We made the switch today...
As long as I could remember, the only English newspaper we ever bought was in Chennai was 'The Hindu' and that is when we could afford one. When we couldn't afford one, I begged, borrowed from our neighbors who bought The Hindu. Even when we went to our Mom's village I keenly waited for the only copy of the newspaper to come by the 10:00 AM bus from the nearby town called Kumbakonam. No marks for guessing the newspaper, it was again The Hindu.
Having studied in Tamil Medium, The Hindu was my passport to improving my English, not that I am better at it now.. Anyways, Even if I sound cliched, It would not be an exaggration, if I said I grew up with The Hindu..
In a way, it is not surprising to see that The Hindu dominated Tamil Nadu for so long as they were the only game in town. Yeah, yeah I hear you, Indian Express is also here, but they were never truly at The Hindu's league and were at best also rans. But in the last couple years, two new entrants came in to the Chennai market in the form of Decan Chronicle and Time of India.
And, The Hindu does the unthinkable.. they actually drop the price by at least rupee. It is still higher than the other papers, but rolling back of prices by anyone is significant and even more so if The Hindu does it, which is used charging a premium.
And then, I do the switch...
I would have laughed at the mere suggestion of it couple of years back, but I have increasingly become tired of the stale reporting and left leanings ways The Hindu . And guess what, the price is right for the switch. From today, we switched our allegiance to Decan Chronicle and Times of India on a trial basis for a month.
I am glad there is finally some competition to The Hindu, that will elevate the quality of reporting all around benefitting the citizens like me.
almost 20 years back we at our home were switching back and forth between The Hindu and Indian Express.
ReplyDeleteExpress at the first sight seems boring to anybody, but for the past 15 years the decesion was not changed and we at our home are regular readers of Indian Express.
the analysis of the news,
good and crispy content...
is what is making us to hard to decide on a switch over even though DC has made its inroads more than one year back
for the past few days Express has changed its design and is looking so good.
make a try on Express for one month and give out ur opinion
Disclosure : I am not an employee from Indian Express P(:<
Hey Ram,
ReplyDeleteI am fan of The Hindu. I have read The Hindu since my childhood. Its a great newspaper.
I dont like the paper quality of Deccan in Chennai. There are lot of Gossip articles. Apart from Akbar editorial I dont find anything workthwhile in the newspaper.
Ever since I relocated to Mumbai, I subscribe to Times of India. Its not that great either,infact worse than Deccan. I feel like i am reading a gossip magazine.
I guess once you are used to The Hindu , you wont like any other newspaper. I would not be surprised if you switch back The Hindu.
Sudesh :)
Ram,
ReplyDeleteThe Hindu is a Newspaper. TimesofIndia is a (yellow journal).
-Patrick
SFO, CA
The choice is all about and between:
ReplyDeletefunctional, financial, emotional and cosmetic
Which one are you sticking with.
For Ram it was more about functional.
Raman