Window Seat |Mrinal Chatterjee 4.7.21
The
Mumbai Samachar at 200 years
Asia's
oldest continuously published newspaper, the Mumbai Samachar turned 200 on 1 July 2021. First published as Bombay Samachar, a Gujarati weekly in
1822 it comprised of three small quarto sheets, 10 inches by 8 inches, and a
half sheet supplement in all containing 14 pages of printed matter.
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| BOMBAY (MUMBAI) SAMACHAR |
It
was published as a weekly till 1832, a bi-weekly till 1855 and a daily since
then, it continued to grow and became one of Western India's Premier
Newspapers, read by a large segment of Gujarati speaking people both in India
and abroad.
It
was founded by Fardoonji Murazban, a Parsi Scholar and Priest. He also founded
the first native press in 1812 and in 1814 brought out a Gujarati Calendar, 6
years before the first Bengali Calendar was printed and published in Calcutta.
By
the end of 18th century Parsi and Gujarati community dominated the
commercial world of Mumbai in particular and the entire Western India in
general. Mumbai emerged as a commercial hub. At that time Calcutta Chronicle and The
Indian Gazette were the leading newspapers. These papers had very little
news about Mumbai. Fardoonji Murazban, a visionary could appreciate the need
for local news and news in vernacular language and planned publication of a
Gujarati newspaper.
Bombay Samachar
was published to disseminate need-based information, mostly to the trader
community- Gujaratis and Parsis.
Therefore news related to trade and business dominated.
From
its inception the editorial policy was to objectively report events in a fair
and honest manner and not to sensationalize news. Sobriety and independence of views became a
hall mark of Bombay Samachar. It was
for this that the newspaper was respected by both the British and Indian
readers. The British administration also
respected this paper for its balanced and objective stand. It created an
identity for itself for its fair, frank, objective and critical analysis of
events, which it retains till date. Its tag line, ‘Avval Dainik, Nishpaksh Dainik’ (Leading Daily, Non-partisan Daily)
sums up its policy.
Bombay
Samachar played an important role during India's struggle for Independence.
Its reports and editorials were being often quoted by freedom fighters like
Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and others. It also
contained articles and letters by freedom fighters like Gandhi and Patel.
The
paper was owned and managed by the Parsi priests for about 80 years from the
beginning. Then it passed through various hands before coming into the
ownership of the Cama family, its present publishers, in 1933. To the good
fortune of the paper, Cama family nourished the paper with an eclectic mix of
old and new. Though it has adopted new technology and content mix to go with
the times, much of its hoary past is preserved, especially by Hormusji N Cama,
the present Director, whose offices overlooks the Horniman Circle Gardens —
once regarded as the favourite social venue of the Parsis. The paper,
interestingly still comes out from the same place where it was started.
By
the new millennium Bomay (Mumbai)
Samachar had become an iconic institution. So much so that the Apollo
Street in the Fort area was renamed after the paper as the ‘Mumbai Samachar
Marg’ in 2006.
At
200, the paper is going strong with over a circulation of 1.8 million copies
and innovative ideas to attract young readers under the able guidance of the
present editor Nilesh Dave.
Deities on Sickbed
Do you know that Lord
Jagannath of the famous Puri temple falls sick ahead of the annual rath yatra
and is isolated for fourteen days? Yes, it is an interesting ritual. It has a
prelude.
The Devasnana festival, (which fell on 25 June this
year) is observed on the full moon day in Jyestha month of the Hindu calendar.
The deities are bathed in 108 pitchers of water drawn from a particular well
inside the temple premises following which the trinity- Lord Balabhadra, Devi
Subhadra and Lord Jagannath- fall sick due to heavy bathing and remain in Anasara (sick) Ghara (room) before the ratha yatra.
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After the deities are taken to the Anasara
Ghara, a nutritious but dry meal is served which is devoid of the
ingredients used for the regular Chhappan Bhog. They are also given
an ayurvedic treatment with oil called Phuluri
by the Daitapatis (priests), and the period of quarantine is
called Anbasara.
Once the deities recover from their illness, they are served
solid food or Khichuri. And the first darshan after Anasar is
called Nava Youvan (new youth).
Then the deities go to their maternal aunty’s (mausi- in
Odia) house on chariot. This festival is called Rath Yatra.
One can see the way deities are treated here is almost like
they are human beings, who can and do fall sick and require medication and
rest.
The same approach to the deities could be found in Bengal in
the way Bengalis treat Mother Durga- like the daughter of the house, who
arrives with her children on an annual visit.
In both the cases there is more love than reverence.
I got the cute picture in a social media forward. It
captures the right spirit of the Gods in sickbed.
Tailpiece: 12 types of Indians
Now in the time of Corona a dozen types of Indians are found in India.
1. Proud Indians. Those who have taken both the doses of vaccine, and put their photographs on social media platforms.
2. Worried Indians. Those who have taken one dose vaccine and looking for the second.
3. Helpless Indians. Who have received no vaccine.
4. Confused Indians. Who are still thinking which vaccine to take?
5. Perplexed Indians. Who had Covid infections even after two doses of vaccine.
6. Disappointed Indians. Who are unable to register on Cowin.
7. Stupid Indians. Those who are moving around without masks.
8. Arrogant Indians. Who still believe that there is nothing like Corona. It is a big conspiracy by big Pharma companies.
9. Addicted Indians. Addicted to shopping and shop-hopping.
10. Panicked Indians. Who Keep wearing mask 24x7 even inside the home.
11. Suicidal
Indians. Who keep insisting on not wearing mask and not keeping social
distance.
12. Hyper-active
Indians. Who keep creating video of quick-fix care of Corona and post them on
social media.
(Courtesy: Social
Media)
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The columnist
a journalist turned media academician lives at Dhenkanal, a central Odisha
town. He also writes fiction and translates poetry. An anthology of Hindi and
Urdu poems that he translated into Odia has just been published.
mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
This column is published every Sunday in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Express and www.prameyanews.com
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