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PARABAAS

INTRODUCTION parabaas ( in Bengali পরবাস ) is a Bengali language literary web-magazine, started in 1997 by some USA-based Bengali literature-lovers. This is entirely a web-based magazine, having no hardcopy version at any point of time , which distinguishes it from its peers in the genre of Bengali "little magazines". Parabaas, in Bengali means "foreign land " or “life in foreign land or during foreign stay”. This is more a poetic expression of  the common term “Prabaas”, which means the same. The present e-magazine or web-magazine PARABAAS  is not to be confused with  “Prabaasee” ( 18—to 19-- . Editor : Ramananda Chattopadhyay  )  the  eminent Rabindra-age Bengali literary magazine from Allahabad / Calcutta, from which PARABAAS draws nothing but distant literary legacy. Samir Bhattacharya ( b 19--, Calcutta ) edits the magazine right from its inception.

HISTORY : TEAM PARABAAS The idea of Parabaas first came into the minds of some non-resident Bengali boys & girls who were away from their home in West Bengal / Bangladesh, for employment or study-purpose  , mainly staying in USA. The seed of Parabaas  was first sown in about 1995 when they  formed a discussion-group on the internet ,where they discussed their common love i.e.  Bengali literature. Gradually, the idea of starting an online Bengali magazine came. It was a unique idea in the sense that it had no predecessor. In fact, not only in mid-1990s , but 2010 also  , there is no compatriot of Parabaas. There is no parallel Bengali magazine available on the web even today, with only a distant parallel in the i-magazine section of www.banglalive.com  This is both a success and failure of Parabaas : success , for it could remain a purely non-profit non-commercialize  Bengali literary magazine for over 12 years ; and failure , because it failed to initiate a literary movement on the web space , the way some of its hardcopy-predecessors like Kabita , Kallol or Krittibas could , in their respective spaces. Since the Parabaas-movement, as many of its progenitors would love to call it , has all through been a non-profit & only part-time job ,  it hardly had a coherent team of its own in its 12+ years’ journey so far. An Open-forum, many a literature-lover who were initially active in Parabaas , could not devote sufficient time during  later part of career and gave way to the new comers who are now bearing the mantle. Names of Mr, Mr , Mr , Ms ,Ms are worth mention here who were instrumental in bringing out Parabaas and without whose effort Parabaas would have been an impossibility. Only Samir Bhattacharya, a US-based Bengali telecom engineer by profession , remains the editor from day one. Mr Bhattacharya, though parabaasing is only his passion and part-time job , is handling the show for  over a decade with unmatched craftsmanship which is evident from the quality of the issues of Parabaas as available online www.parabaas.com A non-commercial magazine , Parabaas  is not in a position to pay honorarium to its contributors , which is in its declared principal ,but despite this , there is no dearth of quality articles appearing in Parabaas , which is due to Mr Bhattacharya’s contacts and the high standard of Parabaas he could maintain for last 12 years. Parabaas has only one full-time associate, Mr Rajib Chakraborty , who is stationed in Calcutta suburb.

WEB-MAGAZINE --- THE GENRE

Due to escalating cost of publishing a magazine in its traditional paper & ink form ( ‘hardcopy’)  publishers of many “Little Magazine” s  in Calcutta & Dhaka are now exploring the possibility of turning to the web, which bears minuscule cost compared to the paper-versions. But most of them lack the expertise to publish a web-magazine. To initiate the matter, some magazines are contemplating bringing out part of their issues in web-form , for a change. Though Parabaas was not founded with this aim of ‘cost-cutting in publishing a magazine’, eventually it is now pioneering in this direction. Moreover, now Parabaas is also planning to disseminate its expertise of running web-magazine to fellow ‘little magazines’. Is Parabaas a ‘Little Magazine’ ? ………. THE BANGLA FONT-ISSUE

The single issue which comes into the way is the problem of Bangla font. Bangla being a Sanskritic-origin Indian language, uses Bangla fonts with Devanagari lineage. This requires use of specially designed typing key-board in place of the Roman QWERT, which is abound in market. But this requires special training in use of such Indianised  keyboards. To avoid such necessity the concept of Dynamic font came. To use a Dynamic Bangla font, one only keys-in the traditional Roman QWERT board  to see appearance of Bangla font on the computer screen. This is the beauty of a Dynamic font. But there is a computer programme embedded in a Dynamic font which is different in different Bangla fonts. Numerous Bangla fonts abound in market. Parabaas uses Axar, a dynamic Bangla font developed in-house by a team headed by Mr ___________-, which is freely downloadable from the website. But many computer-‘non-savvy’ users complain of problem downloading and using the font, though this is predominantly a ‘local’ problem of the browser they use. A window-based application, Parabaas is not visible on other operating systems , like , say Linux , which is its another great shortcoming to be overcome. To solve this Bangla font-related problem once and for all, an interface-application between / amongst various Bangla fonts will be helpful , which is yet to be developed.

