Vikram Seth on The Times of India
When he complained about the lack of substance in newspapers, writer Vikram Seth was asked to be the Editor of ToI for a day.
Given that ToI isn’t quite a paragon of journalistic virtue, it comes as no surprise that Seth was able to come up with a strong critique:
Seth meticulously critiqued all the other editions as well, and tarried a little longer on the Mumbai front page. “I notice they’ve carried my picture with Aamir Khan bigger than Delhi has. Maybe because Aamir is a Mumbai boy. But frankly, I wouldn’t have taken this photo at all. I would much rather have carried the big picture of Saddam sitting in court inside a cage. While I recognise that you need to generate a certain amount of hype. I’d have been more comfortable if my photo hadn’t been taken on the front page at all.” Then came the self-deprecatory quip that he invariably uses to take the sting off every critical remark: “Besides, it wasn’t even my best picture. I look like I have three chins, and quite bald.
But clearly the three chins camouflage an enormous intellect. Or would that be the bald cranium?