By Jennifer Bradley, Staff Writer
Sixteen-year-old Pankhuri Jha from Moorestown launched a new magazine written for children called Baal Chaupaal in April that was published in India and distributed in the United States, India and New Zealand.
”My goal is to make the magazine global and promote the voice and literacy of children throughout the world,” Pankhuri said. “This magazine is one of a kind, and I want this to have a big impact.”
According to Pankhuri, who is now going into her senior year at The Peddie School in Hightstown, the idea for a global children’s magazine started the summer after her freshman year at Peddie when she visited New Delhi, India, to volunteer at a homeless shelter in 2010.
Pankhuri volunteered for five weeks and taught English and mathematics to the underprivileged children in the shelter. She also assisted doctors at a medical clinic in India that was affiliated with the homeless shelter.
”It was honestly one of the best experiences of my life,” Pankhuri said. “Those children have one-hundredth of what I have here in the U.S. It was astounding.”
Pankhuri’s mother, Cuckoo Choudhary, is a gastroenterologist at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and accompanied Pankhuri to India. In addition to volunteering at the homeless shelter, Pankhuri and her mother also passed by the field, which is an area in India where the homeless live and sleep on the streets. According to Ms. Choudhary, both her and Pankhuri were deeply affected by the sight.
”I was amazed at how poor the conditions were,” Ms. Choudhary said. “It was as much of an eye-opener for me as it was for Pankhuri.”
From there, Pankhuri talked to some people at the shelter and teamed up with supporters at an Indian-based nonprofit organization called Ark Foundation to try and get together some literature for the kids.
”I wanted to do something that would help children in the homeless shelters and improve their education and future,” Pankhuri said.
Then, the idea of Baal Chaupaal was born. According to Pankhuri, the word “Baal” means child in Hindi, and “Chaupaal” is a place in India of secular nature that guarantees freedom of speech to everyone present. Chaupaal is sometimes just a simple, raised platform shaded by a large tree where people sit and discuss their problems, celebrate their pleasures and sort out their disputes.
”Pankhuri kept bothering me, saying that she wanted to do something for those kids in the shelter,” Ms. Choudhary said. “I had my doubts at first, but I’m so happy I said yes to helping her create this magazine. In a few years from now when we really see a difference in orphanages, we will realize how great the idea was.”
BC magazine is a magazine geared toward children and encourages children to write and adults to write about issues facing children.
”The main purpose is to promote the literacy of both privileged and underprivileged children and encourage them because their work can be published in the magazine,” Pankhuri said.
Pankhuri and her mother agree writing is important for all children because in today’s society, which is driven by social media and fast-paces communication, solid writing and creative skills can be lost.
”Now good writing seems to be limited to examination halls,” Ms. Choudhary said. “There are so many shortcuts and abbreviations used today.”
The first issue of BC, which was published in April, aided in promoting these goals because, according to Pankhuri, it included a wide range of styles and topics. For example, a 5-year-old wrote a poem, and a 67-year-old man wrote an article about children’s education.
”Since one of the goals of the magazine is to promote literacy, we try not to edit too much so we can maintain the child’s voice,” said Ms. Choudhary, who is also one of the volunteer editors of BC.
Pankhuri added her voice to BC as well and wrote two articles for the first issue. One was about her mother and was written from the perspective of Pankhuri at different ages and the other article was about her volunteering experience in New Delhi.
For the second issue that will be published in a few weeks, Pankhuri wrote a story about her Indian identity that originally was written as a class assignment. She also said people from China, Cuba, Germany and many other countries have submitted stories for the second issue.
The magazine accepts submissions written in either English or Hindi from people of all different backgrounds. Pankhuri said about 80 percent of the magazine is in English and about 20 percent is in Hindi.
”I thought about translating everything into English or Hindi based on the readers, but then I remembered that my primary goal is to educate so the different languages are actually an opportunity to do that,” she said.
According to Pankhuri, most of the marketing for BC id done over Facebook and other social media tools, which have been very effective. She also reached out to schools and plans to continue expanding.
Pankhuri said she would love to eventually establish centers in different countries to consistently contribute to the magazine and gain global representatives.
”It’s amazing that the second issue is already global,” she said.
People who want to receive the magazine or get involved in any way should email or contact Pankhuri or those working with BC at [email protected] or [email protected].
The magazine costs $3 an issue, but is free of charge to underprivileged children.
To learn more about BC, visit baalchaupaal.blogspot.com.
”I didn’t publish this magazine for my benefit,” Pankhuri said. “I published it for the children’s benefit and, hopefully, the world’s benefit.”

