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Newspapers down the Times
In the good old Transistor Radio and pre-Television days of the “ancient” 1970’s and slowly developing 1980s in Tamil Nadu, India, most of us got to read a few English newspapers and many local vernacular newspapers & magazines. My favorite was the ‘Indian Express’, which printed spicy news and reported boldly and fearlessly, vis-à-vis ‘The Hindu’’ which was too serious, business tight and had many Tender notices and perhaps better job advertisements. Each attracted its kind of followers! I recall, many used to buy ‘The Hindu’ only because it fetched a good resale value and could be cleverly re-used. The Old Newspapers Wallah treated it with respect -gave a higher price per kilogram for the thick (good quality –in their opinion) ‘old papers’ and it was ideal for lining the many shelves and cupboards of our homes & offices – I didn’t fall for it though, except for a brief period when I was just out of College and hunting for a job! While the articles in the Indian Express were well-written, with action verbs and some humor and attracted one much like a Bollywood Actress, that in ‘The Hindu’ was awfully staid and a drag to read, much like a Kollywood villan. A newspaper being a one-day affair it should only be that – was my argument in favor of the Express. Later, on becoming more learned and well read, I advanced to reading fortnightly magazines and the one that I fell in love with, on first read was India Today! Of course, I had earlier experimented with the then famous ‘Illustrated Weekly of India’ –with its rather odd size (I mostly read it for the wild pictures and sexy Axa comic “strip” hidden inside) and the very colorful ‘Frontline’-with its awesome photos and the Sportsweek and Sportstar. I went on to subscribe to ‘India Today’ and became a dedicated reader –but held on to The Indian Express for the daily grind! Going into the 1990’s, with, by now a well grown Novel reading habit, along with the Newspaper and Magazine interests, I went ‘international’ buying into Newsweek…… at the cost of TIME. Being a weekly issue and costing quite a sum I partnered with a like-minded friend, at my workplace, to share the price and the joys! We read it cover to cover and discussed the many things it uncovered! I still had the Express and India Today with me and flirted with borrowed Debonair and Playboy on the sly! By the end 1990’s and early 2000’s, TV was a full-blown sensation in India and News Channels were talking and showing more easily, what we were struggling to read and see. I quit ‘magazine subscription’, buying selectively on a wider looser range rather than by order and dedication. Career and job progression took me further north of India and away from The Indian Express. It got gunned-down after Bofors and despite desperate attempts I could not hold on and strayed to other papers. Deccan Chronicle while in Hyderabad and Times of India (TOI) while in Mumbai, filled-in the voids. Thanks to the TOI power in Mumbai it infected me and now I am wedded to the Times (though I consider it quite ‘yellow’- at times!) at Gurgaon and the internet for all my news feeds. But once a Reader always a Reader and while renovating New Delhi’s Airport Terminal-2, a colleague handed over a few old copies of The Economist for a ‘must read’ …..and ‘must return’, please. Well, my idea of The Economist, without even looking at it, sprang from deeply ingrained views of ‘The Hindu’ as one of the hard reading types! It took me only a few articles to realize that ‘The Economist’ was in a class of its own and remain hooked to it to this day! The Authors are not mentioned, every article was wonderfully written with cheeky well dispersed humor, it had terrific headline captioning and was a pleasure to read. There was no looking back and I got myself into the ‘hard’ Newspaper (‘The Economist’ calls itself a Newspaper) subscription mode again. Now, there it sits alongside my MacBook Pro (my i-connect to the world) forcing me to pick it up a couple of hours per day and the old ones jostling for precious cupboard space! Meanwhile the TOI brings in its brand of news every day and I resell it for ‘The Hindu’ rates!
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