New Delhi: Medha Patkar had been shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the followers had built a dam of protest at Jantar Mantar.
The men in uniform kept a vigil, but safely from a distance. There were cameras from all the news channels and reporters on their lives (basically answering the questions of the anchors presuming they are being watched by thousands of viewers).
Some like me pressed the earpiece deeper in the ear, to hear hard. But the voice of the anchors was always lost in the slogan shouting and the "inspirational songs" sung against the government and in support of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, by the activists.
Gradually most of us devised ways to answer the anchors without knowing what they asked.
We presumed the questions must be related to the "Dam[d] protest."
The answers were the same, repetitive in all lives. What changed were the camera locations and the guests.
In an attempt to outwit all the other reporters at the place, I tried to catch "appealing characters" among the NBA activists.
I managed to get a lady...err...I forgot her name. Anyway she had come all the way from Mumbai in support of Medha Patkar.
Like a good reporter I briefed her my question and made her go for a rehearsal. She sounded perfect.
We were on the standby mode and I tried looking into the camera expecting a question from the anchor any moment.
The sun was hot on our heads and the agitation had gained momentum at the approach of some policemen. The same moment a man came running with a cellphone to the lady and said, 'tumhare pati ka phone hai.'
Thank god the anchor was still to come to me. All attempts to stop the lady from taking the phone went unheeded.
She talked at length, ensured that her husband and kids get glued to the TV set to hear her speak.
By the time she had finished I could hear the faint whisper in my earpiece...Shiv Pujan if you can...The question was lost in the slogan shouting. I nodded as if I had understood the question well and began the answer. The same one I had planned.
Speaking for a few seconds I thought it wise to introduce the lady. The introduction was brief. I just said she was roughed up by the police late last night.
She grabbed the gunmike before I had completed the question and like a true Marathi, began abusing the policemen for having stolen one of her earrings.
What followed next was not apparently audible to me. I realised that she had already spoken for over 40 seconds and I must stop her.
It was a live and there was no stopping her. She finally did and looked satisfied. There was no second question by the anchor. I was wondering why? The live was over. I looked satisfied. I had another hour to prepare for the next live.
But that hour passed answering questions of my colleagues back in office. The lady had used abuses which every Indian knows, even the foreign tourists frequenting the land for hunt of spirituality have to encounter them at times. Guess what?
One of the earrings of the lady had allegedly been "stolen away by some policeman" and she was furious about it. Damn the policemen who dared take away her earrings.
The lady had used all the "Ma ka" and "Behen ka" word which went on air there was no stopping her.
Comments
0 comment