SLAM CULTURE IN DELHI

 

We all are much acquainted with the literary thirst of Indian National Capital which has been a hub of reading and enjoying literature since many years. Many of the known, less known or unknown literary geniuses have been active in literary activities. Poetry Slam has also taken its form as a culture among the literary enthusiasts in recent years. The Slam revolution of Marc Smith reached Delhi and many individuals and groups came up with poetry meetups. Though there is no particular slam competition on larger scale but people are joining hands in the name of slam as an art. Areas like Rajiv Chowk, Hauz Khas, Central Park etc., echo the word riots on weekends when the poets of Delhi hold their gatherings.

The Poetry Groups

50th PACH at Pot Belly, Bihar Niwas

Poetry enthusiast and bathroom poets have extensively used social media  as a tool in order to advertise the art of slam poetry and most of the meetups are announced via social media and held in regular cafes, lawns or parks. These groups are usually not sponsored, they survive on mutual contributions by the fellow poets and others. Many of the groups have come up very recently and few are less than 5 year old in the poetic arenas, to name a few PACH (Poetry And Cheap Humour), Poet’s Corner, Poet's Collective etc. these groups regularly hold open mic sessions and are open to anybody who can write his/her heart out and recite it. Most of these groups are not language specific which gives them wider engagements and audience. The people who join the sessions are very much varied from students and working professionals, to housewives and retired people. This variety is also found in the subjects on which the poetry is written by these people. Some of the common subjects are love, social injustices, rebel poems and poems of nature. You will find budding Wordsworths, Keats, Premchands and Eliots here. Poetry group like PACH has it’s tag line as “PACH karke nikal do” which actually means whatever is inside you just let it out.

Poetic Activists

This lot of advertizing poetry and sprinkling the poetic magic require efforts by people, and Delhi Poetic Culture also has its own gems involved in helping it grow. Anup Bishnoi, Aditi Angiras, Saumya Kulshreshtha, are few of them who took the wagon of poetry ahead. Anup Bishnoi along with his friends was the founder of PACH, the group which had been active all throughout these two years of its coming into life, holding the poetry sessions every fortnight. ‘Poet’s Collective’ which, was founded by Saumya Kulshreshtha an avid reader and a poet herself has been a platform to many mature and amature poets once a month. These sessions have been instrumental in inspiring the poets to write regularly and to polish their poetic talents.

Slam Performers

The slam culture gave birth to poets coming together as  groups and performing at various occasions in Delhi. Some of these groups are Bring Back the Poets, M.O.C (mildly offensive content), and Mockingbird Poetry (also known as MOCK). Bring Back The Poets was a group that took up the cause of LGBT rights in Delhi and spoke in favor of it, M.O.C. took up the general feminist cause against the ills of society against women, Mockingbird Poetry which has recently began, mocked religious tyranny and malpractices and criticized it.

Apart from these units of efforts there were other initiatives that were started to promote the poetical art. Poet’s Corner started with Delhi Poetry Festival in 2013 and conducted in 2014 its second edition, most of the colleges in Delhi has taken up poetry slam competitions as part of their annual cultural fests. Some web portals like StoryMirror has also come up to provide poets and writers a room for their selves. After all these efforts the Art of Slam in is growing at its own pace in Delhi, though it has been engrafted but it is growing as a subtle tree with no less talent than any other city.

-Assef Ali

Origins Of Slam Poetry

  

“There is a pleasure in poetic pains
 Which only poets know”

                                                                                      -William Cowper

Slam Poetry or often called word poetry is a performance poetry art, which is much similar to soliloquy or dramatic monologue of drama. It is a kind of poetic art where a poet recites the poem, preferably  his/her own work with full expressions and emotions. It lays equal emphasis on writing and performance. A slam poet modulates his voice accordingly and shows movements of hands and body as to express  the poem to impart its complete sense. The art of slam poetry was started by an American poet and a construction worker ‘Marc Smith’, who began the first poetry reading session at a lounge in Chicago in the year 1984, followed by series of slam sessions at Ann Arbor, Michigan which became the home to second oldest slam series in 1987.  It is worth noticing that Smith was trying to brew a new way of self-expression and it eventually gave birth to the ‘Art of Slam Poetry’ without even having a slightest hint that it would grow into a mass movement among teenagers in coming decades. From there it began to spread throughout the North American continent. Slam Poetry sessions began to be held weekly with open-mic systems where local poetry writers joined to recite their works with ambitions to get their talent known. After the open mic gatherings and recitations several performers came up claiming the superior talents, bringing the spirits of competitions. Poetry Slam competitions began with the promises of prizes and obvious recognition that follows.

