Anil Kumar organising the few bundles of newspapers to be distributed for the day outside the Tourist Lodge in Dimapur. (Morung Photo)
Ashok delivering a newspaper outside the gate of City College of Arts and Commerce at Railway Colony, Dimapur. (Morung Photo)
Mongsentong Longkumer
Dimapur | March 18
Thomas Hardy once said, “Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit across the globe in 2020, print media and especially newspapers felt the ripples of change it created in a number of ways. Decrease in volume circulation, revenue and the shift from traditional print to digital are among the factors that have come to define the current state of things. In particular, newspaper distributors, vendors and hawkers are among the worst hit by this change. Their plight goes unnoticed by the people simply because it does not find resonance in the digital age.
With this, this two-part series begins at one of the prominent junctions of Dimapur outside the Tourist Lodge gate. Early in the morning as streets remain empty, one will see newspaper distributors going about their daily task of handing out newspapers to the hawkers and passersby.
Diminishing sales
Among the distributors is one named Anil Kumar, a man in his mid-50s who has been doing this task for 15 years. “Most people have stopped buying newspapers now,” Anil says as he arranges some of the copies brought to him for the day.
“They prefer to get news updates from their phones,” he shares while noting that free circulation of PDF files have adversely affected their income. “Things have changed a lot. Before I used to sell 800-2,000 copies or so, but now if I'm lucky, I barely sell a hundred or so in a day,” Anil added.
Working as a newspaper hawker is his only job. With others in the business, Anil says he has to finish by 6:30 am making way for the other vendors.
Anil elaborates that before the pandemic, he used to send copies of newspapers to Tizit in Mon district and other parts of the State. “As the trucks stopped delivering to these areas during the lockdown, people began canceling their subscription and hence, this is where I am right now,” he sighs and adds, “Ki kuri boh nah (what to do), most people especially the young, are not interested in reading newspapers now.”
On the opposite side of the road is another distributor named Vicky, a soft-spoken person who has been distributing newspapers for seven years. “I used to assign about 1,500 copies or more to various hawkers before the pandemic, now only a handful of them continue to do so,” he says.
“A lot of households have stopped buying newspapers now; phones have become a more reliable means for them,” he says as well.
As an alternative means for earning livelihood Vicky runs a garments shop at Khermahal during the day. “I try to manage with that for now,” he said.
Ashok is another person in this tale, familiar to a lot of readers who engage with people like him every day.
Early in the morning, he delivers newspapers to the few households who still prefer the ‘old way’ of getting their news updates. “My father passed away not long ago. He used to deliver newspapers to people's homes for about 25 years until then,” shares Ashok who took up this job after the passing of his father.
As this journalist follows him through the small alleyways and passages littered with homes at Railway Colony, Ashok strides quickly from one home to the other pushing the newspapers inside their gates. He delivers the newspapers to only about 35 households in the area since many have stopped taking.
“Since I hardly earn Rs 1,000 from this, I have to run another business during the day,” he added.
Not enough readers
Amidst the few surviving stalls in Dimapur who cling to their ever-shrinking medium of exchange is a dusty old shop located at Marwari Patti road, called ‘News World.’
The owner is a kind and friendly gentleman named Sharmaji, as people like to call him. He has continued operating this outlet for more than 25 years, beginning in the mid-1990s. Now a father of three daughters, he will be the last and sole person to run this business.
“My usual customers still like to come and buy the newspapers as they do, and I run a small courier service from this shop which is sustaining me for now,” he says. “But I hardly get any new customers; only the ones interested in reading the news buy a few copies.”
“I used to sell about 1,200 copies of various local newspapers before, but now I’m hardly able to sell 600 in total, so my income has been cut by about 50%,” Sharmaji shares.
Despite the difficult situation, Sharmaji has no plans to close the shop. “Kelay bon kuriboh (Why should I close it), I will continue running this business till I wither away or till the building owner evicts me,” he chuckled.
This is the first of a two-part series.
