I was in The Daily for about 17 months, which were quite eventful as Mumbai witnessed the first bomb blasts and communal riots during that period. The Latur Earthquake came later. I also remember a freak and tragic railway accident in which a number of women commuters jumped out of a running train between Kandivali and Borivli because of a fire in the compartment. My first CR, chief reporter, was Mayank Bhat, a salt-n-pepper hair guy with a stylish mooch, who would almost always wear a khadi kurta. After some months, Sarosh Bana took over as the CR.Sarosh had a way of telling stories and we would end up laughing every time. I especially remember one in which he was trying to eat a samosa with a fork, on a Naval ship! Sarosh is now a trained Hindustani classical singer and works for the India Today. I met some of the finest reporters there, like Harish Nambiar, Renni Abraham, Pranati Mehra, Shubhangi Khapre, etc.The photographer Sebastian D'Souza, or Sabby as we called him, became famous after he captured Ajmal Kasab in his camera! I fondly remember Laxman, our telephone operator, who was our saviour as any call we had to make was possible only through him.
While I was working there, I took a test to join Maharashtra Times and I joined as a sub editor on January 1, 1994.
I joined The Daily to avoid studying, but I learnt more than any journalism school could teach.
It was true that I learnt a lot in The Daily, but I also learnt much during my diploma days, at The Garware institute, Kalina campus. We were a bunch of 20 odd students, coming from varied backgrounds, languages and with different dreams. We had evening classes on weekdays and morning classes on Sundays. Only a handful, or probably less than that, are in active journalism now, Jay Deshmukh standing tall with his decades in AFP, reporting from war or war like situations.
We had exceptional teachers. Allwyn Fernandes, then Chief Reporter in the Times of India taught reporting. Allwyn's lectures were fun and practical. I remember once he was talking about words that were not used in the copy or something like that. Oh shit, was considered to be 'unparliamentary' then, we would get a cheap thrill if we said it openly. So he was telling how his son had replaced shit with fish. ''Both smell equally bad,'' was how he reacted to that. E Ramkumar taught us editing. He was the News Editor in ToI, and a Yoga expert. I still remember him, white hair, a Tshirt tucked in the jeans and strange light grey eyes. He would get PTI stubs of copy and give us to edit. That was real editing experience, because we had in our hands real piece of news (though of course, it won't be published). M V Kamath came to taught often, so did Kumar Ketkar.
Uma Singh was the course coordinator, who would pronounce my name as Mrinmoyee. There was another Mrinmayee in class too, Mrinmayee Mujumdar. A stunningly beautiful girl called Rakhi was the centre of attraction in the class.
We passed out in June 1992, and had a get together at the Garware campus on December 6, 1992, the day that changed a lot for everyone in India. We were having fun at the lawns of the institute and I think Ketkar reached with the news of demolition of the Babri Masjid. There was a sudden silence for a few minutes, and we were back to having fun. But, many of us were hit by the reality of the situation soon. I remember Smita was injured in a stone throwing incident on her train while on way to work. Jay and Savera were already working with the Observer then. Savera has been with Rediff ever since it started, I guess. A banker, Srikanth was our classmate then, who was the only earning member of our group and would end up paying for the crisp dosa and coffee at the small restaurant (it was called Welcome, shut down a few years back) outside the main entrance of the campus.
I was a rookie and I was covering BMC. It was tough for me for Daily was a tabloid and a certain type of news was more welcome than the routine stuff. Often, something would be blown out of proportion too. But that was the paper's style, and readers seemed to love it too. I made friends with a lot of Marathi reporters, or reporters from Marathi newspapers. Saamna was in full form then, so the Saamna guy used to be quite aggressive. BMC was a major beat then and most newspapers, Marathi, Hindi, English, Gujarati and Urdu, would carry stories about the events or discussions in the 'house', decisions taken at various committee meetings, political activities, etc. These days, I hardly see any stories about the daily goings on. Most reporters were good friends with the staff in Municipal Secretary department as they would get the agenda of all committee meetings much in advance. The agenda was a good source of news of most of us. Sitting in the house, that is the general body meeting, used to be fun too.
