Frontiers Past and Present

An Interview with Timir Basu

In this interview taken by Rabin Chakraborty and Farooque Chowdhury, Timir Basu, longstanding editor of Frontier Weekly, discusses the present, past and future of the Weekly, and shares his message to its readers, new and old.

Q: You are associated with Frontier for a long time. How do you feel now about the weekly after so many years of your association with it? Was the attraction an illusion? Was it rewarding or bothersome?

A:  The magazine was virtually on the brink when I joined it. It was not that easy to run Frontier when Samar Sen was alive. It is not easy even now.

The Attraction was not an illusion. But I understood by associating myself with Frontier in the seventies that it was not possible for anyone else to start another Frontier despite its shabby look and ‘uneven' content. Frontier acquired some kind of uniqueness in its own way. Some people in Gujarat once brought out a journal ‘Advance' resembling Frontier. I mistook it as Frontier from a distance as it was displayed in a stall near Calcutta High Court. Nearing the shop, I discovered it was not Frontier, it was ‘Advance'. Well, I don't know its fate. Perhaps it didn't survive long.

Association with Frontier is both rewarding and bothersome. Rewarding, in the sense, I feel satisfied after the production of each issue on time despite so many hazards and handicaps that stand in the way of smooth functioning. But it is bothersome at the same time because I always remain under tension. I am always worried about its immediate future, not its distant future. Immediate future means ever rising production cost, staff salary (meager though), rising postal charges and all that. Perhaps this is an infectious disease I have contracted from Samar Sen.

Q: Tell us about some of your sweetest and bitterest experiences as the Frontier editor.

A: There are a number of incidents that can be called sweet. Rangnekar, editor of Business Standard [at that time it was an Ananda Bazar Group of publication] one day invited me to meet him in his office through his news editor Kuruvilla. I went to Ananda Bazar house and Kuruvilla introduced me to Rangnekar, a short man, known as a left-leaning editor. I found Frontier on his table. Well, I was not yet the editor. Rangnekar told me that he was regularly reading my articles in Frontier [Calcutta Notebook] and EPW. By showing me the latest issue of Frontier, he said, ‘‘Look, this is a neat, small production, I like it”. This was a kind of appreciation! The editor of Business Standard, owned by a big publishing house, considered it as a neat production! 

There were always some Frontier addicts. Even today there are some. Maybe, Gayatri dee — Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak — is not an addict in that sense. Whenever the crisis situation reached the tipping point, I was in the habit of sending SOS first to Gayatri dee. She always came forward even after her retirement with positive help. Once she sent a short letter— “Don't stop it, continue it despite hardships, we eagerly wait for it”.

These are all sweet moments — appreciation of my hard labor.

Jack Preger, a doctor by profession, was harassed by both Bangladesh and India governments for his voluntary medical service among the destitute — pavement dwellers in Dhaka and Calcutta. He wrote quite a few articles in Frontier and The Statesman describing his plight and bitter experience in conducting NGO work among  destitute. Left Front activists made his life miserable by not allowing him to do social service, rather medical service among the poor. He used to visit Frontier office frequently. One day he came to inform me that he was coming straight from the Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner's office, and there he found the latest issue of Frontier on the Deputy High Commissioner's table. Quite naturally I enjoyed the moment with Jack Preger.

Q: You might have faced some odd moments also. If you do not mind, will you please share a few of those?

A: Yes, I had to face many odd moments during my long innings at Frontier. The most serious one was after Samar Babu's demise. A sort of power struggle erupted for which I was not prepared at all. In fact, I could not think of it even in my wildest imagination. Robi da — Robi Sen — informed me about it. Anyway Samar Babu's wife Sulekha Sen and the Sen family as a whole stood solidly behind me.

Q: How do you evaluate Frontier as its editor for so many years? Can you identify a few unique characteristics of Frontier?

