“Rajeev, Arjun here”
“Yes, Sir”

Time for the daily update.

Arjun was a really hands-on boss. But his style didn’t bother me anymore. I was used to it by now.

“What’s the status on Khakhee Jawant?”
“She woke up, came out to collect the newspaper. Someone’s started a rumor that she may call the press home, so am sending reinforcements for the watch”

When it rains it pours. And this is especially true of news. It seemed to me that the newsmakers of Mumbai had all conspired to overburden us journalists.

“The Bad B? How’s his cough?”
“He’s ok, Sir. He had an early morning consultation with Dr. Nair and went to the Siddhivinayak for a special pooja”

I felt fortunate I wasn’t a field journalist any more. I definitely didn’t want to be covering the health of tinsel town celebrities. The prospect of seeing a bigger-than-life personality no longer held any charm.

“The protest march in Dadar?”
“No violence. Peaceful. No police. No stones”
“vaise, what is the march for?”

I didn’t blame Arjun for this lapse. Could happen to anyone. There were too many of them these days.

“It’s to prevent the release of that movie, boss. Victoria 205”
“kyun? Problem kya hai?”
“Kuch nahin. That party wants it to have a Hindi name, that’s all. The movie also publicly depicts Val-day celebrations supposedly”
“Oh no. They were asking for it then. Acha chalo, call me if anything turns up”

And so I hung up, smiling. Now that the update was done, I could get down to some ‘real’ work, my editorial duties. I had two first timers on my agenda today. Should be interesting. The first one, a 24 year old documentary film maker (or so said his CV) had already arrived. I motioned for him to come in.

The meeting went on for 30 minutes, by the end of which I was desperately bored. It was a feature on Bania Sharma’s dressing sense and how it had evolved over the years. I suggested that he include a couple of tennis shots in the feature for the sake of the people who did not know her yet.
“Who would not know Bania?”
“Not in that sense. The feature requires a context and a setting, right? So a couple of tennis shots in the beginning…”
“But, the flow would be…”
“Arre baba, just do it na, don’t argue”
“Yes Sir”
You have to be autocratic with these young know-it-alls sometimes.

The second meeting was marginally more interesting. It was a feature that hinted at a conspiracy behind some accidental nudity (I was yet to get used to the medical term for this – wardrobe malfunction) in some fashion shows. This had already been done in some other channels but I did see some scope in this. I asked him to come the next day for the contract.

I realized in a stray moment of introspection that I was picking the pieces of reality that were closest to the movies. Wasn’t it supposed to be the reverse? Realism depicted through the movies and so on?

Fortunately for my tired brain, I was interrupted by a half-frantic call.

“Q-TV. Rajeev speaking”
“I’m Nisha calling from Sangam, an NGO in Mankhurd”

One of those donation/free publicity calls.

“Sorry, ma’am. Our last free slot just went out to the government of…”
“No, no. I have a feature idea which I wanted to talk to you about”

This was a first. Although I knew how this conversation was going to end, with a regretful “I’ll see what I can do”, I was eager to hear more.

“The MMC conducted a demolition yesterday in two slums here that we think was illegal”
“Ma’am, with all due respect, we prefer not to run controversial pieces especially if there is no evidence…”
“There are truckloads of evidence if you would just care to drop in once. People have been beaten up by the police for no fault of theirs. One of the demolitions was without the mandatory 24 hour notice. Legal households have been destroyed”
“Hmmm?”
“Women and children have been brutalized”
Was waiting for that line. Honestly, what is it with women and children?
“There was a fire also, which no one knows the source of. The slum dwellers and the police are blaming each other”
Complicated.
“When was this?”
“The demolition was a week back”
“And you are telling me this stuff hasn’t been covered till now”
“That’s right. Absolutely no publicity. Just a small article in Lok Shiksha. Blink and you’ll miss”

Something was fishy. I just didn’t buy the fact that the media would let a drama like this go unutilized

“I’m surprised such an undemocratic event went unnoticed, ma’am”
“I guess you don’t believe me. The other channels didn’t either”
“It’s not about belief. I’m just being practical”
“I challenge you to come down to Indira Nagar. It won’t cost you anything. Just come down. You don’t have to take my word. Just come and see”
“I’d love to ma’am, but this week’s really bad. You know, with all kinds of stuff happening in the city. We are really understaffed at present. I’ll see what I can do”

Maybe I will go down there next week. And donate to Satsang or whatever that NGO was. But to give this story a slot on prime-time television was a bit too much to expect. A media editor has to make tough calls like these everyday.
I looked at my screensaver before shutting down.
“When it comes to content, we do not compromise”

Amen.

(Lakshman Sethuraman is a free lancer. He has never been paid for lancing in all his life. He likes Mumbai and is a big fan of the local trains, especially Virar-Fast.)

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