FORCE is 19 | Last of the Teens

Ghazala Wahab

One of the reasons for the enduring appeal of the Harry Potter series was that the characters of the novel grew up with the readers, and consequently both the story and the language grew in complexity. What’s more, the author J.K. Rowling wove in contemporary and politically challenging issues into the narrative raising the level from just a children adventure series to a commentary on society, democracy, diversity, resistance and the ever-present danger of complicity.

FORCE’s journey of 19 years has been a bit like this. On Independence Day 2003, when the magazine was born, it needed both handholding as well as a narrow focus so that it could build upon its core strength. Being an infant, it also needed linear ideas and tell them simplistically. We were conscious of the fact that FORCE was not just the first for us, but for our readers too. There had never been a mag