Times of India Has Gone to the Dogs
I got this cribb from Sumit yesterday and it was very sad to know how eldearly people are treated at some offices like the TOI at Meerut. I hope this article reaches to the right authorities.
‘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.
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Sumit, why did you and your father go to the TOI office in the first place?
I and my father went to the TOI office to talk to the editor and discuss the possibility of writing for them. My father has written many articles, some have even been published earlier and was keen to know what exactly is it that makes some writers a regular with the columns while articles / comments written by others may or may not be published. Sometimes even an acknowledgement of the sent article / mail is missing.If you are a regular reader with any news paper, you would acknowlege the fact that not all articles that appear from the regular columnists are great. They can be outright trash and sometimes even misleading.
And the way the meeting turned out was very disappointing. Just prior to going to the TOI office, we had gone to the HT office and the treatment was diametrically opposite. The editor wasnt there but the journalist there, seated us ,offered tea and discussed our views.And incidently both the offices had practically no rush.But then the difference is self evident.
It is extremely sad and shocking to note that people like Sumit Mathur and his father together set out to malign people for no reason.
I have been working with TOI for more than four years now and in this entire tenure have never had someone write lies and malicious note to someone. In the first place, I would like to clarify and with pride that TOI is an organisation that treats people best amongst all organisations. And me being a representative of TOI have held that closely. I was not in any way discourteous to them or for that matter to anyone in my life. Why would I be? I did not know them at all and treated them like any other citizen who comes to clarify queries to my office.
I had answered to all their queries politely. This they cannot deny. I even guided them on how they can send their articles on spirituality (as S C Mathur said that he had sent pieces to ‘SOUL CURRY’ and they had got published) to Delhi office as before and in case there was something related with Meerut, they could post their views on meerutplus@indiatimes.com, the official ID.
I have no clue as to what ‘smirk’ they talk about. What people perceive of others is what they actually are. If they have the indecency to malign people by lying and pretending to be upright, then I am sure they can do anything that suits their motive.
‘What do you want’ is an address manner that I have never used. TOI has taught us to always say ‘HOW CAN I HELP YOU’ and that’s precisely how i addressed the two men. Either their memory fails them or they write what they want, I know not.
The same goes for the time factor that Mr Sumit states. In a conversation that barely lasted 5 minutes, there was barely the need to discuss anything. Sumit blatantly lies in saying that I was not interested in their queries. Well, I would not meet people in the first place if I was not inclined to hearing them or solving their problems. I might as well have refused to meet them. They had not sought an appointment. But that is again not the policy of my organisation. This is the only organisation in media where one can meet even the editor without an appointment.
As for cold and indifferent attitude…. Well, Mr Sumit, that is entirely YOUR PERCEPTION. As for me, if i do not know anyone i cannot be over friendly or casual. I was just being my official self. I am not obliged to extend any undue courtesies to everyone who walks into office. I meet people and answer their queries in the best possible way I can, officially. If that deems as being upright and nose held high, let that be.
The entire mail by Mr Sumit is baseless. An official communication had been sent to him the same day, which Mr Sumit did not revert to. In case, he really wanted to be heard for a longer time, he could very well have come to office as communicated to him through an official mail. But he did not. He only set out to tarnish someone’s image for entirely his whims and fancies.
I have read your view on this but probably the one who has written the story is not aware or ignorant of the working of the media houses. I would like to express my views on this ad I have thorough experience of journalism and was a journalist. Firstly media houses never greet someone, if you have not gone without prior appointment with the person concerned. Secondly, Merrut is such an unsafe city, many a times the journalist has to face unwanted elements both in office and outside and this is the basic reason why people who just walk in are received like this. It was the duty of the people sitting at reception to make visitors comfortable, not the editors.
It’s not there in Merrut only it can be experimented in any media house. I agree that elderly person had his grievances to be shared with TOI but then his son (apologies for not knowing the name) person should have either informed or taken an appointment with the right person.
I think it’s the just the personal ego of the person that has made him write such nasty mail disclosing the identity of the person to unnecessary defame her. It could have been a humble request. This issue could have been resolved there only.
I also think that before passing judgemental comments on someone, it should be cross checked and should not be written in emotions. One should consider the office timings and environment. Do we all greet people visiting to our offices with smile on our face?
