Whaat?? No maid!! Tell us
Is this the future of Indian journalism? No, I’m serious. Have we so run out of consequential topics to discuss and dissect that we’ll now write about maidservants and other domestic chore helpers?
Yesterday, Ottie asked me to do a story on dhobis in Vasant Kunj who’ve apparently gone on a strike. I did a double take. I’d always credited Ottie with superior news sense...sigh...not any more.
And these good-for-nothing-uber-modern Vasant Kunj residents? Whatever is wrong with them? Matlab, what can I possibly write in the story? Something like this perhaps:
“While the dhobis in Vasant Kunj remain unyielding in their demand for recognition as a revenue-generating industry, for the residents of the area, it’s been a tough week. Said Vineeta Kalra, a resident: “My children have been receiving punishments in school for the last two days. Teachers reprimand them for turning up in unironed clothes. I don’t know what to do. I’m very anxious. We’ll take up this issue with the resident welfare association, and also with the area MLA if need be.”
And listen, it’s bad enough they keep asking me to do onion price story…With this I’ve hit new low :(
(Kindly note that otherwise I’m a well-to-do journalist with plenty of good stories to do. This so doesn’t warrant my attention!)
I hope they don’t give me a byline for the story...Or else, I’ll delete this blog...
Yesterday, Ottie asked me to do a story on dhobis in Vasant Kunj who’ve apparently gone on a strike. I did a double take. I’d always credited Ottie with superior news sense...sigh...not any more.
And these good-for-nothing-uber-modern Vasant Kunj residents? Whatever is wrong with them? Matlab, what can I possibly write in the story? Something like this perhaps:
“While the dhobis in Vasant Kunj remain unyielding in their demand for recognition as a revenue-generating industry, for the residents of the area, it’s been a tough week. Said Vineeta Kalra, a resident: “My children have been receiving punishments in school for the last two days. Teachers reprimand them for turning up in unironed clothes. I don’t know what to do. I’m very anxious. We’ll take up this issue with the resident welfare association, and also with the area MLA if need be.”
And listen, it’s bad enough they keep asking me to do onion price story…With this I’ve hit new low :(
(Kindly note that otherwise I’m a well-to-do journalist with plenty of good stories to do. This so doesn’t warrant my attention!)
I hope they don’t give me a byline for the story...Or else, I’ll delete this blog...
6 Comments:
but you know what, i was in delhi last week and i saw the papers full of inconsequential shit like that. its like, a paperfull of that small 'anecdotes from around the world' column which one usually finds in papers. any thoughts why?
PS, you need to deal with the spammers. Turn the comment verification on.
You haven't seen inconsequential news till you've seen the evening bulletins of channels like Fox, ABC, et al. in the US. Dogs trapped on roofs and latest party drinks make headline news. The dhobi strike still seems fairly newsworthy to me.
And as for Delhi papers being full of inconsequential shit, now where are papers like Midday being published :)? Point being, papers like The Guardian, Le Monde and Frankfurter Allgemeine set very high standards that all can aspire but not necessarily live upto. And some amount of trivia is necessary. You cannot take yourself too seriously all the time.
Nish: That's to fill up the space. The idea is to fill every little inch of space on the newspaper. If they are ads, excellent, otherwise crappy news will do...
Thalassa_Mikra: Yeah, I know. But I still don't want a byline for this bit of 'trivia' :)
Koi baat nahi baccha, we all have to do our share of crap stories. Remember the one I did on Monday! Bloody hell!
lol, but tell me P: how easy(or how difficult) is it for you guys to just "make up" the bloody story? you know - get the basic outline and then sit in some restaurant, sip your lassi, and simply fill in the blanks - quotes and all! What fun!!
*tight hug*
It's me, V: Guess what! the story isn't working out. Haven't been able to get anyone on quote. Think am off the hook at least for today ;)
SwB: Hey, that's not fair :) We do our bit of investigating as well. Although, in all fairness, I do admit that what you say, also has to be resorted to in extreme crisis situations....however, the outline is quite important :)
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