Mahatma Gandhi had once said become the change you want. I decided this year that it will be 5 years since i've worked with DNA, my longest stint so far. This would be the final year if i'd be compelled to cut my cake. (I took off to the jungles to see tigers so was spared that public cake cutting embarassment). I'd decided i HAD to get a better, more paying job than at DNA. I had reached my maximum, had done well & want to do something more.
To achieve this i worked to believing that i HAD to change...i must. New look (new hair cut), new belief, assertion
Well, i have a strong belief after i once read years ago a comment fm a very senior journalist in the west. "After working for over 10 yrs in the industry and that too with ethics, all you get is a watch or clock...wc costs peanuts to the company." So i kept this statement in my mind.
I would not stay more than 3 yrs on an average. I experimented, risked shuttling between different mediums & languages. I switched from Broadcast to print at a time i wanted to take stock of my career & self. I needed a grip on my health, life & the innane work i was doing. I was NEVER trained to be a 'byte-taking' journalist. But realised i didn't fit in the current scheme of things. Wc was temporary, byte oriented.
My dear friend J was keen i switch to prove i still have the mettle. I am formidable journo that he knew of me....so he asked if i'd join DNA. i'd avoided the newspaper like hell. Some people i didn't want to work with I wasn't sure if i wanted the same daily nonsense. I wanted time to write good stories, do good investigative work & have some fun in the profession that i had CHOSEN...to work passionately.
SO the best kind of work i got to work for the weekend issue. Take a good responsible position & got that much of work too. I was given the free hand to do specials. It is not frequently that a journalist gets a byline in the launch issue and i got it! Besides got a front page byline for 3 consecutive issues from launch. So i've actually achieved all that a journalist can dream of!
Got to do some really good specials, cover stories. Moreover had editors who pushed me took pleasure in pushing myself, increasing my benchmark & most of all stood by me...they showed faith in me. They heard me out if i said there was some story or news wc needed to be highlighted. They also wanted the best from their staff.
times they r a changin' as Louis Amstrong sang....now its time to leave a place where many of us had big dreams for DNA. They instilled faith in us & made us believe we will be doing something different. We would create a newsy new paper. Well we weren't off target. But we made mistakes, of hiring, constant change, confusion with whats news or not, presuming on behalf of our reader, constantly sending mixed signals. Besides constantly changing bosses...that is a trend wc this organisation management needs to get rid off. This is a menace wc has caused more harm than good.
Now that was NEVER part of my package deal or contract that i will be compelled to adjust to a new boss every 6 months. TO re-prove myself, talent, news sense. NO. Sorry bosses who have their own favourites, likes dislikes, yes boss types. I must've NOT liked most of those bosses but my commitment to my job was never less than 100%. But there is a limit. A point of "this is it....can't take more..." that's where i reached.
But instead of getting into the negativity i decided to make the changes within. Im glad i did it. went to the jungles, saw tigress who sealed my decision to quit! "If its tiger, its change," said Jaideep my pal... & I quit DNA..now where ever the paths take me i will go....
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Inception & salt
Now a lot has been said about Inception the film. I like what my buddy said, "Its a dream in a dream in a dream...." every minute was gripping. Every scene vv important. Leonardo's grown in every stature as one of the most formidable actors in Hollywood. Truly he has...what a choice of films he has made....!
The whole concept of putting a seed of thought, concept, Idea in someone else's brain. Wow...then going into the mind of the individual. In fact once a film called Matrix came by. Similar lines...but yet i thought somewhere Matrix was far toooo techie based. Nice stunts, hung upside down types....hung by ropes. Inception was to do with the mind, technology & concept. Yet it was human oriented. The techno did not take over precedence over mind or the person.
I liked how staying in a limbo the chinese man remains old...what happens to the memory? That wasn't really highlighted. Again how memory interrupts the whole dream-tech ride. Nice. I definitely thought it amazing, brillanto.
Now comes Salt. It was fat too salty & nauseating. Will that poutankar Jolie lady STOP pouting? her mouth is always open & pouting...plllll its sickening.
NOTHING in that film. What lady James Bond that too anorexic & NOT good looking? Stunts alone don't make a film. Bruce Lee & Jackie Chan have shown the way loooong ago. It was nice twist though. Quite predictable, as the Americans are obsessed with themselves. They won't ever let any anti-American, whether spy, alien or otherwise ever win the stakes. It's well shot, great stunts, good camera...but sorry NOT great film.
The whole concept of putting a seed of thought, concept, Idea in someone else's brain. Wow...then going into the mind of the individual. In fact once a film called Matrix came by. Similar lines...but yet i thought somewhere Matrix was far toooo techie based. Nice stunts, hung upside down types....hung by ropes. Inception was to do with the mind, technology & concept. Yet it was human oriented. The techno did not take over precedence over mind or the person.
