The World We Live In!

वह एक बहुत शातिर ठग था। अपनी ठगी से उसने बहुत घन-संपत्ति इकट्ठा कर ली थी। परंतु आखिरी ठगी के बिगड़ जाने की वजह से उसे अपना शहर छोड़ कर भागना पड़ा। वह एक दूसरे शहर में बिना पैसे और रहने की जगह के, मारा मारा फिर रहा था। एक दिन उसने एक सेठ को ग़रीबों में खाना बांटते हुए देखा। उसका ठगी वाला दिमाग फिर सक्रिय हो चला, और वह उन ग़रीबों से हटकर एक तरफ निर्लिप्त होकर बैठ गया। सेठ ने पहले तो उसे नज़रअंदाज़ किया, फिर जब सभी ग़रीबों में बांटने के पश्चात भी खाना बचा रह गया, तो उसके पास जाकर उसे देने की कोशिश की। मैले से एक चद्दर में अपने को लपेटे, उलझे बाल और बढ़ी हुई दाढ़ी में बैठा, सेठ को खाना देते देखकर उसने कहा, “तू बहुत गरीब है। और तुझे जो चाहिए वह सिर्फ मुट्ठी भर अनाज दान करने से नहीं मिलेगा। अपने पापों का प्रायश्चित्त कर, उसी में भलाई है।” सेठ अवाक रह गया। उसे यह समझ में नहीं आ रहा था, कि इस अजीब से दिखने वाले व्यक्ति को यह कैसे पता है कि वह किसी कारण से दान कर रहा है, और उसकी कोई अतृप्त इच्छा भी है। उसे लगा कि यह कोई बहुत पहुंचे हुए महात्मा है, जो उसके भाग्य से यहाँ उसे मिल गए है। उसने हा...

सर्दियों की वह अलसाई सुबह। ऐसा लग रहा था मानो सुबह भी देर तक सोना चाह रही हो। आकाश धीरे धीरे लाल उजाला फैलाने लगा था। मैं रात भर की अपनी नौकरी के बाद घर की ओर जा रहा था। कहने को सुबह में अलसायापन था। परंतु कुछ लोग अपने कार्यो में लग चुके थे। कही अख़बार वाले गट्ठर लेकर अपनी दुकान लगाने में जुटे थे, तो कही सफ़ाई वाले झाड़ू लेकर सड़क साफ़ कर रहे थे। मुंबई में सर्दियाँ हलकी फुलकी ही होती है। यहाँ दिल्ली वाली कड़ाके की ठंड नहीं पड़ती। फिर भी भोर में इतनी ठंड तो रहती है की आप अपने में सिमट जाए। 

Why am I writing about this digital graphic novel? Two reasons, the first one is to let everyone knows about this gorgeously illustrated web comic, and the second is about my association with it. Daniel wanted if anyone can translate it in their language, to get in touch with him. I contacted him about translating it in Hindi, and got immediate go ahead from him.  I really liked the way he has managed this translation part, where various people across the world are working to translate this into their language, Daniel has created an Google Doc Spreadsheet, with first column in English, and assigned one column to each of us, for filling our language translation of that column’s caption. This is a great way of collaboration effort, using free web! Nice idea Daniel!

I have read it few months ago, and loved the book. So, why am I writing about it today? Something happened, which prompted me to write about this now, and it’s not that I read the book or any specific part again today. Infact, it’s somewhere in my house, and I don’t know where I put it after reading. So, what happened?

I am not a big fan of English fiction, have read some Tom Clancy ones earlier, but recently tried one of the English translation of my favorite Hindi thriller writer, Surendra Mohan Pathak, The 65 Lakh Heist! and loved it. Then comes Chetan Bhagat series, I tried 2 States while travelling to Mumbai on business trip, and that opened up a new frontier for me in reading. I was limited to Hindi fictions only so far, and liked the simple yet interesting writings of Indian writers. Now, after just 4 months, I have finished all Chetan Bhagat books, two of the SMP translations, and few others. Rece ntly finished The Immortals of Meluha, a 400 pager fiction about Shiva. A mix of mythology, history and fiction. This is a thriller, and first part in the Shiva trilogy. I really liked the pace of novel, as things happen very fast and you are really hocked to the book till very last page. The only downside of this book is that its not complete in its own, and you have to wait for the second part....

The Phantom  is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. A popular feature adapted into many forms of media, including television and film, it stars a costumed crime fighter operating from the African jungle. The series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a color Sunday strip on May 28, 1939; both are still running as of 2009. The strip was at the peak of its popularity read by over a hundred million people every day. If you don't know who I am talking about, this post is not for you. But if you know, read on! There are many of my friends who post Phantom Comics on their blog, so I will not repeat the same, and encourage you to visit their blog for Comics, specially now unavailable Indrajal Comics! Try finding Indrajal Comics on Google, or thy their blog search, and I am sure you can find lots of links for blogs posting Indrajal Comics. So, what am I bringing on the table? Below is the deta...

its 3:37 AM in night, about three hours ago, I just did a search on Google for "Sanmarg", and i could not believe my eyes when I saw a web page link of Sanmarg! Its like a dream come true for me! Stop press!! You must be thinking what Sanmarg is, right ? Well, its a Hindi language newspaper published from Calcutta (now Kolkata), and I grow up reading that everyday! It was a small organization and the newspaper is just 12 pages all daily. So, you may call it a local newspaper, but it has more than 800,000 readership in Eastern India. There are few other newspapers available in Calcutta, like Janasatta, a national Hindi daily from Indian Express group, and Vishwamitra, another local daily. But only Sanmarg knows what Calcutta wants to read in Hindi newspaper. Now, just imagine how I feel with getting an online edition of my newspaper! But this is not all, they are online, but with a difference. Instead of putting up news and articles on their site, they put up exact...

I live in Singapore, and getting hindi magazines here are rare. You won't find any on stores. The only option is to ask someone who is going to India to get few for you. So, I decided to search on Internet for online editions of the mags available in India. To my surprise, there are none available! There are so many hindi magazines available on stand in India, but there are no online edition for any of them! I do not know why! But still, I manage to chart down a list of websites which publish magazines in Hindi, exclusive on Internet. I am yet to find any site which publish Detective or Thriller stories in Hindi, if anyone knows, pls do let me know. All I was able to find is Shahitya (Literature) in Hindi. So, the stories are entertaining, but not like the Novels we get on stall in India. Here is the list of all the hindi Magazines or should I say e-zines in Hindi: Abhivyakti - Classic Hindi Magazine Arts, Culture, and Philosophy of India Anyatha - A Literary effort by Frie...