I didn't do any riot or bomb blast stories then because I was too young, inexperienced. And, with Pranati, Harish, Renni we had a strong team to cover the crime aspect of it. The Daily had done some real breaking news stories then. I remember, after the riots, suburban locals used to be deserted or train services were stopped altogether. I couldn't go home one day, so Harish spoke to his friend at MAVIM hostel, Colaba and I spent the night with her. The next day, trains had started upto Bandra probably, so I went to stay with Pranati. One of these days, Renni came to drop me home late at night and he had to stay back as it was past midnight by then. I met him recently when he spoke of the delicious Puranpolis made by aai. It must have been Holi days, hence the puranpolis.
The Daily, though a tabloid, had a commerce page and two people did those stories. One was Vaidyanathan and the other was N Raghuraman. Raghu has become a successful management guru and has one of the longest running columns in Dainik Bhaskar. I have fond memories of Anand Venkatraman and Philip Chacko - the sports guys, and Amlanjyoti Hazarika - the desk guy, from those days. Another Vaidyanathan, if I mistake not, was the news editor. He would wear thick glasses, and was almost a chain smoker.
In August 1992, Dahi Handi (Gokulashtami) coincided with my birthday. I was in office in the afternoon, strutting around in a lovely bengali saree, and my father called on the landline to tell me that my younger brother had fallen off the pyramid and was admitted to a hospital. Worried, and scared, I left office in a hurry. My brother had to have a rod inserted in his left arm and his hand was in plaster for a couple of weeks.
Another occasion I remember when I was wearing a saree and I had to cover an emergency story. I was in ToI then. It was 15th August, there wouldn't be a holiday then that day. It was a quiet day, with most offices closed and no news happening. Assuming it would be a dull day, without travel, I had worn a beautiful Sambalpuri saree. There was a call in the ToI office around 4 PM that some children in Palghar or Dahanu had been food poisoned, after eating Pedhas distributed after the flag hoisting in the morning at the school. Some kids were critical and were to be brought to Sion hospital. So, me and Hoshi Jal, the chief photographer reached Sion hospital in an hour or so. I was cursing myself for having worn a saree! Not only was difficult to move around but it was also kind of unsuitable for the tragic occasion I was to cover. Fortunately, the kids got better and didn't have to be brought to Sion. I heaved a sigh of relief, for more reasons than one.
As the Daily office was in Colaba, Shillpi Kendra, opposite Regal was a favourite shopping spot for me and Pranati. We would see the Kendra from bus on way to office, check out the posters outside and go there the next day if the exhibition was interesting. I haven't been there in ages but I still have stuff bought from there. Sometimes, Geeta Seshu would accompany us.
One of the star reporters in The Daily was Baljeet Parmar, who covered crime. He spoke with a heavy Panju accent and I was amused initially. He also had one eye covered, like the villains in Bollywood movies. For me, at that age, he seemed to be a character straight out of a Hindi action flick. Baljeet hardly ever spoke about his stories to us, he would type them after most reporters had left because he would be scared of a leak. Only the editor and the NE knew about it. His stories would boast of telephone conversations with many gangsters, assumed to be in the Gulf countries or Pakistan.
The Daily was considered as a journalism school. So was the Free Press Journal. Most journalists working in English newspapers had worked under these two banners in the 80s and 90s. The salary was just okay, but the experience of reporting and subbing was fantastic. (I realised that the salary was great when one of my colleagues told me that his salary in Loksatta 10 years later was less than my Daily salary!) You could do any story, there was no binding of the beats, and a good story would be splashed across the front page. And yet, both the papers were considered important, they were not like 'trashy sensational tabloids' till then.
I joined Maharashtra Times in January 1994, as a sub editor, and just next year, I went one floor up, to the Times of India as a reporter. I was one of the few journalists comfortable in Marathi as well as English then. I think Rajeev Wagh was the chief reporter then, having taken over from Allwyn Fernandes. Allwyn was still working but not as a CR. Compared to MaTa office, ToI office was luxurious. It was air conditioned. And it had computers. In fact, the canteen also served different food there. Apart from the other 'pretentious' difference that you worked in THE Times!
There were two people we couldn't do without. Mr Palan, the editorial assistant and Damodaran, who was lovingly addressed as Damu. One conversation took place every day with Mr Palan or Mr P.
A reporter would ask, Where is the Mid day?