The Wildfire Of Slam

Slam Growth In America

Slam Poetry spread like a wildfire throughout the world as a means of expression among youth. The rebel like texture of the art gave its reach a significant boost. Slam Poetry indeed came up with a medium of expression which had advantages like the ability to assert meaning with body language and performance. The volatility and rage of teenage and youth accepted the new form with complete zeal and excitement. Slam Poetry started to be performed as groups and individuals, it was at many places performed to voice their rebellion and protests. Its exactness of vocal expression attracted its use as method of protest. Literature has always been instrumental in the spread of different causes and movements in history; and Slam Poetry continued to follow the trend. Causes differed, be it the cause of blacks in America or the grief stricken Philistine, the slam poets like Rafeef Ziadah (Palestinian), T Miller (USA)  took the charge of propagating the cause and making their voices heard.

The regular local slam sessions observed an epidemic growth, getting converted into national spirit in America which turned into the demand for slam poetry to be recognized as a distinct art. In 1991 Chicago hosted first national slam competition formulating its rules and regulations. New artistry and representation was put forth by the slam poets. During 1990s the salm competition grew nationwide with many cities of America coming up with their representations. The official Poetry Slam, Inc. was registered under non-profit tag in the year 1999. The same parent organization looked after many slams in the country with several contesting teams. Many bathroom poets came up breaking the walls of bathrooms to present their art and exhibit their talent to the world. Reading stories, poetry and other literature has all been old and known to us and Slam is the new form that enhances the experience of enjoying literature.

Word poetry has come a long way breaking barriers and boundaries, the voices these days are heard from each corner of the American nation in slams The voices of joy, dissent, anger, calmness, peace etc. Slam poetry is also these days used in the place of being something that promotes freedom of speech.

-Assef Ali

CINDERELLA

 

Cinderella is the common man’s fairy tale. The story is about kindness and gentleness of a girl who was treated poorly all her life. The Disney version, again the most popular, tells us about a girl whose mother passed away and her father remarried so that she could have the love of a mother. However, her stepmother has two daughters and can never accept Cinderella into her life. So when the father dies, the stepmother is cruel to Cinderella and treats her like a maid. A few years pass. The Prince of the region has organized a ball to find him a suitable wife. Cinderella goes there by the aid of her fairy godmother. However, the spells will wear off at twelve.She arrives at the ball and immediately the Prince falls in love with her, her charm, her beauty and her kindness. They dance all night and Cinderella just realizes that it is almost twelve. She runs and accidentally drops her glass slipper while hurrying home. The Prince, who fell in love with Cinderella finds her through that slipper and proposes. They live happily ever after.

Cinderella is one of the most beautiful stories of all times. It tells us that the bad situations will end. And everything will be okay eventually. If you are kind, honest and good, you will get a happy ending. Cinderella was a nobody, another one of those souls who was abused at home and treated poorly in general. Yet, the Prince fell for her. Her kindness, her good nature, her attitude and her intelligence attracted him. These traits are irreplaceable, found only in the good souls of this world.
Cinderella is one of the most relevant of the fairy tales in the modern world. That can be proved by the number of movies, serials etc. made on the same. It is the story of an everyday girl who was ill-fated and ill-treated. It is a story of a happy ending. The modern versions of this story has no fairy Godmother, rather it has helping neighbors, caring workers and best friends giving our Cinderella or Ella a makeover. Instead of balls, there are proms or parties, instead of Prince Charming, the star player and the famous singer.

Originally though, Cinderella was a tale of abuse. The name ‘Cenerentola’ comes from the Italian word ‘cenere’ (ash). It has to do with the fact that servants were usuallysoiled with ash due to the cleaning work and were nobodies. This story has the richest history and so many variations before the modern time itself. The earliest known Cinderella story is the story of Rhodopis, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt (7 B.C.).

