Bridging the Past and the Present: A Passage to the Cultural Archive

The paper is an attempt to look at how Balarama, a popular magazine for children in Malayalam serves as a means by which culture reflects and renews itself. The magazine has taken efforts to remain in the mainstream by including the popular taste of its target group. To survive the tough competition in the globalized world, the magazine has increased the number of non-native stories. Though there is a profusion of western classics and stories in Balarama in the recent past, a consistent effort on the part of the publisher to offer the young generation the taste of his/her land can be identified. The young reader is introduced to the myths, legends, and folklore of the land through the stories that the magazine feature.