I had
not originally wanted to `wash this dirty linen' in public. My only
excuse for having changed my mind is that I have got into a `habit' of posting stuff on my
blog on saturday mornings – initially only alternate ones, and
almost weekly of late – and I have been preoccupied recently with
other math-related work, and only have this somewhat half-baked piece
available on hand. It has to do with `my column in ToI' being `taken away'
from me after more than a year. I realise it is a free country and
people can and should make their own decisions. But the reasons for
their doing so continues to baffle and irritate me.
The
beginning of the end came when the editor whom I had been in contact
with all along wrote a few months ago saying he was finding it
increasingly difficult to veto the prevalent desire among his senior
editors to drop my column for various reasons - from the effect of
the fluctuating dollar-rupee equation on the rising cost of
newsprint, to my excessive use of `I' in my pieces,.... As an exercise, I
compiled a list of (at least two) headlines announcing the news items
that their editorial board had decided to carry, instead, on the
Trends Page, where my column used to appear in happier days, on each
day of one week in mid-September:
20:
(i) US woman breastfeeds dog to feel motherly
(ii)
Sleeping posture holds clue to your personality?
19:
(i) Mom sells breast milk online, docs ring alarm bells
(ii)
Dolphins can stay alert for 15 days
18:
(i) Crazy about making money? Go for a jog to blunt the urge
(ii)
Skipping breakfast leads to junk food craving
17:
(i) Attractive people have desirable traits, ...
(ii)
Every hour of TV you watch shortens your life by 22 minutes
16:
(i) Boss smiling at you is bad news
(ii)
It's official: vegetarians outlive the meat-eaters
15:
(i) Spray `love hormone' to beat alcohol addiction
(ii)
Coffee can slash cancer risk (together each pair takes more
space than my column used to.)
I
asked my editor if this was really what his Board
considered
more vital or absorbing matters than those discussed in my column.
Judging
from the several months' silence that has been the answer to my mail
to him, I gather they are!
People
I meet on the streets ask me why they do not see my column anymore;
and I tell them the newspaper has stopped carrying it for their own
reasons – and feel slightly embarrassed in so accepting defeat! In
future, now, I can tell them to read the gory details of this
transition on my blog.
What I
would be very pleased by and part of the reason for my writing this
piece is if somebody reading this would weigh in with somebody of
some editorial clout to come forward and say `here, come publish your
stuff in my newspaper/magazine'.
I have met a lot of people with perspectives that are unique and rare. I believe internet is democratic enough and has enough 'print space' for all of us to express our thoughts. And i think you agree on this point too.
ReplyDeleteWhat should newsprint be, is a debatable topic just like what cinema/art should be,but assuming that you are entitled to some print space is not in the general direction of 'a more inclusive and accessible society'.
All i want to say is that being baffled is understandable but i dont think they deserve your irritation.
That is what I said: different people have different priorities.
DeleteI guess I get irritated because I am fairly sure that a majority of the people would have the same priorities as me.