Even after 60 years of existence, Chandamama has not exhausted the rich bag of folktales and mythological stories that India has, Reddi says. Now that a third generation of readers has come up for Chandamama, they have started repeating some of the very popular stories for the young.
"Actually the demand to repeat our old stories comes from the first generation readers. They ask us to repeat some of the stories they had read as they were growing up. Some of the adventure stories we carry are as good as the Harry Potter series. The only difference is that Harry Potter is more contemporary. The author has mixed the new and the old. But Chandamama still adheres to the old."
Having been the publisher of Chandamama for the last four decades, Viswanatha Reddi says he has become a part of Chandamama rather than Chandamama becoming a part of him. "I reflect the philosophy of Chandamama and it has become a part and parcel of my system."
So, suspending the publishing of Chandamama in 1998 due to labour problems was the most painful decision for him. And restarting it after a year, the most memorable.
Photograph: An Independence Day issue cover of Chandamama, 1957.
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