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A children's magazine puts up a fight for survival

P. Devarajan

Recently in Bhopal

WHEN a journal, any journal, shuts down or slips to closure, some part of a journalist, any journalist, also dies. Having been a long time reader of Chandamama, Twinkle, Champak and comics, one is particularly upset over the imminent closure of Chakmak, a children's magazine one has never come across.

Chakmak, a 15-year-old monthly magazine in Hindi brought out by Eklavya (the first issue is dated June 1985), today has a print order of just 3,000 copies per month and a tense debate is on at the editorial office over its fate. In better times, Chakmak had a print order of 50,000 copies as the Madhya Pradesh Government bought them for distribution in schools.

Then the ubiquitous fiscal deficit struck and the State Government started delaying on payments and now seems to have virtually given up. After all, promoting Chakmak can only be second to building the first international airport of Madhya Pradesh at Kha juraho.

Lal Bahadur Ojha and Tultul Biswas believe Chakmak is different from others of the genre in that it has a bit of science and other details apart from the once upon a time tales. At the Bhopal editorial offices, Ojha and Tultul Biswas are not yet sure whe ther advertisements from foreign companies should be accepted as they believe the editorial contents could get affected. It need not be so but then they are not convinced though one cannot agree with them.

If MNC advertisements are paid in cheques, as they usually are, Eklavya should not have any objection. Apparently, they are averse to diluting the pristine purity of their ideological commitment even if it means suspending printing of Chakmak.

One can understand their opposition to cigarette and liquor advertisements but beyond a point it makes no sense as children know more about liquor and cigarettes than even their parents. If nothing else, they see everything on the TV screens.

For the present, the editorial staff is not sure of getting advertisements with circulation dropping to 3,000. Tultul Biswas thinks Chakmak can take time out by a short closure of around six months to sort out the problems but Ojha disagrees with her.

``Inertia will set in and Chakmak could die,'' he adds. Then there is the problem of sales as most wholesalers and retailers are not prepared to display Chakmak as Eklavya cannot afford the huge commissions others pay.

At Rs. 10 per copy Chakmak is costly, the staff admit and perhaps could be brought down if advertisements flow in. Yet a third problem is the absence of a strong editorial staff to improve the contents of Chakmak.

An aspect of Eklavya has been its compassion for the child. On April 29, they opened a pitara (Junk Box) for kids in a garage adjacent to the editorial offices of Chakmak. Apart from Chakmak there are toys and teaching aids and any child can walk in and play around.

A strong family member of Chakmak is the Eklavya Workshop at Harda. In 1984, Dr. Jafri bought some 10,500 square feet of land at 50 paise per square foot and then took a loan of Rs. 40,000 from his father to put in place a small factory building for maki ng children's toys. The assets were then transferred to Eklavya which runs it today.

Adjacent to the factory is a small, building with a circular roof more like a geodesic dome acting as a display centre. Rajesh Verma says people are taken in and training given on site. Most of the toys are made of wood and the annual sales is put at Rs. 5 lakhs.

From his experience, Dr. Jafri has realised that all children do not like all the toys or teaching aids. Some are popular with some while others get rejected for no apparent reason. The workshop is doing quite well and is in the process of picking up a R s. 60-lakh order from the Central Government for making toys for anganwadis. It could be a huge order and has to be completed in about six weeks' time, says Verma and adds, ``the order has almost been bagged.''

Then there are the Chakmak clubs in the villages and Janpahal Pustakalay at Khategaon where the public run the library which houses newspapers, books and two other Hindi publications, bi-weekly Sandharb and monthly science newsletter Shroth. Sandharb sel ls about 5,000 copies and is meant for teachers and high school children and is priced at Rs. 10. Shroth is a science newsletter sent out to all Hindi newspapers.

Janpahal is run with yearly contributions of Rs. 100 per head and some 125 members are on the role at Khategaon. It is open in the evening from 4.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. One only hopes a donor will extend a helping hand to Chakmak as otherwise a fine experimen t could well wind its way to an untimely end.