In the days before TV news turned into shouting matches, Zee News was a respectable place for Hindi journalism. I love the language and all through school aced in Hindi (making my Bihar-born parents very proud). In the summer break between the first and second year of the university, I thought an internship with a Hindi media powerhouse would be the perfect launchpad for my career in journalism. I applied and was called for my first-ever job interview. Nervous, I entered the room, where they asked me to answer a paper in Hindi: some questions on current affairs. Having studied science through college, I hadn't had the chance to read or write much Hindi so I struggled with technical words related to policy and medicine. I knew I had blown it by the time I finished and turned in my answer sheet so I was very surprised when I got a call next day to come for an interview. Later in the day, I sat opposite three panelists who commended my ICSE scores and then expressed their surprise that in spite of being Bengali, I knew Hindi. The lady in the middle kept interrupting my conversation by calling people on her phone: the sabziwala, driver, assistant, etc. I started shaking with nervousness. She didn't pay attention to anything I said and after about 10 minutes picked up my paper and said, "You don't even know the Hindi terms for 'operation' and 'mandate' and you think you want to do Hindi journalism?" I left defeated in spirit. Next I went to Asian Age where Olga Tellis was more than happy to hear that a South Bombay kid knew the names of Mumbai's eastern suburbs and took me on with half a dozen interns. Over the years, I realised that a half-baked knowledge of English and street-smartness had more chances of getting you a job with the English media in this country than getting into the vernacular with the same skill set. And then suddenly, I started reading English font in Hindi media and words like 'operation' and 'mandate' were sprinkled liberally in Devnagari and spoken by anchors during Hindi news bulletins.
Monday, May 21, 2018
Friday, May 4, 2018
New Mom Tales #10: Tips for those who want to meet new mothers and babies
Tips for those who want to meet new mothers and their babies:
1. Always call and ask the mother if it's okay to drop in for she may be breastfeeding or busy with a fussy baby or may be too tired to entertain you or might just want to spend some time alone with her sleeping baby
2. In case you can't make it, again please inform the mother
3. Do not touch, lift, pat a baby without asking the mother
4. Not all babies like to be cradled or swayed or thrown up in the air or fondled
5. Do not assume that a baby cries only because she is hungry
6. Like dogs, babies do have a sense of who or what they like so if the baby cries in your arms simply hand her back to the mother.
7. Abstain from voicing your judgments about the mother and baby unless asked for
8. Please do not pass the baby around to someone else without the mother's permission
#NewMomTales