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Blitz

Since I went to Poona in 1962, I have been a regular reader of the weekly BLITZ. Those days it used to cost just 25p. It used to sell out within minutes of arriving in the news-stalls, and one will miss it if one is late even by 30 minutes! Such was the craze for the magazine - from North to south, from East to west, across the entire country. The weekly was extremely popular for its sensational news reports. Free, Frank and Fearless. That’s how Blitz described itself, and lived up to its self-description

It was started by Russi Karanjia(b: 1912) on 1st Feb 1941 and was flourishing for over 4 decades, before closing down in mid-1990s when Karanjia became unwell and was confined to his apartment.

Blitz courageously and creatively espoused many worthy causes. Apart from Karanjia himself, this contribution to socially committed journalism came, first, from Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, the celebrated writer and film-maker (his Saat Hindustani marked Amitabh Bachchan’s entry into Hindi cinema) who wrote the immensely popular ‘Last Page’ column, and later from P. Sainath, who worked as deputy editor for over a decade. Sainath later became one of India’s best-known writers on rural poverty, doing Karanjia proud by recently winning the Magsaysay award.

Karanjia was a committed communist in the beginning but later on he changed and became a member of BJP and supported its Ayodya movement.

Karanjia was a fearless editor. He passed away in Mumbai on 1st Feb 2008 (day before yesterday) at the age of 95; he was cremated yesterday (2-2-2008)

As a reader of Blitz who enjoyed the weekly for years together, I salute this man - Let his Soul Rest in Peace.

Rajappa
12-25PM on 3 Feb 2008

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