Sunday, February 19, 2006

Why there are no cartoons for children in Urdu magazines, newspapers?

اردو میں چارلی براؤن کیوں نہیں ؟
I feel the decline in circulation of Urdu newspapers in India is due to the fact that except politics, protests and religion they don't carry any other thing properly.

There is nothing for children. No cartoons, no comics. I have never seen Charlie Brown or Archies in Urdu papers. Till a few decades back, there were cartoon strips in magazines like, Khilauna.

But now there are no such magazines either. The social magazines or other journals also publish the children's corner, but there are no comics.

Short stories, poems are fine but cartoons immediately draw the attention of the kids. If there is a comic strip the child will read it, get used to the script at an early age and get addicted to the Urdu paper as well.

I wish that the editors of mass circulated daily newspapers like Roznama Sahara, Munsif, Siasat, Urdu Times, Inquilab, Akhbar-e-Mashriq, Aag, Salaar, Etemaad and Azad Hind realise it.

This post was published long ago. A good news is that now there is attention towards the lack of cartoons in Urdu magazines.

For more update, read these two posts, written much later. It shows that there is no need for pessimism, as individual efforts can also go a long way towards changing the situation:


1. First Urdu website dedicated to children's comics and cartoons
2. Children's magazine: Bachchon ki Duniya launched, contains colourful comic strips, cartoons