No, not the disc in Pune, but the pegasus symbol reminds me of Reader's Digest. The magazine filed for bankruptcy protection just the other day. I mentioned about childhood memories being poignant in my previous blog. Reading the bankruptcy report brought back memories of reading Reader's digest that I distinctly remember. I remember waiting for the monthly issue and the joy of hiding it from my sis so that I could read it before her. These were the days when cable television was still considered evil at my home(it still is), RD was like a keyhole which provided a glimpse of the west. Although not a voracious reader, I used to enjoy the articles which covered almost all topics. Humour in uniform was the first thing I used to turn to. Real life incidences narrated by people in the armed forces were always hilarious. Other joke sections and puzzles were always fun. I remember there used to an interview of some interesting personality. Then the health section always used to have useful tips. There used to be a book section at the end which used to be like a mini-novel. I especially liked the survivor stories. One other thing that I remember were the 'sweepstakes'.The sweepstakes amount used to be like a million dollars and I used to wonder "Man! whoever wins it, life is all 'set' for him" Later on, the sweepstakes kachra was more than the RD itself. In addition to aiding my vocabulary, the raddi waala used to give decent amount back. All in all, every penny's worth or total paisa vasool.
In today's plethora of cyber-azines, I guess the print media is finding hard to survive, let alone grow. Still, RD's decent subscription(although declining) of 8 million is pretty impressive. I remember seeing the last RD on my colleague's desk and was comforted by the sight, thinking "RDs still going strong". I felt a wee bit sad by this latest news. Hope the pegasus can turn into a pheonix.......C'mon, you weird creature -hybrid of horse and bird floating on water??....Fly once again!!!