Reading the newspaper along with the morning cuppa is a ritual followed by people of all age groups, since time immemorial.When we were growing up,the only newspaper that was delivered, was read by my father and after he had finished with it,we took our favourite sections and fanned out all over the house.My mother would look at the obituary column to see if any of her friends or relatives had reached 'the lotus feet of the Lord', as they were presumed to have reached there having lived life by the rule book.My brothers would have a mini war over the sports pages while I found the cartoon and puzzle-filled page engrossing.It was a great start to a day and the few days in a year when the newspaper did not come, either because of a holiday or strike,we felt rudderless!The articles were written in impeccable English and the content,thought-provoking.Reading the newspaper was considered an important way of enhancing language skills.We were inspired by the stories of grit and courage,by the lives of great men and of how even the ordinary,by their selfless acts rose to being extraordinary.
Alas!Today,when I start the day with reading the newspaper,I feel my day might not go too well.The headlines proclaim the savagery of a 'juvenile' whose 'young age' seems to be a mere statistic. Women,who were protected, worshiped, looked up to, have become mere sex objects to lecherous men ,with reports of abuse,rape,murder dotting the various pages.Great acts of courage are seldom heard of and if any,are reported in a far corner deep inside the pages.The corrupt saga of politicians,the land mafia,the extortionists,the unscrupulous builders etc.etc.vie for attention. Leaving the main pages,when you think it is better to cheer yourself reading about sports,you find those pages tarnished with charges of drug abuse,match-fixing,coaches abusing their wards and the corruption in the sporting bodies.It pains you to read that the managers which accompany sporting contingents are misusing the funds for their own benefit,leaving the competing sportsmen to fend for themselves in pathetic accommodation.They are not given the diet they require and are given sub-standard kits for playing.How then, can we hope for medals and all the accompanying glory! The entertainment page is another story all by itself.There is hardly any clean entertainment on offer.Semi-nude pictures attract the eyeballs as exhibiting one's form takes precedence over talent,grace and natural beauty.The classical arts barely get a mention.With Bollywood trying to out-strip Hollywood,the pages are filled with distasteful pictures of young men and women all out to titillate their audience.The old-world culture,charm and beauty of the actors and actresses of yore has been long-since forgotten. Our newspapers used to carry reviews of the performing arts,written by worthy critics. These days,newspaper barons feel that such pages do not sell and have eschewed them totally.So,if you missed out on a concert, a gripping play or a riveting classical dance recital,too bad. You cannot hope to read about it to know what you missed.The few tabloids that do carry such reviews do so as the reviewer and the paper stand to make a decent monetary gain from the mediocre artiste they have raved about!
I decided,that reading the paper the first thing in the morning is not a great idea at all.If anything,it leaves you fuming,angry at all that is happening around you and with a feeling of inadequacy as you are not able to change any of it. I resolved therefore, to read it,last thing at night,ere dropping off to sleep.That made matters worse!The haunting images of victims with throats slashed,young lives lost in accidents and the grieving mothers photographed ever so insensitively by the media,house collapses,fires with heart-rending stories of inhabitants,left me disturbed.I spent half the night tossing and turning,trying to blot out all those images and woke up from nightmares that left me shaken and miserable.These days,I look at the cover page and if things seem fairly okay,I venture to go through it.Else,I just fold it and put it away and listen to some soothing music instead.Times have changed and how! Pun intended!