I find the whole episode, created out of personal vendetta. Mr. Sumit, what made you think that whenever you visit any media house or any other offices of service providers, you will get reception like a family guest. You are complaining about absence of basic courtesy and you are not appreciating the fact that the lady had given you 15 minutes of her time to listened to you without any prior appointment and inform you about alternate ways to contact TOI. Have you taken any prior appointment with the concerned person and fixed the time of the meeting, before arriving the TOI office ‘braving the intense afternoon heat’?
I still failed to understand what was the real need of highlighting such incidents in public domain? What kind of awareness will it create? Mr. Sumit, why did not you deal with the TOI correspondent before publishing the story in the social network? The comments made by Mr. Sumit on the TOI Editor were unwarranted.
As per his ‘CRIB’, Sumit Mathur, it seems, had gone to the Times office only to ‘sit comfortably’ in an Air-Conditioned place in the ‘intense afternoon heat’ and to have a cup of tea or coffee and that too free of cost.
After going through the comments, I understand that all the queries of Mr. Mathur were addressed properly by the TOI Staff.
Pleople should understand that in a private organisation no one is free to treat them to tea/coffee.
Ye sarkari daftar nahi hai Mr. Mathur. Free ki aadat pad gayi aap logon ko us “corrupt & dysfunctional – electricity board of Uttar Pradesh” mein kaam kar ke.
Change yourself man. Be professional.
The blog posted by Mr Sumit Mathur clearly shows the sarkari mindset of a babu placed in a high position by mistake. And sadly he is encouraging even his son to follow his footsteps. Had the father or his son ever worked in a corporate set up, they wouldn’t have taken all this personally. There is a protocol which has to be maintained in corporate organizations (even if it is a newspaper office). And I don’t think Dr Deepa could have been arrogant or indifferent while dealing the duo. The protocol doesn’t allow anyone to do that. So Mr Mathur first learn your lessons well how to behave in a respectable environment and ask your son also to join you.
To Mr Cribber
You can’t just publish anything whatever someone is cribbing about. It has become a habit in Indians to Crib about their non-acceptance ( That also is just their perception and not truth )and your question to him was not complete “Why did you and your father go to the TOI office in the first place without an Appointment ?”
To Mr Sumit
Aap se kya kahein.. Nothing said to you would actually go in your mind.. Samay ki toh aapke pass kuch kami nahi hai..Why dont some people understand a simple thing that most of the people have work in life. Everyone in the world cannot be at your service all the time or rather whenever you want and specially when the person you are approaching
1. You have not taken an appointment with the person
2. The reason why you are approaching that person, he/she is not responsible for that.
3. You are visiting in odd business hours ” @ 2.15″. Normal human beings prefer to have lunch that time.
4. The other person doesn’t know anything about you.
I forgot the water/tea/coffee/thanda/food part must have been hungry,cummon yaar obviously odd hour of the day na, nice innovation whenever you hungry walk in TOI 🙂 cool man. Really nice thing to learn from you.
The other thing which comes to me is. Why did you visit TOI? When you had recieved such a warm and so called nice reply by HT , no content..Oops my bad..Food/ chai/ pani / coffee/ sharbat, haina.. ( according to you only and supposedly you have been publishing your articles in TOI), the very fact justifies that there is no base to your post.
I am running out of time otherwise would have definetly made you understand that instead of pointing fingers and cribbing about a perception you have invest your energies in some resourceful way.
Come out of your ego and get a life, grow up..
P.S. Next time if someone refuses you a business card and if that person is giving you a reason accept it. That women gave you the Email Id, You already had the number,you knew the person’s name. What else is there on a business card? and you should have the courtesy to reply to your mails..
Siddharth, my purpose of publishing cribs is to have a healthy discussion and clear doubts between the parties concerned while promoting opinions from onlookers as well. Also if you think that cribbing has become a habit of us Indians then you should realise that there is no smoke without a fire and no sane person would keep on cribbing if there was no reason to do so. I am reminded of Shahrukh Khan’s ad for Dish TV, don’t be santusht? Thora aur wish kero… cribb kero 😉
I am one of the two ‘ladies’ mentioned by Sumit Mathur in his post about TOI. I am glad that my colleague has given a befitting reply to him. He talks of his decency and talks bad about TOI and its people. But what about the fact that his father asks these two ladies questions that have nothing to do with queries related to writing. He asked us, “You people are alone in office? There seems to be noone here?” To which we merely nodded. Then, “The marketing guys must be going out and coming back only in the evening?” Were these decent questions?
