It's out! The much awaited flanking paper of The Times of India was launched yesterday with much fanfare. They promised us a 'compact daily which holds a mirror to the city of Mumbai.' Compact as in compact in its size, but almost as big in terms of its content. Aimed at the breed of new younger and on the move readers, the Times Group promised it would be easy to carry and help one reading news on the move.

So, does the first issue stand up to its promise? Not really. To begin with, for us the whole concept seems a little confusing. With a name like Mumbai Mirror, we expected some mirch masala really Mumbai-ishtyle. A unique look at the city of dreams which really stands for fame, fortune, sex, salvation, if not sleaze. But the paper is nothing of all this; it doesn't really carry a local flavour to it. What it offers is some local news along with the regular pages carrying national news, world, sports and entertainment.

It seems this is apparently based on the way the world of publishing is moving worldwide. As the Times editorial read today, 'the compact newspaper is really aimed at the discerning reader and which is why the reputed upmarket newspapers like The Independent and the Times of London have switched to the new format. Even The Wall Street Journal's overseas editions in Europe and Asia have switched to compact. But then, these are switches of established brands. If The Times of India had to shift to a compact then definitely it would work. This follows from the simple logic that reading the Times is a habit, which readers cannot easily give up on. And here we are talking of a new product which has to grow on the readers.

Going back to the first edition, first and foremost the bright combination of black and red on the masthead looks pretty cluttered. And yes, the paper quality doesn't match up. There are no racy or screaming headlines here. Today's lead story headline read - 'Brother set for a hatchet job on Bachchan.' An interesting story definitely about estranged brother Ajitabh Bachchan writing a tell-all biography on the Big B. But one certainly expected more racy content. And yes, there are no city datelines to the reports and the font is also not too reader friendly for readers on the move.

The 48-page daily runs from the city pages to nation, to world, business, sports, health, relationship, entertainment and then views. On the city pages one of the off-beat articles was on 800 "munnabhais" in Mumbai i.e. on doctors operating with fake medical degrees! A blogger's Spark has been created. The first one written by Fahad Samar on Colaba, Mumbai's microcosm.

Overall though, the pact is pretty compact but for a city high on reading racy stuff from the likes of Bombay Times and Mid-Day, this one looks like a shot in the dark.


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