The Times of Gadbad

Last week, our family went out for dinner to a restaurant nearby. Although the temperature in Bangalore is dipping by the day, my mom did not seem deterred in any way from having her favourite dessert. And when her dish arrived, all I could see was a convoluted mixture of several colors. This, the menu card called "GADBAD". No other name could have done full justice to this colorful delicacy. The next morning, I was browsing through the day's newspaper, and somehow, as I turned the sheets, I could not but help remember the dessert my mom had had the previous day. No, the paper did not contain any ads for desserts. Just that the sheets themselves looked so colorful and mixed-up. There was an article on the front page about the current war rhetoric war between India and Pakistan. Suddenly, from nowhere, there was a block of bright pink that cut right across the middle of the article, extending from the top left to the bottom right of the page. Written across this pink block was the name of a famous mobile phone brand. The article continued on the other side of the pink block. The inside pages were more than a revelation. Articles abound in Hinglish and Kanglish. Write-ups that ought to be in page 3 seemed to flow over to pages 4, 5, 6... The more surprising part was the shoulder-rubbing of glitterati stuff (I refuse to call it anything else) with news of a serious nature. One that was more surprising was about a theft in Paris Hilton's house, published next to a column speaking about the oil prices. I confess I could not see any reason as to what Paris was doing near oil. The last page was too much to take. The photograph of the ex of the ex's ex's of X, who is a sportsman, sandbathing on the sands of Florida. I could not wait to put the paper down. Very few news items registered. I had to take back my words. The gadbad ice cream looked less convoluted. I was convinced the newspaper had to be renamed from The Times of India to The Times of Gadbad.