Immortalised...
forever...as a journo of a tabloid...:)
it's been about two years since i gave up reporting...in pursuit of perspective. i thought that would have been the day when i bid goodbye to calls from harried residents about overflowing drains..flooded compounds...monsoon wrecked roads, illegal encroachments, thefts, murders, etc, etc.
but i realised that the patrons of the tabloid i used to work for continue to make me hold the post of a reporter and very expectantly call me up even now to report on the same issues or sometimes just to say hello...trust me i still get invited to "chai" even when i am in pune by this old couple in Versova whom i had once contacted for a story. and then there is this old Commie journo who still calls up to find if i am doing ok in gokhale...
just today, as i was struggling to make my way through the crowd in the train to get to work...i get a call from a Mrs. Dias. she asked for me and was relieved to know that i remembered her. her problem two years since i quit remains the same. her building compound and the road outside gets flooded almost to waist level thanks to some illegal dumping and encroachment by a local MLA. children can't get to school, people can't go to work, and they all live in the perpetual fear of a short circuit.
her husband used to call me up earlier.."he passed away 8 months back...of foodpoisoning"" she told me. i spoke to her ...often searching for words in the precise two minute conversation. and then gave her joyie's number and hung up.
i don't know what to make of it...although i felt a little happy that people still remembered me even if it was at the time of distress i sort of felt a little like a loser coz' despite reporting several times on the problem..nothing ever got done. monsoon after monsoon...the problems remain the same. and people continue to have faith in a tabloid that reports on local issues. but nothing really changes. and we continue to wait for once in 5 years to take our revenge at the time of an election. but that's about it. am a little repulsed by the dormancy that sets in democracy.
p.s. well..so much for being accused of writing journalistic trash and so much for wanting to change the world.
:)
posted by Vibha @ 3:47 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
i'll have to differ with you on that. As someone who inadvertantly gets caught in the worst of places when it rains heavily, i would like to say that this year the BMC has actually succeeded in alleviating ppl's problems; maybe only partially, but even that's an improvement. At least gives us some hopes of improved governance!
hey sanyam...the rains this time on no account were a repeat of 26/7.
and this post wasn't about the monsoon or Mrs. Dias.
hey sanyam...the rains this time on no account were a repeat of 26/7.
and this post wasn't about the monsoon or Mrs. Dias.
Hey Chotu,
Yes. People think journalism is about shaking the world out of slumber if not changing it. But the crowd that we end up dealing with are the letters-to-the-editor class... they want their problems to be solved by the media... not willing to fight the battle.
Well... they no longer write letters to the editor... because they know the easy way out. To call the editors subordinate!!!!
Meanwhile, feel happy that people still remember you and call you up. Journalists are also forgotten when they cease to be one.
Should you pass through an old book stall somewhere, see if you can get a copy of ``No My Son Never'' by Mankekar.
Hhahahahahahahh 9199112382
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