Pat came the reply, Tardeo!
Reading The Afternoon and Midday was necessary as we had to follow up some of their stories. (Not to forget the Midday Mate on page 3)
I covered the transport beat in the ToI. Some of you may remember that Mumbai suburban local service had deteriorated a lot in the early and mid nineties. OHE breakdowns, track fractures were quite common. So I had much to report then. I also had power to cover, not policy matters but the power cuts mainly. The power situation was equally sad then. I remember, in May '97, probably 1st May, whole of South Mumbai was in the dark and power came back only late in the night. I was 4 months pregnant then and was feeling uncomfortable without the AC. It was also impossible to go home as trains were not running either. My colleagues were very loving and took care of me in those days. (Especially Dionne Bunsha and Moneisha Gandhi who would keep a tab on what I ate, if I ate a road side sandwich which was the only craving I seemed to have. ) So Priyanka Kakodkar, who stayed near Mantralaya then, offered to take me home and I spent the night at her place.
Same year, in August, a heavily pregnant me got in the train to office at Ghatkopar. It was raining heavily but locals were running. I reached upto Masjid in the normal time and then the train just wouldn't move. I was in the first class compartment and men had started jumping down and walking in the tracks towards VT. A group of men stayed with me and told me not to jump. The train must have reached VT after an hour or so.
That was the time when a lot of new power projects were in the pipeline, lot of cases were heard in the MERC. Reliance was yet to take over from BSES. So I used to be in touch with the PROs of BSES, Tata Power Companies and of course, the MSEB as it was called then. (Cut to 2005-06. I was in Indian Express. The Western grid had collapsed and there was no power in Mumbai and a few areas. My boss then was from Delhi, who refused to accept that there was something called a Western Grid! For him, only the North Grid existed.)
As the situation on the railways turned grave, the railway administration came up with the Mega Blocks, some time in 1995. As the CR PRO informs me today, there have been more than 2,600 mega blocks on main and harbour lines. Though most newspapers have criticised the Mega Block for years, for me, it will always be an absolutely necessary measure, to maintain this huge system. Doesn't an enormous system that is complicated and handles crores of passengers, need a weekly overhaul, repairs, maintenance? If I recall correctly, Arun Dube was the DRM on CR then. HS Kamble was the CPRO, who had a tough time handling calls and queries from reporters about the delays and technical snags. Some of you may remember the three day block at VT, undertaken to renovate and modernise the VT station area. Train services were running only till Byculla, not going upto VT. BEST had made special arrangements from Byculla. Some offices in town had given a holiday to their employees.
Railways have changed so much in last two decades. From the hard cardboard yellow tickets to the cardpaper ones, to EVMS, to computer printed tickets and finally to paperless ticketing! From nine coach locals to 15 coach ones to Bombardier coaches. Soon we will have an AC local. We have escalators at many stations now to ease commuters' pain. Number of indicators at each platform has increased, there are GPS clocks at most stations. There are dispensaries, ambulances at many stations too. And there is a trans harbour line now too. I feel happy to have reported some of these things. Of course, some things haven't changed either. Like the lack of timely, audible announcements that can save a lot of time and hardship for the commuters!
One of my reports that was much talked about was about the Konkan Railway. It was in May 1997. On a mad urge to visit my nanihal, I traveled by the KR which had just started running upto Ratnagiri. The journey was hilarious, if nothing else. There were people waiting along the track, waving at passengers. I could imagine what people of Bombay must have felt almost 150 years ago when the first local ran from VT to Thane. It was no less than a miracle for them.
That reminds me of the train celebrating 150 years of the CR. The celebratory train, with steam engines, ran in April 2002. I was working in MaTa then. I wasn't a reporter so I didn't report the event but I did go to see the special train. VT station was jampacked and people were too excited to be part of this journey.
A journey on the train that I will never forget was in the motorman's coach on the harbour line. There were lot of deaths on the tracks some years ago, and the Railways wanted the people to see the conditions in which the locals ran. So here I was with the motorman, trying to soak in the atmosphere. I don't remember the exact route, but it was VT To Mankhurd probably. It was unbelievable. It was almost like a movie, a crazy guy riding his vehicle into people's homes. We were driving in people's front/backyards, peeping into their kitchens, hearing their conversations, watching the kids playing. That experience proved to me that it wasn't easy being a motorman of a Mumbai local.
