Dhvani Ezine was launched in March 2007. Since then it has become a hub for who love writing and literature. Dhvani, published by Escribes Publications, is a monthly ezine from April to December.

We attempt to bring together all writers who appreciate and understand Indian Literature; regional, English, ancient or modern. This is an attempt to bring together all the literatures of India under one roof, to start a dialogue between the many literatures of India. You might also want to check Wordweavers, a platform for creative writers and poets.

In the section 'Our Author' we have had the opportunity to interview some eminent Indian authors like Onassis Award winning author Manjula Padmanabhan, Anita Nair, Man Asian Award nominated Sarayu Srivatsa, Shilpa Agarwal, Sumana Roy, Gauri Dange and many such eminent writers .

Our Softboard section, which is the essence of Dhvani, has had interesting topics and unconventional perspectives by our writers. Our team of writers is an eclectic mix of people from all parts of the country and who have worked with prestigious publications like the BBC, Times Of India and Hindustan Times.

WHY DHVANI?

In the preinternet era, new writers had to send their writings to the local newspaper and magazines in the hope that it will be published. However such magazines were few and they already had established writers hence with no need to accommodate new writers. But then the Internet happened and it was democracy in the truest sense of the word.

But just about five years ago blogging or ezines were still incipient and there were not many takers for it in India. Big publishing houses had a similar concept but it was mostly used to promote their own writers and books, leaving new writers with hardly any scope. It is true that now in India there are many ezines for young budding writers as a platform to express and explore their creative skills, more so with blogging now.

Then what makes Dhvani so special?

Dhvani Ezine is exclusive. There are exclusive magazines everywhere, computers, science, fashion, but when it comes to literature it is a totally open to non-members club. Hence an attempt. But by exclusive we mean it is only for people who have an acumen for literature. Someone who doesn't have a BA Eng Lit degree but has immense knowledge on the subject is welcome too. But we would insist that new writers do their study on the subject. It would be of great help (to you and to us) if you could thoroughly study the various genres and literary criticism.

Exploring literature in the post-modernist world is a challenge because hardly anything is left unexplored. But for that, one needs to know what has been done. You would have now realised that Dhvani is actually the polar opposite of blogging. Dhvani is no place vent off your "Kunsttrieben" . Now if you don't know if what "Kunsttrieben" is, you are the person who needs to study a bit before scoring here.

IDEA BEHIND DHVANI

Dhvani is usually associated with 'sound'. Hence the first obvious connections are sound-voice-voice-of-the-people. The seed of Dhvani was sown in an English Literature Class of 2002. One of our favourite professors, Ms. Charanjit Kaur was telling us, delving a bit into etymology, how words lose or change their meaning with time. That is when she told us how the word 'dhvani,' ironically is cognate with 'suggestion'.

Isn't it so true that probably, the best communication happens mostly in the absence of words. That words are only an inferior choice of communication.

In Indian mythologies or epics, there is a very common understanding that Gods speak with each other in their minds, telepathy may be, but mostly they seem to 'know' everything and only seem to watch everything unfold. Perhaps that might be true. Somewhere in the process of cognitive evolution, in becoming rational, cerebral beings, our subconscious lost that touch, that connection, with what in most religions call the Supreme Power.

Even Einstein seemed to believe that, the whole of universe is like a gentle, throbbing wave woven into a supersoft blanket connecting each point of the universe with the other. That probably might mean that each of us is the centre of the universe reaching out to the peripherals, to make sense of our living in entirity. But since there is so much 'sound,' somewhere in the process the very essence of communication is lost.

That is where, literature, or in a broader sense, Arts comes into picture. The end product of the 'spontaneous overflow of emotions recollected in traquility'. We are 'that' Dhvani.

Team Dhvani.

OLD DHVANI EZINE