2025: May thousand types of print bloom

I saw a tweet on an X handle: "The Musalman, founded in 1927, is the only surviving handwritten newspaper in the world and also the oldest Urdu-language daily. The calligraphers or Katibs handwrite the four pages before it goes into print. It takes almost three hours, and one mistake means the whole page has to be rewritten." This is the oldest newspaper still in existence. And, (hold your breath) it is published in Chennai.

The thing is, print documents reveal mysterious secrets. Documents discovered from the sands of the Taklamakan Desert reveal the fascinating past of the Silk Road. These have been preserved by locals who recycled official documents to make insoles for shoes or garments for the dead. What is astonishing is how the new materials challenge our understanding of the Silk Road. That was then, and this is now. And ink-on-paper manages to surprise, even today.

Between January to September, 1.43-lakh brands invested in print advertising. According to TAM Media Research, India’s print advertising experienced a 3% increase in ad space volumes. The report indicates that the education sector emerged as the top advertiser, capturing 17% of ad space during this period. Following the education sector it is services (15%: #2), automotive (14%: #3), BFSI (11%: #4), retail (8%: #5), and personal accessories (6%: #6). Telecom products showed major growth, leaping seven spots to secure 10th place.

At the beginning of 2025, I asked three print educationists one question. What's the coolest print prediction you know?

Kiran Prayagi, an industry expert on colour technology, said, "On old palm leaves where print is not visible, print becomes visible when immersed in water and when dried, it disappears again." Prayagi added, "A printed electronics piece working as a loudspeaker."

This, Prayagi feels, will be a brave new world. Tough to imagine. Once upon a time, printing was the world of 'vatmen,' 'couchers,' and 'layers' who toiled in different roles in paper mills until a machine invented by the Frenchman Nicolas Louis Robert could produce up to 50-metres of paper a minute.

Madhura Mahajan of PVG's College of Engineering & Technology in Pune said, "Minimalist print and packaging must become the coolest trivia. Brand owners and designers must create simple logos and minimal text. They must deploy recyclable or biodegradable materials and keep sustainability in mind." Quite obviously, Mahajan's world entails a shift away from the trade terminology which was unavoidable when we grew up (punch, matrix, glyph, zine).

Kirtiraj Gaikwad of IIT Roorkee said, "Printing in space can be a revolutionary leap." His rationale was, NASA sent a 3D printer to the International Space Station in 2014. And now, astronauts can 'print' tools and replacement parts. This has revolutionised the process of repair in space." Gaikwad moves away from the world when print looked, sounded and smelt much different than now. I speak of the era of shop floors which demanded gruelling work with a 10-lb hammer, hot animal glue and calfskin that binders deployed.

While Gaikwad talks about print in space, there is a print world that unfolds at a 40-year-old firm Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. From a tiny unit, Suresh Kumar Agarwal publishes religious books, handbooks, and receipts with the same enthusiasm as Gutenberg. And so, there is such a world too. Where unknown printers around the country mark, annotate, print, rebind, rearrange, reformat and work from one job to the next. These are the hidden champions who create their magic in the light of a flickering candle.

May the tribe thrive. May our tribe thrive.