ALL EYES WERE on Finance Minister P. Chidambaram when he presented the Budget 2013-2014 on February 28, 2013. There have been issues which have been in the foreground in the past year, and the FM and his team had issues that they could take credit for—allowing FDI in retail and civil aviation, and decontrolling fuel prices—albeit these issues were not a part of Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget Agenda. This Budget session started on a stormy note, with the Hyderabad blasts and Home Minister’s remarks about Bharatiya Janata Party disrupting sessions. The month-long session began with a customary address by President Pranab Mukherjee to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. We hoped that the sessions would prove to be productive over time—after all it carried a heavy legislative agenda, including getting Parliament nod three ordinances, introduction of as many as 16 bills, consideration and passage of 35 Bills. I know that the aam admi was waiting with bated breath for the budget. Being one of the crowd, I hoped that the February Budget would bring some good news for us, the women. Come on Mister Finance Minister, we deserved it—it is after all our month in March when the world celebrates Women’s Day on March 8th. We are the people who buy goods being sold, who hold on tight to the purse strings. It was purely a matter of chance, that the man on our cover in this month, is one of the former Finance Ministers of India, Shree Yashwant Sinha. He is one of the most high-profile FMs that India can boast of, greatly admired and equally criticised. We spoke less about business and more about matters of the heart. The man of substance left us truly impressed. Read about him on Page 12. Keeping with the matters of business and budget, we have interviewed the father-son duo Rakesh and Rohan Verma of MaymyIndia. We have added a twist to our Looking Back section this month and made our master entrepreneurs look back at the initial days of business. Do let us know what you think about it. Since we are all about celebrating women this month, it gives us great pleasure to introduce a new writer—Marryam Reshii is one of the most familiar names in the gastronomical and travel writing in India, and has been for the past 20 years. She has written for a slew of prestigious Indian and international magazines. As I said, surprise! She will be one of the travel columnists for Hitchhiker’s from this month. I hope that you have a good month, and for the men, celebrate the women that you have in your life. They deserve it!