MUMBAI: In 1950, India qualified for the football World Cup in Brazil but didn't send its team there because we couldn't afford to spend Rs 40,000 for it. This nugget is from the pages of The Times of India, now part of Sporting Times, a book compiled by cricket writer Boria Majumdar. This book, along with five other volumes celebrating 175 years of TOI, were part of a discussion at the Carnival on Friday.

The authors and curators of the commemorative volumes shared the joy and thrill of putting together a part of our history recorded by one of modern India's oldest and liveliest institutions. Bachi Karkaria, whose Mills, Molls and Moolah was launched earlier in the day, said Mumbai doesn't need another book of history as "history is in the Times of India." "The paper's archives are unparalleled. From food to films, crime to politics, the paper has recorded everything," she said.

Sharmistha Gooptu, who, along with Avijit Ghosh and Srijana Mitra Das, curated Flashback, a book on 175 years of entertainment, said Hollywood star Gregory Peck had attended the first Filmfare awards in 1954. The same year, Mehboob Khan opened his now iconic studio in Bandra, the venue of the Carnival. Das said industry status to Bollywood was a remarkable landmark in its history. Ronojoy Sen narrated how Mahatma Gandhi would write lengthy letters to TOI, often protesting the paper's stand on issues related to the freedom struggle. Among the contributors to TOI's highly respected edit page, said Sen, were Jawaharlal Nehru and B R Ambedkar.

The panelists also fielded questions from the audience. Karkaria defended the paper's policy of giving what the readers want, while Ghosh told the audience Dev Anand modelled himself on Gregory Peck because he was madly in love with Nargis, who liked Peck a lot. The discussion was followed by an exciting jazz and blues performance by Reez Sebastian D'Souza and his team.