3 highlights
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Irony can get to the front pages of your papers in many ways, sometimes in very symbolic ways. As the Archies assembly line have provided your papers with all those pink bubble days (Mothers, Fathers, Valentines, Brothers, Daughters, Sons have to be flattered with days named after them), the proletariat is too clichéd to find place in front page symbolism. But irony can, and it did. On May Day, you had The Times of India (May 1, 2012) informing you about Adidas India’s financial troubles and Coca Cola’s production blues in China, while both TOI and Hindustan Times had the Gallup index showing the ‘suffering’ financial state of Indians. The index is for the consumption of those Indians who ‘suffer’ if EMI rates for their cars go up and if they have to cut their orders for desserts after a dinner in a chatterati-exotic restaurant. Wouldn’t some information and stock-taking of the large unorganized as well as organized work force have put the day in perspective? But obviously, irony couldn’t wait to be starker on Labour Day. Was Marx’s prognosis of the false consciousness of the superstructure getting vindicated through the Manuscripts of 1844, or is Gramsci having the last laugh through those Prison Notebooks?
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If you thought that Presidential Polls in India were in the ‘going through motion’(to borrow Mark Tully’s description) affair for the titular head, the political parties are adding spice to the race and the papers are reporting on it as if they are writing a thriller.
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For media watchers, IE’s story with the sinister headline ‘Ban & Seize: Cong MP Bill Out to Gag Media (May 1, 2012) caused a few ripples, and the paper was scathing in its editorial comment carrying the Hollywoodsque titleKill the Bill (May 1,2012)