Shugoofa

shugoofa is a literary urdu magazine, published from the historical city of hyderabad, india. shugoofa, which means the bud or blossom, features wit, humor and satire, one of the necessities of human life. first issue of shugoofa was published in november 1968. initially it came out every 45 days, which in itself was an innovative beginning. the overwhelming response and vivacious reception from the urdu readers forced it to become a monthly magazine in 1973. at a time when most of the urdu magazines are succumbing to the apathetic attitude of readers as well as rulers, shugoofa is one of the very few magazines that withstood the challenges of time. shugoofa is the only humor magazine from the urdu world to have continued for the longest period and that too with regularity. in a span of over four decades, shugoofa has brought out more than 450 issues, including 27 special issues, 22 souvenirs and 37 annual numbers and has contributed over 30.000 pages of printed humor to urdu literature. it is read by thousands of urdu speaking people across the globe and its suitors’ are present not only in the indo-pak subcontinent but also in the gulf, united states, canada, united kingdom, australia, new zealand and other places. it played an important role in grooming a generation. women who appear to be serious shagoofa made them not only laugh but made them to be the source of laughter; many women writers contributed to shugoofa. shugoofa is the organ of a humor promoting organization called the "zinda dilane hyderabad", which means the lively hearts of hyderabad. during its annual function, shugoofa publishes a souvenir. many great humorists from india and pakistan have contributed for shugoofa, making it a popular magazine. shugoofa has introduced and groomed new writers and poets in urdu humor who later became renowned and front-runners. shugoofa also introduced non-urdu humorists to the urdu world by printing the translations of their work. dr. syed mustafa kamal edits shugoofa, interestingly he is neither a humor writer nor a poet, but a reputed researcher and academician. in any language humorists are very few and it is not easy to produce quality humor, bringing out a magazine totally devoted to humor is an onerous task but with his acumen skills dr. kamal is accomplishing this task since its inception and brings out shugoofa with limited facilities and resources. dr. abid moiz, a renowed humorist is the editor overseas since january 1992. besides eleven regular issues in a year, shugoofa publishes a voluminous annual number in every january. it also publishes souvenirs to mark special occasions. shugoofa quite often brings out special numbers. the following are few special editions brought out by shugoofa. hindustani tanzo mizah number: published on the occasion of world humor conference in 1985. it surveys the humor in indian languages and also provides the translations of different humor articles. parody number: realizing the importance of parody in humor, shugoofa has brought out this special issue discussing various forms and patterns of parody. it also contains famous parodies in urdu. drama number: this number emphasis the significance of drama in india and in urdu and different indian languages. it also contains many dramas. ghalib zareef number: ghalib is the legendary poet of urdu language and his letters are considered to be the first pieces of humor in urdu language. this special edition dealt with the humorous side of this great poet. akbari iqbal number: mohammed iqbal is a great poet of urdu language. the humorous and satirical aspect of iqbal’s poetry is discussed in this number. saudi arab number: shugoofa with an intention of introducing the relatively new humorists from the saudi arabia has brought this special issue. silver jubilee numbers: three special issues were brought out at the completion of 25 years of shugoofa’s publication; a general special edition to mark the achievement and the 25-year selection of poetry and prose. all these issues were well received by its readers. special editions in honor of humorists: shugoofa follows the tradition of dedicating special sections and editions to the prominent humorists, both poets and writers. a considerable number of such issues have been brought out; some of the great authors for whom the special numbers were published include mujtaba hussain, narendra luther, ibrahim jalees, taqallus bhopali, bharat chand khanna, rasheed ahmed siddiqui, kanaya lal kapoor, yousuf nazim, parvez y mehdi, and abid moiz. khaleej number: published in may 2004, this issue focuses on humor in the gulf countries. this issue has contributions from urdu humor writers and poets residing in the gulf countries. in addition, the khaleej number also features selection of cartoons from the gulf. the standard of shugoofa and the services rendered by this magazine to promote humor and urdu language is the work of critics but spanning over such long duration speaks lot about shugoofa.