Reading the rainbow

Priced at Rs 10, it’s even popular among children in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

For Gupta, a rainbow is a metaphor for diversity of ideas, freedom of though and expression. It is also about diversity in life. “Indian children have little exposure to good quality literature and there aren’t many magazines available for them. Indradanush, says Gupta, tries to fill in that void. Through this magazine, we want to develop a scientific and rationale outlook in children. Get them to start questioning everything,” she says.

A Hindi magazine, Indradanush publishes articles on science, social issues, puzzles, art and aesthetics. It has news, views and the latest issue has a story on the Chandrayaan moon mission too. Occasionally, the magazine carries debates and discusses issues such as exam stress and the parental pressure on children. Recently, it also carried a detailed article on the ‘Big Bang Experiment’, dispelling myths created by some news channels. “Many children believed that the Big Bang Experiment would harm the earth and destroy it. So it became very important for us to educate children on the real science behind it,” says Gupta.

The magazine is run by volunteers and has a host of writers ranging from scientists, students, teachers, housewives and authors, contributing stories. Gupta has also attended and conducted writing workshops for children and adults to gather materials for the magazine. “We have also explored existing children’s literature in Hindi and English, literary as well as scientific material.”

The literacy bug bit Gupta in the early ’90s when she volunteered in a government literacy campaign. “We travelled to various places and met many people and that’s the time I realised the importance of education and literacy.”

Since the last ten years she has been associated with many campaigns and prepared awareness booklets for women self help groups. “Society has given me a lot and now

it’s my time to give back to it,” says Gupta.