Indradhanush (Rainbow) is an inspired name for a children’s magazine. After all, who among us has not stopped to admire a rainbow, however briefly, before passing on? The rainbow is also an excellent metaphor for science. To learn that it’s fragile beauty can be explained through science is an introduction to a new world, one where nature is a puzzle to be deciphered. It is also a great metaphor the multiplicity and diversity in life- whether that of nature or of humans, in languages, lifestyles, attitudes, cultures….. This diversity is the essence of richness of life on this planet.  

That is the spirit in which Anshumala, an IIT graduate and founder-editor of Indradhanush, started the magazine, on behalf of the All India People’s Science Network, which functions as Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti in Himachal Pradesh. The majority of school going children in India (outside the metropolitan cities) have no exposure to good quality literature, outside an unimaginative school curriculum. Books do not reach the heartland of India, particularly books in the vernacular languages and most children can’t afford them. Most haven’t ever seen anything other than didactic text books. This leads to  a  lifelong aversion to books and reading in general, leading to severe intellectual impoverishment. There is a further attack on the reading habit because of the electronic media, whose reach is much larger.

This is a challenge in front of all of us, and out of this challenge is born the idea of a dream children’s magazine. A magazine that reaches each and every household, particularly the rural household, to every child who can read. A magazine that wants to build free citizens for a new world. [next page]

 

 

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