India's Drivers and Elephants

The article about Indian Drivers made it to the front page of the New York Times print edition (both the NY city and national editions) under the heading "India's Drivers Often Put Off Learning How." I thought that the previous title was more catchy. The top photograph was also reserved for this article. The photograph does a good job of showing what happens when a country houses around twenty percent of the total world population having about two percent of the world's total land area.

Nano Elephants

Soon after the Nano story headlined in the online New Your Times (NYT), it was replaced by the more interesting story: "Indians Hit Road Amid Occasional Elephant." I say this is more interesting because elephants on roads is far more interesting than mass producing a car that is accessible to the masses. This would be similar to, say, around a hundred years ago when Ford introduced the Model T. Of course, there would be a headline about the Model T. But what would be more interesting is a story on how women smoke publicly in New York [In 1908, New York City passed the Sullivan Ordinance making it illegal for women to smoke in public.].

What is with the fascination of New York Times readers with elephants on roads? Or for that matter cows or stray dogs? Why does an article on elephants on roads trump an article on a car priced for the middle class?

To the credit of NYT, the article on Occasional Elephant was the fifth most emailed article as of the day after the two articles were published. The article on Tata Nano did not make it to the top-25 list. NYT knows its readers.

Tata Nano Unveils Cheapest Car

The online version of the New York Times has a centerpiece story about Tata Motors unveiling a Rs. 100,000 car. Positive news about a third world country. This is good. Although there is related article shown right underneath the Tata Nano article with these headlines: "Indians Hit Road Amid Occasional Elephant." A jab along with the acclamation?