Somehow, I had worked as a reporter in English newspapers and as a sub editor in the Marathi ones till then. I quit Maharashtra Times abruptly, in the middle of a month, because I couldn't handle the pressure of the three different duties at all. I took a break for one year and joined Navshakti on the desk. Navshakti, part of the Free Press Journal group, was something I had never experienced till then. Insufficient infrastructure - almost non existent toilets, broken chairs, rats roaming around, no canteen, etc. - made me put the whole year behind a curtain. Some colleagues also tried to harass me a lot, installing porn images on my personal computer. The timings were quite strict, which I wasn't used to at all. The salary day wasn't fixed. I was sort of bureau chief there, but there were only a couple of reporters. I would make the Mumbai page there. It was a most forgettable time of my journalistic life. What added to that was the mad rush to catch the last fast train to Mulund from CST. Most days, I would miss it by a whisker because of the timings. It was difficult to get a cab after 10.30 PM too.
I somehow completed one year there and joined the Indian Express as a reporter. I was welcomed at the IE by the 26 July floods! I had gone for my medical tests to Bombay Hospital that morning. When I reached office, at the notoriously low lying Lalbaug, around 3, it was raining but it was the usual July Mumbai rain. Within a couple of hours, water started coming out from the toilets and soon the whole office was flooded. By night, we were in ankle deep water inside the office. I remember the night duty sub editors braved chest deep water to reach office. We were up till about 2 AM. Indian Express was the only paper the next day that was delivered across Mumbai. There were a lot of people stuck in offices everywhere and they kept calling IE office to ask if trains had started or it was safe to venture out. All reporters were filing all sorts of details, official statements, people's accounts, etc. I remember with gratitude how the canteen staff kept us warm and full with hot tea/coffee and food. Eating hot Vada pau at 1.30 Am was unforgettable.
All of us did a lot of 'human interest' stories in the later days, of people going out of their way to help stranded people. I did a story about an auto rickshaw driver who used to drive two special kids from Parle and Bandra to their school in Chembur. He picked up the kids in the morning and took them to school. As it started raining heavily, he picked them up early. But, he couldn't drive much. He took them home in Mankhurd, his wife cooked food for them, fed the boy who has cerabral palsy put them to sleep. As mobiles were not working, the kids' families couldn't figure out what had happened to them. It was also impossible to go to Chembur or Mankhurd to look for them as the whole area was flooded. Finally, next morning, after the water had receded enough to drive the auto, he dropped them home. There were hundreds of such stories then, and I guess, that's when the term 'Mumbai spirit' gained popularity. I hate that term now, as to me, it means we have become insensitive and the local administration responsible for the infrastructure cares two hoots for the Mumbaikars.
All of us, in IE as well as Loksatta, stayed in the office in the night of 26th. One of the senior guys in IE, the same one from Delhi, started for home around midnight, saying he had to go home, how could he stay in office. We tried to tell him that it would be impossible to move as it was still raining. But he didn't pay attention to us and left, only to come back after two hours!
I remember buying a t shirt and pyjama from one of the few shops in Lalbaug that had opened the next day. Trains were not running properly even that day, so I stayed the night at my aunt's at Mahim. I got a bus till Dadar TT from Lalbaug and then walked all the way to her place. I went home the next day. Unforgettable times those.
I started political reporting for IE after the whole floods episode was over. It was also the time when DNA and Hindustan Times launched in Mumbai. A chunk of reporters went to HT from IE. I had come back to reporting after a long gap of almost a decade and it reflected in my work. The reporting for ToI in the mid 90s was relaxed, without much pressure or competition from TV channels. But, by 2005, situation had changed drastically, something I couldn't cope with. Also, I couldn't adhere to the IE standards. I quit after nice months, having realised I wasn't upto the challenges of reporting anymore.
I quit and I didn't look for a job for a few months. And Monika Chadhdha, who worked with BBC Mumbai then, called me one gloomy September evening to ask if I would like to help a British reporter with a story. I wanted to do something, anything and without knowing what I was upto, I said yes to her. That started an interesting and fulfilling phase in my life, I had become a fixer!
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