There was a time when newspapers and radio were the main sources of news. Several television channels are doing that job today, in addition to the social media that spread news, fake as well as genuine. No wonder one of the first steps authorities take while facing mass protests is to suspend internet services.
One would have thought the importance of newspapers might have gone down in the modern world. Happily, that is not the case. Though I spend much time with social media, I still subscribe to a couple of newspapers to know what is going on around me. The habit started in my childhood when my father used to subscribe to a Malayalam newspaper. The thud of the paper falling on the veranda would make him rush there before my elder brother beats him to it. I had no chance of laying my hands on the paper till both of them had gone through it.
The cartoons on the front page were the main attraction to me. Though the satire or the political message was not clear to me, I could recognise the chief minister and some other public figures featured in them. Whenever I asked my elders why they were smiling after scanning the cartoons, they would dismiss me with the remark, “It’s beyond you.”
When I became financially self-reliant, I subscribed to an English as well as a regional language newspaper. Whenever the papers were not delivered, I used to mark the fact on a calendar and refer to it when the vendor came to prepare the bill. If the paper was missing due to the fault of the delivery boy, he would murmur he would recover from the boy’s wages.
The old newspapers were stored meticulously and sold to the nearest grocery shop. The shopkeeper would make paper bags of different sizes out of them. Since staplers were unknown, he would tie the packed bags with jute or cotton strings hanging from above.
One advantage of reading a newspaper is that one can skip the portions in which he is not interested. I give only a casual glance at the financial and sports pages. That is the case with advertisements, too. I spend more time reading the editorials and other articles on that page.
Every newspaper has its loyal fans. One regional newspaper in my area would print sensational news involving local celebrities on its front page. A large section of readers would lap up such news. As the circulation of these papers remains high, they have no problem in getting advertisements also.
Newspapers have adopted new gimmicks to attract advertisements. Sometimes a page has only the first horizontal half that contains a single advertisement. I am irritated when I find a page broader by two inches with another advertisement, making it inconvenient to turn pages. Another irritant added by the distributor for extra income is the insertion of several pamphlets with local advertisements inside the paper. As I open it, some of the pamphlets fall on the floor, making me bend to retrieve them.
Despite all the shortcomings, I feel upset when my morning cup of tea is not accompanied by the newspaper.
