Magazine of the right kind

Title: Handa
Genre: Radio Magazine
Editor: Tilakaratne Kuruwita Bandara
Distribution: Lake House

The Vesak issue of Handa Magazine is aptly dedicated to a valuable collection of Buddhist articles. Of all the articles embedded, the editorial holds much significance. Ittakes a tour to the age-old tradition.

In the fourth state, media, we have experienced three major components: visual (television), audio (radio) and print (newspaper). Hierarchically print medium is the most primary and primitive and visual is the most advanced medium. However the print medium is more effective than both visual and audio. For instance the reader is lucky with the ability to get back to what they have just read compared with a listener or a viewer.

Our effort is not to delve into which is more effective and which is not. But to prove ourselves wrong in a way. The print medium, though primary and primitive, didn’t exist in times of yore. It was listening that helped our ancestors to grasp certain things. This is what the ‘Handa’ editorial tries to emphasize.

Focusing on Vesak, the editorial suggests the audio, though devices came to be in quite modern times, is the oldest communication mode. Our ancestors went to temples after their day’s work to listen to chief monk. They would hear a number of Buddhist stories. They would listen to daily advice. So listening became a powerful tool – even outsmarting the reading.

So to speak, Sri Lanka’s pioneering broadcasting institute, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) has been engaged in a yeomen service. Although aged well beyond 60 years, and with a wide variety of other radio stations, the SLBC still enjoys a comfortable audience.

The April-June issue of Handa will give sharp insights into our history of listnership that went well along with Buddhist traditions. - Lionel Algama