Headlines Make Headlines

EYE-CATCHING HEADLINES


1. In the early forties when Gandhiji used to hold prayer meetings in the Sabarmathi Ashram at Ahmedabad, a South Indian lady from Kerala with long tresses of shining black hair and always wearing pure a white Khadi saree, used to attend the meetings regularly. She was very punctual and used to sit in the first row. She had come to the notice of the Mahatma. One Friday she came to the meeting late by 10 minutes by which time the prayer has started. After the prayer meeting was over, she approached Gandhiji to be excused for late attendance. Explaining the reason for the delay, she said that it being Friday, she took oil bath and as the day was cloudy it took some time for the long tresses of hair to dry up. Jocularly Gandhiji said “If that be the cause, why don’t you have your hair cut short?” Those were the days when British tabloids in London sensationalize even trivial news from India
The Daily Mirror put the news item under the headline “Gandhi wants Indian women to have their hair cut”

2. The noted film director and producer from Poona late V.Shantaram of Prabhath Studios was once invited by the Film Institute, Poona to give a talk to the final years students, both boys and girls, on the eve of their finishing studies. These students had taken film acting as their specialization and looked forward to a career in films. Shantaram addressed the students explaining the hard work ahead of them and finally advised them that among several other factors, two major qualities play a major role in their success in film acting : One was beauty and the second was intelligence and in any way one of them is s must
The next day, one newspaper covered the talk under the heading “Brain or Bust, One is a Must”

3. Very recently there was major tragedy in Chikballapur, Bangalore where deep sand mine caved in at night and where children of local labourers were engaged for sand extraction illegally, as the operation was being conducted at night. As the sand pits were as deep as 50 feet many children got buried under the sand. The headline given was“ “Sons of Toil under Tons of Soil”

4. A famous dancer, extremely good looking and with an attractive personality, was once invited by a local Artists’ Guild to unveil the statue of a well known painter. Her own dance Guru, a handsome gentleman in his sixties, was invited to preside over the function. An evening local newspaper covered the news under the bold headline
“Dancer unveils Bust in front of her own Teacher”

4. Years ago, the famous industrialist G.D.Birla made a special study of the then prevailing Indian economic scene and wrote a thought provoking article with the caption “ What is Wrong with Indian Economy “ and got it published in his own newspaper, the Hindustan Times. Unfortunately, the Sub-Editor got it published as
“What is Wrong with Indian Economy?—G.D.Birla”
5. Many years back there was a mental patient in the Government Mental Hospital at Agra who was confined to a separate room.. His behavior was so rude at times that even two nurses found it difficult to control him. One day two washer women came to his bed to change the linen. He grabbed both of them, molested and escaped from the room and bolted the door from outside. A local paper covered the news item under the heading ‘Nut Screws Washers and Bolts”

6. The Women’s Club in Amritsar once organized a knitting competition among lady members, particularly for knitting of socks. Among others, two ladies who took part in the competition completed the knitting in a record time and both finished at exactly the same time. It became difficult for the judges to decide the winner. The event was covered under the heading “ The Local Women’s Socks Competition Resulted in a Tie”

.7, With a view to soliciting their opinions on the Women’s Reservation Bill likely to come up before the Loka Sabha during on going Budget Session, The Inner Wheel Club at Delhi recently called a meeting of all the local Ladies’ Clubs and Associations to get their opinion on the Bill. The Pioneer newspaper gave the heading
“Views of Women’s Bodies” and the readers were taken for a ride when they went through the column..

8. Mohamed is a popular leader in Shimoga who is popular with all the communities for his social service. He is also a great sportsman who is fond of outdoor sports like trekking, jogging, running etc. Recently he decided to try his hand in mountain climbing and go to the Himalayan Mountains for mountain climbing. His friends got the news item published under the heading ‘Mohamed Goes to Mountain’.

9. When the Vietnam War was at its peak, every newspaper in all the languages competed in giving the latest news first about the war in their papers. The Sub-Editor of a Hindi newspaper in Patna heard over the TV that the Vietnamese had dropped bombs at random. His knowledge of Geography was as strong as his English. He exploded the news item in the first page “RANDOM PAR BOMB MARA’


Punch line: God Gives and Forgives
Man gets and Forgets


B.M.N.Murthy






ARTICLE NO.558 Eye-Catching Headlines
Created:Friday, March 12, 2010 8:39 PM