I think that Cinderella is one of the best fairy tales because people can actually relate to it. Yes, it has elements of magic. But that is what actually makes it the fairytale that it is today. And we need to believe that miracles do happen. We just have to be kind and good. The rest will follow. We will always get our happy ending.

Cinderella ends my blog discussion about the fairy tales and the variations that we can read even today. Where magic is replaced but not forgotten, miracles happen, but are believable and happy endings are possible. Because Once Upon A Time, in a land far away, there was a girl, who had the courage to follow her heart and she did.  And everyone lived happily ever after. Except maybe the evil stepmother.

SNOW WHITE

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most publicized and talked about fairy tales. The Disney version, the one which is the most widespread, tells about the princess whose evil stepmother sends her off to the woods with a hunter who has the task of killing her and bringing her heart. The hunter, who sympathizes with the princess, has a change of heart and lets her free. The evil stepmother, after learning that she is not dead, because Snow White was still the fairest of them all, decides on killing the princess herself. Meanwhile, Snow White finds a little house in the woods, with little beds and pots and cleans and cooks for the people. After being exhausted, she sleeps and is woken by seven dwarfs who let her stay with them, making her a bed and assigning her tasks. They also grow very close to her, treating her as a member of their little family. The queen comes to the little cottage disguised as a hag bringing Snow White a poisoned apple, who falls into a death-like sleep that was broken when Prince Charming gave her a kiss of love.

Such a nice tale, so neatly wrapped and served to the kids. The fairest of all, getting justice for her father and marrying the Prince Charming. But the original version, the one by Grimm Brothers, was slightly more gruesome yet more realistic. Snow White wasn’t woken up by the kiss from Prince; she was woken up after the piece of poisoned apple got dislodged from her throat. Also, as a punishment for her attempted murders (not just one- but three tries) of Snow White, a pair of glowing-hot iron shoes were brought forth with tongs and placed before the evil Queen. She is forced to step into the burning shoes and to dance until she drops dead.

Such variations were made to the story to make it more child-friendly. Torture was taken out, magic and miracles were added. They were made unaware of the cruelty of the world, and were taught to hope. Because even though Snow White was a Princess, and she had everything that money could buy her, she was lonely. Only her kind-heart got her the acceptance from the seven little humans. Also, she was thrown into the woods, asked to fend for self, she did not lose hope. She survived and thrived in the unfriendly environment. This was a story full of love, miracles, happiness, friendship and the triumph of good over evil. The ideal classic fairy-tale for kids.

But now we have grown up, even just a bit. We now know that the world is a harsh place, full of evil witches and warlocks. There is more evil in us than we like to believe.  And it is not just black and white; there are those shades of grey that define us. That makes us wonder how Prince Charming could fall in love with just a glance, and Snow White reciprocate it; how the queen could be so evil, etc… We want to know the backstory of the characters, to know what really happened which defines how they are today. Basically, we want more, and this time we want it to be realistic.

Hence, more variations were introduced, stories were made adult. Backstories were given and explained. We learned to sympathize with the queen, understanding why she became like this. One variation had Snow White’s mother humiliating the evil Queen early in her life, resulting in the evil Queen, Regina losing everything she held dear. So many variations have left us in awe. Movie adaptations like Snow White and the Huntsman and TV adaptation like Once Upon a Time made us want more of Snow White.

So much new in now, yet the basic message is clear. Good will triumph over the evil, whether it is Snow White and the Queen, or the good inside the Queen winning over the evil. And justice will prevail, even if you or I is the fairest of them all.

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” 

― Italo Calvino, The Uses of Literature

-Swati Hans

Once Upon a Time

We have all grown up listening to tales and stories narrated to us by our grandparents, parents, siblings or other family members. These ‘Pariyonkikahani’ or ‘Lori’ helped us fall asleep, to believe that there is a higher power who watches over us, who punishes the evil and rewards the good. It taught us, even scaring us into believing, that we have to be good, kind and helpful. God will make everything right eventually. They opened our eyes to an alternate world where magic and wands solve the problems, good fairies triumph over the evil witches, and peace and happiness is restored in the land.

