My grandpa is a retired professor. Reading the day’s newspapers is a major part of his daily routine. He spends three to four hours on them – especially The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Hindustan Times, The Times of India – each day. Before breakfast, after breakfast, before noon, at noon, in the afternoon – at all times of the day all that he wants is a newspaper. From the first word at the top left-hand corner to the last word on the right-hand corner, he reads every single word. The rest of the day is spent discussing the news, with family members, or with any guest who arrives or chances to drop in for some time. While sitting alone, grandpa thinks – can’t you guess, what? Yes, you’re right – of what’s going on in the political, economic, social spheres at the national as well as international level.
One morning the day started with heavy rain. The sun was hidden in the clouds. It was dark. In the morning it appeared as if the day was at its end. Because of the weather, the newspaper boy did not come. Grandpa waited for hours but was disappointed. After waiting till 10 a.m. he sat down for breakfast. While eating bread, he found it too dry. Then he asked for an omelette, and an angry comment could be heard, “Uuffffoo…. How much salt have you put in it?” With a big cup of hot tea, the house echoed with a thundering voice: “No sugar left in the house. Why is there no sugar in it, and it is not hot at all!” After all this fuss, he finally drank it.
Around noon when I entered his room I found him sleeping. But he was not comfortable; he was occasionally rolling from left to right then left then again right. That continued for an hour. He skipped his lunch as he had some discomfiture in his stomach. What could be the reason? There was some kind of irritation in his mind. He was not satisfied somehow. There was something missing. His day was incomplete. He was trying out many things, yet his face was like that of a little child who had been denied a chocolate. Instead, his mom had given him a lollipop. Or, for this era, the face of a child who has been denied a tab and given a keypad mobile. Poor grandpa was not able to understand his own feelings. He was missing something perhaps, but the question was, ‘What?’ Grandma offered to switch on the television for a news bulletin. He sat down and they both watched it. But he could not hear properly as his hearing was weak. The footage and the breaking news captions were moving so fast he was unable to catch them.
With a drowsy face, he took his chair and went back to his room. Sitting on his bed, thinking about world affairs, but with a predominant negativity. Suddenly his eyes went to a copy of a newspaper that was lying around. He took it in his hands, put on his spectacles and started reading it. It was a day-old newspaper. Although he had read it earlier, he again started reading it. His mind relaxed and he was a happy gent once again. I gave him a cup of hot tea, as hot as it was in the morning, with the same amount of sugar. He drank it quietly. Then, what to do you think, the problem was? Yes! The Newspaper or, I should rather say, ‘The absence of one’.
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