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Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by umaakumar, Oct 17, 2017.

  1. umaakumar

    umaakumar Finest Post Winner

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    When we were kids, the school would give great importance to reading the newspaper and so also our parents. During the morning assembly one selected person from each class had to read the news, taken down by them from the paper. On this day we had to be in school 15 minutes earlier so that our class teacher would approve of what we had copied. Since we were brought up in Chennai the paper was always “The Hindu”. You had to read the editorial to improve your English knowledge and the other sections to know about current affairs. The habit of reading the paper induced into us is so strong that even after growing old we feel we are missing on something if we do not read the paper.


    From the 70’s to now we have seen a changing trend in the newspaper. The paper has become smaller in width and also has increased in weight. My mom would have been delighted by this as the paper man would have given her more money for this. I remember her saying that 13 newspaper in those days made a KG. So she would know the approximate weight of the material sold before it was weighed by the paper man.


    But it is not with happiness that I see the changing trend. The morning pleasure and habit has become a distress. The first thing that greets your eye in the morning is the face of some model covering the full first page, advertising some ware. Sometimes the first page has a cut in the middle like a door and open it for another ad. OK first page is a waste, move to the second page and lo and behold it is filled with smaller columns of advertisement. Then the third page has the news with an extension on the side – yet another ad. Most of the days in anger I tear this extension. Then you go to the fourth page and you are so depressed reading all the negativity. Most days I wonder if schools still have the system of reading the news in the morning assembly. How would it be if the children had to take it down from the news paper. After this you think why all this negativity in the morning, let us read it later. After everyone is out of the house, we sit leisurely and start reading news one by one, news is only about 2 sheets the rest all only advertisements. One sheet having some soduko, comics and cross words. In all this you come across some ad showing discounted rates for some products. Then you get a call from your friend “you know in this shopping centre he has advertised bedsheets at discounted rates, I am thinking of going there now”. Whether you need it or not you feel like going and having a look and most often buy it too.


    The Sunday paper is heavier than the rest, not the news but the advertisements. I sometimes tell my husband we are not buying news paper, but an advertisement news. But still sit and look into every bit hoping for some interesting news amidst all the colours.


    Now recently I moved out of Bangalore and settled in Palghat. As usual the first thing to be done was ordering the news paper. Here Alas the paper has only about 7 sheets in all, covered with news articles, very few advertisements!!!!!!. I look at it and shake my head and say “HOW BORING, NOTHING INTERESTING IN THE PAPER” :sunglasses:
     
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  2. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    I have been reading The Hindu for over 60 years now. It was a late start because being a Tamil medium student, I had my foundation in English laid rather late when I was in middle school. In the 1950s it used to be a classy, strict and educative paper. They used to say that The Hindu would report a fatal Road accident that took place at its door steps only after it has been confirmed by the Police! The Hindu 50 years ago column would be full of our Freedom Struggle, the Fasting of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru in jail. The paper has kept face with the changing times and old readers of the paper like me feel alienated. The Hindu 50 years ago doesn't interest me anymore as it talks of the happenings of the period of my youth!
     
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  3. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    As umaakumar has said I also remember that 13 papers of The Hindu weighed approximately 1kg. We also used to buy only Hindu, but the old charm has gone. Though we can read any paper online we buy TOI now. Along with morning cuppa we have become accustomed to read the paper.The annual subscription is Rs 499 only for those who started buying it from the beginning. When we sell the paper we get more than the subscription paid.
    PS
     
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  4. PavithraS

    PavithraS Platinum IL'ite

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    The same was the case with me. I could not accept anything else for a newspaper and the first thing/change I did at my husband's home after marriage was unsubscribing 'Times of India' and replacing it with 'The Hindu'. At my paternal side,me and Chiththappa were the first readers of the paper in the morning with all household members including my Thaththa,taking turn to read their favorite parts. As everybody feels, I too am disappointed with the recent looks and content of my once 'most favorite newspaper'. For the past 3 years stopped reading too since our relocation to a foreign country. Sometimes I read the Tamil Version over internet and mainly follow 'Dinamalar'. But the memories of 'The Hindu' days will always be there with me to cherish. Thank you for kindling memories and echoing my feelings about 'The Hindu'.
     
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  5. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Umakumar,

    "Tell me what newspaper you read, I can tell you which state you are from?" is the saying those days when we were growing up. Reading English newspaper is a must to learn how to construct sentences to effectively communicate those days. I remember reading news in the school as well. The Hindu has gone from bad to worse nowadays. When they changed the typeset to color, there was a huge surprise but the newspaper other than making it colorful, made no changes.

