Hot, happening Chaicopy

There they all were, a bunch of talents who liked to write, draw, illustrate, photograph. A lot of creativity, ‘flowing’. So then the first years doing Masters at the Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities thought of bringing out a journal, that could be international and online. Ideas poured in from everywhere, an editorial team was formed, invitations sent out for poems, short stories, drawings, paintings, photographs. From the editorial team of nine, Michael Ampat Varghese, the fiction editor, and Srividya Devadas, the visual art editor, have roots in Kerala.

“We titled the journal Chaicopy, with the first edition following the theme ‘Fragments’. There are two sections — Chai expressions which has poetry and short stories and Kapi sessions with travelogues, paintings, photos, visual arts,” says Michael, who did all his schooling in Thiruvanantha puram before moving to Bengaluru for college and then Manipal to do Masters in Literature. Out of the 40 pieces they carried in the journal, only 10 are from within the college. The rest come from people — students and grownups — from across the world, including UAE and Indonesia.

“We have printed a few copies for the college library,” says Srividya, whose parents are from Ottapalam and Angamaly, though she had grown up in Mumbai. At MCPH, she chose to do Philosophy and carry on with her passion for photography on the side. “The paintings we chose for the journal are mostly abstract ones. The photographs are portraits, landscapes, architecture etc.”

On the literary side, the fiction pieces were chosen carefully, edited to meet the standards, Michael says.

The eyes, floating in thin air, dancing to the hiccups and gurgles of the stream, growing louder, darker and deeper, tearing the menacing laughter of the gulls into mists of pearls, and, with the sun trotting off to the clouds, finally elongating into strings of hollow echoes.

Reads the beginning of ‘The Waiting’, short story written by chief editor of the journal, Mariam Henna, another Malayali.

“We used the name Chaicopy for that is a universal idea, you drink your chai and coffee wherever you go to, travelling in the train etc. We hope to bring the next issue out in August, on the theme of ‘Imbalance’,” Michael adds.

Nikhil Govind, director of the MCPH, says: “A crucial voice that is not heard in our culture today is that of students. The diversity, creativity and richness of their perspectives open up new avenues of thought and expression for all of us.”