See related story: A Handwritten Daily Paper in India Faces the Digital Future
, and has worked at the paper for 20 years.
is a rare employer in this mostly Muslim city, where women, men, Hindu and Muslim people work side by side.
office. Urdu was once a hallmark of royalty and upper-crust academics. Here, Imran, a well-known Urdu poet in Chennai, visits to contribute a poem while Begum does her work.
Begum, a Muslim, and C. Balasubramaniyan, a Hindu, work together despite their different religions This is one of the few places where Hindus and Muslims interact freely in Chennai.
Begum inspects her finished product. Now the paper will be processed onto a photo negative and mass-produced with a printing press.
's editor-in-chief, supervises the katibs. He worries his newspaper will die when he does, because his sons aren't interested in carrying on the Urdu calligraphy tradition.
office.
Bureau chief Balasubramaniyan discusses the days' stories.
Begum dons a burqa before leaving the office.
Hussein, sleeves rolled up, dips his pen in ink.
's 60-year-old offset printer.
.
Begum and Hussein are hard at work on the newspaper.
Begum checks her calligraphy after completing a handwritten page.
has used it since it arrived in Chennai by ship.
Editor-in-chief Fazlulla reviews katib Hussein's work.
is a beacon of liberalism in the mostly Muslim city of Chennai. Every day, men, women and people of various religions walk through its doorway, reporting to work.
Shabana Begum finishes a broadsheet that features a photo of the current chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
.
Syed Fazlulla checks a photo negative for errors.
daily paper as it appears just before it is transferred onto printing-press plates. You can see the transparent tape used to line up the calligraphy.
