1. Have an Interesting Snippet to Share : Click Here
    Dismiss Notice

Where Is My Magazine?

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by jayasala42, Jul 19, 2020.

  1. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,357
    Likes Received:
    10,550
    Trophy Points:
    438
    Gender:
    Female
    We understand that the popular Tamil Magazine Kalki has stopped. A glorious past of M. S. Sadasivam and Kalki comments on politics and music have gone into oblivion.Ponniyin selvan, Sivakaamiyin sabadamand Alai Osai do reverberate in us and will be ever green in our hearts/minds.
    This applies not only to Tamil magazines but to other journals in other languages which too may face similar fate in the near future.

    Culture also does not remain constant.That is also subject to vast changes.The shailee(style) of the language and the traditional usages also are subject to transformation.

    The image, appearance,contents, writers ,humour we had those days !I have seen these magazines since 1940s and enjoyed every bit.The change is historic and has taken place just before our very eyes.

    The reason for this vast change does appeal to our intellect. In those days, magazines were read only by educated, elites and intellectuals and naturally all magazines like Vikatan, Kalki,Kalaimagal ( the pure) and to some extent Kumudam also catered to the needs. The content
    was of a high class variety. The magazine was a typical replica of the society. Middle class kitchen, family feuds, music performances,jokes, cartoons and commentaries were that of classes and masses had no part in them at all and there was no complaint about this issue also since reading of these journals and magazines was not their cup of coffee.

    The writers had those readers in mind whenever they depicted heroes, heroines ,bafoons or common man.

    As days passed around 1970s all magazines reached their top sales. Readers were many. Education spread. Films and theatres had advanced motion pictures.Cinema
    became the main attractive target of the masses and classes too.
    As sources of entertainment began to vary, books also had to change. There were special issues of cinema. Regular journals also had to advertise or write about movie stars and their personal annecdotes occupied an essential part of magazine culture.
    There was a hue and cry from Thathas and pattis and they were of no avail.

    But magazines had to survive.The same writers and some younger ones started their entertaining style. The language seemed to entertain some readers and later on the culture spread to every nook and corner of the magazine.
    Only four or five pages were allotted to traditional writing.

    Be a Roman in Rome.The articles that were described to be indecent and obscene occupied the minds
    of prime readers. They started waiting for the weekly arrival of those journals with a trend of romance and sex appeal.The cover changed, drawings changed and costumes also became more attractive ,sensitive catering to a low variety of instincts and emotions.
    Initially elders objected and treated the magazines as 'Kudi kedi'( spoiling families).But can we stop the changing trend?The style, language, culture and treatment all undertook a massive metamorphosis within 10 years. The strong thread of ethics and discipline became weaker and weaker and it totally vanished from the scene.

    After all we are human beings susceptible for changes. The change which was totally condemned by elders was welcomed by our own grandchildren as very progressive and updated. The laments/ complaints of elders 'About Kaliyuga, bad time' etc fell into deep pits, deaf ears not to be listened or attended to at all.The past glory fell into ruin.

    But the old order changeth yielding place to new. It was welcome with open hands by the younger generation and many elders too fell in line.

    Astrologers say" the calamity will be there for six months and then you will get accustomed to it".This is what happened in reality. We made compromises on style, core,content and every aspect of many of the magazines.A few cries from octogenarians will be heard occasionally and get vapourised into thin air.

    We have to realise that there is no need of printed matter for younger generation.It is Electronic world.There are no readers but only onlookers.There are more of advts.,very little matter to read. Of course some journals contain some great articles, as if to satisfy the elite.
    The world has come to your hands. You need to know only the essence. Why seek unnecessary details? No need for literary appreciation. Those literary stalwarts can always thrive even without journals.

    It appears as though the style,contents, grammar and literature are becoming more and more diluted. But what do they actually say? It is stated to be actually becoming richer and attaining 'prabhutva' in style.Actually I do not know how 'prabhutva' is defined by modern youth.

    1970 -90 was the golden period of all the magazines.Thereafter 'the decline and deterioration started and after 2000 all the the journals do face downward trend.
    Punarapi Jananam ,punarapi maranam-does it apply to journals also? we are silent witnesses of this vast revolution.
    Nobody needs journals/magazines.

