Thursday, June 28, 2007

As tough as it gets

It has always been my desire to get into the realms of reporting. Journalism has come across as a daring and wonderful profession.I always tell my friends that I would have been a journalist if I hadn't got into engineering. It is altogether a different matter that I do not have the creative juices flowing when it comes to professional writing. It involves considerable hard work to report the news in a perfect way and it is equally important to catch the reader's attention. The most important aspect of writing is that the language must be grammatically perfect. A few words altered to your whims can completely change the meaning of the sentence. It shouldn't strike a discordant note with the listener when he reads your sentence. A bad sentence is like bad music. It cannot go unnoticed.

I realized how difficult it can get to hit the right note when different kinds of people are catching up with the blog. I have to think more than once when I translate my thoughts to words. I just had to write about what I felt in Great Expectations when my father suddenly calls me up to find out if things are fine. My friends from different parts call up to find out what in the world is wrong with me. It was difficult to explain that it was just a one off blog reflecting my feelings at that point of time. It is not strange for us to experience a wide range of emotions over a period of time.

A couple of days back, I wrote an entry(Why vernacular?) on the medium of instruction in some schools in Karnataka. I wrote a sentence highlighting the negative impact the court judgement would have on the school going children. I immediately got a phone call from back home asking me to fine tune the sentence. Obviously, I had the initial feeling of Oh! This is my blog!, but then realized the impact of what would happen if my writing is taken in the wrong spirit. So, off I logged in to rephrase the sentence.

I realize that not everybody looks at things the way you do. Everyone has his own perspective of analyzing things. The magnitude of writing a report on day to day happenings can be so tough. The report would end up pleasing a few people, and on the flip side, upset many heads. It is not difficult to get into the wrong side of somebody. There was a time when the media was unbiased, news was reported in true intentions, and brilliant judgmental articles filled the newspapers. But today, the news is filled with trivial issues, highlighting mediocre and unwanted things, providing publicity to uncalled for activities and raising its popularity with blown up controversies. Truth is in troubled waters and not many want to get themselves tested.

Journalism still remains my dream, and as a consolation, I get to fill the void thanks to blogging.

16 comments:

  1. Please Praveen I dont want you to be a Journalist. Anyways, as you said its a very difficult job to satisfy all kinds of people. When you write something each one will take it in a different way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Emani: Unfortunately, even if I want to become one, I can't :-(

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ""Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be read once.""
    Cyril Connolly

    You are a Literaturist, Mr. GK, and I am proud of you. As a matter of fact the word Literaturist doesn't exist, but when it does, I hope you are the first one.

    ~I am a guy by the way!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mr. Anonymous: Not many people were there when I left Rolla, and it is embarrassing for me not to recognize my good friend. Anyway thanks for your comments. Keep them coming and I really like your comments! I hope to find out who you are quickly :-)

    Anyways, journalism is a wonderful profession. My father still remembers some of the great reporters of the early 70s. Sad that I dont know of any except for the biased guys of today's media!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. praveen,
    lovely post.
    me too had this dream of becoming a journalist.
    loved that quote from cyril, thanks to anon.

    i also love to hear stories that my journo-photographer friends keep telling me often.

    cheers
    rk

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bellur: Thanks! Your blog reflects your tastes. You deserve to be a journo!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. G'day Praveen,

    My friend, you are a journalist. As a professional journalist in two countries and a newspaper and magazine editor, I can tell you that a true ``journalist'' is one who keeps a journal.

    Your blog is your journal. I think you do a fine job and there is nothing to stop you contributing to newspapers, news websites or magazines anywhere in the world.

    If you want any guidance, you can always contact me thru my blog.

    Cheers

    David

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi David,

    Welcome to my blog! Thanks a lot for the comments! It is good to know that I can get in touch with someone regarding this.

    Thank you very much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Praveen,

    Forgot to add y'day - you are an online publisher.

    Ergo, you are a journalist even though you do not write for a newspaper.

    The definition of this term is being changed, thanks to the internet.

    You know where to find me, any time. I think you do a good job on this blog, especially in terms of balancing words with images. That is such an important facet of presentation.

    Cheers

    David

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, thanks David for the lavish praise. I am honoured :-)

    You know what, my image of journalism is still the conservative way of writing articles in newspapers. The joy of seeing your article in print, according to me, is the most wonderful feeling compared to any online quotes :-)

    I have old time views as far as journalism is concerned, though the image of it is changing bigtime, as you said, thanks to the internet!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. came back from my vacation and read the newspapers and surfed the news channels. nothing had changed. same stories, different characters. a big let down.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anand: How can things change in a fortnight man? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Have you ever read something by Richard Bach? In one of his books, he said: "a wish was never given to you, without the ability to conquer it, too".

    If you're serious about journalism, do a favor to yourself and make that dream come true. If you fail,'cause after all, life doesn't always gives us what we want, you would have tried and learned something, reason why you lose nothing.

    You know, the difference between those who fail and those who succeed isn't the result itself, but what they did to accomplish their dream. Try and you may win, don't do nothing and you'll certainly lose.

    Start with a small step (sending some opinion to a local magazine, one essay, some work you've done...) and than move forward, try harder. Conquer your wishes and let no one tell you not to. Own your life. Don't take this as an advise, more as someone who believes in you. And don't think I'm nayve, I'm sure it won't be easy, I can't promise you a victory. But for what I've seen here, you have a chance. A gift if you prefer. But gifts mean nothing without work...as someone once said..but that's for later..

    Barbara (by the way, sorry about the mistakes, I'm portuguese =P )

    ReplyDelete
  16. Barbara: Welcome to my blog. It was such a wonderful comment and I totally agree to what you are saying. I would definitely do my best to do what I want in life. I really appreciate your good words.

    I did visit your blog, but sadly everything is in portugese I guess, and I am totally ignorant of your langauage :-(

    ReplyDelete