Surprises in the pages of today's TOI

As I got a chance to sleep till late morning today owing to the pre-Muharram holiday at college, and in a way surprisingly, a holiday for Children’s Day, I took a good amount of time in updating my current affairs by reading a physical newspaper. Yeah, the internet and my smartphone gave me an excuse not to subscribe to the daily morning papers! So I picked up The Times of India (TOI) and there I was, for a pleasant news reading time along with some pretty surprises.

The Times of India Isuue Dated 14-11-2013

175 years of TOI

I knew about the exact history of The Times of India thanks to my 'History of Print and Broadcasting' classes from the 1^st year of BJ(MC). Holding the paper and finding the full page ‘Common Man’ picture and the short description, I asked myself, “Is today the 175^th Anniversary of TOI?” If it is so, I wouldn't be surprised to find the lead story with a headline like ‘TOI completes 175 years in print’ or ‘Thanks for 175 years of support’. But no, would this paper be so selfish as to ignore the news and give itself the importance in the Lead Story itself? 

I turned the page and I am happy. While the Lead story is a political one, the entire 2^nd page is devoted to the TOI with the surprisingly non-streamer headline ‘March of Fine Print’. I went through the entire page in detail. Some known and some new facts. I like it. It’s okay to highlight one’s achievements as long as it’s not taking over the conscious of the paper. The President of India released a commemorative postal stamp for 175 years of TOI yesterday. That’s an achievement. Well, that’s not the only postal stamp released recently for an achievement!

Sachin… Sachin!

No doubt, the biggest thing making headlines since the past few weeks is Sachin and his 200^th Test! A postal stamp to commemorate his 200^th Test was released thismorning. As I write this blog entry, the Master Blaster has already made his way to the first day of his career’s last test at Wankhede Stadium.

As I turned the pages of today’s TOI, for a change, I stopped at the Sports pages and read them through. The Sports section has never been able to garner enough interest from me but all the Sachin-filled headlines and testimonials and the 12-page Sach-of-Joy supplement did attract my attention. The most surprising bit? Rajdeep Sardesai’s article on Sachin dated December 12, 1988. Yes, it was the date that gained my attention first until the content of the article took over. I had never imagined that Sachin was such a craze when he was just 15 years 7 months and 17 days old! I wouldn’t be surprised if all the major newspapers carry a banner headline in the lines of ‘Farewell Sachin’ the day after he retires!

Image Source: http://www.cricketcountry.com

Published in The Times of India; 14-11-2013

Just 3 Ads

On my late waking up this morning I saw a text message from my Sanskrit teacher at school wishing me for Children’s Day. Never in the past 6 years has he missed wishing us on this day. Seeing his message yet again this year was a great feeling.

As I went through TOI, I saw the many children’s day advertisements by various organizations including the Bal Bhawan, National Museum, the many city malls and so on.  What surprised me was the fact that it was Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday and there were just 3 ads in the entire paper covering less than 1 and half page space! Umm…so the UPA government is allocating its pre-election budget for more important things?!

Reading the paper in so much detail after so long and having unsubscribed from my newspaper vendor almost a year back, I now realized how much I was enjoying this. So what if I am no longer directly into Journalism? I need to restart my subscription…!

P.S.: To all kids out there, Happy Children's Day! And to all above 18's who think they still have the kid inside them alive (or want to), Happy Children's Day to you too! :)