    The world is in our palms.
    The little android in your palm is an asset.It is a treasure. It is a book, news paper and journal. In short it is a library in itself.
    Why do we need a library when it is in your palm?
    Don't bother about the vanished books and magazines. The android is your world. Try to learn the details, capture the essence.That is more than sufficient for 1000 years.Lamenting on the dead is of no use.
    Enjoy the world.You are the library yourself.
    Arise and get awake with your
    palm device!
    jayasala42
     
    Balajee, joylokhi and Thyagarajan like this.
    Loading...

  2. joylokhi

    joylokhi Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,725
    Likes Received:
    2,519
    Trophy Points:
    285
    Gender:
    Female
    You have very rightly brought out the downtrend in the interest on magazines and journals over the years and does look like it is has reached bottom now, even more due to the pandemic. However, to those of us who have made a habit of getting and reading them , its difficult to leave them inspite of the abundant online information available.
    To this day, upto the end of march 2020, i think i had my regular supply of all the weeklies, monthly magazines like femina, womens era, outlook, etc in english and a whole variety in tamil like mangayar malar, snegidhi, aval vikatan, bala jyothidam, deepam , thoyi to name a few. With the COVID issue, supplies were dwindling and I have now taken to magzter.com which has a wide range of magazines in all languages. However, the satisfaction of relaxing with a book on hand, is definitely missing and I feel difficult to compensate by any online stuff.
     
    Thyagarajan likes this.
  3. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    13,364
    Likes Received:
    24,101
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear Smt. Jayasala:

    Thank you for sharing your experience of how we used to wait for magazines that promoted literature and excellent writing those days. Later, the market for such literature changed into focus on cinema with center spread becoming scantly-dressed actress. Kollywood Kisukisu became famous and each magazine dedicated one to two pages only for that. People were reading commentaries of the writers about various movies to determine which one to buy tickets. Only Carnatic season and its coverage survived in some Tamil magazines.

    Now almost all leading personalities have their own YouTube channel and the content is so much so that no one can even watch all of them on a weekly basis. Paper-based magazines have slowly disappearing to be replaced by social media content and ezines. Even choosing the content and avoiding the content that is not suitable for the children is becoming increasingly difficult and the children are becoming vulnerable to be exposed to inappropriate content too soon. The world opened up at the fingertips of everyone including the children.

    There is no regular censorship in social media and even some movie makers decide to release their movie on the internet instead of theaters to avoid censorship. Unless we teach self-regulation to the children, it is increasingly difficult to control their exposure to inappropriate content. Even constant unpalatable content is not good even for adults.

    Viswa
     
    Thyagarajan likes this.
  4. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    11,577
    Likes Received:
    12,425
    Trophy Points:
    615
    Gender:
    Male
    :hello: Kudos to madam to call a spade a spade. From cradle to grave, the publishing of weekly in Tamil in particular and other languages in general well analysed and firmly concluded how the digitalising given a death blow to the meek print media. Even once considered behemoths have fallen around the world due to prolific killer(s) the media internet, satellite ......

    Parthiban kanavu

    World-wide advertisement spends shifted to other sections of media from print. Popular and established several decades ago Magazines all across the world closed and few survive in digital world. Vogue , play boy, women, more!, lucky ....have all already met with death with prolific killer called social media!


    Picture post for Hindi movies & பேசும் படம் for tamil movies I used to pick up from platform hawkers on the way to marina beach. All reviews I used to read just one more time before going to see the movie in theatre especially the Hindi one. Occasionally one anna Indu nesan too my friend would buy and circulate.

    This is world of awareness , openness, empowerment, etc.
    Reading Kumudam was a taboo and strict No No by my neighbour friend’s Dad But his mom was permitted. We used to stealthily read at his terrace.

    They got prop up their business only with Ads and advertisers shifted the allocation to channels and google. Hindu told its employees there in bombay that they arre closing down.

    These do not matter at all. Grammar & literary value have been given a go bye. Young ones wish abbreviated internet or sms version of language in texting pinging and more so in regular communication.

    Current scenario is such that One has to learn to be abreast to continue to enjoy or enjoy monotony, aloofness, isolation ....which may lead to even suffering inferiority complex and depression.

    I used to see The Kalkandu editor THAMIZHVANAN jotting down points for hours on end, consulting number of old books and magazines at Connemara library and of course at huge library of university of madras. I daily visit library at marina beach to read weekly magazines and other published books and news papers with my elder brother BHARATHI ADIPODI.

