‘Times of India has gone to the dogs’

‘Times of India has gone to the dogs’. Atleast their Meerut division certainly has. Else they wouldn’t have an edit co-ordinator & incharge like ‘Dr.’ Deepa Gupta managing their affairs and handling public interface.
My father, who has recently taken voluntary retirement from a very senior govt. service wanted to share his views and learning from life while working under immense political pressure in a highly corrupt & dysfunctional system like the electricity board of Uttar Pradesh. We decided to go and meet the TOI editor at the local office. The way we were greeted was outright disappointing and frankly speaking, actually frustrating. When we entered the TOI office at about 2.10pm today after braving the intense afternoon heat, the least we could have expected was courtesy. We inquired at the reception whether we could meet the ‘Editor Saahab’ in the office here. There were two ladies and the first reaction we got was a ‘smirk’ from the receptionist, followed by a hesitant look to the other colleague. The other lady then crossed her arms and with her nose raised high, asked in a very condescending manner , ‘What do you want?’ . I was stumped at this unexpected way of address. My father, who is a very patient & cool person, told that he has been a regular reader of Times of India for more than 30 years and has been writing to the news paper on & off. The next thing that I noted, to my further disappointment was that the lady forgot even the basic courtesy of offering a seat to an elderly person, when all the seats around us were vacant. And all the while, for about 15 min, she kept standing behind the counter, with a cold & indifferent attitude while we spoke standing on the other side. She was not concerned what my father had to say and wasn’t interested in asking or inquire anything. All she said was that she looks after the local supplement, ‘Meerut plus’ which focuses on city centric stories & is published twice a week. Further she added that whatever we want to say or write, we can email to ‘meerutplus@indiatimes.com’. No Courtesies, no questions, no water/tea/coffee offered & meeting closed. When I asked for her business card, she said she has run out of the same.

If this is the way ‘The Truth Prevails’ at TOI ,without connecting to the local people & keeping a cold and in considerate attitude towards the general public, then Lord save ‘Journalism’ and particularly ‘Times of India’. How can such an eminent newspaper as ‘TOI’ have people of such attitude on board their organization? Media should never forget that they thrive on Public Support & Relationships .If this is how the office here treats the general public, then I clearly foresee a dark future for TOI over the Horizon.