so working for acommunity newspaper that reaches out to about 20,000 people in the area i cover still wouldn't evoke the response that Westside Plus of Times of India does. so i get to hear constant digs from the police, " Madam, apna story Times mein aaya...wahaan se le lijiye na.." and while I mutter abuses beneath my breath...a face that is familiar finally steps in...and says, " inko de do yaar. achchi bachchi hai..bahut mehnat karti hai..roz police station aati hain khabar lene..thodi na times waale roz aate hain." thank god for people with a heart. don't forget, I am still swallowing my prode about the "bachchi" bit. or else i would have been fired by now.." vibha, you just have to be more resourceful. i don't care how you get the quote, i need it that's all!"- that for you my pals is my incompetent sub,who thinks that hospitals and police stations are waiting with their arms open to give reporters quotes as and when subs demand them.

on the homefront, i am convinced that the India Shining campaign has an ardent fan in my dad. after all the campaign is meant for bankers. either that or he is still holding my lack of objectivity in my gujarat film against me.

Parvathy of the business elective fame at ACJ has done us proud by winning the Business Standard young Journo of the Year award. maybe we should forward this to NR. cosidering that she thought our batch was shallow.
meanwhile, paro keep it up!! cheers!

so am planning to sue standard chartered. their marathon forced public transport off the roads till noon and i had to spend 30 bucks to get back home in a cab. anyways i think the run was a waste of time. obviously not for the winners. but other wise it was pathetic to see yuppies in their nike track pants and reebok t- shirts and all these PYTs (pretty young things) yapping about the marathon as though it was the run of their lifetime. morrons!!

my sub editor has been promoted. so she won't be subbing any more. which is good news for me coz now there will fewer questions to answer and lesser mistakes to deal with.
so did this story about a 10 year old who ran away from home and staged his kidnapping coz he didn't want to go to the madarssa. cute kid and all, but wanted to slap him coz he made me work on a sunday.
so finally have a Sunday mid-day byline!! yay!! time to move on.
i don't think this haircut of mine is working. people want to see my credentials before giving me a story now.

we live in a twisted world, where everything has a twisted logic, including the logic that is used to keep out stories.
i am convinced that there is no such thing as free press. everything is secondary when to comes to revenue, profits, bottomlines, bullshit.
so i am kept out of doing anti builder stories..."do the illegal demolition as a human interest story, the fact that it is illegal does not matter." that is what i am told.
the fact that i ouput my life to danger and get a story, " no matter what" does not matter to anyone here at the desk. my paper has been started only to tap the local revenue that has been left untapped. the fact that it is a community newspaper is bullshit.
on secondthoughts, i think i am just over reacting. and frankly speaking, this is just a job!JUST A JOB! the fact was that i was more passionate about it than the people i was working for or the things that the issues that i wrote about! but not any longer.
my motto is:- It's just a job! like any other job that helps you keep your shirt on your back, that helps you tell your parents that you are financially independent. that helps you tell the world that you are earning for a living.
there is nothing motivating about it.
i wouldn't be half as frustrated even if my stories did not make a difference. the fact that i was given the freedom to write about it was sufficient. the fact that i was not made to hide issues or disguise the bitter pill was enough of a reason to celebrate. but not any longer. i might as well be an ostrich who has buried her head in the sand.

so here it is...finally, the official reason why i hate my job ..it's coz i don't find the time to blog. damn! i mean blogging once in 15 days is like missing the newspeg for a story and then trying to do it like a feature.

am fed up of the number of digs that have been made all over the country side at the India Shining campaign..i mean can't the government get the message?

so we finally have a guy on the desk. the reporters have decided to appoint him as the official mole.

hate life in the fast lane. can't take chasing local goons anymore. i mean it isn't the most exciting part of the job as you can see. i am beginning to have nightmares about all those goons whom i have chased in the past baying for my blood.
so how do you react when you work so hard that you are gonna drop dead and finish ten stories in 4 days for your paper, and the discover that only 5 have been taken? just how? grind your teeth.,,imagine your sub coming under a road roller...
maqbool is the nicest thing to have happened to me this week. this macbeth turned desi is simply superb. flows like a poem.