Newsprint junkie

The morning begins at 7 o8217;clock sharp as the newspapers come in through the post box with a thud. My newspaper man has the uncanny ability to deliver the paper at 7 o8217;clock sharp, come rain or shine. How he does this is an abiding mystery to me. As I go through the newspapers, one by one, I shout out some titbit of information or other to my wife 8212; about two-faced Martians who walk their dogs on the surface of Mars only at night would you believe this piece of news if you heard it on TV? or that the solar system has only eight planets 8212; as she gets ready for work.

Soon it is 11 am and the IHT arrives. It has got fabulous international coverage, a wonderful edit page and terrific cartoons. Just as I am about to finish the IHT, the early editions of the afternoon papers arrive. By the time I am done with them there are no newspapers. So, after a late lunch, I walk across to the Cricket Club of India which has The London Times, The Guardian and other newspapers, although somewhat dated. And so the evening goes by.

Nights are lonely. There are no newspapers or magazines; so I end up watching TV news. Surely there is room for a night-time newspaper?