Reviving the Middlebrow Muse: A Nostalgic Pilgrimage Through Hindi Pulp and Periodicals

Everyday Reading ~ Aakriti Mandhwani

I spoke to my nani the other day. Among other things, the magazine Sarita and Dharmyug came up. She was a subscriber of Sarita. I am told that later she shifted to Manorama. She recalled fond memories of going through Sarita. An avid knitter, she was particularly fond of the knitting patterns that appeared in the magazine. In one of the colder months, Sarita used to come out with a special knitting issue too. On the other hand, my mother remembers Dharmyug. Dharmyug was edited by the legendary Dharmveer Bharti. ‘Gunahon ka Devta’ by the author is a ready reference on her lips as people ask for good hindi reading recommendations. She also remembers Gulshan Nanda books and Hind Pocket Books to name a few. My late grandmother wrote for ‘Kadambini’ magazine, among others.

When I spoke of the book in my hand and its contents, I inspired curiosity and ‘romanch’ across generations in a way. As for me, it transported me back to the Railway Stations during summer vacations. The A.H. Wheeler bookstores stocking the Hind Pocket Books, Sarita and plethora of middlebrow magazines and books. It also took me to a scene from Gulzar’s Angoor where the protagonist (Sanjeev Kapoor) is reading a detective novel ‘Agyaat Apraadhi’ by Ved Prakash Kaamboj. Such is the effect of the novels on him that he treats everyone and everything around him with suspicion.  Whether it is Jab We Met where Aditya says, “You know what Geet, tumhari yeh ‘Manohar Kahaaniyan wali philosophy haina, isse tum apne paas rakho’ (referring to the famous magazine Manohar Kahaniyan).…. Even recently, in Haseen Dilruba, film writer has created a fictional writer, Dinesh Pandit. The heroine Tapsee Pannu devours his pulp fiction novels and they become an integral part of the plot. How can I forget the pulp writer Hero in Bareilly ki Barfi. The impact of the genre magazines and pocket books printed on cheap newsprint paper is a part of our culture today. How charming it is then to go behind the scenes and meet the people and ideas that inspired such literature.

The book is divided four chapters. Chapter one discusses ‘Sarita’ Magazine. It was a progressive magazine, loved by all men and women. A soldier wrote in praising an article on rifle and requesting new knitting patterns. Women shared their agony and pored over the various short stories. The poem ‘Ram ka Antardvand’ nearly cost the magazine it’s existence when it led to banning of its July 1957 issue. It’s endearing how the author has related various short stories and has relayed their collective flavour to the reader. These short stories are mostly women centric both within and outside the household.

The second chapter talks about Hind Pocket Books. These were truly revolutionary in their reach and were a one-of-a-kind enterprise. Dina Nath Malhotra, the founder, publisher and editor was inspired by Penguin’s Sir Allen Lane and the Book of the Month Club in America. This chapter will arrest your attention with stories about what inspired Mr. Malhotra. He himself was very spirited and well-travelled which expanded his knowledge base regarding publishing industry. Gharelu Library Yojana was his master stroke which helped in wide distribution in the no internet era.

Chapter three is about the weekly literature magazine ‘Dharmayug’ which particularly flourished during the editorship of Dharmaveer Bharati, the illustrious writer of novels such as ‘Gunahon ka Devta’ and ‘Suraj ka Saatva Ghoda’. It has a prestige of being a beyond the ‘cut-copy-paste magazine. It paid its journalists to travel and write travel essays. In many ways it created high quality literature.

Chapter four is titled ‘Romanch and the 1950’s’. It brings Allahabad, the great seat of literature in the conversation. Ironically and notedly, this chapter discusses genre fiction such as Manohar Kahaniyan (Charming stories), Raseeli Kahaniyan (Juicy Stories), and Maya.

It is incredible how the author has conducted a literary pilgrimage. She has moved from Delhi to Bombay to Allahabad in order to visit the centres of good Hindi middlebrow literature. She has flipped through pages and pages and condensed her experience of reading those into this crisp book of thorough research. It is a book for ardent lovers of reading and history and most importantly stories. I was transported to the India of 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a one-of-a-kind labour of love. I hope it sparks further research into other such literary magazines inspiring better preservation of journals and creating a reservoir of India’s literary cultural history. 

(Editor, The Fifth Pillar)