Writers beware! Travelscape, the national travel magazine based out of Bangalore, doesn’t pay its contributors. I have experienced it myself and so has a friend of mine. They haven’t paid for over 6 months now.
When I threatened to go public (after all, no one can mess with the Press), magazine CEO Srinivas Rao Mandekar shot back an email saying that he doesn’t like being intimidated and that he has instructed his accounts department to process my payments within a week. But it has been over two months since he said that, and I am yet to see him make good his promise.
Talk about patience. I gave him two more months to correct himself. But he seems intent on spoiling whatever image he has created in journalistic circles.
The rumour is that the magazine is shutting down – what else could explain his non-payment and sheer disregard to journalistic threats?
But news, news, his company, Aastha Business Innovations Pvt Ltd (ABIPL) intends to revamp it and be back in the market after a while. One only hopes, he is more professional this time around. And one hopes, he clears his previous backlog before embarking on fresh territory! After all, there’s nothing better than starting with a clean slate. Will you, Mr Srinivas?