The second of the lot of three magazines that I had picked up on Sunday was ‘MONOCLE’ of May 2007. I had been eyeing this magazine at a second hand book shop in Abids but didn’t pick it up because the price on the sticker said ‘Rs 100’. No magazine is worth that much I told myself and restrained myself from buying at the book shop. That was a couple of months ago and this Sunday the magazine somehow found its way to the pavement at Abids. I got it for only forty rupees which I still feel is too much but then the seller was someone I know well and I didn’t want to disappoint him by haggling with him.
Back to ‘MONOCLE’ which is published from London. It says on the masthead: ‘ A Briefing on Global Affairs, Business, Culture & Design’. The magazine is in an entirely different format. It is like a large sized book and had 180 pages. The paper was not glossy but something tough and beautiful. The pictures inside too were of good quality.
As for the content there was a lot that was interesting in it. This issue seemed to be a ‘Bicycle’ special with many articles on cities in the world where the people travel on bicycles.
There are longish articles on the latest developments in various parts of the world. There was an article on Groningen in Netherlands where there are more bikes than people I read. Elsewhere two bike makers were featured- Skeppshult and Giant. I was reading the business report on Tangiers and came across a piece of interesting information about writers. It seems William Burroughs wrote ‘’Naked Lunch” here. Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg too visited Tangiers it seems.
There was another interesting item again, about an automatic toilet that is the rage in Japan- The Washlet!There are far too many items in the magazine-Porter Bags, restaurant reviews and such stuff. But it is an interesting magazine. It is unlike any other magazine I've come across. There are two more issues I plan to buy next Sunday.
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