    As long as ad revenues are higher than subscription revenue, the newspapers are going to continue the current trend. Even newspaper ads are slowly going down as the TV ads, internet ads and mobile ads are picking up. With the broadband internet in the finger tips, instant messages are reaching us quickly nowadays.

    In a few years, only digital newspapers will be available.

    Viswa
     
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  6. umaakumar

    umaakumar Finest Post Winner

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    Dear Mr. Cheeniya,

    Thanks for being the first to reply to my post. As you said The Hindu was the most reliable paper and the english was so good. Till now I read The Hindu first followed by The Times of India (My Husbands preference). But the paper has lost its charm.

    Regards
    Uma
     
  7. umaakumar

    umaakumar Finest Post Winner

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    Dear Vishwa sir,

    Thank you for your reply. I know what you mean when you say you could tell the state of the person by knowing which paper he read. The Hindu was exclusively the preferred paper by south indians.

    Not only has the paper changed to colour, but the type set is so small that at times even with glasses it is difficult to read some columns.

    Like you said very soon there will not be any news paper but only the online news. But some people like me would still miss the paper. I still prefer the hard copy of any novel than reading on kindle.

    Regards
    Uma
     
  8. bmaquarius

    bmaquarius Gold IL'ite

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    Feeling nostalgic reading up your nice snippet.
    I remember it was around1985 that TOI rolled out hi gloss colour news prints in Mumbai the Saturday and Sunday specials. Around this season cricket got to be popular and full blown posters of Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Aussies like Alan Border,West Indian Viv Ricard s etc were centre spreadsheet. I recall the times we covered our school texts and notebooks to make it look extra special with our fav idols. Maybe it was the age of innocence. Match fixing and stuff weren't much known by general public.
    We didn't have so many macabre crimes happening around the country and world, so news was certainly educative not just sensationalism. Today Mumbai's news supplements are absolute trash- it's simply paid media news on fashionistas, celebrity parties, movie promotion, product launches and inane stuff. Nothing substantive or news worthy here. I know more about bollywood stuff than what's happening around the world. For that I need to look up on CNN or BBC. Our TV news channels are pretty much stuck up on who said what and why, stuff on politicians, prime times news is 'us' vs 'them' where we all take position against one another which is absolutely atrocious. There's a deluge of information but not enough education.
    Sadly looking back we grew up in much safer times and happier homes.
     
  9. umaakumar

    umaakumar Finest Post Winner

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    Dear Bmaquarius,

    Thanks for your reply.

    I remember the coloured paper. I too use to be crazy about the posters. But sadly we never bought TOI. Sometimes we use to beg our friends to give us these posters so that we can stick it on our walls. Your reply reminded me of those crazy days.

    Regards
    Uma
     
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  10. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:Well, My son considers, it is quite a waste of time to sit with paper for hours on end especially with myopic eyes and I am barred from reading any news paper or magazine English Or my mother tongue in later part of the evenings.
    Yes, paper is full of ads than news. My boy pick up the paper and removes full page ad sheets first, because it gives him unstoppable sneezing and at times results in spilling his morning filter coffee. The indelible printing ink yet to dry is the culprit. colourful add is waste of National resources.
    the ad now-a-days juts out of the edge, causing inconvenience to hold it in its entirety. so my boy removes the whole sheet first along with full page ad wallas making it light for him and others.
    for some part of the news/article the font sizes were large, but with major shares changing hands, The Hindu has gone a sea of change and in its new Avatar, its style suits the foreigner/foreign share holder. with differential pricing for different days, my son had decided to buy the paper only on the days when price is least and for rest of the news he told me to go to GOOGLE NEWS.
    a successful golden couple busy in multi tier marketing, stopped reading news paper and advised me some ten years ago to save time for other useful purposes by not subscribing to news papers. he made it rich in a space of 10-12 years visited almost all parts of the globe thanks to Amway. Whereas I am still at square one, longing to read news papers and spending time reading magazines and writing to or in open forums.
    but modern youngsters are not in the habit of reding any news paper and they google out everything from their lap top hell with learning correct English. SMS English is fast quick to communicate with emojis.
    Nostalgia is good but half way one get bored with that.
    New York Times consists more than 100 sheets/pages and the people just pick up the section they want to look at and rest they dispose instantly.
    with gadgets and channels around, news paper industry without Ad would meet its death. Reading or carrying news paper itself will be laughed at.
    thank You. Regards.
     

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