![]() Lamenting The Lost World Of TargetSucharita Sengupta LAMENTING THE LOST WORLD OF TARGET By Various authors Year 1979 VOLUME XL NUMBER 11 November 2016 For several years now, I have found it far more delightful to go
through literature for children and young adults that is being
published in our country, that is, in comparison with books
targeted at adult audiences, especially those that are written in English.
The prime reason is the far superior quality of writing, illustration
and production. If books published for children and teenagers
can enthral an adult so much, how much more pleasing must they
be for the kids. Amid this encouraging and vibrant scenario, there is
one aspect that appears to have either gone missing, or has declined
in significance or visibility. This is the segment on monthly magazines
for children.
It was commonplace to find a bunch of such magazines in English,
Hindi and other regional languages in magazine stands at bookstores,
bus stands and railway stations once upon a time. While comics
for children are still visible on the stands, the monthly magazine has
vanished. It’s a pity, since they were a relished part of childhood for
several generations of young Indians. Sourced either through subscriptions
or from the newspaperwala, borrowed from the school library
for free or from the local stationary shop for a princely sum of
50 paise per week, or even whacked from a friend in the
neighbourhood, they were constant and treasured companions. Allow
me to wallow in nostalgia, through this article, for a personal
favourite—an English language magazine called Target.
Target began publication in 1979, with Rosalind Wilson, an
acclaimed educationist who worked at the English Department of
Springdales School, New Delhi, as the founding editor. It was published
by Living Media India Pvt. Ltd., the same company that published
India Today. It is not my case that no other magazines of note
for children had ever been published before, or in any other Indian
language. However, it appears to have been the most popular magazine
among urban, English-speaking kids of a certain generation,
especially those who grew up in the 80s and early 90s. I have, till
date, not met a single such reader who does not carry in his/her
heart, the utter disappointment that followed from the time that
the magazine ceased publication in the year 1995. A quick Google
search revealed several blog posts and one Reddit thread where the
readers were swimming in bittersweet nostalgia.
Indeed, Target is worthy of such reminiscences. With an eclectic
content, it ... Table of Contents >> |