Hyderabad, March 26 -- Dus baje raat mein so jate hain khabrein sunkar/Aankh khulti hai toh akhbar talab karte hain

I cannot remember how many times my wife has threatened to cut down on my daily dose of newspaper reading. Beginning the day with reading dailies is a ritual I am addicted to ever since I set foot on Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus in the mid-1980s. In fact, it was the newspaper and periodicals' section at AMU's massive Maulana Azad Library, the jewel in the varsity's crown, which enticed me to the heap of dailies.

I began with one, then two, three..multiple dailies. While I spent hours devouring mostly English dailies, skipping Chemistry classes and bunking Biology practicals, my attendance got shortened. Gradually...