KOCHI: He once boasted of a clientele comprising stalwarts like EMS Namboodiripad, T V Thomas, V Vishwanatha Menon and the present day Union Ministers A K Antony and Vayalar Ravi. That was the time when these men came to him for news or rather to buy newspapers.
Ask him about those days and 75-year-old Aravindaksha Menon of Manayapillil House, Ponnurunni, goes down memory lane.
And memories rush back to him, albeit in black and white.
Independent India was barely a year old when Aravindaksha Menon started delivering news at the doorstep, assuming the perennial title of a newspaper boy for the rest of his life. With the death of his father, the teenager had no other option but to look for ways to supplement the family income.
Since then not a single dawn has broken over the city horizon without him either going around distributing newspapers or waiting for them. At that time newspapers were delivered to Kochi by train, a reason why he set up a stall in Ernakulam South railway station. Madras Mail and Gomati were some of the vernacular dailies he used to deal with. “Indian Express was published from Madras and it took one full day to reach here. I had to collect it from the South railway station around 5 pm. I sold it to the nearby houses and shops before returning home to Tripunithura,” Menon recollects.
Four years into the trade, Menon shifted his shop to Ernakulam boat jetty. Boat services to Kottayam, Kodungallur, Alappuzha, Kottappuram, Varapuzha, Mattanchery and Fort Kochi prompted that move. “I knew there would be more readers in the area and sales would pick up,” he said. The presence of the Government Guest House, Government Law College, Maharaja’s College, government hospital and several government departments near the boat jetty meant more business.
That was when the political bigwigs who stayed at the Government Guest House visited his stall for newspapers. He also counts film actor Mammootty and the late principal of Maharaja’s College Bharathan Master among his elite customers.
While the Liberation struggle and the Emergency are etched in the memory of many as the darkest period, those days provided him with the most thrilling moments of his vocational life. “There was censorship of newspapers and people were even afraid to buy them. But there were a few courageous readers who took the risk and read the newspapers secretly whenever they were available,” Menon says.
He has been an avid newspaper reader ever since his days as newspaper boy. Different kinds of news have passed through his hands, from the ones printed in the old one-colour offset presses to those printed in multi-colours using the most modern technology.
Over the years he has developed a nose for news and can differentiate between hard and soft news without ever stepping into a journalism school.
Menon also has a strong opinion on the changing profile of the readers. “Back in the 70s and 80s there were serious readers.
But the Internet has changed the reading habits,” he says.
Many journalists whose words Menon had taken to the people over the years have retired from the profession. But the newspaper boy is still around and the change seems to be only in the bylines in newspapers he carries
kochi@expressbuzz.com
