Five reasons I love The Hindu. Review on The Hindu

For as long back as I can remember, The Hindu has been the paper of choice at home. My father, grandfather everyone pretty much subscribed to this middle-of-the-road newspaper. Their justification was simple: the paper avoided extremism, didnt believe in sensationalism and steered clear of yellow journalism, and was good enough to be read by the entire family.

Although the paper, like all others, has been embroiled in its share of controversies and there is some dissent on its political leanings, it still remains a fact that it is one of the best newspapers in the country today. I indulged in a brief clandestine dalliance with the Times of India (mainly for Khaled Mehmood’s film reviews) and the Deccan Chronicle (for the gossip columns), but like a chaste wife with a guilt-laden conscience I went back to The Hindu.

Morning after morning at home, with a fresh cuppa steaming hot fresh filter coffee, we settled in our niches to read the paper. Since I am high up in the pecking order at home by virtue of being the first-born, I got my hands on the supplements first, while Dad poured over the politics and sports pages and Mom over the classifieds and obits (please don’t ask).

Crossword:

The daily crossword in The Hindu was something that my sis and I fought over day after day after day! Since it is part of the main newspaper; I had to wait before everyone had their fill of the news. The anagrams, the cryptic wrapped-in-riddle clues were just the brainteasers I needed to start my day off. I still continue to solve those and I take them whenever I am traveling alone, they are my best companions. Although I never did finish solving the entire crossword, I am proud to admit that I was just a couple answers shy of achieving the feat. But the joy of trying to solve it was reward enough for me -- spoken like a true loser!!!!!!!!!

Know Your English:

This column hosted by K.Subramanian (RIP) and now by his son Upendran, both from the Central Institute for English as a Foreign Language (CIEFL) in Hyderabad, answers questions from readers, related to the English language, idioms and phrases, words and their origin, pronunciation and grammar. A very intelligent format, it featured some quotable quotes and sometimes an anecdote or two that made it even more interesting and less pedantic. One of my grandfather’s friends maintained a scrapbook of these religiously; such was his love for the column. In fact going over it one day was what piqued my interest in the first place.

Sunday Supplement:

This is by far the best feature of The Hindu. The Sunday supplement contains an extensive cover-story on a topic of relevance, V.Gangadhar’s syndicated column ‘Slice of Life’, Kalpana Sharma’s articles on empowering rural women, Shashi Tharoor’s column, C.Ramchandra Guha’s cricket anecdotes and of course the horoscope columns. My Sunday afternoons were well taken care of with these.

Friday Features:

Apart from the usual film reviews -- which don’t compare to Khaled Mehmood’s blitzkrieg reviews by the way -- this supplement has feature articles written by Gautaman Bhaskaran, which are a real treat to read. His comprehensive coverage of film festivals, in-depth analysis of award-winning movies and insightful interviews, made this a must-read for me.

Cricket Articles:

The piece de resistance was the cricket analysis by S.Dinakar and Vijay Lokapally on the sports page. Their stories are usually about the previous day’s match. Both of them articulate eloquently on the subject of cricket and at the same time present a detailed autopsy on the particular game. Whether it’s Bangladesh vs. Kenya or Australia vs. England, their articles never failed to entertain, educate and enthrall.

And some more reasons:

There are other sections too like the well-written op-ed pages, well-researched features on science and technology in a pull-out of the same name, and Young World and Quest for young adults that have you riveted. However, in the last few years, The Hindu has been trying to change with the ‘times’. In its attempt to keep up, it introduced the Metro supplements, that are the local editions and typically they contain gossip on local celebs, TV listings and some badly written articles. I am not too fond of this supplement, but going by the ratings, they seem to be doing well (while on that, the Chennai edition seems way better than the Hyderabad edition.)

All in all, barring a few minor blemishes, The Hindu is still a good clean newspaper (touchwood hasn’t turned into a tabloid yet!), vive le Hindu!