Milchar Jan-Feb
2012
With the publication of
Nov-Dec 2011 issue, we have completed a year of new-face Milchar. Whether, we
succeeded in providing good and informative reading material to our readers or
not, whether we were successful in producing a quality magazine or not, is for
our readers to decide. However, going through the letters and mails we received
from our readers over the year, gives an indication that we at Milchar, have
done our job satisfactorily. We are encouraged.
Producing
a community magazine, which is not commercially
viable, is definitely a challenging job, both
for the editorial staff and the management.
Resource crunches, not only put strain on the
organisation, but also effect the editorial work
in a big way. We can not engage professional
columnists, professional graphic designers,
professional proof-readers etc. to give our
readers an advanced quality journal. We can only
approach authors, columnists, photographers,
graphic designers etc. mostly from our own
community, who are definitely a dedicated lot
and carry fire of belonging to the community in
their hearts. We are thankful to all of them,
for, we never faced a situation where we
deferred our publication for want of quality
material. We have renowned writers in our
community, who spare time from their busy
schedules to write for the community journals,
and doing it with passion. We salute all of
them.
A
good editor's quality lies, not in what he wants
readers to read, but in producing what readers
want to read. In order to know the readers'
priorities, it is essential to have regular
feedback from them, not only on the content
published, but also on what they look forward to
read. Unfortunately, in Mumbai, we don't find
many who could favour us with their critical
comments on the content or suggest improvements
in the journal as they would like to see, on a
regular basis.
We however hope that this does happen
sooner or later.
Our
enthusiasm in reserving a page titled 'Your Own
Page' for our readers, especially our youth, did
not make much inroads as far as Mumbai biradari
is concerned. The page was meant to provide
space to our biradari to publicise their
achievements, achievements of their children
like meritorious results, awards, rewards, high
order placements etc. Though there is good
response to this page from people around the
world, we would wish our biradari here to share
their achievements with us, in text, in photos.
Almost same is the case with Crossword
Puzzles and Out of Box Columns. We seem to be
failing in persuading and encouraging our
children to apply their minds on something which
connects them to their roots, culture, language
and history. Though, the Crossword column has
been discontinued now because of nil response,
we are optimistic that we will be able to
restart it with the initiative of our readers.
One
more area where we don't get sufficient material
is the local news section. We do get important
news concerning our community from across the
globe, but there is hardly any news forthcoming
from our biradari here. We would not only like
to impress upon the members of Mumbai biradari
to tell us about important events for
publication in Milchar, but would also request
members of the BOT and Area Mentors of KPA to
report what they think deserve publication. We
would like to reiterate that Milchar is your own
mouthpiece. Give it a hand, a big hand.
Regarding
self-financing of Milchar, it has been stated a
number of times that a magazine will survive
only if it is able to raise money by way of
regular subscriptions and more importantly
through advertisements. While we are thankful to
all those whose support came instantly through
cover advertisements for the 6 issues of 2011,
we request our readers to come forward to make
Milchar a commercially viable magazine. We
intend to make it a Monthly publication in
immediate future, but this is possible only if
advertisements flow constantly. Those of our
readers and well wishers who are associated with
the corporate sector or running their own
businesses, are requested to lend support in a
big way to keep Milchar alive.
For
a dedicated reader or a well wisher from the
community, a small subscription of Rs. 300.00
per year (Rs. 2500 for Lifetime) is not a big
sum. We would request all those who have yet to
enroll for Milchar, to send in their
subscriptions as early as possible and reinforce
our thinking that Milchar is real miltsar and
you all support it.
Contact
editor at : editormilchar@yahoo.co.in
Source: Milchar
