxury is the new word in town. It's spilling out of every local mall, it's the hot topic at conferences and it's at the tip of every marketing manager's tongue. Suddenly we seem to have woken up to the idea of the luxury brand, the luxurious spa and the luxe hotel.

March was a month centered on sport. A large portion of the population followed with hope, the swing of Sourav Ganguly's bat out in the tropical pitches of the Caribbean, while back home in Mumbai, polo was the flavour of the month.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, the world could have taken any possible shape; it was all a matter of inspiration. On a busy afternoon at the Congress Center where power networking reaches new heights..

On January 15, we moved into our new offices. It was a seminal moment. Initially, many, along with me, had a look of disbelief. We felt as one does in a dream, that any minute we would wake up and confront a different reality.

What does this have to do with editing and publishing a magazine? Two things; first is the fact that at Verve, in a sense, each month is a microcosm of beginnings and endings. But, as we put one issue to bed and start working on the next, the boundaries of time actually get blurred.

On my recent travels to New York and Milan, I came across two vastly different experiences that you can have, as an Indian overseas. In New York, I saw Mira Nair's The Namesake, which brought home the chilling loneliness of an immigrant Bengali family that lived in a suburban home, where the distance from Kolkata hung in the air like unspoken words that can be heard even through the silence.

This issue of Verve is a landmark one for many reasons, but among the most important one is that it heralds our going monthly. If I were to transport you behind the scenes, on any given day, you would find our team intently revisiting the importance of a unique editorial thought process that guides the magazine, be it in writing, photography or design. We debate, question and investigate the parameters for a cover story.

I have edited Verve for nearly 10 years now, without ever forgetting that the creation of content is an art form. Stories may seem to materialise magically from a tiny germ of an idea that crops up at an editorial meeting but they also spring from a finely honed instinct or nose for the story.

It's high time I got my own identity," remarks the young and light-eyed Ash look-alike, Sneha Ullal in an interview to Verve, which opens the much-followed 'Very Verve' section of this issue. Within the same section, 50-year-old photographer, Ram Rahman admits, "My work reflects my perception of the world…."

Having recently attended two fashion weeks, back to back, in Mumbai and Delhi, I have come to the conclusion that fashion has nothing to do with reality. Before each show commences, a hushed darkness descends on the ramp and women in the audience can shut their eyes and let their imagination run wild about what to expect on the runway.

This has been the year of India. There is no doubt about it. We had a three-day visit by the President of the world's most powerful nation who was bowled over by our desi brand of pomp and circumstance, as Rashtrapati Bhavan feted and welcomed him and his wife.

Power in women is attractive, or so we discovered as we compiled our list of 25 women who we think embody enduring influence in their respective spheres of operation.

There was a time when a stroll down Madison Avenue and Avenue Montaigne was necessary to get a whiff of international fashion. Not any more. It's all happening here and Verve brings the latest, all to your doorstep. As this issue will once again confirm to you, Verve is your window to the world.

Creativity, as we find, can be unleashed by any one of life’s many experiences and sensations. Even food is a wonderful stimulus to get those creative juices going. Blame it on the season, you can. Read this issue of Verve and make the monsoon your muse!

Through the interviews, features and columns in this issue, Verve brings you new insights to help you come closer to yourself and your own individual forms of creative expression.

Fashion is about buzz; it’s about glamour, it’s about power, it’s about glitz and about sequins and skin and stilettos and spunk. We have improved our skills to display fashion and exhibit a look and can now compare with the gurus in New York, Paris and Milan.

Age-wise, one of the biggies hit thirty and it was only natural that we invited actor-of-the-moment, Preity Zinta, to celebrate this eventful time in her life, with Verve. We outfitted her in pretty pink, because her candyfloss girlishness is very much there, as is her megawatt smile.

Verve brings a promise of hope, that the bougainvillea will grow again and the beaches will be populated once more. New Year is indeed a new dawning and, in this issue, we offer you a gamut of our very own feel-good prescriptions to make new beginnings. So, re-enter the world, re-enter yourself, with Verve.

In this issue, we have taken the first step in shifting the paradigm towards the edgy, unconventional side of urban life; through a remarkable story of co-existence, of young revering old, of style toasting tradition. And there is no better example than Avanti and Yash Birla - established enough by way of inheriting the grand Birla mantle.

While putting this issue together, we concluded that a true goddess of today is a woman who is so much in tune with herself. She is, in fact, the woman of her own dreams. And, in realising this dream, the biggest life-giving force is her femininity - mythical and intuitive.

In this issue of Verve we have attempted to define, explore & exhibit 'India Cool'.Find out whats so cool about personalities like Farhan Akhtar, Priyadarshani Raje Scindia, Mandira Bedi, and many others. Verve discovers that the the Queen of Cool is no other than Nita Ambani.

Verve celebrated the summer with an issue that is an ode to the rose - from fashion shoots to stories. Meet Irrfan Khan, Simone Singh, Tarun Tejpal, Akshay Kumar and lots of budding stars.

In this diva special issue meet Madhuri Dixit, Mehr Jesia and Sanjna Kapoor. We catch up with other divas that have been on our pages.

This star studded issue brings you exclusive interviews with Urmila Matondkar, Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan. Our fashion team plays with black and white, pink satin and gold.

In this 25th issue of Verve, look back at 25 of the most memorable men that have been on our pages, take a trip down fashion's memory lane and get stunned by 25 fashion frames that have been on our covers since the inaugural issue.