The 'Daily' Addcition
If I mention the word addiction, the first words that obviously comes to mind are smoking, drinking, coffee, snoring and what not....but I wanted to highlight a different kind of an addiction that we all probably have, but are not ready to admit - our favorite newspaper!
Reading the newspaper, especially the 'Times of India', runs in my family. I still remember my grandfather's face hidden behind the newspaper for hours and hours, as he held it fully stretched out, using both his arms. Ofcourse, there was no satellite TV during those days, but I seriously doubt if that would have deterred him from changing his daily routine.
A similar tradition is still being religiously followed by my mom and whenever I am in Mumbai, I can still find her falling fast asleep in the afternoon, with the newspaper next to her, after she is done reading the editorial and 'Speaking Tree' sections. She rarely bothers about the front few and last few pages though, and despite of being an employee, in one of the nations' largest centralized banks, she sounds totally surprised when I ask her about the latest round of rate hikes!!
I mention those traditions here, cause I am sure a little bit of my grandfather's and a little bit of my mother's blood definitely runs through my veins. I love reading the newspaper and I tend to fall asleep, while reading just about anything. Only difference being, my mom fell asleep after she has read the entire column and I fall asleep after reading not more than two lines.
The 'Times of India' was the only newspaper that would be entertained in my house for the initial 20 odd years of my life and hence there was an obvious liking towards it. In Australia, the online version of the same kept me company and I was more than happy to re-subscribe to tthe 'Times', once I was back in Bengaluru.
However, sometime last month, Prachi and me were watching the movie 'Shaitan' in INOX when we happened to come across the 'Deccan Herald' ad. It spoke of how the paper had evolved and how its readership viewing was on the rise. I still see a lot of people around me, in Bengaluru, giving preference to the Deccan Herald, as compared to the 'Times of India'. So, on our way back we decided it's time to take one more step towards becoming staunch Banglorians and subscribe to the Deccan Herald.
The same was immediately communicated to our paperwala and since the last three weeks we have woken up to see a new newspaper on our doorstep. It took me a couple of days to get used to the new format. News more specific to Bengaluru would find itself on the front page and stories of national importance could be found on pages to follow. There was a similar concept being followed at the back and I struggled to find news about national and international cricket.
The supplement had a story of its own, but was nothing compared to the fan-fare that was called the 'Bangalore Times'. News about Lifestyle, Business and the editorials had a completely different location than the one that I was used too and it was for the first time that we discovered how addictive we had gotten to the 'Times of India'.
I decided to give myself a little more time to get used to the new format, but the going kept getting more and more difficult. There was nothing wrong with the news, infact I had loved some of the articles on Technology and local sports, and I realized why it had its own fan following. But my addiction had gotten to me and I was really struggling to find the sections that I was looking for. Things got so ugly that there were days, during the past week, where we had not even bothered to open the paper!!
Our patience had run out and without much delay we decided to give in to an obsession that had overpowered us for the over two decades. I made another phone call yesterday evening and this morning we had a mini-celebration of sorts when we opened the door in the morning and found the letters 'SUNDAY TIMES' boldly printed at the top of the newspaper that lay in front of our door.
As I read through the news this morning, with a wide smile on my face, I couldn't help but think of the millions of subscribers of 'News of the World' in UK which shut-down following an ongoing scandal. I had an option to go back to my beloved newspaper and I can only wonder what those poor folks in UK might be going through now.
Reading the newspaper, especially the 'Times of India', runs in my family. I still remember my grandfather's face hidden behind the newspaper for hours and hours, as he held it fully stretched out, using both his arms. Ofcourse, there was no satellite TV during those days, but I seriously doubt if that would have deterred him from changing his daily routine.
A similar tradition is still being religiously followed by my mom and whenever I am in Mumbai, I can still find her falling fast asleep in the afternoon, with the newspaper next to her, after she is done reading the editorial and 'Speaking Tree' sections. She rarely bothers about the front few and last few pages though, and despite of being an employee, in one of the nations' largest centralized banks, she sounds totally surprised when I ask her about the latest round of rate hikes!!
I mention those traditions here, cause I am sure a little bit of my grandfather's and a little bit of my mother's blood definitely runs through my veins. I love reading the newspaper and I tend to fall asleep, while reading just about anything. Only difference being, my mom fell asleep after she has read the entire column and I fall asleep after reading not more than two lines.
The 'Times of India' was the only newspaper that would be entertained in my house for the initial 20 odd years of my life and hence there was an obvious liking towards it. In Australia, the online version of the same kept me company and I was more than happy to re-subscribe to tthe 'Times', once I was back in Bengaluru.
However, sometime last month, Prachi and me were watching the movie 'Shaitan' in INOX when we happened to come across the 'Deccan Herald' ad. It spoke of how the paper had evolved and how its readership viewing was on the rise. I still see a lot of people around me, in Bengaluru, giving preference to the Deccan Herald, as compared to the 'Times of India'. So, on our way back we decided it's time to take one more step towards becoming staunch Banglorians and subscribe to the Deccan Herald.
The same was immediately communicated to our paperwala and since the last three weeks we have woken up to see a new newspaper on our doorstep. It took me a couple of days to get used to the new format. News more specific to Bengaluru would find itself on the front page and stories of national importance could be found on pages to follow. There was a similar concept being followed at the back and I struggled to find news about national and international cricket.
The supplement had a story of its own, but was nothing compared to the fan-fare that was called the 'Bangalore Times'. News about Lifestyle, Business and the editorials had a completely different location than the one that I was used too and it was for the first time that we discovered how addictive we had gotten to the 'Times of India'.
I decided to give myself a little more time to get used to the new format, but the going kept getting more and more difficult. There was nothing wrong with the news, infact I had loved some of the articles on Technology and local sports, and I realized why it had its own fan following. But my addiction had gotten to me and I was really struggling to find the sections that I was looking for. Things got so ugly that there were days, during the past week, where we had not even bothered to open the paper!!
Our patience had run out and without much delay we decided to give in to an obsession that had overpowered us for the over two decades. I made another phone call yesterday evening and this morning we had a mini-celebration of sorts when we opened the door in the morning and found the letters 'SUNDAY TIMES' boldly printed at the top of the newspaper that lay in front of our door.
As I read through the news this morning, with a wide smile on my face, I couldn't help but think of the millions of subscribers of 'News of the World' in UK which shut-down following an ongoing scandal. I had an option to go back to my beloved newspaper and I can only wonder what those poor folks in UK might be going through now.
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