What’s your DNA, boss?” I asked the wise ol’ guy from Mumbai rumoured to be negotiating his retirement deal. “I am still figuring it out,” he said. The next day, he was gone. And I have figured it out by now. This DNA thing they are talking about in Mumbai is turning out to be quite a pension scheme for hacks in their twilight years.
The real wise ones, in their high noons, have already done the cross-over bit twice without moving an inch whatsoever. Signing up fabulous packages unheard of before in this print job of ours. Then renegotiating to stay put wherever they are. Because they are still light years from fading away. I too have been sticking to my seat. For far too long, I suppose. Small wonder, my DNA doesn’t change. But that’s a different story. No publisher quite likes to take on board a hack suffering midlife pang. You’re either with us or them. No point in being a fence-sitter. It’s high time I planned my retirement. So, watch this space!
Now come to think of it, buddy, they are launching a broadsheet on the 21st-century catwalk to take on the Ol’ Lady of Boribunder. It’s a sign of the changing Times. Because, the times, they are a-changin’. India is more prosperous today than it was 20 years ago. There are more middle-class people around now making their choices known than they ever did before. And we call it the consumption dividend. You no longer queue up for a Bajaj scooter. Why you no longer opt to drive a motorbike either? There are cars and cars to pick from. You no longer wait to sign up for your telephone connection, there is any number of mobile phones to choose from. You no longer watch Chitrahaar in black and white, there is any number of satellite channels to surf on. You no longer queue up at the employment exchange to get your first job break at 40. There is any number of call centres and back-office jobs to walk in and out of. You no longer subscribe to Employment News to beat your buddy for a placement. They come over to the campus to pick your brains even before you’ve earned your paper. You no longer go chow-cart spotting to entertain your girlfriend, there is any number of nightspots to hang around.
And it’s happening because the ancien regime has crumbled. Generation Now is making things happen. For a new tomorrow. Because ancient India is rediscovering itself as a new civilisation in its 20-30 age group. I guess you know that the country’s median age, 22 years right now, will settle at 31 by 2025, with most young men educated, harvesting the wonderful opportunities for growth, revelling in the bounties of a seamless global market. Twenty years ago, the world condemned their parents as a drag on India’s economy, a population bomb waiting to explode. Today, the world says India is set to reap its demographic dividend 15 years from now, with a quarter of its population, 325 million, in the 20-35 age group making multiple choices.
And those choices will come from what people see and read. So, a broadsheet has to offer those choices. Question is, who are the people who offer those choices? There’s a simple rule of thumb for this: those offering choices should first know what the choices are, not those who have survived the shortages of the past. It’s got to come from Generation Now for Generation Next, not those who belong to Generation Ex. Not from ladies and gentlemen the least whose mindset comes wrapped in 20-year-old polyester packaging. Not from those who rode to work in their Bajaj Chetaks, who confronted politics in the days of Mandal agitation.
Not from those whose last great action flick was Gone With The Wind.
If you look around your everyday lives, you’ll know what I mean. Because while we know that Gavaskar and Kapil Dev is among our all-time greats, we’d rather pay to see Virendra Sehwag play. Because, while we may respect the grandeur of K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam and drop tears at Raj Kapoor’s heart-stopping melodramatic romance, we somehow no longer connect with that glorious past. It’s today we are talking about because of Kal Ho Na Ho. And helping us make those choices are the likes of Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar, Sania Mirza and Sachin Tendulkar.
Go ask yourself, if 20-somethings can deliver those Bollywood blockbusters and can make India proud of it’s global achievements today, why read your daily news and analysis from people whose last great brush with the printed word smacks of a vintage past?It’s gotta come from the 20-somethings. And it’s gotta come from the 30-plus. Guys who see the world as their very own oyster. Not from people who fade into oblivion with a handsome retirement package because they have nothing to lose no more...Think about it.
PS: Last heard: Don’t (k)No(w) About. You know what I mean. R.I.P!
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