Revisiting Our Cradle

I marvel at the way people reach out in wondrous ways. I met Fr Alfonso Elengikal, the Chief Editor of The Teenager Today for the very first time at St Joseph’s College, Prayagraj (previously Allahabad), last month, when he was introduced to me by our Principal.

- Linda Shane Gaffney

Within minutes, I could feel the passion on his face, the vibration of love for his work as a prolific writer and an editor. Talking to him, I could also easily understand that writing and reaching out to others is his sacred indulgence. As author of four best-selling books and Editor of The Teenager Today for nearly two decades, he has rendered invaluable service to the young people of the country. With him as the Editor, for the third time now, the magazine is reaching out to millions of readers, particularly young people, across the country.

It made me doubly happy to know that he was visiting our College (St Joseph’s College) to revive the golden memories of the Institution where The Teenager Today (The Teenager, till a decade ago) was born, and spread its wings to reach out to young people all over India, fifty-six years ago. Though I am a teacher at St Joseph’s College for more than twenty-five years now, the fact that our College was the birthplace of The Teenager was totally a new revelation to me and, I guess, to most of the teachers and students of the College, today. This is the context in which I am venturing to write this article, by way of revisiting the birthplace and the cradle of the oldest-surviving and the most popular magazine for teenagers in the country.

It was on 1 November 1963, that the magazine was released (printed and published by the then St Paul Publications, Allahahad) at St Joseph’s College, with Fr J. Maurus, popular author, and Fr Aloysius G. Rego, Headmaster, St Joseph’s College, as its founding fathers. As a true educator par excellence, Fr Rego, as he was fondly known, had initiated League of Goodness with the motto ‘Let Your Light Shine’ and a small publication titled Excelsior, which in a way became the forerunner of