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WELCOME
Dear Readers
TORES
Thank you for all your encouragement, enthusiasm and support for Jain Spirit. Every day, we receive at least one
COOL email from different parts of the world complimenting the
mo! magazine, and this is most encouraging. Recently, Mr. Bhikhu Shah in London commented on the professionalism of the magazine and how it stands out from the crowd, making all of us proud to be Jains. It is important to strive for quality and not give too much attention to costs, as money can always go, but quality remains for a long time. It endures. Jain Spirit is trying to leave an enduring legacy.
I would like to explain how the editorial process works. Many believe that articles are just sent to us by writers and we simply publish them. That is far from the truth. As Jain Spirit is trying to present Jain ideas in a modern and accessible way, we have to spend a lot of time working with different writers, often training them in the process. We
A scene outside Dinodia Photo Library in
Kalbadevi, Mumbai. I spent two days at this library need writers who have a good understanding of Jainism, a
researching Jain photographs, some of which are good experience of modern life and concerns, and an ability
published in this issue to combine the two. They also need to be able to write well and articulate their ideas in a fun way. With some writers,
temple and soul. Besides, the modern generation rarely we have to constantly remind them to write and encourage
visits temples at all, so we need to focus on their life them to submit something. The topics which we cover
temples - their offices, homes and social activities. do not just appear - a lot of thought and homework
Some people think that we are only publishing a goes into them. Some of the ideas come from you,
quarterly magazine, so why do we need full-time staff and our readers, some from writers,
offices? Others ask how do we others from travelling, observing
achieve it with such few and listening. Rarely do we A lot of time and resources
resources? The task of the editor publish articles which we have
are spent on research not commissioned, because we
is to get the best out of people, to
cultivate a team spirit and to often find that they do not fit the
ensure that each magazine is needs of the audience or the language and tone of the fresh, stimulating, inspiring and most of all, a joy to read magazine.
and reflect upon. This is why I need to travel, to meet We are also trying hard to keep the variety and publish
readers and writers, to educate myself and thereby educate lots of short articles. Short articles mean we need more
the readers. I spent the whole of February in India, with a writers, more editing, more design and proof-reading, and
three day stopover in Dubai on the way back. This was my good administration and control. A lot of time is spent
first trip as editor since the launch of the magazine, and it communicating with writers, giving them feedback and then
was very busy, but fascinating too. India is and will always finally editing the text to fit the page and ensure there is
be the global headquarters of Jainism. Through Jain Spirit, space for pictures. Picture research is also a task, and Alison
we are trying to take this spirit of India to the world, and Kent is very good at it. She reads the article first, identifies
bring the world to India for spiritual nourishment. I the core messages we wish to convey visually and then
interviewed various leaders and sometimes asked difficult looks through our photo collections, which we are building questions, as the job of a writer is to question and probe. I and catalogueing, a process which is quite time consuming.
met fascinating visionaries, and saw young children There is correspondence with authors for portrait photos,
completely immersed in the colour and art inside a temple. and some writers also volunteer additional photos to support
It was their playground, a fascinating thing to watch. I wrote their article. Our photo demands are quite tough, and we
an article on this for the Times of India which was published generally do not publish low resolution or out of focus
in the famous Speaking Tree column on 9th April. photos, or images of poor quality. We also need to crop
Do enjoy this issue, and spread it. Let the messages flow photos and decide the layout, so that both text and image
and enrich one and all. combine to give readers a clear and powerful message. The greatest difficulty is in finding good quality authentic Jain photos which convey contemporary meaning. There are lots of temple photographers and photographs, but these alone Executive Editor do not capture the spirit of Jainism and the link between
editor@jainspirit.org
Atul K. Shah
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
