"First person" :
When it comes to my love affair with my Journalism ...it had a beginning
but no countdown ... Life is different.
2026 - July protest and Gen Z behavior ... had personal lessons for me.
I knew youngsters cannot be predicted. But I did not know .. they could use these ... "gaalis" ... and the posters and placards they carried. OMG.
Amit Shah or Narendra Modi may learn political lesson or not; I have learnt mine.
Look ... what have I done with my life !!
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| My parents |
2026 is another proof ... my era is over
A New era here now ... is unknown to me. I am misfit. I have been rejected.
I would give myself ... maximum next 20 years ... Hence - Countdown begins !!
Like Modi ji -- I am also September born; but 20 years younger to him.
Self with Gen Z daughter !!
20 years is nothing ... 2006 looks yesterday
'One life is not enough' - a very good title of Natwar Singh's book.
I am proud of my journalism ... but in strict sense - I am an 'accidental journalist'. A Science Drop out. If Science, bloody calculus and ever irritating Trigonometry gave me what I wanted of life .. I would be somewhere else.
And I would not be churning out this blog piece.
1998 -- I moved to Delhi PTI. For me it was a dream come true. But soon we realised - "it was like Tijori of Sholay" ... lot of jewelry and cash ... but the only woman in the house was a Hindu widow. -- someone in white sari ... for whom ornaments would be taboo.
By 2002 - PTI management almost made me say -- "Sir I am neither responsible for Godhra train massacre nor the riots later".
Since 2002 - I am a jobless freelancer; and Namo is India's prime minister. And a good one at that. Without him winning in 2014 ... India would have been different.
Gen Z would have read :: "Jack and Jyll went up the hill ..... and they came down with a daughter".
** This was the maximum 'adult' joke we played in St Anthony's High School - Shillong. (A Don Bosco institute)
In 2008 ... I was with 'The Statesman' .... dreaming many things as an idiot !!
I had friends including the likes of R C Rajamani; one of the few gentlemen from 'ex-PTI' stable.
There were a few in papers like 'The Asian Age' --- one called Manish Anand met me first time at the Samajwadi Party office near Mandi House. This was 2008.
The non-veg lunch post Amar Singh press conference was good.
My friend borrowed Rs 10 from me for cigar.
Well, these are also history now.
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| Hindutva impact on Journos : 2022 : Somnath temple pilgrimage |
What history ? It's pathetic history !!
I was so wrong about life and career.
Pit fighting with destiny; as one my friends keep saying on Whatsapp chat.
Destiny is .... LLD - a short form that was 'so popular' in Press Trust of India (PTI).
More specifically in PTI office in Delhi - we used to say LLD file.
L. Laga Diya file !!
I do not know whether "new PTI generation" knows about LLD file !
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| Blogger and actor Vivek Oberoi |
I keep criticising friends and organisations in media.
But the old school still had values. Deterioration started ... but still the boat could sail.
But things are entirely on a different realm these days. One feels helpless and frustrated. But things are not in our control.
Is everything about money and achievements?
One oft repeated phrase is -- No money; no life- no respect.
Not exactly, I would say.
People with money also have their limitations.
There are people - 'kamate kamate mar jaega'.
And you cannot find 5 people speaking good about them.
I can share my personal experience.
Where ever I go and interact with people - of all class, caste and religion - my mother knew --
... hotel boys in Agartala, typically fussy and demanding neighbours ... my dad's colleagues, their wives
--
I find people talking affectionately to me.
They still worship my mom. The hotel boy - Dilip even had surprised my wife. He came running having heard I was in the room ....
after a long gap.
He almost brought me tears - as he was huffing and puffing ---
"Sir, I can never forget your mother. The year you all came here for your marriage. Once the manager scolded me badly and your mother saw all that from distance ... she later called me and gave me some snacks. Who does that for a waiter sir".
In short; that way ... my mother was more successful in life.
New generation may not care about my story.
They have even taken friendship to the next level ---- 'friends with benefits'.
It almost sounds -- firangi news organisations ... talking about professioalism.
Because their professionalism is typically 'anti-India'. Their professionalism is hiring 'vernacular regional language guys' with valid accreditation cards and make them work like super spies.
No need to write anything - just tell us ... which file went where and which officer met which corporate.
What started innocuously is today protest of 'gaali baazi'.
Sample this: "Many of the young protesters at Jantar Mantar came of age during Modi’s hold on power, one defined by sweeping promises of national greatness, economic prosperity, and a renewed sense of nationalism. Those pledges defined their formative years, shaping expectations .... Yet many young Indians say that national success has not translated into opportunities for them".
Partly true; partly exaggerated. And how do they cover 'change of British PMs' in the last decade ....
Triumph of democracy !!
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| My mom's 'assets' which we and perhaps also dad never cared about |
ends
Thanks, ND for sharing about Rajamani and PTI, great going, keep going, way to go !!
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