Journey of New Genre of Indian Literature
Digital literature, nowadays, is popular enough and widespread amongst Indian readers. The development of this literature, however, has a long history with sharp and epoch changing evolutionary developments. But, how would you segregate the entire history of Indian digital literature in different phases? The scholars are addressing this question from a scientific and historical perspective.
The First Phase
The first phase often termed as the first wave of Indian digital literature, started in the year 2004, with the introduction of India's first SMS (Short Message Service)-based novel, namely Cloak Room, by RoGue. Having 14 chapters altogether, the 3825 media published it. Later, two more SMS novels, namely Neelakannukal and Deaf Heaven, were published in the year 2006 and 2009, respectively. The fact was, however, disappointing, as all these SMS novels have neither received much public attention nor were these well discussed in the academic field. But some research came out suggesting that a never-seen-before genre of literature is being pursued. The period of 2004 to 2009 is termed the first wave of digital literature.
This wave failed to develop any base of readers, scholars and writers. Since this wave introduced digital literature in SMS form, those had nothing to do with the internet services; rather, those were solely dependent upon telecommunication companies.
Second Waves of Indian Electronic Literature
The introduction of smartphones brought an epoch changing episode in the play of digital literature since 2009. Since then, the growing market demand for smartphones on the one hand and the sharply growing consumers of the internet on the other, tied up with already popularised social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, et cetera.
Hence, android technology, web 2.0, social media platforms and advanced software technologies (compatible with android phones) brought a severe change in the genre of digital literature. The production, circulation and consumption of digital media content started to experience unprecedented growth because of a new era in software-related technology.
Social media literature incorporates several sorts of literature, such as poetry, video poetry, fiction, Twitter and Instagram fiction, et cetera, which are enjoyed and consumed by millions of people all over the nation. Facebook has attracted millions of followers with the introduction of several contents like Terribly Tiny Tales (TTT). Chandu Sreedharan's epic retelling has been overwhelmingly accepted and popularised on Twitter that incorporates Mahabharata, Bhima etc. All these sites, since accommodating your opinions about the content instantly, the second wave of digital literature has been enjoying a potential demand and support from the general people.
