Two new Diwali magazines play with sound and apps
A group of IT professionals has created a set of apps for a digital magazine focussed on Diwali, with open-source data.
Over
a fortnight last month, a group of IT professionals had been working
overtime. But instead of tackling the nitty-gritty of programming, the
long hours involved persuading friends
to write stories, figuring out the safest way to light a rocket, and
pestering grandmothers to part with their secret recipes. The data
gleaned from this expedition though, is open-source. Swapnil Gondkar,
Mayuresh Naik and Pranit Gore, have made it part of their digital Diwali ank (annual magazine published close to the festival), created for the tablet platform.
"Software development is our profession, and we thought of using it to make something different for the younger generation," says Gondkar. "We searched online but couldn't find any Diwali ank of this kind." The app for the digital magazine, named Tarunai, can be downloaded for free. It comprises short fiction and articles on the festival, sports, technology and finance, contributed by their motley group of friends. The trio has also created five supplementary apps that include topics like the history of Diwali traditions, faraal recipes, safety measures to be observed during celebrations, and a selection of digital greeting-cards.
While the effort still needs a few tweaks and more content, Gondkar says that the downloads are already racking up. "Many are from people living outside India," he says. "We have just started and hope the idea takes off."
The possibility of being able to scroll through a Diwali ank would have seemed rather remote to prior generations of Maharashtrians, accustomed to piling into bookstores, or queuing up outside the neighbourhood library for their copies. But the fledgling Tarunai app is not the only attempt to make these magazines available on different media platforms.
Pune-based publishing house Unique Features has created an audio ank, aimed at teenagers. It's an offshoot of their magazine Password, launched last year. An association with Snovel Inc, a company which creates sound-based novels, prompted the publishers to bring out the magazine in an audio format. Titled Password Gappa Tappa, it includes eight stories narrated by voice-over artistes. These include a science fiction adventure by Rajiv Tambe, a story by Anil Awchat, and an article by Prakash Amte on his animal orphanage. "Though Password was created for teenage readers, write-ups like those by Prakash Amte also appeal to an older age-group," said editor Gauri Kanetkar.
Audio and video, when used creatively, can play a significant role in enriching a Diwali ank, feels Chinmay Damle, the director of www.maayboli.com. Online Diwali anks had signalled the first shift to an alternative platform and maayboli.com was the pioneer. It was followed by other digital editions such as Misal Pav and Aisi Akshare.
The 14-year-old Maayboli magazine includes a host of audio and video recordings. These include clips of Paris and its monuments captured by a reader on a trip there, and a recording of personalities like Dr Shriram Lagoo and Vikram Gokhale reading from their favourite literature. This year's magazine, set to launch today, features a film by Marathi film director Umesh Kulkarni and actor Girish Kulkarni on the man-animal conflict.
Publishers are entering into more collaborations with newer media platforms than ever before and exploring their potential, says Damle. The sheer reach achieved by putting a magazine online, or on a tablet, certainly cannot be ignored.
Though Kanetkar maintains that there is no substitute for traditional print magazines, she emphasises the need to "keep engaging with a more tech-savvy readership".
"Software development is our profession, and we thought of using it to make something different for the younger generation," says Gondkar. "We searched online but couldn't find any Diwali ank of this kind." The app for the digital magazine, named Tarunai, can be downloaded for free. It comprises short fiction and articles on the festival, sports, technology and finance, contributed by their motley group of friends. The trio has also created five supplementary apps that include topics like the history of Diwali traditions, faraal recipes, safety measures to be observed during celebrations, and a selection of digital greeting-cards.
While the effort still needs a few tweaks and more content, Gondkar says that the downloads are already racking up. "Many are from people living outside India," he says. "We have just started and hope the idea takes off."
The possibility of being able to scroll through a Diwali ank would have seemed rather remote to prior generations of Maharashtrians, accustomed to piling into bookstores, or queuing up outside the neighbourhood library for their copies. But the fledgling Tarunai app is not the only attempt to make these magazines available on different media platforms.
Pune-based publishing house Unique Features has created an audio ank, aimed at teenagers. It's an offshoot of their magazine Password, launched last year. An association with Snovel Inc, a company which creates sound-based novels, prompted the publishers to bring out the magazine in an audio format. Titled Password Gappa Tappa, it includes eight stories narrated by voice-over artistes. These include a science fiction adventure by Rajiv Tambe, a story by Anil Awchat, and an article by Prakash Amte on his animal orphanage. "Though Password was created for teenage readers, write-ups like those by Prakash Amte also appeal to an older age-group," said editor Gauri Kanetkar.
Audio and video, when used creatively, can play a significant role in enriching a Diwali ank, feels Chinmay Damle, the director of www.maayboli.com. Online Diwali anks had signalled the first shift to an alternative platform and maayboli.com was the pioneer. It was followed by other digital editions such as Misal Pav and Aisi Akshare.
The 14-year-old Maayboli magazine includes a host of audio and video recordings. These include clips of Paris and its monuments captured by a reader on a trip there, and a recording of personalities like Dr Shriram Lagoo and Vikram Gokhale reading from their favourite literature. This year's magazine, set to launch today, features a film by Marathi film director Umesh Kulkarni and actor Girish Kulkarni on the man-animal conflict.
Publishers are entering into more collaborations with newer media platforms than ever before and exploring their potential, says Damle. The sheer reach achieved by putting a magazine online, or on a tablet, certainly cannot be ignored.
Though Kanetkar maintains that there is no substitute for traditional print magazines, she emphasises the need to "keep engaging with a more tech-savvy readership".
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