Today we miss the newspaper. We have the news at our fingertips & yet we miss the printed form. The negative news makes it depressing at times, but a cup of tea in the morning with the fresh newspaper is a must. There was a TV program on the newspaper office, “Chapte chapte” it had a new story in every episode. The title song was, ‘Subah sham din raat rojana har hafte, hota hai kuch chapte chapte..’ the tune was catchy & meaningful lyrics.
“New Delhi Times” was another movie made which was successful in bringing out how that industry works. The chief has so much at stake, the pressures & the continuous focus of people. Shashi Kapoor & Sharmila Tagore have done a great job. Shashi Kapoor had the national award for best actor & Ramesh Sharma won the Indira Gandhi award for best debut film director. Gulzar was the writer. In the film, Shashi Kapoor is the editor who exposes the politics-media corruption nexus. An intense film, worth watching.
In feb came the news that Ramesh Sharma & Khalid Mohammad are set to bring in a sequel of the film. The lead cast is being finalised.
Freedom fighters like Lokmanya Tilak also brought out newspapers ‘Maratha’, ‘Kesari’ which helped build up a spirit among people & there work was known to the masses. Mahatma Gandhi’s “Harijan”, ‘Young India” & Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘National Herald’ became their mouthpieces. “Hindu” one of the oldest newspapers after ‘The Calcutta chronicle’ is still one of the best.
In Nashik we had two newspapers, ‘Gavkari’ & ‘Deshdoot’. They brought us all the news we required. If it is reported in ‘Gavkari’ it is authentic. The owners had a special place in the city. Later they brought in their English versions also, ‘Day View ‘ & ‘Deshdoot times’. Today the local news is printed in ‘Maharashtra Times’ & ‘Loksatta’. They have a special city edition. Also ‘Lokmat’ & “Divya Marathi” are available today. They have more pages & all the information you require & more.
I used to write a column in ‘Day View’ every week. Every Wednesday. On Monday I had to complete my article & give it in their office. They had suggested me to type & mail, but then this was all so alien. I felt most comfortable scribbling it on paper. If one had predicted that I would write daily, I would have laughed certainly. The topics were generally about events around, my impressions. But later I had moved to Women issues when the activity stopped altogether. With Durga’s persistence I started writing again.
I used to enjoy reading ‘Sakal’. It’s quality, articles were too good. At home, I would read it in the evening at leisure. The children’s supplement was what I liked best. I made the girls to do the activities. Then there would be some cuttings to be done & pasted. To submit those books in their office. It used to be a joint effort. Aai would also chip in.
Magazines, periodicals, pamphlets are all printed material & yet the newspapers have a special place. The day is not complete without them. A bearer of good news. Happy reading!
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