Twice Upon A Page In Kannada

For nearly two decades now, without raising shrill chauvinistic slogans or expecting any reward, Prahalad and Ravi have quietly edited their respective Kannada little magazines—Sanchaya and Abhinava. The last decade or so has been difficult and depressive for the Kannada milieu. The morale has been flagging and litterateurs have routinely painted a doomsday scenario for the language. During these years, little magazines edited by even literary biggies like Gopalakrishna Adiga, U.R. Ananthamurthy and others either folded up or became irregular. But Prahalad and Ravi not only survived but, in their own modest way, ensured continuity by nurturing a pool of young talent in their magazines. "We were not taken seriously when we began, and we too did not have the abilities to match the standards of the great little magazines before us, but we gradually matured," says Prahalad. Today the scene is different. Even big writers expect their works to be reviewed in the two magazines and when they organise literary seminars the who’s who of the Kannada literary world are in attendance.

Prahalad and Ravi do not come from rich families (both their fathers were school teachers). Nor does some corporate house or funding agency bankroll them. They have managed their finances by learning to live frugally, saving small portions of their salary for printing and distributing their quarterly (Sanchaya) and four-monthly (Abhinava). They don’t earn fat pay packets either. Prahalad distributes hygiene products to corporate clients and Ravi works night shifts at a bearings factory. "When we started Sanchaya in 1986, I was in my second year B.Sc. We photocopied or cyclostyled typed pages and distributed it among friends. It took us quite a few years before we were able to get 16 pages printed in a letter press for the first time," says Prahalad.

Ravi too has a similar story. He started Abhinava 11 years ago. Although Prahalad and Ravi started out together, they branched out later to address different cultural issues through their magazines. While Prahalad has maintained a strong literary focus, Ravi has brought out special volumes on the Partition, music, the environment etc. Of late, Ravi has started publishing books and his finest hour came when renowned theatre person and Magsaysay winner K.V. Subbanna gave him the manuscript of his essays to publish. "Sanchaya began getting noticed after we published a special volume when A.K. Ramanujan passed away. The one on K.K. Hebbar was also very popular," says Prahalad.

At present Sanchaya has 600 subscribers and Abhinava around 300. Their annual subscriptions are Rs 100 and Rs 150 respectively. "Most of the time people forget to renew their subscription, but we need an audience for what we have created, so we mail it across. There is also the practical problem of having to store it under our beds if we do not distribute it. The way we run the magazines is totally informal and there cannot be a profit motive," says Ravi. No profit, no recognition, then what is it that drives them? "We have still not thought about it and we have no illusions that we are carrying out a grand cultural project. We have been told to work quietly and consistently by our elders and we see meaning in it, that’s all," they say.

Prahalad can be contacted at No. 100, 2nd main road, 6th block, Banashankari, Bangalore—560 085. Tel: 9844063514. Ravi’s address: 17/18-2, 1st main, Marenahalli, Vijayanagar, Bangalore—560 040. Tel: 9845636288.