My Take...(Informal)

It all began with the editor calling me up and saying “listen carefully, it's not a joke. 'The FRW magazine' will be launched tomorrow." My immediate reaction was, “What are you talking! Laugh.”

My first encounter with FRW was when I joined its community on one of the social networking sites. The owner (and the editor now) would always be seen formulating his best publicity tactics to get the TRP of the posts boosted. This community went on to celebrate its anniversary and also having its first official meet organized. I gradually became an active member on FRW. To be noted, the last sentence has a flavour of pride in it.

The FRW magazine, in my view, promises to come up with a difference as the tag line suggests. I have few points which I think will justify its tag line/idea. Firstly, when the community was initiated, the owner had his first stage of making a difference. Today, I consider FRW - the community, to be one of the few communities that journeyed in time as decided in the beginning.

Secondly, when the editor was briefing me initially about 'The FRW Magazine', I noticed that he used one particular word repeatedly - 'QUALITY’. He had a clear picture of how he is going to maintain the quality of writing and contents. I'm sure that when the editor has such a strong take on something that's generally sidelined by most of the entrepreneurs these days, readers would get the word 'Quality' redefined here.

It's inevitable for all those who know Mihir, to talk about him while speaking about FRW. In fact, most of us will end up writing down a personal take on him. I have a justification for this. It's because, in some way or the other 'Mihir' and 'FRW' appear to be synonyms of each other. In simple words, Mihir Chitre personifies FRW!

I joined the FRW community because the owner was a friend but I have associated myself with FRW magazine because I relate to the title and the idea as a person.

If 'change' is the only constant then 'difference' is a function of it. And 'difference' is a natural by-product of all that's associated with FRW.


- Mamta Pandya
mamtapandya007@gmail.com

Sunrise

Here we are, at the outset of another direction, another journey and probably another destination. What started off as an amusement to me, will now take a more concrete and profound form. The name of our community provokes guffaws sometimes. Freaks? Rebels? Weirdos? -"So, juvenile!" some would react. Well, if we look within we find a flavor of each of these things in our personality, in varying proportions of course. Point is, these eccentricities give us a reason to stay alive and kicking. Reason?

You are a freak, you care less about others (read: standardized) responses. You are a rebel, you make yourself noticed. You are a weirdo; you have an evolved sensibility ;) We represent that section of the youth who choose to be active consumers of our culture. (“Boss, we know what we want”). We define our tastes and we are proud of it. Within the large space of the virtual world, this is our little nest. This is a place where we express ourselves: uncensored. So one should expect the regular dose of – anguish, humour, opinions and free wheeling conversations in this space. It’s such a great feeling to be a part of this community. This fun blog is at every creative person’s disposal.

I’d like to quote Clement Stone here –“Many fail because they don't get started - they don't go." They pay tribute to Sir Issac Newton's work by acting as live examples to his theories of Mechanics - They don't overcome inertia, without the application of any external force and they prevent all possible forces that try to do the job. In short, They don't begin.

(We’ve begun!)

On a lighter note - “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” On a serious note - “Beginning is easy - continuing hard” This could well be the sunrise of a dawn that's the initial stage of a glorious era ahead. Whether or not the last statement was overstated, is a question best answered by 'Time'. So, watch out for us! Cheers to all, welcome to US!


- Janvi Gandhi
janvi.87@gmail.com

'What' & 'Why' of The FRW Mag

"I don't want to be a product of my environment ; I want my environment to be a product of me." This quote may popularly be regarded as picked up from the movie - 'The Departed', though I'm sure it has been around for quite a while as it's been quoted by many erudite writers in their 'impressive' writings, over the period of time and it has also been used extensively as a major tool of aggrandizement of their power and personality by many of us.

I, actually, do not belong to either of the above categories. At least, not to the group of erudite writers for sure. But even I believe in this quote quite strongly. I believe that each one of us possesses the ability to change or rather rearrange the system of things around him as he wants to. I believe that WE (the YOUTH) do look at things in a different way than our ancestors. I am an ardent believer of 'The Theory of Relativity' (though I never claim to have understood even a fraction of it) and its philosophical counterpart - 'Subjectivity'. I believe that each one of us deserves to have an opinion about everything that's around him and I also believe that the opinion of the minority, however major it is, should not be suppressed merely because it is against the majority. Oh! I have so many beliefs!