A: Frontier has some unique characteristics, no doubt. Frontier never posed itself as an organ of any particular political leaning. Yet somehow some people, the CPM-people to be precise, branded it as a mouthpiece of the Naxalites, which it was not. Frontier acknowledged the revolt of the youth in the late sixties and early seventies; it tried to focus on new political and ideological thoughts; it hailed the break with the status quo-ist past and emergence of new forces for change. Very few people know how the Naxalite ideologue Saroj Dutta jeopardized Frontier's circulation by issuing a mandate to the followers of the CPI(ML) not to read Frontier, because in his view, Frontier was actually a front of imperialism, the other two being the CPM-led United Front and Jyoti Basu's favorite security establishment — the Eastern Frontier Rifles. For one thing many serious political activists of those days defied Saroj Dutta's “obnoxious” fatwa and used to read Frontier secretly.

Samar Babu at no point of time wanted to run Frontier on a pre-planned basis. His idea was “let readers and contributors reflect on events, both national and international”. In other words it was a case of too much dependence on spontaneity and momentum. Bhabani Babu was not in agreement with him on this issue. Samar Babu's fear was that by pre-planning he might impose something from the top. If anything, I have been following the same thumb rules since Samar Babu's demise.

Q: How do you evaluate the influence of Frontier?

A: No doubt Frontier influenced a large number of young people, politicians, social activists in the yester years. And it continues to influence them though in a limited way. One example may be self-revealing and passionate as well. Political prisoners in Vizag Central Jail, Ranchi Jail eagerly wait for the next issue of Frontier. Sometimes they don't get it because of prison hazards and postal dislocation. So they send post-card requesting our office to send the missing issues immediately. In their communication they say “our paper Frontier”. The statement “our paper Frontier” illustrates among other things emotional attachment they have with the journal. With great difficulties they send hand-written articles and letters for publication in Frontier. To them, Frontier serves people's cause in its own way, and how to maintain that continuity is important.

There are many libraries and institutes that subscribe to Frontier and they keep bound volumes. We get repeated reminders from them to replace missing issues otherwise they won't be able to complete binding the volumes. This postal dislocation is a serious problem. Our repeated complaints to the postal authorities have not yet yielded positive results. For them it is business as usual. We have lost many overseas subscribers because of postal dislocation.

Q: To how far, in geographical terms and in terms of type of readers, does Frontier reach?

A: In geographical terms, Frontier is still global. There are readers in Australia — academics, school teachers. There are readers in America, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and also in Africa. As for the type of readers, it varies. Social activists, journalists, human rights crusaders, political commentators, film and art critics — all are there.

Interestingly when China was communist, Hong Kong used to purchase 60-70 copies of Frontier via sea-mail. Having learnt this Sumanta Banerjee once said, “They might be China watchers from the West”. China watchers do not need third party assistance any more. They could do the job directly in the very heart of Beijing.

Once there were a substantial number of readers in Nagaland and Jammu and Kashmir. During Assam agitation many road-side vendors lost their business and Frontier lost circulation. Despite the fall in circulation Frontier goes to every corner of India.

Q: What's the present condition of Frontier?

A: To some extent the condition of Frontier is static. It is not expanding. The over-all situation is not a hopeless one either. Tragically the young generation is not reacting the way we reacted in the late-sixties and early-seventies. There lies the crux of the matter. Once I expressed my feelings to Samar Babu in the following way:‘‘You didn't ask us to read Frontier, but we read''.

Q: What are the difficulties now being faced by Frontier? Is this, in your opinion, a reflection of the existing socio-economic-political reality?

A: I have already stated that the crisis of Frontier is basically the reflection of the existing socio-economic-political reality. Finance is the main problem. As we don't get any advertisement support, even government advertisement support, we largely depend on life-members — sustainers — to keep Frontier going. Samar Babu failed to raise enough working capital at the start. So he had no option but to endure a hand to mouth existence. The same tradition continues unabated.

Q: Is it possible to make ends meet in Frontier?

A: Yes, it is possible. That's why we are still in circulation despite heavy odds. It's not possible to expand it in a big way. But it is always possible to grow in a small way with some comprehensive planning.

Q: There must be people within and outside India who stood by you at times of your difficulties. Do you want to say something about them?