 We should celebrate the role of fairy tales in our growing years. The way Little Red Riding Hood taught us courage by crossing the woods alone to get soup to her grandmother; Snow White taught us that a small good deed like taking care of someone goes a long way, Sleeping Beauty taught us that forever is actually true and Cinderella taught us to be good no matter what, have made us what we are today. These stories, which were once dismissed as kids’ stories, have caught the attention of the internet fraternity now.

 Alternate storylines, original storylines and fan-fiction has now changed how these stories are viewed. The storylines have changed to accommodate the changing audience. It now focuses on seduction, adultery and even darker shades of the characters. After growing up, no one really believes that a kiss woke up the Sleeping beauty, or that happily ever after was so easily achieved. They want to know what really happened, and how is it relevant in our lives. Because the books grow up with us, don’t they?

Let’s discuss the origin of fairy tales. Though most people would credit The Grimm’s Brothers for telling us about Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel and so many others, it is widely disputed that these stories were folk tales of different regions and religions which were passed on to the successors to teach them important moral lessons. They could have also been based on true incidences. Little Red Riding Hood could be a story about violation or rape, Snow White of abandonment, and Cinderella of domestic violence.

These stories were narrated to us to help us adapt to the society, by telling us of its bad things and cruelty in a subtle manner, and to teach us to not lose hope. Studies have shown that these tales help in our survival, and we use them as references later in our lives as well.  So let us go back to our favorite bed time stories, talk about their alternate endings, and their origins. Let us discuss our versions of it, open our minds to accept the changes, and imagine how we would have wanted it to end. Because, as C.S. Lewis put it, you can’t just read a good book only once.
- Swati Hans

FINALLY, THE ERA OF DIGITAL #HASHTAGS

The era of digitization began with the invention of the world’s first computer by Charles Babbage in 1848. Although it was an analog device, the digital world that we know of today can be credited to this great invention. Babbage not only created this ‘analytical device’, he also created a mechanical printer to check the output of his ‘Engine’. This was the world’s first domestic printer. Till 1990, it was a highly debated fact whether Babbage’s inventions actually worked until Allan G. Bromley, an associate professor at the University of Sydney, Australia came along and recreated the ‘Difference Engine 2(another name for the world’s first mechanical computer)’ at the London Science Museum. This system used a series of metal rods with characters printed on them and stuck a roll of paper against the rods to print the characters. Thus began the journey of modern day printing.

Babbage Difference Engine No. 2

We have come a long way from the times when printing was only done on an industrial scale and the cost inputs were very high. Only large publishing houses and newspaper businesses could afford and operate a printing press and the only printed material that the common man had access to, was sold at stands right next to their favorite eating joint. The demand for small scale printers rose when people did jobs where excessive writing was becoming a cumbersome task. Thus came in the ‘Typewriter’. The first typewriter to be commercially successful was invented in 1868 by Americans Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The device worked on the same principle as the printer that Babbage invented in which printed metal rods formed impressions on paper. These machines were portable, cheap, and most importantly of all, made the job easier.

The disadvantage of such typewriters was that the analog mechanism was very tedious to work with. Every document had to be typed and there was no scope of error. Among the systems widely used through the 1980s were daisy wheel systems similar to typewriters, line printers that produced similar output but at much higher speed, and dot matrix systems that could mix text and graphics but produced relatively low-quality output. This created a demand for a faster and better means of printing and publishing. In came the company ‘Hewlett Packard or HP’ with the first low cost laser printer known as the HP LaserJet which was followed by the Apple LaserWriter which also included PostScript( a computer language) which set off a revolution in printing which was known as desktop publishing.  Laser printers used PostScript mixed graphics with text much similar to the dot matrix system but at much higher quality levels. By 1990, most simple printing tasks like fliers and brochures were now created on personal computers and then laser printed; expensive offset printing systems were being dumped as scrap. 

The Laser Printer: Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text by passing a laser beam (typically, an aluminium gallium arsenide semiconductor laser) which projects an image of the page to be printed onto an electrically-charged, selenium-coated, rotating, cylindrical drum. Photoconductivity allows the charged electrons to fall away from the areas exposed to light. Powdered ink (toner) particles are then electrostatically attracted to the charged areas of the drum that have not been laser-beamed. The drum then transfers the image onto paper (which is passed through the machine) by direct contact. Finally the paper is passed onto a finisher, which uses intense heat to instantly fuse the image onto the paper.

