‘Everyday Reading’: A richly informative book relives the glory days of Hindi magazine publishing

In the decades immediately following the Independence, a class of Indians – namely, the middle class – realised that reading for pleasure could be a serious activity. The times were changing and so was publishing – there was no longer the primary (if unspoken) rule of writing to invoke feelings of patriotism and devotion to the motherland. After decades of serving the nation, the reader was finally free to “serve themselves”. To focus on improving their soft skills, purchasing products and services that would make life easier, and most importantly, there was plenty of time to read just for the heck of it.

This was clearly an exciting time for both readers and publishers. A new nation was born with fresh dreams and new aspirations, this was the time to make a mark on its cultural and social landscapes. In her book, Everyday Reading: Middlebrow Magazines and Book Publishing in Post-Independence India, Aakriti Mandhwani studies this new era in reading and print history vis-a-vis “middlebrow” magazines and publishers that dominated the Hindi reading scene. As Mandhwani explains, a “middlebrow” book or magazine can be defined as reading materials primarily consumed by the newly emerging middle class. It lacked the sophistication of “highbrow” literature and...

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