A man of many words

Mr. D.Murali is the Deputy Editor of The Hindu Business Line. Given his chosen profession, it is natural that he gets to read a lot and I was prepared for an office with a fair amount of books in it. But what I walked in to was an office where there were a few chairs, a desk and piles of books. They were everywhere - except for the precise area covered by the sweep of the door as it opened. There were a few books under the chairs, too and I'm guessing that there are stacks of them in the covered shelves behind him.

And the books are of all kinds, ranging across accountancy, marketing, technology and some other subjects that seem to have been invented just for the book having to be written. Murali gets - and devours - them all, yet finds time to keep his morning open to meet people over a long conversation. I came across his open diary about a year ago - it seems a good way for anyone to walk into a newspaper's office and talk at length about something that they are passionate about. For Murali, I guess it gives him enough 'deep background' and would certainly keep him updated about diverse topics from a diverse group of people. The lure of a lunch at The Hindu's canteen is too strong to resist!

Back to the books: Murali reads tons of them (literally) every month, writing reviews for those that he has to (as part of his work) or feels like (on his blog). I can't imagine how many he'd be reading, but he says he reviews about 50 books each month, on an average. I'd be happy if I can get through that number over a year's time!

Bringing down the curtains

'The Hindu', Chennai's venerable newspaper, has been bringing an annual week-long theatre festival to the city for four years now. Normally the plays are all in English, but this year's opening was a Korean adaptation of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (with English surtitles), probably in acknowledgement of Chennai's large population of Korean expats. The other new feature this year was a play produced by the Fest, in collaboration with the Goethe Institut, which premiered on August 3.

Apart from the plays - which included productions from Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh and New York - the festival had a symposium on English Theatre in India, as well as a workshop on running a theatre company. Today is the last day of the festival; owing to a variety of reasons, I have not been able to watch even a single performance this year.

I therefore had to be content with going to the Sir Venkatsubba Rao Concert Hall to take pictures of these off-stage props!

It's a letter; it's a train...

...it's a newspaper!

One of the earliest dailies of Madras, The Madras Mail (later The Mail) had a unique position as the evening paper of Chennai. In the days when newspaper distribution was in its infancy, the big-city eveninger could get on to trains out of the city and parade as a morning paper in smaller towns that were an overnight journey away. The Mail did exactly that, riding its reputation as the voice of south India, refusing to take on The Hindu of the morning.

By the late '60s, The Mail was running out of steam, unsure of what it wanted to be. And the Amalgamations Group, which had come to own the paper when they bought Associated Publishers in 1945, seemed to largely ignore it, despite celebrating its centenary in 1968. I like to imagine that the only reason for the building to remain standing is its potential as a jump-off point for the group's entry into media!

The original masthead - replicated on the building - is interesting. Does it show undivided India (including what are now Pakistan and Bangladesh), or is it some other emblem entirely? Has there been an attempt to modify it? Whatever be the case, the paper itself was 'put to bed' in 1981 and hasn't woken up since - probably never will.

PS: Is the scaffolding here from the same lumber yard?

A lot of paper

I like to believe that both the Times of India and I got our launch timing wrong. Their Chennai edition was launched on April 14 - I'm sure they went with the assumption that Tamil New Year is 'always' on the 14th. And unlike this blog, they weren't nimble enough to change the launch date:)

The TOI has been threatening a Chennai edition for a long time; I'm not sure of this, but I believe one was even brought out for a short while before folding up. This time around, Bennett, Coleman & Co. seem to have got it right. This edition will stay.

Was tempted to subscribe to it; the 'Charter Subscriber' offer included a 'certificate showing that you are one of the first to subscribe in Chennai', a thermos flask and a price of Rs.299/- for the first year. A month's supply of the newspaper would weigh about 5 kilos and at a rate of Rs.5 for old newsprint, the subscription pays for itself. Sound reasoning alright, but just didn't get the cheque across to them (wasted a cheque leaf in the process). The quality of content is better than what I remember of the Delhi or Kolkata editions, but not something that makes me want to throw away 'The Hindu'.

Like I said, the TOI seems to have got it right. With a hint of smugness, today's paper tells us that they will set right their distribution; that makes me feel very guilty about depriving early subscribers of their due. I should have told my paperkaaran yesterday (once again) that I do not want the TOI. Will do that today.