Et tu !?! You yelled reading the title? It is my constitutionally guaranteed right to believe in and practice any religion
of my liking. Yes, I am a fanatic Hindu. Still frown?? Wait a minute, please.
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A few years back when Renjan started reading the esteemed English
daily “The Hindu”, I told myself “He is the fourth generation member of my
family reading it”. I have been reading it for over forty years and never ever
thought of shifting to any other news paper. To me The Hindu always remained
something far beyond a news provider.
During my school days I used to buy The Hindu from a “Madakkada” just in
front of the Kayamkulam post office. I used to be a voracious reader and bought several weeklies and and magazines like Mathrubhumi, Janayugam, Blitz, Caravan, Mirror etc from this Madakkada. The post office was housed in a palatial
old building. I had wondered why a post
office needed such an aristocratic building. That building is no more there as ,by
the new financial wisdom , every inch of real estate in the heart of any town
is to be exploited to maximum gains. But amazingly that “madakkada” is still
there. Those days it was only here that one would get The Hindu. Those days the
readers of The Hindu considered themselves as a separate elite class. Believe
me, even the agents of The Hindu who got the daily directly from Madras (as
Chennai was known then) considered themselves very special. I remember the tall
fair tight lipped bespectacled agent of
The Hindu in Mavelikkara with
aristocracy writ large on his face. His office cum residence was opposite to
the present KSRTC bus station. Anything
Hindu was considered so special. It is a culture so etched in our minds
that many like me are very orthodox or
conservative when it comes changes in its basic structure. This may sound
ridiculous and people particularly the youth will fix the problem as “generation
gap”. But tell me, for something that transcends generations where will you fix
the gaps? I had felt very uncomfortable
when The Hindu shifted to the colour mode. Even after decades of reading I was still struggling with the beautiful yet
complex language of The Hindu. Even the letters to the editor were excellent
reading stuff. I never felt the need for
a change. One should always be prepared for a change when the present is
inconvenient or insufficient or inefficient. A few years back there was an advertisement of
a big brand in paints. They showed the Taj Mahal in various colours !!! It was
nauseating for me. I used to change the
channel the moment this cruelty to the poetry in white marble was on the
screen. Taj Mahal is unique not just for is perfection but because it is
complete in its descriptions. None can
add or remove anything to make it more beautiful. The Hindu was such a complete
creation. But on the 1st of
July I had a shock seeing The Hindu looking like a non-Hindu. I deliberately desist from singing the
new-generation film songs as I feel that they are making a mockery of music
which is divine. Yet I exclaimed “ WHY
THIS KOLAVERI…..”
Is The Hindu “changing with The Times?!?” I can forgive The
Hindu as I realize that the new challenges of the market might have put a lot
constraints on it. There are many like me who are very unhappy by the latest in
a series of changes.
I quote a few lines from a letter to the editor (2nd
July) by Mr B Jambulingam of Tanjavur, “As a reader of The Hindu for nearly
four decades, I do not understand why it should imitate others. The Hindu has its
own style. It is not a newspaper, it is a tradition”.
Yes indeed, it is a tradition.