Well, thanks to the several beliefs that I just mentioned and due to some of those that I did not, I have always felt the need for a forum that is immune to the influence of trends, that contains articulate writers and a forum that is intelligently monitored. 'The FRW Mag' or 'The Freaks' Magazine (as I love to call it)' is just an attempt to realize my idea of such a forum.

'The FRW Mag' is a way of looking at things differently. We will have opinions, stories, poems, reviews and all sorts of articles on house. We don't really bother about the format of articles neither do they have to fit any specific pattern of writing. Our writers have the full freedom to express themselves in whatever way they want to. All we are bothered about is 'Quality'. And by 'Quality', I mean two things - The way of writing and the intellectual appeal that a particular article creates in the readers' mind. 'The FRW Mag' is not just going to be restricted to the so called 'Serious' issues; 'Humour' is an inherent part of it since, I believe (once again), it's one of the most sacred arts on the planet.

Creativity, Chaos and Criticism are 3 of the major features of our magazine. I not only support weird ideas but also promote them. The FRW Mag will be leading in the promotion of rebellious, trend setting thoughts and articles and it will, as well, be supporting what I call the 'leper literature'. This magazine is for all those who think - weirdly, differently.

I, as the editor & creator of this small little 'Internet Magazine' or 'Blogazine', enthusiastically declare its release. I thank my entire team in advance for an efficient and dedicated performance that I'm sure they will put forth and I invite all the connoisseurs as well as critics of modern writing to have a look at our magazine and I hope that the 'look' gets transformed into a profound, eloquent and interesting read.


- Mihir Chitre
mihirmumbaikar@gmail.com

The Word

F.R. Leavis, a pioneer critic in the study of Popular Culture, once famously castigated Advertising not just for the debasement of language but also for the debasement of the emotional life of the language community as a whole. Leavis might be a little or way off the mark depending on which side of the ideological fence you are on. But what cannot be denied is that language today is certainly overused, if not dramatically debased. You see the written word wherever you throw a glance - sliding along news scrolls, blown up to screaming proportions on hoardings, shrunken below eye-power on how-to-use manuals, even stretching calligraphically around/across your hips, arms and chest if you happen to be a tattoo freak. That's just about everywhere. So is functional writing taking over the creative side? The answer is a reluctant 'yes' perhaps. The highpoint of any system comes when it transcends its utilitarian goal and soars towards something higher. Similarly, though the inceptive intent of Language itself was functional, its highpoint came when it was put to the end of Creative Writing.

Today, a small band of people who believe the written word truly belongs to this stage of its evolution want to take it back there without negating any other. We, here, do not stake any grand claims to such a band. We're here because we love the Word. Simply put, we want to celebrate the Word in all its creative impulse. Selfishly put, I'm here because every aspiring writer needs a periodical reassurance (a fortnightly, perhaps?) that he's still got it in him, that he has not, as yet, stumbled onto the other side of the Leavisian fence. Finally, the Word is certainly incomplete without the Reader. You read us today; hope you read us again.



- Siddhesh Inamdar
siddhesh.inamdar@gmail.com

The Weird Creator (Informal)

At lot of people write because they want to communicate something to the world. They want their voice to reach out to the world. There are others who write because they like to. But I fall into the third category! You might wonder what the third category is! I write because Mihir Chitre (our darling editor) wants me to write!

Mihir Chitre suddenly came up with this ‘weird’ idea of starting a blogazine. He comes up with such weird ideas time and again and poor people like me surrender to his intense convincing force and start contributing to his ideas in all possible ways.

The last time when lightning struck Mihir hard, our community ‘Freaks, Rebels and Weirdos’ took birth. And from there it has been a long journey. I often wonder how so many people have got together and without inhibitions share about their feelings, their thoughts! I am also a part of the crowd that finds solace in the ‘threads’ of FRW after a long day. FRW has been an important part of our lives since a very long time.
We even had an official Freaks party. This ofcourse happened when lightning hit Mihir the second time!

The intercourse of Mihir and lightning (life taught him the harder way that getting a girl is not his cup of tea) has borne many off-springs. This is just another one of their offerings and I hope that FRW lives up to its name!!

- Divya Shetty
divya_infinity@yahoo.com