TOI turning into a Hindu?

The pushy Times of India cannot be expected to keep quiet when its cultivated image was called into question by a staid competitor like The Hindu.

TOI responded to The Hindu’s brainy teasers with its ‘information is not knowledge’ campaign, which surprisingly is neither witty nor punchy. It is like the confession of a felon gripped by a sense of remorse!

In fact, but for the logo of The Times on top right, it would have passed for a typical advertisement for The Hindu. The laboured reasoning to answer the taunts hurled at by The Hindu campaign is almost pathetic.

“We have no class issue with populism. No axe to grind with intellectualism” Why did the Times team resort to such poor defense? By giving such elaborate explanation, as if it were guilty of all that The Hindu campaign accused it of, TOI looked as if it turned into an approver in a libel suit.

One would have expected TOI to play with the idea of news being anything but ‘serious, boring, sombre and complex’ and take potshots at the Maha Vishnu of Mount Road for having woken up from its ancient slumber.

The TOI’s pompous reply fails to nail the clever and sharp swipes by The Hindu. Only The Hindu readers can appreciate the Times’ wordy defense. The Hindu campaign actually catered to the  tastes of the Times’ clientele. A reversal of roles for once!