Death, be not proud, though some have called thee ... ::: Homage to journalist and an affectionate senior colleague Harpal Singh Bedi -- his encounter with a 'nothing doing TV' sports expert will be remembered for long

 Homage for fellow journalists -- especially senior ones should come naturally to people like us. 'We' - the us -- we have seen the other side of journalism and journalistic era -- when the profession was still a Mission among many.

first generation JNUites - Dr Jaishankar and Harpal sahab and others

That a noble mission could be a 'profession' stuck me and left me shell-shocked when I reached Delhi in 1998 from the wilds of northeast and the refrain one used to hear - "Naukri karni hae (Let us just focus on saving our job)". Chamcha giri was an art.

On Parliament Street --- loyalty to Panun Kashmiri was a virtue. This was not a new phenomenon for that sandstone building -- repaired by late 1990s. 

Earlier Palghatis dominated; and hence it was natural justice when the tables were turned. Uncles, aunts and nephews got screwed literally and virtually !! 

Next round of natural justice is not far... at least we may believe. 

Kirti Patil, a former room mate and sports journo and now 'pound earning' machine called a 'good papa' would agree. 

Amidst all these comes a sad news -- the passing away of Harpal Singh Bedi, a former UNI sports (icon) among journalists.

Being 'sardarji' worked as an advantage to an extent but he had a natural inclination for a wonderful sense of humour. His witty messages and remarks are the real toast of the town.... were refreshing and would make everyone laugh, smile and grin -- often at oneself !! 

Hence, John Donne's poetic lines make a lot of sense .... 

"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful ....,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

....

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,"

Here are a few anecdotes and that's the best way to remember him and pay homage to a gentleman to the core. Senior-junior ... know all experts and so on never bothered him ! 

A very few men come with those virtues and a fewer would go back ... not giving that ability to laugh and make others laugh and feel happy. Either you had a good job or not... did not matter....

His 'witty' oneliner would....

After 2017 when I joined UNI and he came to know about my 'new job'.... can you imagine what his cryptic message was:

"Is sey achha kisi Gurudware pe chale jaate (Well, you could have better gone to a Gurudwara)".

This was during the financial crunch time when UNI payment used to be 'peanuts' and that too delayed !! 

Behind the 'joke' was a sympathy of a veteran colleague !

Blogger and a lovely creature!! 

As journalists - our hearts do not really belong to spouses or even girl friends (or boyzz). It is locked to the written word.

Once that happens - you are hooked and enslaved.

But there is another aspect linked to journalism and a thing called 'luck' ! Often a very below average person comes up the ladder. Such was a case of a TV journalist (allegedly a lady) from idiot box and factory of 'nothing doing'.

The anchor reportedly interviewed Harpal Singh Bedi mistaking him to be former Indian cricket captain and a spin maestro Bishan Singh Bedi. The arrogance of that journo was the height of it.

She reportedly asked him; you never said you are not Bishan Bedi....

"Madam ji you kept on asking me .. Mr Bedi what happened to Indian cricket and spin balls and so on...and of course I am Mr Bedi and I understand cricket. But I could understand today to work in a good TV channel, you need not know anything about cricket".

There are a few more ! 

"I told my kids about his story .... about riding pillion with the ISI team (read spy) while covering Asiad in Pakistan," rightly recalls Rahul Virkar, once a budding journalism star of eco division in Delhi and Mumbai. 

Allegedly -- the husband of a dutiful librarian --- quit journalism in the first decade of the new millennium. Smart move !!

I have another  joke from Harpal Bedi stable vis-a-vis Pakistan. Well, the joke was actually on a journalist in media room New Delhi (sarkari building).

I am avoiding the name of that journo ... for some specific reasons.

Once Harpal sahab asked me "Are you covering foreign ministry beat for UNI?"

Politely I said, "Yes".

"Do you know Sartaz Aziz (then NSA, Pakistan) declined to come to India... Do you know why?"

I again responded, "The newspaper 'Dawn' has given a detailed article on that....".

Harpal sahab countered: "Arey chhad yar itna bhi nahi pata... Sartaj Aziz telephoned Ajit Doval (Modi's NSA) and told him, "Sir I cannot come ... because in the press conference New Delhi's and South Asia's most intelligent journalist (one New Delhi based foreign policy expert) would attend and ask me, "what is the logic behind Nawaz Sharif being 'not so sharif...(... gentleman or soft)' and Narendra Modi remaining separated from wife.... I cannot answer such strategic questions. So I am cancelling my trip".

Finally, come what may -- we should remember .... a man who can make others laugh even when he has passed away ought to be a great man.

Bengali satirist Bhanu Banerjee once said, "I long for the day in my humour full career that when I die and people come to see my body; on seeing my face, they start laughing".

That's  one way of looking at it.

In film 'Wazir' says ..."When I go up and God asks me we send you down, what did you do.... I will say, oh God, I could make my friend laugh".

Yes, Harpal sahab has certainly achieved that.

A sense of humour is a trait that nobody wants to be thought of as lacking.  But a claim that the sense of humour is a moral virtue seems far more controversial.

Do join the debate. Harpal sahab will like it !! 

"A particularly sad day for first generation JNUites.  Harpal Singh Bedi, the legend of our times, passed away this morning.  My condolences to his family. Om Shanti." -- Dr Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister 

 

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