Bangalore Mirror

"'Bangalore Mirror'. An all-colour morning daily that cuts through the clutter to give news the way readers like it — crisp, pointed, and in a language they speak. Says Bangalore Mirror editor KR Sreenivas "We'll tell stories with a spirit of fun; we'll expose political fraud, highlight civic issues, crusade against denied justice — in short, issues that anger readers. But we'll do it all without 'gyaan' or 'fluff'."

So, when they say they cut through the clutter, they mean exactly that. They cut it all out, make a pretty little collage out of it and call it - The Bangalore Mirror.

So, the editor says, this is not a paper that promotes hypocrisy but one that tells it like it is. Shouldn't he then be calling a spade a spade? What is all this I see on the Times of India about how the group has recently launched a "Compact newspaper" - whatever that means! Call it a tabloid because that's what it is!!!.

When I picked up the papers from my doorstep a couple of days ago, to my surprise, I saw a complimentary copy of the Bangalore Mirror there. So, as curiosity would have it, it read it although I'm not sure if you can call it a read. Maybe I just looked at the pictures and let me tell you the content leaves you so breathless (and I don't mean this is a nice way), I couldn't even finish the entire paper! Just to give you a flavour here are some of the topics covered:

Headlines - How Bangalore is warming up. Shock. Horror! Anyone living here will tell you, for the last few weeks we have seen nothing but pleasant weather. Some days being actually cold!

Some little piece on "Suicide in the name of love"

Another piece on car napping (Maybe the only interesting read in the 40 odd pages)

One on how bragging loudly in a club about your wealth can get your children kidnapped, as a businessman in Koramangala recently discovered to his surprise. Apparently he's never heard about keeping quiet about his wealth.

And yes, a good smattering of pictures of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and the like. But of course.

The only thing I have to say is, if Bangalore Mirror is going to publish all this in the future, are they then going to leave the Times of India alone and do away with Bangalore Times all together. That will be such a great service to community. Then, I won't even mind if they call it a compact newspaper. I no see, I no care.

Hope is dim though. I could tell you about a dozen articles and stories that were common between the Bangalore Mirror and the Times on this particular day that I read both papers. I will keep hope alive though. Can one look forward to anything otherwise!?