Whats a good newspaper

Sripathi writes about the consolidation in the local newspaper industry. Here are my two cents....

Disclaimer: Depending on who you ask, the following suggestion can differ. As the heading of this blog states, these are my views.

Firstly, I consider TOI a tabloid, not a newspaper. Second, DH is a good local newspaper, but not good enough. The Hindu is something I don't recommend, for, at the time I was reading it regularly, it seemed to be overtly focussed on a neighbouring state.

Anyone who has known my preferences in this matter, will know that my choice would be The New Indian Express. It has been the pioneer in investigative journalism, unearthing most of the controversial stories from the Harshad Mehta scam to the Office of Profit controversy. Its editorials are excellent too. I'd choose TNIE any day and twice on Sunday.... by far, it has the best Sunday newspaper compilation of all competition.

The one grouse I have with TNIE is that once in a while, good cultural info (such as an ad about a Jagjit Singh concert) won't appear in this newspaper... the organizers prefer to advertise in the more "hep" newspapers.

I'd suggest Sripathi, give TNIE a try for a couple of weeks before settling on DH, if you still want to.

Brands...

Some companies come to be associated with their products to such an extent that after a while, people tend to refer to the product by the company name. This is great for publicity, but it has its own preils :-)

Xerox is a classic example. Just recall the number of times you've heard the phrase "Xerox it". Does it mean to say Xerox is the only company manufacturing photocopiers? Certainly not! We have Canon, Nashua, Ricoh and many others.

Imagine your neighbourhood photocopier store has a non-Xerox machine thats always under repair. What would the people say? "Xerox is not working" "Xerox is under repair" "That Xerox machine is always having one or the other problem". Poor Xerox. Thats the price you pay for being a pioneer.

Similarly, if you speak to someone who works for a certain three lettered company, he'd say he uses a TP, not a laptop or a notebook ;-)

But one company that I think hasn't gotten its due for the innovations they've done is 3M. From "Post-it", "Scotch Brite", to anti-glare computer screens, cord retractors, to name a few. Of course, people associate the sticky piece of paper as Post-it even though other companies now manufacture it (Kores for instance), but you'll never hear anyone say 3M-Post-it.

While in the US, its not uncommon to hear people ask you to "FedEx" or "UPS" them a package.

There surely are many other such associations out there. Anyone?

Innocence of kids

Children never sieze to amuse and entertain you. My niece Taati (I call her that, her name is Swathi) is no exception. On days when she is bored, she strolls into our house and the conversation goes something like this:

Taati: "Ajji, Ananthu mama bandiddana?"
Mom: "Roomalli iddane... yaake?"
Taati: "Swalpa avnjote fighting aadbeku"

... and in the next 15 minutes, I am beaten to pulp ;-)

A few days back she came down to play with my sister.

Taati: "Ani, baare aata aadaNa"
Sister: "Nammaneli yenu aata aadakke illvalla"
Taati: "Hogli bidu, hinge tirgo aata aadaNa"

After about 15 rounds...

Taati: "Ani, swalpa ire"
Sister: "Yake?"
Taati: "Mane tirgad nintmele tirga shuru maadana"