Thoughts that are nibbling at the back of my mind...

A few days ago, a new newspaper was unveiled in Qatar. Qatar Tribune is the third English newspaper in Qatar, right after The Peninsula and the first one, thats been around for ages, Gulf Times. Besides rounding up the newspaper names nicely, the Qatar Tribune has impressed me in its last few issues.

Minimal ads, in-depth New York Times inspired stories (indeed, many of them are from the NYT News Service), and some excellent type font and imaging is fact making this my favourite newspaper to read in Qatar, atleast of the ones I can hold and feel in my hand.

There was an excellent article in today's paper about how the newspaper had evolved its font and typeface, something that truly does stick out from the more languid typefaces of the other two newspapers. The article summed up nicely, and explained well what had struck me while reading the newspaper for teh first time. The writing is legible, has a modernistic edge and gives a reader the space to understand thoughts as he reads. Its a psychological view into newspaper printing and reading, and I for one quite appreciate that someone in Qatar has spent as much time thinking abou the smaller details rather than looking to just publish loads of copies and seell them. Although, I am sure thats one of their future aims also.

Then there's the imaging. Its black and white. All of it. The inside pages feel as if someone has used paper that wa sprinted in teh 1930s. It has grimy, businesslike and dare I say, modern feel. It gets you to the point, you want to read a tabloid, get yourself a New York Post, you want to read news and indepth analysis, welcome home. Putin, Annan, Musharraf, Olmert and saddam all look quite different in black and white, I assure you. It adds a measure of distance between them and us, somethign that i think is sorely lacking in today's news stories. Contrary to popular opinion, I am of the thinking that distance from news is usually best when analysign news. Once again, this is a small psycholigical step towards awakening another perception in Qatar's populace. How successful shall it be? We will have to wait and see.

I'm looking forward to reading this newspaper for a while longer and analysing what their stories entail and what their stance on various issues is. As i usually say, its good to be a nerd. Fow now, I am quite happy that there is now a newspaper here that provides New York Times stories and The Independent's critiques on policy.

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Spekaing of news, Agassi retired yesterday. Damn, let me be concise here, because when it comes to sports, I do tend to ramble on.

If I had a chance to headline any newspaper story on Agassi today, I would call it "Hail the last of the Titans".

This man is a monster. He always has been, and if anyone saw him play in his prime, or even before and slightly after, they surely will agree that the title of Titan in this case, is deserved. This man is a contemporary of some of the greatest tennis players to ever grace the courts during my lifetime. We're talking about players like Stephen Edberg, Jim Courier, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, and Goran Ivanesevic. Lets not forget other American players such as Andy Roddick and Michael Chang either.

He is a true sportsman, his credibility is unblemished, despite having played 20 years near the top of his game. His stamina, courage and poise are exemplary. His heart is gold, his style is impeccable, his every move followed by the darting eyes of thousands no matter what court he is on, in what country. One name, one game, one man, Aggasi.

one word, soul. An inspiration, a sheer joy to watch- above all, a marvellous tennis player. I am glad that I wasn't watching when he lost two days ago- his teary goodbye would surely have made me lose it. This man is one of my heroes. And I will sure as hell miss seeing him lift up another trophy and kiss it with that innocent, 'I can't belive this is happening', childish grin on his face. So long Aggasi, and give Steffi a kiss for me. Lucky bastard.

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I have been thinking about approaching somebody with a business proposal. I don't know whom yet, but i am workign on that part. The part that I have already worked on a fair bit is the business proposal.

Let me set the stage for a second. There are no bookstores in Qatar. No real bookstores, that is. One bookstore, and only one sells books that can be classified as 20th century fiction. But where a normal bookstore would list about 500-600 books in its adult fiction section at the least, this one only lists 50. The choices are despicable- Danielle Steele to Nora Roberts, from Grisham to Clancy. I grant that these authors have their entertainment value, but lets face it, they are not breaking down the doors of literary prize venues any time soon.

People who want to read take a stopover in Dubai when they travel, even if they go only as far as the Duty Free Shop. Or they order from Amazon.com which costs them the cost of the book + $6.99 per item + 10.99 per package. Therefore, its useless to order less than 111 books, by which time one book shopping stop has cost you in the vicinity of 600 riyals. too expensive for too many people to afford, and highly risky too because what if you don't like some of the boosk you ordered?

Solution= A bookstore in Qatar. Couches, nice flooring, coffee shop, book releases, book readings, loads of books of all kinds- childrens' books, multi-language, adult fiction, non-fiction, etc. etc. Speaking of etc. etc., classics like the King and I, too. (sidenote: who got that reference?)

I need a sheikh to back me, money will have to be spent, contacts will have to be made. Tickets will have to be paid for to travel and get contracts. Above all, money will have to be spent. I'm working on it for now, but I think the facts that Qatar's population is increasing, more expatriates are here than ever before, there is an American base in the country, there are over 8 universities here and numerous expatriate schools all leads to a rising demand. Couple this with the fact that there is no competition at all, and you have a potentially explosive business that could even pay off its initial investment within two years, despite rent prices.

Like my sister says when she wants a purse from Nine West or a crystal laced watch from Swarovski, I need to find a Sheikh. And fast.