New craze for children’s books/magazines: World Book Fair 2019, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

I spent a day at the World Book Fair 2019 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi (5th – 13th January 2019). My major interest was to look for some new trends developing at the fringes. Irrespective, currently they are weak or strong signals.

After moving around, I stopped at one children book stall, named Ektara - Takshila's Centre for Children's Literature & Art (Bhopal based publication). They publish magazines in Hindi for children who are in the age bracket of 0-14 years. I was amazed to see readers of all ages flipping through magazines and posters displayed at their book stall. Like me, many readers were clarifying the theme and the stories appeared in the magazines…nodding with agreement…a few were amazed with the simplicity of Hindi language.

One magazine, which most of the visitors picked up at the first glance and surely it appeared to be the readers’ choice – the name of the magazine is ‘Cycle’. While standing at the book stall I also read a few short stories and poems and quickly got into conversations with other readers who were standing in and around the stall.

I was curious to know as to why they got interested in Children’s book/section and particularly what they liked in ‘Cycle’. Some of them said, they want to go back to their childhood days by reading this magazine. They saw this magazine as a conveyor which will easily transport them into the past where they laid the foundation of rest of their life…how they can forget this so easily. They want to remind and revisit the Treasure Island and dig out the buried gold!

Interestingly, a few got into more serious discussions. They said, children are the future of our nation and they want to see whether this magazine (‘Cycle’) would help them build solid character with right values.

A small group of readers, mainly in the age group of 40-50, wanted to ascertain by reading short stories, poems, letters, travelogues and non-fiction articles whether their values (which their parents taught them) are intact or they are immersed in the worldly dilemmas and confusions.

A few readers wanted to revisit the basics of life skills through various messages given to the children through ‘Cycle’ publication. This set of readers did not want to go through various management workshops and literatures on this subject. They wanted simple, yet effective ‘self-help books’ to be in touch with their soul. So simple!

An elderly gentleman talked from core of his heart and said, we all live in a society where instant gratification is increasingly becoming the common and most likely - an accepted norm. The big question is - How do we teach our children good old fashioned PATIENCE? He further said, I am a child of the 60’s and was brought up with the saying ‘PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE.’ He added, Pope Gregory mentioned about 7 virtues in 590 AD: Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility. In days gone by, it was preached that practicing these virtues would protect us against the temptation from the 7 deadly sins (Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath and Sloth). He saw something in ‘Cycle’…said this magazine may help children build those virtues and he saluted Pope Gregory!

My own reading is that exposure to different cultures does not have to be in the form of actual travel. One can journey each and every time he/she reads ‘Cycle’. The travelogue, an important feature of ‘Cycle’ gives a flavor of diversity of culture of the world so well to our children. It exposes the children to the wide variety of people, whose ways are different to our own and yet important!

Interestingly someone at the extreme end of the book stall said with smile - consider, escaping into ‘Cycle’ with your children. You will be able to create an opportunity for them to explore different cultures. In different ways, you can help them create awareness of the ‘virtues’. They need these ‘social graces’ to get through life as functioning adults and live happily within our societies. 

To my absolute surprise, the new trend was quite obvious (still developing on the fringes…I cannot claim that it has matured) – that is, children publications may very soon cut across readers of all ages…there is a lot to learn in the most simplistic manner the simple rules of leading a child like life- Live with joy!!!

Cover page of October-November 2018 ‘Cycle’ magazine:

One story (Karachi Ka Chausa) I am sharing here with the permission of Ektara - Takshila's Centre for Children's Literature & Art which may give some evidence to what I have mentioned above. The readers would be able to pick up the message/s the author has tried to impart to the children/readers through this story.

Enjoy reading ‘Cycle’...age no bar!