    I am sailing in the same boat. But my mind yearns or and craves for the fragrance of paper and printing ink. Holding the gadgets to read at times lead to pain in knuckles, shoulders and palms. Any day a book like like snegithi or Kumudam is light. As a school boy, for long years I was ardent reader of ding dong, Kannan, kalkandu, ambulimama in tamil, Vikatan, Kalki, amudasurabhi, Manjari ( tamil readers’ digest).

    Thanks & Regards.
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2020
    joylokhi likes this.
  5. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,357
    Likes Received:
    10,550
    Trophy Points:
    438
    Gender:
    Female
    Dear Joylokhi,
    Thank you for the nice response.We elders had been eagerly waiting for the weekly arrival of all tamil magazines.Most of them had rich interesting content. Lo,those days have to be cherished only in memory. As you say, however much we read through Google and android, the satisfaction of having a printed matter on hand is unique and irreplaceable.
    Thanks again,
    jayasala42
     
    joylokhi likes this.
  6. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,357
    Likes Received:
    10,550
    Trophy Points:
    438
    Gender:
    Female
    Thank you Viswa. You have brought in the negative trends that modern parents have to face while educating children in the absence of proper censor board.The challenges faced by parents in this electronic era are too many. A big question stands before everyone,not to be solved in the near future.Unless used with proper restrictions with much care and diligence, it makes us think whether the electronic trend transformation is a curse !
    jayasala 42
     
    Viswamitra likes this.
  7. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,357
    Likes Received:
    10,550
    Trophy Points:
    438
    Gender:
    Female
    Dear Shri Thyagarajan,
    You have elaborated your experience in reading Tamil books as a young boy. We had no chance to read Cine magazines and they were a taboo in our place.

    As you say, the magazines have totally lost advt income on arrival of TV. Though it is a costly affair, even a few seconds advt in TV is more powerful.
    You have said something about Bharathi Adipodi. One Mr. V. S. Mani( now no more) had come to our house very often and he was my husband's friend.He used to call himself as Bharathi Adipodi.He was living in KK nagar and his wife was a teacher,I think.
    I don't know whether the person is the same.
    However much we share our rich entertaining experience now, it is a hard fact that it is irretrievable. For children the absence of print media is a great loss.
    Jayasala42
     
  8. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,504
    Likes Received:
    4,481
    Trophy Points:
    338
    Gender:
    Male
    Not only the printed word but even cinemas will shut down as electronics develops and science brings new ways of entertainment. In TN of course, Cinema will last until the star worship lasts People want fast food for their mind too,
     
  9. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,357
    Likes Received:
    10,550
    Trophy Points:
    438
    Gender:
    Female
    I think that it may take nearly 20 years for cinemas
    to get out of lure of Tamilians.The end of all journals will be within two or three years from now. I think the world we are going to live will be entirely from the one we have seen.
    jayasala42
     
    joylokhi likes this.
  10. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    11,577
    Likes Received:
    12,425
    Trophy Points:
    615
    Gender:
    Male
    :hello:Thank you for appreciating my points of view here.

    2. I wish I had mentioned about circulating libraries including the mobile one where it was possible to pick unread previous or past issues of many popular tamil & English as well magazines in Triplicane and other places. It was dirt cheap to pay reading charges and keep and read those at a leisurely unhurried pace.

    3. A man on his bike used to visit fortnightly from T Nagar area of Zchennai and from his huge bags one could pick up magazines of his or her choice. Even this small business had to yield to ezines.

    4. A some what big library in Alwar ThiruNagar caters to few hundred families of readers used to be crowded in the evenings . Bharathi Adipodi too during those days ran a free reading room type library for which place was given free by a doctor in Triplicane as he was an ardent reader of Bharathi poems. Sharing magazines in exchange with neighbours also disappeared.

    5. Yes madam sister. BHARATHI ADIPODI IS NONE OTHER THAN vs mani - my late elder brother. Your information about his residing at KK nagar and spouse now a superannuated teacher from corporation run school at KK nagar is correct. The housing board building opp to Ayyappan temple at KK Nagar Chennai - facing east - christened BHARATHI ILLAM is still strong and stands refurbished and renovated.

    Thanks for enquiring about my elder brother.

    Regards.
    .
     

Share This Page