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Triveni Goswami Mathur
Mahesh Ramanathan, a Pune-based computer professional, looks very amused at what he is keying into his personal computer. But his `I-mean-business' voice says another story, as it strikes a deal with his professional client. Having put the receiver back on the hook, Mahesh swivels around and smiles, ``Next month is my cousin's wedding. The magazine must hit the stands on time!''
Mahesh Ramanathan, a Pune-based computer professional, looks very amused at what he is keying into his personal computer. But his `I-mean-business' voice says another story, as it strikes a deal with his professional client. Having put the receiver back on the hook, Mahesh swivels around and smiles, ``Next month is my cousin's wedding. The magazine must hit the stands on time!''
Wedding? Magazine? Stands on time? ``The TSR Times - our family magazine,'' Mahesh says, very matter-of-fact.
The TSR Times - the 22-year-old Ramanathan family magazine - has been published for circulation among the family members who are ``spread all over the world.'' A brainwave of a few cousins, the magazine took the name of the patriarch, T S Ramanathan, and is passing through the generations. ``It was felt that the family must keep in touch. And the idea of a magazine was born,'' says Mahesh, the present editor of the magazine. ``The founder editor was my cousin Ganesh Mahadevan, who is a professional cartoonist,'' he adds.
Any happy family occasion, and the magazine ``hits the stands.'' The excitement and enthusiasm is unique. Each issue is released in grand style by the oldest in the family. What would one expect of The TSR Times? Well, a complete magazine with an editorial, letters to the editor, articles, poems, a regular ``cat out of the bag'' column voicing feelings, recipes (tried-and-tested home ones), household hints, kids page, book reviews and what have you.
``Each piece talks about somebody in the family - all in the right spirit,'' Mahesh says as his mother Lalitha reminds him to include the tarot cards and birth dates as per the Hindu calendar in the next issue. ``That's a demand by readers,'' she informs. And what's the language of publication? ``Tinglish,'' Mahesh quips, ``English with a sprinkling of Tamil written in the Roman script. The new generation does not know the script too well. Besides, nuptials knots have been tied with members from various states.'' As an editorial points out, ``Our ancestors migrated from Tamil Nadu to Kerala and the current generation shall outbeat them...The TSR family has managed to rise and shine and make attempts at national integration.''
What initially began as a handwritten and cyclostyled magazine was later type-written and cyclostyled. Even then it had all the ingredients of a magazine, including hand-drawn advertisements with caricatures of family members as models!!
Today, the magazine reaches the members in computer printouts and is also on the family website. ``The members also key in their contributions for the magazine in the website, which is accessed for any material for the forthcoming issues,'' Mahesh says.
``The TSR Times is a tribute to a family that is versatile, widespread and yet well-knit, because of various reasons - one of them being `56','' he smiles. `56' is a family card game passing through the generations!!
In a world that is actually growing smaller with scientific advancement but paradoxically leading to families going farther away emotionally, The TSR Times is a unique effort at maintaining family ties. Since it is a magazine that is of the family, for the family and by the family.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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