83 Days of Media Encounter

A Short But Eternal one...

I was nervous a bit, but managed to hide my nervousness behind my sweet smile. Jolting all my confidence from here and there, I entered the room. Good morning sir was all I could say to Mr. Hussain Zaidi, obviously the editor of The Asian Age newspaper. He greeted me and gradually his questions began to mount in response to my answers. He said me something which impressed me a lot. He said, “In this three month internship, either I will make you a journalist or will through the journalism fever out of your mind.” And forcing his two lips to come together he continues, “I will make you work like a slave and there will be no pay.” I agreed and joined from the very next day (20th March’08)

First few days were very a blend of excitement and fear whether I would be able to cope up with so much responsibility or not? People at the editorial desk were not very friendly with interns, but succeeded in finding one. Her name was Seema. I was given my 1st assignment by Edlyn. All faces were same and everyone’s target was me. So I began my journey as a journalist. My 1st article was about colourful festival Holi. I interviewed the concerned person and started to pen down to frame it in a structured way. The girl next to me said, “Not to write it on paper. Straight away on word document” and explained me, were to save the files with what date as well as the in house chat system.

It all was amazing. After few days, my three friends came in for interview out of which only one got selected. I was happy on that day because I had a company of someone whom I know. But the very next day, she left with a migraine to never come back. I had to survive and win over my introvert nature. Days started passing by and even the responsibilities started multiplying. I was assigned to daily replace the knick knacks on the listing column, which constituted the movie timings, different events, delicious food and helpline. And then I headed for attending events and exhibitions. Seeing the faces those beyond the television screen or big cinema theaters in my real life was like a dream come true. The reporters including me and the photographers always try to pounce on them to get their quotes on any particular events. I even covered three crime beat stories. And that was the wonderful part of my life. Trust me on this.

My experience was very good with a pinch of bitter one. I use to get calls from different PR’s about the upcoming events and it was an amazing feeling to get such a honour by someone. Once my senior roared at me like anything as I had incurred a serious mistake of writing Bollywood ‘B’ in small letter instead of capital while she proof read it. And also she warned me to concentrate on my work and get rid of my phone for work hours. I cried that day a bit, but after that day, I never attended anyone’s call when I was in a mid of something important. But apart from these firings, some of the stars were also not lagging behind. Some were actually rude to me. And one fine day I fortunate to even attend an official meet in my office about the new pages to be introduced.

While I was interning, few of my colleagues left our publication for one or the other reasons. So there was a farewell party too for the same. Working in The Asian Age was a wonderful experience for me. Every department was independently working. But if there was breaking news, or cricket match or something worth, majority of us were glued in front of a big TV in our office. Those days were really special for me. You might be thinking life as a reporter is just reporting and filing stories and satisfy the editor with the relevant and heart hitting content for his paper. But it has all the enjoyment one would like to have in their life too. It was like an alternate family for me. On the last day of my internship (June10’08) I distributed Cadbury Dairy milk to almost everyone from my editor to the watch man of the office. I just wanted to thank all of them for supporting and co-operating with me one of the wonderful journeys of my life.