In 1991, Dnyanesh Chandekar, a metallurgist born and brought up in Vile Parle and employed at a steel company at the time, started Aamhi Parlekar, the first ever suburban newspaper to bring local news and offer a platform for visibility for the socio-cultural activities taking place in Vile Parle. This was also the time of economic liberalisation in India when the role of foreign investment expanded. “So, while people were talking about globalisation, we were focusing on localisation,” says Chandekar whose publication turned 30 this year. “At the time, I thought that the world is coming closer and while we are more aware of what is happening in faraway countries, it is important to know what is happening in our own area.”

It started as a “one-man army,” he recalls, going beyond publishing news to initiate cultural activities like Sangeet Rajani for promoting local talent and the first ever cricket training centre in Vile Parle. “Till that time, the only seasoned pitches were at Dadar. All the Bombay students used to go to Shivaji Park to train to become the next Gavaskars and Vengsarkars,” he says. They offered the suburban crowd another option, one which is still run by the Parle Tilak Vidyalaya Association.
They were also instrumental in starting agitations against unauthorised hawkers, initiating cleanliness drives, and bringing attention to traffic congestion in Vile Parle’s streets, he says, which may not have found space in a national publication. There was also the matter of local businesses. “Why should they advertise in state or national-level newspapers?” he asks, insisting on their need for a local platform, both because it was cost-effective for these businesses and also because their businesses were retail, like those of jewellers, or banks whose branches required their account holders to be locals.