Gul Bootey keeps the children literature alive

Farooque Sayyed, the founder of the children’s magazine Gul Bootey was in the city for a seminar on children’s literature. His Urdu magazine which recently completed 22 years is the product of his painstaking hard work despite financial hardships.

Who doesn’t want to get lost in the world of fantasy? A world of dwarfs, dragons, fairies and mermaids. Generations of children have gone to bed listening to the fascinating tales of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Alibaba Chalis Chor. But not anymore. The iGeneration would now rather curl up in bed with a Smartphone, iPod or other geek gadgets.

Can electronic inventions replace books and toys? A gadget reading out story is not the same as a mother reading a fairy tale to her kid. The parental warmth and manifestation of love that comes with live communication can’t be had with a modern device. But, bringing out children’s literature is easier said than done. While the publishing scene is very bright in English, the same is not the case with regional languages. This genre is facing tough challenges, particularly in Urdu language.

Riddles written by Amir Khusro in Urdu involving fun and double entendre are considered earliest forms of popular literature. Publishers of children’s literature today are struggling to keep the genre alive. There are just 13 Urdu children’s magazines in India and all of them are facing financial crisis, not to speak of poor patronage from the government and the Urduwallas themselves.

In these trying times, Gul Bootey, the monthly journal published from Mumbai, has completed 22 years. The magazine brought out by Farooque Sayyed has a modest circulation of 25,000 copies. But, this is considered a big number for an Urdu journal as most such periodicals do not even touch the four-digit figure. Recently, Sayyed was in Hyderabad to take part in the seminar on ‘Bacchon ka Adab’ (children’s literature). The Carvan-e-Adab and Urdu Writers and Journalist Association felicitated him for his achievement.

There is a story of grit and determination behind the 67-page colour journal being published by Sayyed since he is doing so at a great personal loss. Every month, he is in the red by Rs. 1.5 lakh. If you think he is either stinking rich or plain mad — forget it. He is neither. He is just fanatical to the cause of children’s literature.

Motivation is what got him started and commitment is what keeps him going. A journalist with the Urdu Times, Mumbai, he was incharge of children’s page ‘Gul Bootey’. One fine morning the management decided to replace the page with ‘Ghar Aangan’ to focus on women’s issues. Sayyed lobbied for continuation of the children’s pages and when this was not agreed to, he quit the job. He launched his own magazine, Gul Bootey, in October 1995, and turned it out into the leading children’s journal in the country.

From fairy tales to quizes, riddles, cartoons, tales of courage, morality, patriotism — Gul Bootey covers a wide gamut of subjects in simple, easy-to-read Urdu. “The idea is to inculcate moral and social values for the educational development of children in an entertaining way,” says Sayyed.

Today, Gul Bootey has become a brand and is loved as much as it is read. School children eagerly wait for the new issue every month. In Maharashtra, where the journal enjoys maximum sale, Urdu medium schools subscribe to the magazine and distribute it to children. In fact, the entire family laps up the journal as it has nuggets of wisdom for the young and the old alike.

Sayyed feels there is a huge potential for children’s magazines if only parents get motivated. “When parents buy costly mobiles for their kids, why can’t they spend Rs 30 for a journal which helps in all-round development of their child,” he argues.

There is a woeful lack of children’s books in Urdu. Prof SA Shukoor, who heads the Urdu Academies of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, says very few children’s books make it to the award list. Many writers shy away from juvenile literature as they are not given the same status as authors of grown-up fiction. There is a feeling that children’s literature is a lesser form of literature.


But, writing for children is no child’s play.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in Telangana Today

Dated February 26,2018