I t’s tempting to picture Capt. Stan Blackford as a hierophant extolling the charms of printed books. Author of a hugely successful memoir One Hell Of A Life, Capt. Blackford is 100 years old, and that may lead you to assume that he would often hark back to those good old days when books tumbled out of printing presses, and didn’t pop up on screens.
The reality does not even marginally mesh with this stereotypical image of an author from the G.I. Generation.
Recently, Chennai-based Harry MacLure, editor of the quarterly Anglo-Indian community magazine Anglos In The Wind (AITW), had a chat with Capt. Blackford, who lives in Adelaide.
As the two exchanged lockdown notes from Adelaide and Ayanavaram, Capt. Blackford had reportedly advised the AITW editor: “Harry, don’t waste your money printing the magazine. Publish it online. Now, I am reading everything online.”
As it comes from a true-blue representative of the hardback generation, Harry wouldn’t ignore that advice. Two weeks away, the next AITW issue is a digital offering, a magazine in PDF format that will be mailed to its readers for free.
“There are young readers of AITW; and there are older readers who have embraced this technology. Of course, there are a few who say they can’t read it online. I tell these people to ask their children or grandchildren to take a printout. And that is the next best thing to having an offset-printed magazine in your hand.”
Harry plans to keep all the classic AITW elements intact as he takes the magazine online.
“We will keep the layout. With people expected to largely read it in their smartphones, certain design elements will be avoided. No spillover of text to another page. Centrespreads pack a punch. But when text and visuals move from the left to the right page, it can be difficult on the eye while people read it from a mobile. So, we are going to be sparing in the use of centrespreads.”
Even where someone has adapted to something new, they may still find the new order a bit unsettling if the change had largely been thrust on them and was not elective.
Harry denies having any disappointment for two reasons.
One, he instinctively understands that the portals of progress are usually narrow, constricted by organic challenges and self-doubts encroaching upon the space.
Two, the compulsions resulting from the pandemic actually dovetail into a set of pragmatic decisions he had taken just before the pandemic.
So, he has come to terms with the difficulties in getting the best technology to offer a great online reading experience for readers.
Harry has explored apps, but has given up for the time being because of “their prohibitive cost”.
“In the final analysis, if a story is well-written and engages the reader, they wouldn’t focus on how they are reading it,” concludes Harry.
He realises he has to stick to the digital space, ignoring the hiccups.
“By a ballpark estimate AITW’s worldwide circulation is 24,000 copies. As Anglo-Indians are open to sharing reading material, the readership is much higher. By offering it online and free, I would be reaching many new readers. Thirty-five percent of the AITW readership are non Anglo-Indians, and their number should go up.”
Another factor that helps Harry take the change in his stride is his age.
“I had been planning for my retirement when COVID-19 struck,” begins Harry, who is 60 years old.
Harry is a professional illustrator, largely working on cartoon and comic books; an editor who works on news letters for others; someone who does ghost writing; and a publisher with a publication, Anglo Ink that focusses on Anglo-Indian writing. Besides, he is associated with film-making, and has direction and scripting credits to his name.
Harry is cutting down on some work, and fortunately for AITW diehards like Capt. Blackford, the magazine doesn’t figure in the culled commitments.
Months before the pandemic, Harry gave up his rented office of many years in a downtown section of Anna Nagar.
“The landlord raised the rent; and it was beyond what I could afford. I told him I didn’t want to be in his way, and moved out. As it has location going for it, the office drew a new tenant in no time. For a new office, I took on rent a flat in the same apartment complex in Ayanavaram that I live in. My home is on the second floor and the office is on the third floor,” explains Harry. “In hindsight, I had done the right thing.”
Besides, from a team that at one point had six members, he is now down to working with just one designer-illustrator.
“It is D. Sivaraj who joined me when he was nineteen-and-a-half years old, and he is 49 years old now. He is an ideal foil for me," says Harry.
Not having a big team, Harry is in a “head cook cum bottle cleaner” scenario, as he himself puts it, but doesn't mind it. The commute being reduced to just having to take a flight of stairs is a big gain for Harry. The pandemic has spared even that effort.
“As it is a case of working from home, I have the office to myself. But working alone in the office can get lonesome, so I work from my home on the second floor, where I can talk to my wife. Every three days, I head to the third floor and clean up the office, keep the fans and taps and fridge running for a while.”
The journey so far
Every passing year deepens the bond with the people and the things that one loves. For Harry MacLure, the bond with Anglos In The Wind (AITW) is really deep, with the two now an inseparable pair of 22 years.
“What motivated me to start AITW was that at the Anglo-Indian Reunion at Bangalore in early 1998, participants keenly felt the absence of an international magazine that connected Anglo-Indians in thought and spirit,” recalls Harry. “I thought to myself, 'Why not have a community newsletter or news magazine that connects Anglo-Indians worldwide?’ ”
Harry says the magazine was like water falling on parched earth: It was lapped up by the Anglo-Indian community straightaway.
“We started it as a newsletter, but within a year or so it turned into a full-fledged lifestyle magazine for Anglo-Indians. The first issue was just eight pages, and the response being good, the second issue ran to 24 pages. Now, we put out 44 pages. Besides, occasionally, generally once in three years, we bring out theme-based special editions such as the ones about Anglo-Indians in hockey and railways.”
The success of the magazine is two-fold: One, showcasing achievers in the Anglo-Indian community and presenting vignettes of Anglo-Indian history through articles.
Two, keeping the community connected by publishing personal ads, which constitute a source of revenue for the magazine.
“The articles are done professionally, with the themes and topics vetted for quality. Besides quality, no other consideration goes into the choice of articles to be written. However, personal ads, for which people are charged, give the magazine part of its unique flavour.”
These ad insertions make it an imaginary town square for Anglo-Indians across the globe to congregate and have a sense of community.
Harry explains, “Besides the obituaries and anniversaries, there are those personal ads that seek to trace family trees.” And these indirectly provide a peek into Anglo-Indian history.
AITW is also sustained by occasional donations.
“There are people who make a one-off donation to the magazine, appreciating its focus on the community,” states Harry. “There are times when there would be a shortfall in terms of the revenue needed to bring out an edition by meeting the paper, printing and postage costs. As AITW is a quarterly, it is not covered by the concessions extended by the postal department to weeklies. On such occasions, I infuse some money to meet the shortfall. Sometimes, there will be surplus revenue, and that money will be carried over to the next issue.”
While he would be offloading certain commitments along the way, Harry is confident AITW would never be one of them.
“There would be a time in the future when I would be doing only AITW, and then I expect it to a symbiotic relationship: I would sustain the magazine, and the magazine would sustain me.”
Harry has already begun to make sure that he is digitally-ready to receive that future, whenever it arrives.
