hm... since i cant possibly spend so much time on the phone.. i think i'll describe the first two days of my newfound professional life on my blog for the benefit of my friends.. since i'm AT the office rt now and my contract forbids me to mention my work on the blogosphere, i think i'm gonna have to get aroud it by being slightly vague.. in any case, those who are reading this already know precisely where i'm working.. for those who stumbled upon this blog by chance.. suffice it to say that i'm in the journalism business, employed at one of India's leading newspapers, and as recently as two days ago shifted from the boredom of the editing desk to the agony of being a reporter..
love shows you the agony and ecstasy of things.. so they say.. "THEY" be damned.. so I say.. coz this job, which has been a dream for years, in reality has shown me both sides of the proverbial coin..
if i thought sitting around waiting for ppl to file enuf stories to be passed down to us lowly trainees for editing was bad.. the last two days have DRAINED me of energy..
yesterday as the MPs of India debated on the trust vote, i had to go chek out what the party workers at the head office of one of the major parties opposing the government were doing in the office... what no one told me was that the road that this said office is located at is a one way, with restriction on stopping any vehicle at any gate for more than about 30 seconds.. so while i got there comfortably in an auto, getting an auto back to the office wasnt quite so easy.. a couple of hours later, i was asked to go back to the same office.. and while i was there got a lead about a demonstration being held condemning the money- for votes scandal in the parliament. since i was only bout 2 km away from the parliament, this intrepid reporter decided to go check it out.. forgetting that the damned thing was in the WRONG direction to the traffic flow.. the upshot of it was that i ran about 700 odd metres in the blazing heat at 5 pm along a road lined with sentries, and got into an auto at the intersection.. thank god for roundabouts.. the autowallah however proved clueless regarding my destination.. and as anyone who'se ever tried to find their way around all those confusing intersecting round roads of central delhi will know, if u dont know the EXACT location and preferably a few landmarks of the place u need to go to.. u can get rather lost.. well.. thanks to a few good samaritans on the roadside, i reached my destination, took in the events, and climbed thankfully into a bus that would drop me right outside my office... after a whole month of getting home after 1 am, it was nice to reach comfortably at 9:15 and have dinner with my family..
today was a much more tiring day.. i guess i'm gonna have to toughen up a hell of a lot to continue in the job..
had to take a looooong bus ride all the way to noida, n then when i got back i saw a political rally in progress and decided to follow it... got into one of the cars participating in the rally n ended up all the way in shahadara... took me almost 30 mins and 50 bucks in the Auto to get back to my comfortable airconditioned office and collapse in a chair... worst thing.. the stories i went chasing after werent even important enuf to go into the paper.....
The day taught me what NOT to do when looking for a story.,.
1. DONT LEAVE the airconditioned confines of the office to cover an event before finding out what mode of transport is available to get to to the said event and back... yesterday i found, much to my despair that the organisers of the event i took the long bus ride to NOIDA to sent a car to pick up the journalists who were invited... running into the Radisson hotel looking like u've just tumbled out of a DTC (which IS exactly what uve just done) can make u feel extremely uncomfortable in the midst of a glitzy launch event...
2. DONT care what you look like when u get to wherever it is that u've been sent to get a story... as long as uve got clothes on your back and your hair doesnt look like a bird biult a nest in it.. its FINE... u're a REPORTER for heaven's sake.. NO ONE CARES how u're dressed... seniors at my office even told me how they just went off to party after a tiring hectic day without bothering to change.. the press card does the trick..
3. NEVER let your phone balance run out... u dont want to be stuck somewhere wondering whether its worth your while to even pursue the "story" further.. and u cant call the office n confirm whether it wouldn't be better for u to simply return.
4.NEVER just go off to see whats goin on... landing up at a major party's media cell on a day when some superemely important political event is on , without any idea of what u will ask is NOT a good idea.. u'll only end up feeling rather embarrassed..
5. and this is THE most important.... DONT expect to find a story wherever you go... u might go chasing after something for an exhaustingly long time only to realise it was really not worth the wasted time... BUt it IS.. since its teaching u what NOT to go running after..
ah well... I think i've learnt a few lessons...
No comments:
Post a Comment