Hindutsan, a Hindi daily, is one of the most circulated newspapers in that language. It was on the scene much before the regional Hindi newspapers captured the market and grew fat. On December 10, 2011 it launched its Aligarh edition. Earlier we had reported about publication of Aligarh edition of Urdu daily Inquilab. There are also two big Hindi newspapers who bring out Aligarh editions. It would seem as if Aligarh is coming of age as a modern city. Far from it. (And, of course, thankfully so.) This proliferation of local editions is should be taken more of an external attention than anything internal blooming of Aligarh into a vibrant metropolis. But Hindustan is of course welcome to this town. For yours truly this associated with very fond childhood memories. They publish a Hindi monthly called Nandan. It was was rude shock to come out of that fantasy world created by that magazine and to read the periodicals for real people like Competition Success Review, Career and Competition Times (now defunct) and the various Year Books - as every reasonable person was supposed to do. Nandan was edited by Jai Prakas Bharati and in the editorials he will sign of as your brother - with intimate word bhaiyya for brother then the formal bhai. And may be Nandan period was the only one when yours truly could understand non-Urdu poetry, except of course what you were supposed to read in the course work. The publisher is now called HT Media (HT for Hindustan Times - their English language daily and not as dirty news paper as the Times of India.) They also used to publish one of the best Hindi weeklies called the Saptahik Hindustan (Weekly Hindustan). Times of India had even better thing called the Dharmyug (The Religious Era - magazine was social and cultural). Saptakik Hindustan sort of continued, for yours truly, the indulgence in fantasy. The exploits of Carlos Castaneda as depicted in Teachings of Don Juan - A Yaqui Way of Knowledge are still very fresh in memory and it took decades and a rigorous Islamic discipline to get out of the spell of his phantasmagoria. Then there were wonderful popular science articles by Mr Gunakar Mule including one wonderful special issue on SF - Science Fiction. This was another fictitious world out of which you would not like to come. Then they also had, and it still continues, a monthly called Kadambini. (There is a classic Indian book with that name by Ban Bhatta.) A few weeks ago yours truly got motivated to have a look at its latest issue and the railway station book stall did not have it but the youth on the counter told some other magazines were available like Hans and Navneet. These are quite good Hindi magazines and the point is that even a young man was familiar with the genre. Kadambini introduced elements of reality without breaking the long cherished fantasy world created by others magazines. It still continues that. So by now it should be apparent that that publication of Hindustan Hindi daily can only be a pleasant thing for yours truly. Their head of marketing, strategic business remarks:
“We have approached Aligarh with the respect that the ‘Mecca of Education’.Thank you sire for you very kind words. Your arrival should provide some respite because many of us are not completely at ease with the ideology that operates behind the some other local news papers. And without sounding like an spoil sport it would also be appropriate to make a suggestion that in place of Mecca some other word like citadel or whatever else you like would be even better for religion is a very dear matter to us. So thanks for your arrival!