I liked how staying in a limbo the chinese man remains old...what happens to the memory? That wasn't really highlighted. Again how memory interrupts the whole dream-tech ride. Nice. I definitely thought it amazing, brillanto.
Now comes Salt. It was fat too salty & nauseating. Will that poutankar Jolie lady STOP pouting? her mouth is always open & pouting...plllll its sickening.
NOTHING in that film. What lady James Bond that too anorexic & NOT good looking? Stunts alone don't make a film. Bruce Lee & Jackie Chan have shown the way loooong ago. It was nice twist though. Quite predictable, as the Americans are obsessed with themselves. They won't ever let any anti-American, whether spy, alien or otherwise ever win the stakes. It's well shot, great stunts, good camera...but sorry NOT great film.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Receiving juicy mail as response
Getting a response to one’s articles or news is something I’ve always looked forward to. Often it is hate mail, especially if I’ve written against the right wing fundamentalists, or written human interest stories on the families of TADA detainees. Once when I wrote about the security wall around Siddihvinayak Temple impacting on real estate prices I got the most entertaining reactions from some devout followers. Some questioned my eblief system and some thought I was doomed.
Then there have been many a Marathi Manoos who has given vent to the angst they have held in their hearts when I have questioned the politicisation of the Marathi language and identity issues. They have attributed my questioning and investigating the issue as effect of convent schooling, only because I went to a ICSE English school. The joke is my school was a Protestant!
Even if Manu (of Manusmriti fame) were alive wouldn’t have thrown such choicest names at me, the way many a Brahmin has, because I have questioned the community’s fence sitting attitude always. Some readers send couplets to me hoping some sense will dawn on me and I will eventually get enlightened about how those politicians who beat a poor bhaiyya in the name of Marathi are the true messiah. If only their wishes were to come true.
The readers often also tell me how the paper has to be run. They have elaborate plans and ideas, which they expect me to convey to my editors. Like most Indians who know before hand if Sachin had to hit a particular in a particular way he would’ve scored triple centuries, similarly they insist if the paper ran on the lines of their suggestions then we’d be number one in the country. One reader recently asked why don’t write on the sex lives and personal lives of those in public life.
Whenever I have written about cooperative factories, agriculture or on Girgaum I have received a lot of response from readers. It is nice to see how curious and open readers are to new ideas and learning to imbibe new research. When I wrote on a private company doing research on paddy and other crops, many readers called and wrote asking for details, from remote places.
Receiving emails is one thing, but I don’t know why readers’ response to agriculture has always come in form of inlands and post cards. I have actually stored these for keep sake value. In fact one senior citizen wrote on a post card on the article I wrote on Alphanso mangoes. He said he appreciate the number of places I stated where the Alphanso mangoes are grown. He wanted to test only one from each place. The only hitch being he is old and immobile so if I could do him a favour of getting one mango from each place and sending it to him for testing! I thought of booking a seat for him on the Konkan Kanya train to taste the amcha mango.
Then there have been many a Marathi Manoos who has given vent to the angst they have held in their hearts when I have questioned the politicisation of the Marathi language and identity issues. They have attributed my questioning and investigating the issue as effect of convent schooling, only because I went to a ICSE English school. The joke is my school was a Protestant!
Even if Manu (of Manusmriti fame) were alive wouldn’t have thrown such choicest names at me, the way many a Brahmin has, because I have questioned the community’s fence sitting attitude always. Some readers send couplets to me hoping some sense will dawn on me and I will eventually get enlightened about how those politicians who beat a poor bhaiyya in the name of Marathi are the true messiah. If only their wishes were to come true.
The readers often also tell me how the paper has to be run. They have elaborate plans and ideas, which they expect me to convey to my editors. Like most Indians who know before hand if Sachin had to hit a particular in a particular way he would’ve scored triple centuries, similarly they insist if the paper ran on the lines of their suggestions then we’d be number one in the country. One reader recently asked why don’t write on the sex lives and personal lives of those in public life.
Whenever I have written about cooperative factories, agriculture or on Girgaum I have received a lot of response from readers. It is nice to see how curious and open readers are to new ideas and learning to imbibe new research. When I wrote on a private company doing research on paddy and other crops, many readers called and wrote asking for details, from remote places.
Receiving emails is one thing, but I don’t know why readers’ response to agriculture has always come in form of inlands and post cards. I have actually stored these for keep sake value. In fact one senior citizen wrote on a post card on the article I wrote on Alphanso mangoes. He said he appreciate the number of places I stated where the Alphanso mangoes are grown. He wanted to test only one from each place. The only hitch being he is old and immobile so if I could do him a favour of getting one mango from each place and sending it to him for testing! I thought of booking a seat for him on the Konkan Kanya train to taste the amcha mango.
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