Aparanji, the Kannada humour monthly magazine that was reborn some 25 years ago, is today proudly celebrating its silver jubilee. Its predecessor, Koravanji, survived the publishing onslaughts for a similar period in the 60s but called it quits in its 25th year.

If Koravanji had Dr Shivaram, one of the architects of the Bangalore Medical College and a renowned family physician with a warm and compassionate heart as its inspiring editor, Aparanji has his son M Shivakumar steering the humour boat. The magazine has seen through 25 years and is not giving up.

Though Kannada humour magazines have 50 years of existence, between the end of Koravanji (1967) and the launch of Aparanji (1983) there was a time gap of almost 16 years, during which the present editor, M Shivakumar, silently suffered the vacuum that had been created by his father's reluctant decision to close down the magazine for purely economic reasons.

Thanks to the efforts of A R Sethuram, an author with a unique sense of humour, and Seshagiri, an enlightened reader of humour literature, Shivakumar could make his dream of bringing out a humour magazine come true.

Thus Koravanji was resuscitated with a new name and in 1983, the first issue of Aparanji rolled out of the press.

Today, Aparanji does not have to hunt for articles to fill its 40 pages because Koravanji has left behind a legacy of writers and a taste for refined humour.

In fact, R K Laxman got a break in Koravanji when he was just a 'common man' in Mysore. Other contributors to the magazine included G P Rajaratnam, N Kasturi, Sri Ranga, Kefa, S N Shivaswamy, Dasharati Dixit, T Sunandamma, Ha Ra Rami, etc. who had not only made hundreds of readers laugh, but had also inspired scores of others to wield their pen.

Their writings hurt no egos but introduced mirth with subtle jokes, puns and parodies. All that Aparanji did was to provide a platform to the surviving old guard and the new generation of writers.

Running a humour magazine is no joke, pun intended. With Kannada magazines fast losing their readership to television serials that are aired round-the-clock and refined humour being the taste of only a section of the reading populace, Aparanji is fighting hard to survive.

But Mr Shivakumar, an old hand at entrepreneurship, has brought in professionalism to keep it going. He has constituted a board of trustees who look for advertising support and an editorial team that is trying to spot a new breed of writers. Everyone works for free for a cause - to spread some cheer.

Aparanji is a mission of, for and by humour. There is no profit because the issues fetch no income to the publisher. Similar ventures like Shankar's Weekly and Tughlaq were not a commercial success. However, there is a need to create space for printed humour. A venture like this cannot succeed with just humour as capital.

Commercial houses that spend crores can set aside a fraction of their advertising budget to support a worthwhile venture like Aparanji. An advertisement in Aparanji supports a larger cause which can be construed as corporate social responsibility. Once this support is assured, the magazine can spread its wings and reach the masses. Aparanji will then be happily celebrating its golden jubilee. And, why not?

The silver jubilee function of Aparanji will be held today at 10 am at Bharatheeya Vidya Bhavan, Race Course Road, Bangalore.