(This blog is a reply to Jug Suraiya’s article ‘Sundaes Forever’ in Juggle-Bandhi, Edit Page, Humour, of the 26th Mar’21 Times of India print edition. You can check out this lovely piece at this link: Sundaes Forever. Times of India didn't allow me posting my reply to the article citing inappropriate content. So, I thought of posting it on my blog)
Enjoyed reading your piece Sir. Will surely try the Haldi ice-cream :)
This reminds me, I have tried Khakra with multiple flavours - jeera, methi, pav bhaji, masala, chilly tomato, orange, mango, chocolate, Pani Puri and even pizza flavour.
In fact, when I went through the 26th Mar’21 Times of India Delhi print, it also had multiple flavours. The front page had an assortment of flavours with news of Covid, shootouts, feminism, politics, and a glamorous murder story. The murder article also provided the secret recipe on how to use Thallium to kill someone!
Flipping through advertisements trying to sell you I-phones, home appliances, coolers, Times Group’s products, I landed on Times City pages which had the chilly flavour – teekha political and crime news with a hint of sweet Covid safety news, fight against pollution and Holi recipes.
Trying to find my way out from the maze of Consumer Connect Initiatives, I landed on the Times Nation pages. This had the nation’s favourite – Pav Bhaji flavour. Patriotic news on how well the government is fighting for women’s voice, productive parliament sessions, the military’s fight against terrorism, building Indo-Korea ties and an entire page of economic optimism. Add a little Covid doomsday stories, reservation issue and corruption stories and you will go gaga on this flavour.
Bored of tossing 23 pages, I finally land on the Editorial Page. This had the jeera flavour – my personal favourite. This flavour has existed since the time newspaper was born but not many relishes it today. It had core articles on politics, mental health and spirituality with a pinch of humour from Dilbert and Jug.
Finally, to keep all flavours happy, it got one page each on business, global news and sports towards the end of this thick white book.
I hope that one day the newspaper gets newer healthy flavours which talk more about how good politicians have shaped the country, individuals and businesses who have triumphed despite all odds, NGOs working towards creating a better society and ideas and initiatives on creating a better world to live in.
Cheers!
(Please send me your comments, suggestions and criticisms at nishant.agrl1986@gmail.com)