3D Printer

Since the rapid expanse of e-mail and other digital communication mediums in 1990s, the use of print technology for domestic communication purposes has ever been on the downside. People began viewing printing as keeping a physical backup for emergencies only and offline reading of books and novels became a thing of the past due to the emergence of e-books and tablet computers. The extensive use of electronic means to communicate with those living on the other side of the world and the rising popularity of the concept of ‘save paper’ has led to the downfall of printing. People have been using e-mails instead of handwritten memos, online submission of forms has become commonplace and people have become more aware of the damage done to the environment due to the overuse of paper during printing. Print media has been on the decline since recent times, and the era of e-books has begun.  The ease of access to a large amount of content online has given rise to immense popularity of the e-world. The very existence of the classic paperback has been threatened by e-books, e-news, e-magazines and a lot of other e-stuff. The newest thing in town is the 3D printing technology which helps to create three dimensional models of our creations on the computer. Although very expensive in the initial stages, nowadays 3D printers come at affordable prices with the advancement in technology and people have started buying these printers for their homes and offices.

In spite of all this, print media is something that today’s world cannot live without. Not everyone has access to electronic devices; hell! Not everyone knows how to use one. A person believes what he or she can see, can touch, and can feel. One cannot have that with computers. The worlds of writings started in the Neolithic age during which cavemen made drawings on walls of the animals they hunted, their families. From those times, man has always communicated using the written medium and it is damn near impossible for the written medium to be completely eradicated in spite of how much ever technologically advanced man becomes. The world may use the internet for reading stories and sharing stuff to the world like I am but the feeling, the jolt of electricity passing though the hand when one lifts a pen to write is just indescribable. The only outlet of the vast imaginations that our mind holds is the pen, the one thing that helps us truly describe who we are and bares our soul for the world to read…  

This post is the last of ‘The Road Down History’. From next week, I will start with a new topic and together we shall embark on a new journey- ‘MARVEL vs DC’.

-Anurag Bagga

AGE OF MECHANIZED PRINTING

This post is about the methods of printing in the medieval times, the first printing press and the type of press used today for large scale publication.

In old times, before the development of printing mediums, knowledge and news were spread by handwritten manuscripts and scrolls. These ancient writings on papyrus and wood have given scholars great insights into the world of those times. They tell us about the life of the people in those times- the economy, the state of living, the scientific knowledge and technical expertise. Many royal edicts and inscriptions have been found that tell us about the rulers of those times- the expanse of their kingdoms, their amassed riches, the wars and conflicts, conquests and strategies adopted to keep subjects loyal and happy.

These inscriptions although very artistic and beautiful (as the rulers then liked it), were very tedious to write and time consuming. Every scroll, every manuscript, every copy of the manuscript was to be handwritten and bound. Court scribes were specially kept to write them again and again. Imagine J.K Rowling and her publishing team writing by hand and binding each and every copy of the 450 million sold of the Harry Potter series. The need for printing was very high. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. In came Johannes Gutenberg with the world’s first movable type printing press in 1439, which started the Printing Revolution and is considered to be the most important invention of the modern period. It revolutionized mass publishing and the way people gained knowledge and information about what was happening on the other side of the world. Having previously worked as a professional goldsmith, Gutenberg made skillful use of the knowledge of metals he had learned as a craftsman. He was the first to make an alloy of lead, tin and antimony, which was critical for producing durable type that produced high quality printed books and proved to be much better suited for printing than all other known materials. Gutenberg is also credited with the introduction of an oil-based ink which was more durable than the previously used water-based inks. Gutenberg used paper and vellum as printing material.

The Holy Bible was the world’s first book to be printed by this press and those printed copies were called as Gutenberg Bibles. In the Gutenberg Bible, Gutenberg made a trial of colored printing for a few of the page headings, present only in some copies. One Gutenberg press produced about 3600 pages per day as compared to the 1500 by woodblock painting- the method prevalent in Eastern Asia. By 1500AD, the Gutenberg press was employed in over 200 cities across Western Europe and the output rose to 150 to 200 million copies per day.

