Memories: Reading : Focus on : Newspapers.

 



Memories: Reading : Focus on : Newspapers.

The ubiquitous newspaper.. something that has always been a part of my daily life. Memories go as far back as to remembering Granddad lying down and reading the paper (Always used to be Times Of India back then). And of the paper causing detailed discussions in the house.
Memories of the newspaper boy throwing the paper, tied with a piece of string or a rubber band, from the ground floor, to our second floor … on bad days, he would miss, and would have to make two three tries, or finally come up the stairs and give it.. sometimes it would go to the roof of the three storeyed building.
Memories also of the ‘supplements’ the papers would bring out during times of riots (which used to be frequent in the city, during the seventies and eighties)… the supplement would highlight what was the latest situation in the city, the relaxation hours the next day for the curfew, etc. Believe me, those supplements of two pages, priced at the princely amount(then) of Re. 1, would sell like hot cakes.
Later, we began getting Indian Express as well, on the weekends, to increase our reading prowess(I think)… the supplements used to be packed with interesting articles. I’d also get papers like the Sunday Observer ,Sunday Midday, Asian Age(Age on Sunday) . I used to write to them regularly, and, each issue would be eagerly awaited, to see if a letter got published, and, read new articles to write about. There was also the occasional Blitz, and some other papers back then, albeit, not read by us very regularly.
The Gujarati newspapers on Fridays – Sandesh/Loksatta/Gujarat Samachar – used to be filled with movie ads of all the movies and plays going on around the city, and would sometimes reveal a ‘trailer’ of the movie in their ad as well.
Then came the color supplements which brought a good bit of cheer to the newspaper reading habit. The supplements continue to come out till date, and are probably like the proverbial ‘ one bright spot in the morning news’, filled as they are with crosswords, sudoku, jumble, comics , Bolly/Hollywood stars ‘ news, etc.
There was also the story of the ‘gamblers’ who used to wake up at 2-3 AM in Gujarat, and wait for the paper bundle to be dropped – they used to place bets on the number of checks the Common Man’s shirt would have, in the day’s cartoon.. the one who came closest would win.
Now, the print media faces challenges – papers have gone more digital than print, ad revenue reduced compared to past years, paid news has become more of a norm than a rule, sensational news (usually negative type) sells more than good news, and so on.
Yet the papers which survived all these years, valiantly keep moving and entertaining. And may they continue moving the same way for many more years to come. For some of us, the print media remains the best option for good reading.
(Picture for illustration only)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Perception

Image
  Hi all positive people.. a topic I often think over.. it's something which helped a lot in changing my thoughts towards the positive side (Again, learned via the Secret)... and, still does, in this always continual learning curve. The subject: Perception... my own perception: Think over it, specially, your negative thoughts and emotions about people and things - you find someone to be angry, you find them to be always complaining, you hate(That's the worst negative word, according to me.. better to dislike than hate, if you have to) someone or something. Think over it... are those persons or things like that? Or, it it your perception of how they are? Have you tried to put yourself in their place to see if they are, deep inside worried about something else, and that worry comes out as irritation towards you? One of the best remedies: Smile, bless that person or those persons and wish them all the best.. if they don't change, nee, not them, but YOUR perception of them does
Read more

Inventions and Discoveries

I'm really curious. Who invented the 'Va'. Or the 'Sha'. Or the 'Wi'. Or some such words. No, they're not some illnesses or prefixes. These are the words we invent when talking to people. I see the usage the max, specially in Baroda. Like: 1. Chai-Vaai peeni hai?(Want to have some Chai-Vaai?) 2. Naashta-Vaashta kar liya?(Did you have Naashta-Vaashta?) 3. Chutney-Vutney hai kya?( Is there any chutney-vutney?) 4. Lift-Wift nahin hai kya building mein?(Isn't there a Life-Wift in the building?) 5. Bombay-Wombay/ Dubai-Shubai kab jaa rahe ho ab?(When are you going to ....?) 6. Paise-Vaise milenge time pe ya nahin?(Will you get Paise-Vaise on time or not?) There are so many others I come across during the day, like, say speaker-veeker, phone-vone, kapde-vapde, dukaan-vukaan, that I have these rhyming words coming out of my ears, and, Arghhh!! Since the last few days, even I've started talking like this. Hopefully it won't be too rampant on my blo
Read more

Tag:What's in your bag?

Image
(Disclaimer: all the briefcase pics are courtesy goo-gling) Sush ,nee, SS has tagged me(thanks for that,SS)-the (ahem) only guy picked to do the tag...curiosity @ what I carry in my briefcase,apparently.:) So,here goes...be ready to get shocked??Not really.. ---- Currently: Answer is : Nothing..:)hehe..why? Coz I don't carry a bag or a briefcase. Some months back, I decided that I was fed up of carrying...(Well,that appears below)...anything to work. Just decided' Khaali haath aaye the hum, khaali haath jaayenge' applies to my work place,too..and..the rest,as they say, is history..so while people look proud lugging their laptops,their lunches, et al everyday to work..and sweating away in this humid weather, I'm cool,calm, collected...no pressure on the arms,so to speak. All the 'necessities', from otrivin to homeopathic medicine to headache tabs,biscuits,sweet awla,sunflower seeds ..are kept in the drawer of my desk. ---- To continue the tag from the
Read more