Journalism! Whats That?
I always wanted to do Hotel Management (HM) – only because I loved helping my mom in the kitchen since I was a kid and the whole art of turning flour into dough was always a joyous task I enjoyed. I decided when I was 14 that I will do my Hotel Management and then become a chef or anything related to cooking. I had just appeared for my class 12 exams and was waiting for my results. In the meantime, I applied for various HM institutes and the main being, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) entrance exam. Well I secured 92/100 in the exam and was ranked 12th overall in the country out of 4500 students who appeared for the same exam. I never could imagine in my wildest dreams to see my name in a list like that. Well you may think I got through it successfully. No! I didn’t because, I got admissions in really reputed colleges but I couldn’t clear my 12th grade. What a shame? I really was disgusted and much to my surprise, my parents were not at all crest-fallen. Dad just came up to me and tapped my shoulder saying, “There is always a next time son.” Those were the words that actually comforted me.
How I got there?
Well now what next? A year’s time pass as they call it and then I applied for Bachelors in Mass Media (BMM) which I enjoyed thoroughly as I would call it by far the best decision of my entire life (Ofcourse apart from the decision that I turned down a million proposals from really shady girls to go around with them just because I play sport). I finally graduated and majored in Journalism. I always enjoyed writing during school days and I thought I could put that to better use and hence I opted for journalism.
Now. Looking for a job, I got myself into a newspaper called The Asian Age as an intern to cover sports (A million thanks to my best buddy, Karan Pradhan – Reporter in the same publication). Now sports is something that really has changed me as a person and I still believe that sports can change the world in many ways and writing about sports could also make a change in a community. I have played hockey and cricket extensively for my school and have watched almost every sport that exists in the planet, either live or on television. I just don’t know why that I am inclined towards sports so much? The answer still remains a mystery to me. Any damn sport in the planet – I am keen to indulge in the reasons lying behind it. It was a very new experience for me obviously and would want to prove my proficiency in the field. Well my interview was a funny story though. I met the resident editor – Hussain Zaidi and the interview lasted only for 4 minutes and 32 seconds. I was asked to resume duty the next day (3-06-2009) and the first story I get is on Kabaddi (I thought ill do cricket or when I was told ill do local sports I thought atleast football) But Kabaddi? For gods sake who knows Kabaddi? But still I did it with absolute fun and Ofcourse that set the precedent for me to get better stories. Then I was sent to St. Xavier’s Ground in Parel where the Mumbai District Football Association’s (MDFA) football league takes place. It is this place where I saw some really nerve-wrecking football and I believe that the MDFA is where the real football talent lies (believe me I have covered atleast 70 to 75 matches so far and I know it for a fact) This is the venue also where I met some of my most trusted sources – Sudhir and Peter D’Silva (Both former football players and top class coaches with the Sports Authority of India) I have met some really passionate human beings here at the MDFA and young boys who just adore football to their fullest. In the process, I covered sports like Rugby, Hockey and did a few cricket stories. Some sports that I never imagined writing about were Table Tennis, Karate and Ofcourse Kickboxing. I know there is a lot in store for me in future but still…I should have been prepared.
My Office:
Well it is a really cool place (no pun intended). The air conditioning doesn’t work at the Sports desk. Infact, nothing happens at the sports desk – No sufficient water to drink, our desk is the last and when tea is served, by the time it gets to the sports desk, its half cold, there is no mobile phone network. I mean, as it is the sports pages are last in the newspaper…but I didn’t know that the same applied for people associated with that too. Its horrendous…cant anyone see this unjust treatment? We are the sports desk…sports journalist are the only people in the entire world, who according to me write extensively about a religion with statistics – I am referring to cricket by the way. Sports is always ignored. Damn those people who isolate the sports pages and the sports desk.
Ok. That was enough sulking and wining about who great we sports journalists are. Well, I had to work with two female journalists at my time in Asian Age. Always thought, Sports journalism was a Man’s domain but I changed my mind after reading implausible copies written by Laura Mario and Angelina Botswanaha from England and South Africa respectively. I work with 2 female sports journalist and I was the third in the bunch and we were the only three that comprised the sports desk in Mumbai for our publication. My computer is place between both of them (Come on now…who would have the privilege to sit in between two girls.) Just Kidding now…a lot the Ram Dev babas and fake sadhus sit amongst a lot of women. But I am not one of them. Moving ahead, I am looking forward to do some great work in future (that is if someone hires me as a trainee reporter)
Ravan Ko Ravan nahi bolega toh kya bolega?
Oblivious to all the predicament we go through everyday, there are a bunch of people who actually make up for the mood in the office. Best example, Dippy our crime reporter. This man is absolutely hilarious and just is as loud as he can get and has a belly that can be converted into a table too. Like if he is sleeping, we all keep our teacups on his belly and confidently move around coz we know the strength of his makeshift table. Then there is the usual mock-feud between Abbas our education reporter and Umesh (I don’t know wat he covers. All I know he does something related to courts.) Abbas and Umesh just go on for hours discussing really serious topics but it turns funny when Umesh gets all biased and keeps generalising things and then Abbas just keeps pushing him down every time Umesh gets hysterical.
Fashion ka hai yeh jalwa!
Well the most annoying days are on Mondays – when the marketing department have their meetings, which look like some mini-theatre that is completely out of sorts. First they don’t know how to operate a projector and half the time, the presentations are screened on the wall just next to me…and the small aisle in our office is just like a ramp in the Milan Fashion week. All the chicks from the marketing department keep ambling down that aisle as if they are auditioning for some Madhur Bhandarkar movie about realities in the fashion industry or elsewhere. They are loud as hell…or rather like the ladies compartment in a local train during the mornings. Their jokes are not at all funny but you will always find them laughing for some stupid reason. Inspite of having intercoms, you will here a loud voice from one corner to another signaling the person in the other corner just to check his mail. I mean…why are mails there in the first place…why cant they inform them through mails which is less noisy u know.
Well amongst this chaos, there is the more or rather the most silent desk called the Sports desk where three of us just do our stories, release the pages and then just occasionally wander around the office to have a chat with our colleagues...thats how humble and sober we are u know...
Ba Bye…Cheers…
