A couple of days ago, a friend and I finished lunch and were about to part ways when he mentioned that he was going to try and find the office of “The Musalman”, possibly the last remaining Calligraphed Urdu Daily newspaper. Being a purported fan of typography and related areas, I had to join in the quest.
Our only lead was the information that the newspaper’s headquarters were in Triplicane, a Muslim dominant area of Chennai. We were in an area where we knew there was an open wi-fi connection, so we headed over to the hot-spot, pulled out my Mac Book Pro (which I happened to be carrying) :D and did a search on the internet. Fortuitously, we found this photograph of their front door, which had their address on it. We now had a destination!
We found the office with no trouble, Mr. Syed Falzulla was kind enough to show us around and tell us a bit about the history of the newspaper. There’s a lot to tell, but it’s already been told. Here is a detailed article written by Wired.com about The Musalman, and here are some photographs of the place.
Now, for the hurriedly put-together ColoursAlive exclusive video shot on my phone ;) Don’t you just love digital technology?
The Last Calligraphed Urdu Daily - Susheel Chandradhas, 2008
