tribuneindia...Mailbag

THE new face of The Tribune smiled at me when I returned from my morning walk. It was with quite some excitement that I picked up the paper and shared with my neighbour some preliminary thoughts. My excitement was well-matched with the editorials both on the pages of The Tribune and Chandigarh Tribune, which showed that the editors are equally excited in having given birth to a new concept and bringing the paper to a new level of intimacy with its readers.

Truly, The Tribune for many of its readers is not merely a newspaper but also an institution in its own right, informing the people of the region every morning of the latest events, and helping them to form their own opinion. Many would find their day insipid without a good dose of The Tribune.

The Editor’s comments on the choice of the Gothic type-face for its masthead were indeed delightful, and they corroborated with the readers’ expectations from the paper. Being a Chandigarhian, I could not agree more with the Editor that Chandigarh has finally come of age and developed a character of its own. However, the letters used for Chandigarh in the title remained ordinary, taking away the aura of romance and the spirit of adventure that covers the city. Perhaps, The Tribune in its new avatar would do well to imbue the paper with this new spirit combined with some more boldness while still upholding its traditional values in the field of journalism for which it has now become so well known.

With the Gothic type-face The Tribune looks not only conspicuously familiar but also more attractive.

Rededication by the prestigious newspaper to its cherished ideals in sober language, scrupulously eschewing sensationalism, espousing public causes without any fear or favour, is, of course, welcome. However, to my mind, the exercise seems somewhat redundant. For, who can deny that the paper has, over the years, stood the test of time and upheld the said ideals/virtues with rare consistency and steadfastness.

The happiest part of the story is that The Tribune remains uncontaminated by “crass commercialism” increasingly engulfing the fourth estate. This is so probably because, unlike other newspapers, The Tribune is managed by a trust, and thus has no vested interests to cater to.

May the darling of the people of North India flourish by leaps and bounds in the millenniums ahead!

Please accept my congratulations on reverting back to the original Gothic masthead. This type-face had been the most prominent identification feature of The Tribune ever since its inception.

The identification of the type-face with The Tribune was so complete that even other printing presses and the commercial artists painting signboards, etc, used to refer to it as “The Tribune type”

The Gothic-style masthead is classic in tone and texture. It is, indeed, a distinctive mark of the paper — “like a star that dwelt apart”.

Personally, it has transported me back to the days of my youth when I started reading this newspaper in the mid-forties. During the turbulent Partition days it kept aloft our spirits and provided us the only link with the rest of the world.

The Tribune, I must say, is marching forward while taking along all that is best in our tradition.

The new but historical masthead is welcome. The Tribune holds the weight and depth of history. Congratulations.

The first thing that caught my attention in the morning of February 15 was the masthead of The Tribune. It is indeed delightful to find the comeback of the Gothic type-face. In fact, this is the masthead I grew up with, and without which the paper looked incomplete. Please keep it up.

But what caught my fancy was the bold and historic decision to revert back to the Gothic masthead. I really love it, for its aesthetic beauty, and also for its being a symbol of the paper’s monumental status, when most other institutions are crumbling ! Congratulations.

Always on strike

Higher salaries, no accountability, better service conditions, better job security, better welfare schemes, less working hours, etc, are perhaps the only factors which have over the years motivated a large section of government/semi-government employees to become greedy and demand more and more.

Everyday you see one group or the other of these employees holding rallies and striking work in one part or another of the country. Today it is AIIMS, tomorrow it may be the Telecommunications Department, and the cycle goes on. Nobody criticises the government more than these employees, yet their demands are accepted.

Sitting in their coronation robes, ignoring the fact that their greed has a direct bearing on the budget of poor people, these selfish persons always plan new strategies of tightening the noose around the neck of the government. If they think they really are not in a comfortable position and are being paid less, then why don’t they join private service and earn the money worth their work?

SUBASH KOUL
Ambala Cantt

	M A I L B A G	Monday, February 22, 1999
weather n spotlight today's calendar