I returned to janm-bhoomi recently and spent a few weeks. India has always been a country of wannabes, yours truly included. I don’t see anything bad in it, so long as one is consistent in what one wants to be. But it’s kinda sad when you want to be everything to everybody.
The saddest DECLINE I saw was of India’s print media. The TOI, which, for me was the benchmark growing up, has reduced itself to tabloid level, if not worse. It’s not the stories, the attention to details in news covered, the intent to inform readers that seems to matter anymore. I was stunned by the tasteless display of female skin all over the front covers. In a sense India is headed down the abyss on all its fronts. Bollywood movies cater ONLY to the lowest common denominator and, I hope, are an insult to the minds of most educated Indians. And the TOI has humiliated itself by using pin ups, often of white/blonde women, to grab attention. Even Femina has more decency (ummmh, I haven’t seen a recent Femina, but say Femina of 10 yrs back) and the pics have more relevance to the news items.
The Washington Post and the New York Times carry their own lingerie ads (unfortunately), but at least there is a commercial context. But this is not everyday and it’s not them to blame. And these are not on the first page either. We desis outdo those we set out to imitate.
What’s absolutely shameless is that even TOI’s FINANCIAL TIMES, the newspaper solely directed at the news concerning finance, business and commerce, is replete with silly pics. It’s a reflection of the sick, sad and deranged minds of those publishing and, unfortunately, it points to their interpretation of what their audiences like.
As a person who believes there’s more to life than cheap masala of sexual innuendos, I use this forum to express my outrage at TOI and bemoan the passing away of what was a noble and admirable institution. At the same time, I want to urge fellow Indians to VOTE WITH THEIR WALLETS/PURSES. Boycott TOI and others who appear willing to stoop to any level of filth to appeal to the most base of human instincts. If you want news, go to CNN.com. The Hindu seemed much more respectable.
But as far as TOI is concerned, it’s time to flush the toilet. I hope my call leads to a series of events where the TOI either returns to decency, or this buils up to a movement culminating in teh obituary of the newspaper founded in 1838.