Sunday mornings are special because of the Sunday paper. After a week of skimming through headlines and columns during the course of a busy work day, reading the Sunday paper at leisure is a ritual.
First there’s that reassuring patter of footsteps that announce the arrival of the newspaper boy. Which is then followed by the comforting plop of the thicker-than-usual Sunday paper as it lands outside the door. The paper is then eagerly gathered up and borne away to a bed or a couch, where the contents are devoured with relish.
The headlines get a cursory glance because the Sunday paper is one that should be read from the inside out. At least, that’s how I do it. So, I begin with the editorial and the weekly columns of my favourite columnists. Then I work my way out, reading the stories and features that go well with the Sunday morning beverage/breakfast. The best part is of course the Sunday supplement which is usually in colour (some things you just don’t outgrow!) and has a variety of articles, some topical, some quirky some seriously thought-provoking. In short, an ideal menu for a Sunday. The newspaper I subscribe to always has a few food and travel related write ups, my favourites. In short, any Sunday morning feels incomplete if this ritual is skipped.
Thanks to the lockdown, newspapers have gone online. But reading the online version just doesn’t cut it for me. One can’t curl up with an unwieldy laptop on the lap. Or with a smartphone that is already giving you stiff joints along the length of the arm, thanks to overuse of both. Instead of opening the right page to the column that you just know will be there, waiting to be read, you end up instead trying to navigate a confusing dashboard, complete with thumbnails, menus and host of other options. It’s bewildering. I still haven’t been able to find the column by Ranjit Lall, which is when I gave up with a snort of despair and decided to vent here.
In a world that’s changing too fast and in a manner that’s terrifying, as recent events have proved, it’s the small things in life that give us comfort and reassurance. They provide a sense of normalcy (despite scary headlines) and lull us into feeling that they will always be there for us.
So, I struggle with reading the paper online and the fact that the whole thing is in colour; every day, still fails to compensate for holding the paper version of the paper. I miss turning its pages, reading (not scrolling) through the columns and then finally folding it and putting it away with a sigh of satisfaction. Sunday mornings are not the same any more. But then, the world has changed, so how could Sundays stay the same. One can only pray for this to pass so that we can reclaim the precious little rituals of the Sundays gone by.
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