In the 19th century, the movable type Gutenberg press was replaced by the steam powered rotary presses which allowed printing on an industrial scale which became the sole medium of bulk printing all across the world. In such type of presses, the images to be printed are embossed on a rotating cylinder which comes in contact with ink and paper and hence the required prints are obtained. One of the most commonly used rotary printing methods is Offset Printing.

Offset Printing is a technique in which the inked image is transferred (or “offset”) from a plate to rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called “fountain solution”), keeping the non- printing areas ink-free thus giving a sharp and contrasting image on the paper. This technique is used today for books, newspapers and all other kinds of stuff that needs mass printing. So the next time you wonder how millions and millions of newspapers are printed every day, you will k now how.

So this is it for this time. The next post will be about the current era of digitization of the printing and the vast world of e-books that have threatened the very existence of the classic paperback. Till then, see ya.
-Anurag Bagga

THAT’S HOW WE STARTED

There’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. YES!!! There's a story inside all of us and StoryMirror brings to you an unprecedented platform to express yourself freely and share your untold stories with the world. We are a team of ‘creators’ with a literary vision who want to offer you a platform to write those untold stories that you carry to air and share your stories and make it available to readers worldwide to read them and take delight in your creativity. 

This blog is all about creating and appreciating art of all forms. From literature to TV shows, from paintings and illustrations to different cultures across the world, this blog is for and about the ‘creators’ of the world.

The blog will follow a pattern of weekly topics ranging from history to eras of eminent literature, from the renaissance to digitization of the artistic world spread over three posts per week. This week, I take a road down history. The blog will talk about how the written medium started; how word spread around in the times of your great-great-great-times 10-grandfather, the first printing press, the first printed book, the modern press and the kind of books that the techie-generation of today love to read.

In this first post, I write about the writings of historic times, the first scripts and the ancient methods of written communications

The first forms of written communications can be traced back to the cave paintings of the Palaeolithic man, some of which date back to 40,000 years. They can be found all across Asia and Europe. As man developed, his forms of written communications also progressed in sophistication and clarity. The first actual writings are considered to be Egyptian Hieroglyphs (or God words) which date back to 3300 BC. These writings consisted of complex symbols which were a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements like ‘the owl’ and ‘the wolf’. Egyptians used cursive literature for religious literature on papyrus and wood. As writing developed and became more widespread among the Egyptian people, simplified glyph forms developed, resulting in the hieratic (priestly) and demotic (popular) scripts. These variants were also more suited than hieroglyphs for use on papyrus. Hieroglyphic writing was not, however, eclipsed, but existed alongside the other forms, especially in monumental and other formal writing. The Rosetta Stone (the most sacred piece of Egyptian history ever found) contains three parallel scripts – hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek. Hieroglyphs continued to be used under Persian rule (intermittent in the 6th and 5th centuries BC), and after Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt, during the ensuing Macedonian and Roman periods. Some believe that hieroglyphs may have functioned as a way to distinguish 'true Egyptians' from some of the foreign conquerors.

The Cuneiform script, known to be created by the Sumerians in the 26th century BC, is one of the earliest forms of written languages. The language is distinguished by the wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by blunt reeds. The name ‘Cuneiform’ itself means ‘wedge-shaped’, derived from its Latin roots- cuneus meaning “wedge” and forma meaning “shape”. Cuneiform began as a system of complicated pictographs but during its 2400 years of its usage, its characters simplified and became smaller in size. By the 3rd century BC, Cuneiform consisted of a complex combination of logophonetic, consonantal alphabetic and syllabic signs very much like the English we use today consisting of emoticons and alphabets. Cuneiform although extinct since 2BC, laid the foundations for modern day written language.

Historians also argue that a third independent script was invented by man in another part of the world- the Indus script. It is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilization during the mature Harappan periods between the 35th and 20th centuries BC. Most inscriptions are extremely short. It is not clear if these symbols constitute a script used to record a language, and the subject of whether the Indus symbols were a writing system is controversial. In spite of many attempts at decipherment, it still remains a mystery to this date and no underlying language has been identified. The script does not show any significant changes over time.

So this is it for this time. The next post will be about the more modern ways of printing and getting the word around. Till then, see ya.

-Anurag Bagga