The point is that everyone sees what is right from their point of view but not where they wrong people. Please know your attutude Mr Sumit befor pointing a finger at someone. And TOI sure has and never will go to the dogs. It maintains standard and if a few people like you create tamasha out of nothing, it really does not bother us.
Cribber, Well i must say not a good idea about a healthy discussion if you think so. Because from the maanerisms i have learnt a healthy discussion doesn’t involve putting alegations. Also about “no sane person would keep on cribbing if there was no reason to do so”.. exactly my point ” no sane person”.. And devil when needed can quote analogy from anywhere right.. About Shahrukh khan “Wish karo.. right but cribb karo!! ya uske liye kaam or mehnat karo”
Har Chor kehta hai Krishan bhagwan ne bhi toh chor the..aapne socha kal yug mein Sharukh khan ka his example chalega.. I must agree..Wah jawab nahi guru apka..
Saru & Siddharth, I do not delete anyone comments if they are relevant to the discussion and i gladly publish comments which criticize me as well. Since all comments are under moderation and are not approved without my consent, there is a little delay sometimes as i am not ALWAYS online but rest assured i am playing a fair game here.
Much appreciated
hi sumit…i think you should be taking better care of your father…post retirement,you should not be taking him out in such heat and if it was so urgent,you could have taken him in the morning or during evening hours…i think we youngsters are capable enough to take good care of our parents and they dont need to work after retirement…i think,writing articles won’t be remunerative enough,on a part time basis…even my dad retired from a senior position from a Central Govt. organization and we’ve put him into social work…that way,he’s busy also and its a lot more satisfying…
I think you have never been to a govt. deptt…ask your dad and he’ll tell you how efficient they are…since he’s also worked for one…
Suggestion : There are lot of better things to be done in life,rather than just cribbing and wasting time…
Sumit you must have been a problematic child for your parents. Further I presume that you have not been brought up with certain values, which one always has to carry to move in the civil society! The entire episode with Dr. Deepa Gupta seems to me the concoction to meet your malicious intent. C’on you Son of a Gun you have not spared even your father’s organization which kept your kitchen fire burning for the long long period he was attached with! Have a heart man. Instead of sending Times of India to the “DOGS”, I advise you to have a company of dogs to know real love, comapssion and tolerance. Therefore dissolve your ego and be like a dog. Offices are not appeasement parks to get unnecessary attention, which brings only tension as in your case!
Don’t sap your vital energy for trivial reasons rather conserve it for better purpose. Change your thought process and stop going bizarre to get undue and cheap publicity. Your “CRIB” is certainly uncalled for and un-warranted.
Mr.Sumit, it takes a CRIB for you to tarnish a respected person’s image. But, as you can already see, you have been left speechless as your CRIB was nothing but a clear ‘ego problem’.
Do you have any clue as to how many people are ‘aspiring writers’ ? TOI (not only Meerut but any branch for that matter), gets N number of visitors who want to get their story/grievances published. Do you expect them to offer tea and water to all such people? The Editor in question here: Ms.Deepa Gupta was courteous enough to talk to you for FIFTEEN DAMNED MINUTES!!! Whereas after reading your utterly nuisance crib, I feel she should have turned down to meet you, as with the case of most editors, who are busy handling a thousand things from PR calls, to publishing deadlines to what not. The Editor in question wasted her time and energy on pathetic and ungrateful people like you, and a defamatory CRIB is what she gets in return.
If TOI must go to the dogs, then be it, coz dogs are well-mannered than most humans, especially the ones of YOUR like.
DAMN YOU!
Long Live Dr.Deepa Gupta.
reading all the above comments, it seems most comments anti-sumit have been left by the TOI camp under different names.
its clear to see this is one BIG cover-up operation by the TOI meerut branch to safeguard their asses.
As it is, TOI is full of sleaze these days, and newspapers like DNA are going to kick their butts bigtime.
For STOOPING so low, TOI CLEARLY has gone to the DOGS. lol.
i say this because no objective reader would react so harshly to a simple crib like sumit’s.
its clearly a group of people doing it with vengeance in mind! haha
sumit dont let these guys discourage you, youre perfectly justified.
[…] and searching for an address when i came across your site and saw the quick reply it got from the Meerut TOI crib so i am trying my […]
i agree with preeti!!
how can there be so many blunt pens witting together, using right emotions and perfect words, to kill a ‘trying-to-say-something-man’.
looking at their language one should keep quiet and move on…
but sumit in the end i think ‘these well written replies’ have proved your point! 🙂