In the age of internet technology, digital printing and 24-hour news channels, the headlines have never travelled faster. But in Chennai of India, the staff of the Urdu language evening paper The Musalman literally write the headlines every day.
It takes three hours for the three specialist calligraphers and reporters to pen a page, before it is turned into a negative, printed, folded and sold to its 21,000 subscribers.
Late-breaking news stories previously meant that whole pages needed to be re-written, but a blank panel in the corner of the front page now caters for that event.
The tradition of calligraphy in India dates back to the days when entire Koran's were hand-written and up until the 1980s all Urdu newspapers were made that way.
But once digital printing technology became readilyavailable the newspapers all succumbed, understandably, to the march of progress. Not the Musalman, though.
Its adherence to tradition is viewed now as a matter of life and death for its editor Syed Arifullah, who took over control after the death of his father.
"We have been maintaining the tradition for the last 84 years, and after my first three years in charge I decided to dedicate my life to Musalman," said Mr Arifullah.
"The Muslaman is all about the calligraphy, everybody is attracted by the calligraphy, if you switch to computer what is there different between us and other newspapers?"
"Calligraphy is the heart of Musalman. If you take out the heart, there is nothing left."



据英国《每日邮报》8日报道，在互联网技术、电子印刷、24小时新闻频道当道的今天，新闻更新达到前所未有的速度。而在印度金奈，乌尔都语晚报《穆萨尔曼报》每日仍靠手写发行。

书写完一个版面需要花费报纸3名书写员和记者3个小时时间。完毕后会再制版、印刷、装帧，最后发送到2.1万名订阅者家中。

以前，如遇突发性重要新闻，所有的版面需要重写。现在，头版的一角会留一处空白，以应对突发事件。

书写的传统在印度始于手抄《古兰经》的时代。直到上世纪80年代，印度所有的乌尔都语报纸都是手工书写的。

随着电子印刷技术的普及，许多报纸都放弃手写。但是《穆萨尔曼报》没有这么做。

对于该报的现任主编赛德-阿瑞福拉来说，坚持手书传统事关重大。阿瑞福拉是从其爷爷手中接过这份报纸的。

"手书这项传统我们延续了84年，我接管这份报纸3年后就决定为《穆萨尔曼报》奉献一生"，阿瑞福拉说。

"《穆萨尔曼报》全部手工书写，每一位读者都被它的书法所吸引。如果改为电脑排版， 我们的报纸和其他报纸又有什么区别呢？"

"书法是这份报纸的核心，没有了它，报纸将一无所有"。

• tradition [trə´diʃən] n.传统；惯例；传说 (初中英语单词)
• readily [´redili] ad.乐意地；容易地 (初中英语单词)
• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中英语单词)
• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
• computer [kəm´pju:tə] n.计算机；电子计算器 (初中英语单词)
• literally [´litərəli] ad.逐字地；实际上 (高中英语单词)
• negative [´negətiv] a.否定的 n.否定词 (高中英语单词)
• previously [´pri:viəsli] ad.预先；以前 (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
• dedicate [´dedikeit] vt.献给；献身于 (高中英语单词)
• switch [switʃ] n.开关 v.转换 (高中英语单词)
• specialist [´speʃəlist] n.专家 (英语四级单词)