Etch Tea

As far back as I can remember, we always used to get this particular paper at home. I do have blurry memories of an earlier era, and I'll come to that paper later but for now, back to the less hazy recollections.

The reason for opting for this paper over the previous one, I was told, was that the latter was so full of text all written in a dead-serious tone that reading it on a daily basis was cumbersome. So why not the 'other one'? That one, I was then told, went overboard with the glam. I was satisfied enough, although at a later stage I did manage to secure the 'other one' on Sundays for some time, chiefly because I liked Alec Smart and had an affinity for the jugular. Then again, back in those days, I didn't really analyse anything too much (some say I overdo it nowadays but I'll save that for another day) - not that the paper was particularly pathetic or anything.

Cut to present. The paper launched about 3 years back in Bombay, and I've been reading it through most of that time, and especially the whole of this year mostly because: A) it's election time and elections I love and B) I was sick. Anyway, between the time I gave up reading it back home and now, it seems that no one had bothered to feed the poor paper properly. So much so that by now, it has developed a voracious appetite - for articles. I'm not sure if the Bombay edition is any hungrier than its Delhi counterpart, but this one skips 'a', 'an' and 'the' as if they were obstacles in a 110m hurdles race at the Olympics. Of course, overeating is also a menace. So at times when it has had a bit too much, the Bombay edition tends to throw up - the same word, phrase or, when it's really nauseous, sentence twice. Again, I'm not sure if it's a Bombay thing but puke is sort of a sickening sight puke is sort of a sickening sight.

And now that Alec Smart's ditched me, let me get really annoyed and call a spade a spade - you don't use past tense after 'did'. The police chief would not have confirmed that "Kasab did got a medical check in custody", he would have confirmed that "Kasab did get a medical check in custody". And even if the police chief didn't attend primary school, you 'journalists' did right? Or did you? Honestly speaking, I'm beginning to have my doubts. Such errors abound - a dozen such mistakes just bounce in front of your eyes, begging to be noticed. And you do, only you are so used to the low standards that you couldn't care less. Of course, the joke of each day is the small notice which asks users to send in corrections if they notice any errors. Ha ha.

Why don't I switch? Yeah, why not? We have 'journalism of courage' which is a paper so utterly biased in favour of the right-wingers that honestly if anyone ever again tells me that theirs is the most objective analysis of issues, I'm gonna politely tell him/her to roll the day's issue and shove it wherever they're most uncomfortable doing it. And then there is the 'other one', which is ideal if you don't care about what's going on outside the five-stars, the nightclubs and the film sets, and travel only by air and that too first-class, whose money you get from the raddiwala when you sell off your humongous stacks of the 'other one' and its myriad supplements, most of which have double the number of pages as compared to the main paper.

So I'll stick to the 'paper'. In spite of the fact that its editorial director is an elitist who believes that ragging takes place only in remote, rural campuses, lives and dines and wines only in five-stars and the most expensive standalone restaurants and spends half his time exploring every nook and cranny of the Orient. Bravo! In spite of the fact that its tech supplement consists of a blog improvement column by an authress who can only write about sex, drugs and booze, both on her blog and, from what I gather from reviews, in her only book. In spite of the fact that it indulges in every known gimmick, including columns by pseudo-intellectual visual media reporter-turned-journalists and ridiculous printing techniques making reading a pain just to appease sponsors. In spite of the fact that it actively promotes debauchery and extravagance over responsibility and information.

Calcuttans, don't smirk. The 'other one' has spread its wings and is competing for the top spot in your city, which has just meant that the standards have fallen drastically. Sample this: "Are you happy the elections are over? a-yes, b-no"; "Are you watching KKR's matches?" "Would you have travelled all the way from Pantnagar, like *name of guy who works for Tata at the Nano plant* of Singur, to vote?" These and many much more ridiculous questions (which I saw in Jan this year) from what used to be my favourite paper which I looked forward to reading when on vacation in that side of the country.

But there is hope. One paper has refused to bow down to the pressures of circulation and readership figures, and the lures of advertising revenue, and the gimmickry that makes all their competitors tick. This one sets the highest standards of language (better even that the famed Southie daily, judging from the newsmagazine of that publication), uses the dark recycled paper so typical of olden times, actually cares about the North-East, never indulges in self-referentialism, is read by some real smart people who actually have an opinion of their own, has a website that's just a digital text version of the print and still doesn't pay its interns. It is the previous one I mentioned at the very beginning, and in spite of its sharp decline in popularity, remains a personal favourite.

I urge everyone to visit their site. Delhiites, Calcuttans and people in Bhubaneswar and Siliguri, thank your lucky stars that you happen to stay in one of those cities from where it's printed. But don't stop there - from tomorrow morning, make it a habit to pick it up. If you really love your news, you won't put it down till you're done with every word.