Festival season fills the diary with things that photograph well. The price of onions does not photograph well. It remains, in a city where a festival is also a grocery bill, the more important story on several mornings we will be tempted to ignore.
This is not a plea for grimness. A newsroom that cannot cover a celebration is a dull newsroom. It is a plea against the idea that a celebration suspends arithmetic. Traders know this. They do not stop the auction because the street outside is lit. Readers should not be given a magazine that pretends otherwise.
What happens next
The practical test is space. If the lead picture is the light, the column next to it can still be the price. One does not cancel the other. A paper that runs only the light is selling a mood. A paper that runs both is covering the week its readers are actually having.
We will cover the festivals. We will also cover the yard. If that reads as a lack of cheer, the cheer was never the assignment.
Taj Today will update this report if the official numbers or the timetable change. Related coverage stays on the Opinion page.
