Changing Times…

When Times of India rolled out its first edition in Chennai on April 14, everyone heralded the publication as a strong competitor for The Hindu, Chennai’s incumbent newspaper for decades. The newspaper itself acknowledged this and vowed to make it a race to the end. But what we are witnessing now is clearly a one horse race.

I read the ToI everytime I go to Bangalore, where it clearly held a lead over The Hindu. Infact, I will be right in saying The Hindu is a considerably weak newspaper in other parts of India. So when ToI announced its presence here, I was clearly hoping for it to take The Hindu head on. After all, I found The Hindu losing out to the ToI in Bangalore. Sadly, ToI failed to realise that when it came to Chennai, its a different ballgame altogether.

After having read the newspaper for about three weeks now, I can only say that The Hindu is insurmountable. Initially, ToI seemed to offer a wide variety of news articles that appeared to serve every kind of reader. I found the ToI more rivetting than The Hindu for the first 3 days of its publication. But as editions rolled out, the differences became apparent.

For starters, there is the quality of journalism from The Hindu which is distinctly lacking in ToI. While The Hindu presents its news as it exists, ToI inclines to attach a few strings to its articles which sometimes tend to lead the reader into interpreting the news ToI way. Although this is not exactly lucid, the effect can be felt over a period of reading the newspaper. The Hindu always strives to present the hard facts, whereas ToI tends to get sensational on many occasions.

The quality of articles in the ToI also appear to serve the casual newspaper reader and not the more serious clientèle. Unfortunately for ToI, majority readers of The Hindu fall into the latter category. For example, the Global section of the ToI carries news which, I personally feel, has no value whatsoever. Apparantely, ToI leaves you with feeling that they have taken the cues for going about the competition from the wrong newspaper.

The Deccan Chronicle has been one of the most sub standard newspapers that I’ve ever read, particularly the Chennai Edition. I discontinued reading the newspaper about 6 months back, as I could not take their crap anymore – especially in the supplement of theirs which is one of the most useless way one can waste 18 pages of tabloid.

Alas, the only signs of ToI’s fight is in its competition with the DC, not The Hindu, in this supplementary section . The supplementary edition of ToI is equally senseless and is eerily resemblant to that of DC. This cannot be more explained than with the column from Jackie Chan ridiculing the newspaper on carrying an article which projected the actor in a very bad light. His rebuke, incidentally, appeared in The Hindu, which tries its best to mask the mockery. Frankly, this was the kind of news that would not have surprised me had it come in the DC – they do it all the time. But ToI ?

As the brand director of ToI explains in this article, ToI has tried hard to bring in a local flavor to its news. But the problem is it is too local. On the periphery, Chennai maybe changing its outlook and embracing more western ideas and lifestyle practices. But at its core, Chennai has always been traditional and orthodox – be it cricket, music or news. The quality has always been a top priority of the Chennaivaasi, irrespective of the variety on offer. The Hindu has always remained a paramount example for this attribute – hard and uncompromising as the Aussie cricketers will say.

It remains to be seen what long term impact ToI will have on the readership of The Hindu. Looking at the random appreciation mails appearing in the “Letters to the Editor” column in ToI gives me the feeling that they are from readers switching over from DC to ToI. ToI has to revamp its entire approach to newspaper publishing if it wants to even think about giving The Hindu a serious competition. Atleast in Chennai.

For me, and millions of The Hindu’s loyalists, we need more than one reason to switch allegiance. After all, The Hindu has been a part of my life for more than 15 years now – from the time I began reading Young World at the age of 7 to this date, The Hindu, like the filter coffee, is something that is inherent to our daily lives . It takes compelling reasons and not random party snaps and junk local articles to switch this devotion.

Because, The Hindu is not a newspaper. Its a tradition.

IPL – A New Dimension

The Indian Premier League is a hit, atleast for now. With sold out stadiums and a massive television following, it is only right to arrive at this conclusion. And I will also be justified in saying Cricket has now found a new avenue to tighten its grip on what is already a cricket crazy nation.

The first thing that gets the attention of the regular cricket afficionado is the sheer entertainment value that T20 in general holds. A couple of overs right or wrong can change the entire direction of the game. And this translates into nerve gripping excitement, the likes of which were reserved only for the odd ODI with a tight chase. Now, 3 out of 5 games has the same kind of excitement. And with each match being only played for a duration of just around 3 hours, the game is fast, it is energetic, and its fun.

I happened to be at one of the IPL matches today, and the atmosphere at the stadium was nothing but electric. There was music and dance all around the place, what with the drum beats from Sivamani and heart thumping film music resounding through the air all the time. Plus there is cricket. And that is exactly where the purists base their argument.

With all the glitz and glamour that has been associated with the IPL, many are of the opinion that IPL is more of showmanship than it is about cricket. With its encouragement of mindless hitting, the gentleman’s game has now been turned into a spectacle to merely entertain the spectators. As this article in the BBC reports, the game has been sidelined by the glamour surrounding a bunch of Bollywood actors who are intent on publicity for themselves and their works, which is partially is correct and mostly wrong.

Agreed, Shah Rukh Khan is going overboard with his histrionics during the game and so are a few other actors who have been roped in to endorse specific teams. It is also justified in saying that a few spectators do come to see their filmstars rather than to watch cricket. But it would be wrong in its entirety to state that cricket has lost its place and relegated in position by this gimmickry.

Although the star presence does add some excitement to the overall proceedings, the major attraction comes from the game. Nobody wants to watch a bad game just because their favorite star has come to watch it. This applies more to the TV audience who will just skip channels if they find the game boring or lopsided. The stars at the best can generate interest. When you find spectators cheering an Aussie batsmen or a Pakistani bowler when they strike, you realise that everyone loves to watch a game of good cricket. The stars hardly matter then. In the long run, the interest in the game needs to be self sustaining. It will take sometime before loyalties form and the interest shifts completely to the game.

When the T20 World Cup was held a few months back, critics had a field day by criticising the format and blasting it for being a game only for the batsmen. But the series turned out to be a huge hit. It heralded the entry of a new dimension into cricket. And again, everyone predicted the end of the ODI format which was again proved wrong by the massive following of the recently concluded India – Australia series. Different formats for the same game that suit different audience. And if observed keenly, no one format had shunted out the previous format into oblivion – test matches are still being played, a quarter of a century after ODIs were introduced. These variations only bring in more followers to the game. They don’t spurn anyone away.

But for now, a new age in cricket has begun. As the series progresses and favorites emerge, the game can only get more enthralling thereby getting all the focus and all talk about cheap publicity stunts will be put to rest. Add a dash of entertainment, and you have a format that will sure keep cricket fans on their toes. That is what the IPL is doing and indications are that it is here to stay.

Choice…

When you have a choice between two options, one good and the other bad, the distinction is comprehensible. But, when you have to make a choice between one good option and another equally good option, how do you decide ? You try out everything. Excel sheets, advantages/disadvantages columns, talking to peers.Nothing seems to work. You are at a loss.

Toss a coin maybe ?

But when you realise that you are about to decide your career by merely flipping a coin, you lose sleep.

The time now is 4 AM.