The page 3 fixation

In Hyderabad, both the TOI and DC try to outdo each other when it comes to covering the so-called p.3 'crowd', and not infrequently the obsession with celebrities or the happening folks of the town and elsewhere spills into the front page, as well. A good example is a big, three-column story on the TOI's front page on Shilpa Shetty's success in 'The Big Brother'. Does the story deserve to be where it's positioned is a million-dollar question. The TOI's front page report on the auto strike getting called off, right next to Shilpa's photograph, is more in place. The Hindu infuses an element of sanity into the Shilpa Shetty saga in a timely editorial--'The manufacture of dissent'. It says:"A B-grade Bollywood actor, who shed finely wrought tears over racial slurs, has metamorphosed into an international celebrity. A splenetic dental nurse, who became renowned for her benightedness, has morphed into Miss Goody Two Shoes. And a tacky soporific reality show, which was on the verge of being axed, signed off as the biggest ratings success on Britain's Channel 4." Couldn't have put it better.
The Hindu's front page has a single column story on the auto strike coming to an end, and a newsy four-column piece--"Kurnool boy rescued from kidnappers." Perhaps, the day's best front-page story is Seema Mustafa's report--"Army fumes over police 'lies' ", on the much-publicised 'confrontation' between the Kolkata police and the army on new year's eve, giving the army version, based on an email 'widely circulated in defence circles'.
Before I sign off, I must mention Feroze BaKht Ahmed's excellent piece on Moharrum and its Indianization in the DC. While on the subject, this morning's Munsif has an excellent special supplement on 'yaum-e-a'ashurah' or the Day of Mourning.