Hi everyone!This review is not so much about Mid-Day as it is about the articles by one of its columnists, Mr.Anil Thakraney.
Mr.Thakraney is the editor of The Brief, an Indian ad-mag.But apart from it, he is also a writer par excellence who never fails to get his point across.Most of his articles deal with the current Indian scenario & highlight the problems faced by the common man.With his acerbic writing, he touches upon sensitive issues directly in a manner which will make you sit up and take notice.He attempts to unmask the hypocrisy of our unscrupulous politicians and how the decisions made by them are influenced by greed rather than the thought of the overall good of the people.A self-confessed ’disciple’ of the great ’Busybee’, he often resorts to attacking language to do the needful.His writing is a blend of sarcasm, humour and satire put to good effect.
Besides, his articles are also informative.For instance, everyone knows about the fiasco called Home-Trade, a non-existent company that was using Sachin Tendulkar, Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassadors to try and fool us into buying their non-existent products.We also know that the aforementioned trio is seeking compensation from the company’s very-much-existent C.E.O. Sanjay Agarwal.What we do not know is that to pay the ’advances’ of these three stars, Mr.Agarwal had borrowed loans from little known village banks where poor peasants(the most ignored population in India, an agricultural country)had deposited their lifetime earnings.What happened after Home-Trade went bankrupt?The banks closed down.As a result, peasants lost whatever little they had.Most of them committed suicide and those who didn’t, had to resort to such means as selling off their womenfolk to Mumbai brothels.Our three heroes will some day recover the compensation they seek.But our peasants never will.
The above story features in just one of the many thought-provoking articles written by Mr.Thakraney.I, for one, suggest that you buy Mid-Day atleast every Sunday(Mr.Thakraney is a Sunday columnist), or log on to https://mid-day.com, go to the ’Our Columnists’ section, click on ’Anil Thakraney’ and start reading right away.Some of his notable articles are ’We are truly a free nation’, ’F!Not Bhopal again!’, ’You slept well, Ambarish?’ and ’A day in the life of the good doctor’.
A word of caution though:Some of you might find his writing offensive.Some of you might even hate him(and me!) for the same.You might or might not agree with him.But one thing is for sure-his articles will make you think;look back and reflect on the many problems that our nation is facing today.At a time when most journalists are busy covering every minute detail of who was kissing whom and who was wearing what at a Page 3 bash, Mr.Thakraney comes out as a refreshing change; as a journalist who will leave no stone unturned in bringing out the truth.Kudos to him!
Please do check out his articles and let me know how you found them.