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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

3rd 30th Anniversary issue in One year!!!

(was written on: September 23, 2006)

Hi Friends,

Its about celebrating your birthday four times in a year and getting more n more gifts from others. As long as throwing a birthday party is profitable enough, I don’t think it’s a bad practice. If your guests are happily ready to come in your party and they are not coming empty hands, they are bringing gifts for you, keep celebrating more anniversaries or special occasions.

'Third' 30th anniversary issue of India Today is now on stands. You might remember that yours truly has written his feedback on its previous 30th anniversary in the month of June. First issue of this chain-of-30th-anniversary was released in the starting of the year 06.

Reading Aroon Purie's page is simply waste of time! Same could be written by any of junior journalist who could be given the TOC with the instructions of writing around 400 words about the issue only! Or may be Aroon had nothing to say special for this time in his 'third' special issue. Well, I was expecting something thoughtful from his desk, I got disappointed.

You can sense the entire story by the beginning itself. As you go through the edit page, content pages…you start having a feel that you are reading previous anniversary issue only…the same BEST 30s of everything… from 30 best Readers letters to 30 living treasures, 30 momentous events, 30 perfect shots, 30 fade-outs and lots of other NOT-SO-USEFULL 30 things…

Not only this, but even you start sensing that edit & design team of IT also might be asked to do this issue forcefully…design & layout of pages is shouting itself that this issue is the outcome of overtime!

Any media publication with this much seniority can very easily generate such a scrap-compilation of 186 pages from its archives of 30 years issues. I really can't find anything so-great-so-special in this issue.

Though, IT special issue is available at the regular cover price of Rs.20, but I would not suggest you to buy it. Yes, you can buy it for a complimentary copy of SPICE which is free with this issue and carrying SHOPPING IN SINGAPORE as cover story.

If you want to have a look upon this mega issue, you can request to Chitra (DA) who obliged me by giving this issue to me even before she could get a chance to rip apart it.

She also highlighted one interesting characteristic of the editorial is that articles and reading pieces are very short and crisp in this issue so that they do not bore the reader, I completely agree with her. May be, we should take care of this point in our won magazines also.

As I said, till the money is coming by doing such a non-sense special issues, why shouldn’t one do this…If getting money only is their mission!

Keep Celebrating :)

G.S.Virdi

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