Once upon a time , not so very long long ago I used to groggily reach for my newspaper in the morning and begin what I called my ritual... A quick look at the headlines of The Hindu, turn to the sports page to glance at the happenings in the world of cricket,football, tennis, F1 racing. That done I would glance at the happenings and Editorial page. Then I would turn my attention to 2 other newspapers- The Indian Express and the Times Of India and repeat the same ritual. One of these newspapers would always be my loo companion while one was for my morning cuppa!
Newspaper reading brought with it a whole sensory experience with the smell, the touch and the feel of the paper as much an experience as the matter it communicated.
Today I am an extremely frustrated reader! What greets me in the morning is not the news but the assinine smile of a 20 something trying to sell me -- who cares what! Goodwill is certainly not one of them.
It all began innocuously enough. It was a big ad in the front page. Well, I did not like it but it was ok.. They had to sell papers and the ad revenue helped them. I consoled myself with the thought that otherwise I would be required to shell out more.. But it did not stop there! The front page ads became larger and larger, like a pimple on a poor teenagers face till it was forcing my eyes to morbidly focus only on -to me it's obscene- the ad. It really does not matter what the ad is about. It is a pretender, taking away from something I hold sacred- my news.
This ad phenomena seems to have become an universal disease with all the news papers succumbing to the lure of the lucre.. To think that earlier whenever I used to travel abroad I used to taken aback at a news format that allowed more ad gibberish and much less substance_ so much so that I had to hunt hard for a scrap of news. Today the news empire has struck back and our Indian publications have joined the merry band of sell outs!!
Well, I know we live in a commercial world and all need to serve the money God's. .But a sincere appeal _ please, please give me back my old newspapers! Let me connect to the world in my own way and not be brainwashed by about what jewellery to buy or what coffee to drink.
I do not want to defect to digital reading..so please do not force me!!