A: There are many people within and outside India, who supported me at difficult times. Well, B R Bapuji and Ranganayakamma of Hyderabad deserve a special mention. They think Frontier must continue at any cost. They even borrow money from their sons and send it to Frontier. My friend V B Talwar of JNU never failed to support Frontier financially whenever I requested him to do so. Parimal Bhowmick is not known to Frontier readers because he is not a writer. Once he was in Bengal's group theatre movement in the late sixties and early seventies. Incidentally he is a relative of Robi Sen. On a number of occasions Parimal saved Frontier from bankruptcy and helped us  tide over legal complexities which were really very tough and frustrating. He has been supporting Frontier silently without receiving the limelight in any forum, ever since I took over the entire charge in 1987. Then Gayatri dee — Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is always there to stand by me in times of crises.

I K Shukla was a real Frontier addict. Even after retirement he never forgot to send his monetary contribution. Whenever I sent SOS in respect of Frontier's financial crisis he responded positively. I was not aware that he was suffering from cancer. A cheque of US $25 came with a short note that he was not in a position to contribute more because his wife was seriously ill [she too was suffering from cancer] while suppressing his own ailment. After a few days I got the news that he was no more.

Shukla's friend and co-worker Maharaja Kaul was also a Frontier addict. Shukla was a prolific writer but Kaul was not. Basically he was an organizer, promoting education for the weak and the needy. I cannot forget their emotional attachment.

Perhaps the readers of Frontier's early days know the name of Karrim Essack. He was a regular contributor. His area of specialization was Africa. He was based in Tanzania. Originally a native of Gujarat he was a member of the banned South African Communist Party but had to flee his country of adoption because of police repression and witch-hunt by the apartheid regime. By profession he was a lawyer. He was so emotionally attached to Frontier that whenever he visited India, he never missed any chance to come to Frontier's office. After Karrim's demise, his wife Pamela Essack used to keep in touch with Frontier. She was also a member of the underground South African Communist Party. They are all gone. They all treated Frontier as their own voice.

Q: Publication of a magazine involves lots of diverse tasks like keeping in touch with writers, collecting articles, selecting-editing-preparing press-copy, liaising with press, proof-reading, mailing & distribution, finding finance, handling of money & daily book-keeping, accounting & auditing, maintaining office, daily correspondences, attending visitors, collecting advertisements etc. Who does all these jobs?

A: Initially Samar Babu had a few helping hands, including three regular office employees. Right now we have just two employees excluding Timir Basu and a part-timer. I have to bear the entire burden. Once there was a person who used to collect advertisement on commission-basis, but right now there is nobody to do the job.

Q: May we get an idea about the average day of the Frontier-editor, i.e., the way your day begins with the duties related to Frontier, and the way it moves up to evening or night?

A: Well, my day beings at 5:30 am, no matter whether it is summer or winter. I continue to maintain my school-day habit of sitting with books and writing materials in the morning. As for the day I shuttle between the printing press (DTP Centre) and the office. For half an hour [1.30 pm –2.00 pm] I go to the Central Avenue Coffee House, just for a cup of black coffee. I take full meal once a day — at 11:30 pm and never go to bed before midnight.

Q: Don't you feel that Frontier's condition should be told in clear terms as it reflects the society's failure to support a worthy weekly?

A: Yes, Frontier's condition should be told in clear terms. The problem has been there right from the beginning. It had a commercial (or at least semi-commercial) approach, and yet there was no infrastructure to project and maintain that approach. Over the years the situation has worsened and reached such a pass that now it seems increasingly difficult to manage it in old ways.

Q: What's the way out of the difficult situation that Frontier faces?

A: We must try to motivate younger people and understand the requirement. There is no denying the fact that we are wandering in political and ideological wilderness. Maybe, we are failing to reach them. Bad things can be turned into good. So said Mao. But so far we have failed to translate the dictum into action. But then there is no short-cut. The road to hell or heaven is equally hazardous.

Q: What will be your message or call to Frontier readers?

A: Never say “No”. I never say “No” even in difficult times and that's why Frontier is still in circulation.

[Excerpted from an interview taken for Frontier online on January 19, 2016. Rabin Chakraborty is associated with Frontier editing its online edition, and while Farooque Chowdhury is a freelancer from Dhaka.]