MODALITY

Parabaas is a quarterly magazine. But there has been some miss-outs in last 12+ years, as the latest issue is 44th , in the 13th year of its existence. The server of the  webmagazine is kept in New Jersey, USA which is accessible by the editor , who is assisted by an editorial board scattered over the globe. Communications are mainly through e-mails. Also personal contacts over phone and visiting the contributors are undertaken to collect materials. Many contributors send in their writings, illustrations , music clips etc as e-mail attachments and by post to the given addresses in New Jersey , Calcutta & Dhaka. There are separate editorial boards for Poetry section, Music section etc. After passing through the respective editorial boards, the contents are converted to compatible formats and finally published by the editor in the webmagazine. One advantage of a webmagazine is that contents can always be updated during the currency of the issue. Old issues, are , however , never altered as a matter of principle, which are always readily available in the archive section , which is another advantages of a web-magazine. Advertising and marketing too are also fully web-based. There are about ______ subscribers on the mailing list of Parabaas who are informed of publication of new issues and new additions of current issue. On request, hardcopy printouts are sometimes mailed to contributors or whose books are reviewed on the Book-Review section. Parabaas Inc is the legal ‘owner’ of the magazine which is registered in USA and governed by US regulations.

CONTENTS : SECTIONS

A literary magazine, Parabaas has all the regular sections / contents , like novel , short story , poetry , drama , travelogue etc. It has a strong Children’s Section in which writings / illustrations of both the youngsters and established writers are published with equal importance. ‘Letter to the Editor’ section is another strongpoint of the web-magazine where the readers freely voice their choices using ‘benglish’ language, following no rule of writing in Axar-bangla font. The Editor then makes the selection and deserving letters are published in the next issue. Under every article this “voice your comments” link is invariably given for this purpose. Small ‘introduction’ for each writers, mostly written in lighter language , is another regular feature which the readers enjoy. Illustrations, both pencil sketches and in color , are a real strongpoint of Parabaas. Online music is another specialty which can not be available in any paper & ink magazine. After a thorough screening, usually 3 clippings of a young singer’s performance is made available in Parabaas. Rabindra sangeet and folk-songs are predominant in this are as are Bangladeshi singers. And this number is growing.

Special Rabindranath issue and Special Buddhadev Bose issue have become a regular features of every issue of Parabaas in which updates are made in virtually every issue.

CONTENTS : NOTABLE WRITERS YOUNG AND OLD

Over last 12 years, numerous notable Bengali writers , both from Bangladesh & India ,  were kind enough to contribute in Parabaas. To mention again, these are all complimentary contributions , as a no-profit organization , Parabaas is in no position to pay any honorarium to them , though the Board is otherwise willing to make a headway in this regard. The illustrative list includes : _______________________etc.

However, young writers are the real treasures of Parabaas. It is really to be read to be believed that how many ‘young & promising ’ writers have contributed in Parabaas in last 12+ years and what is the level of their writings ! Old issues are readily available at www.parabaas.com to have a glimpse of the same. One notable characteristic of Parabaas’ contributors is that they are otherwise well established in their career and writing is not their sole profession. That is why they are not commercially-minded and the best-in-them is displayed in Parabaas.

CONTENTS : MAJOR PAST ISSUES

Here is an exclusive list of Special Issues published by Parabaas, so far : 1.	Special Drama Issue ( Issue no.    ,  Year       ) 2.	Special Satyajit Issue ( Issue no.    ,  Year       ) 3.	Special _____ Issue ( Issue no.    ,  Year       ) 4.	Special _____ Issue ( Issue no.    ,  Year       ) [to be arranged chronologically ]

BENGALI : BOTH BANGLADESH & WEST BENGAL COMMERCIAL ISSUES CRITICISM : PARABAAS’ SUCCESS & FAILURES Parabaas is a major source of Bengali knowledge and acquaintance with Bengali language & literature to many next-generation Bengali boys & girls in USA & Europe, even if it is only through Parabaas’ “Translation section ”

Only high-level well-paid NRIs ! FUTURE PLANS HOMEPAGE  www.parabaas.com