Thursday, September 26, 2013

Journey of a Journalist VIII


It was time to launch a magazine! Srivatsa was transferred to Bangalore and I missed the magazine culture of Bombay. Bangalore did not have a city magazine so Blossom City was my answer to this. My son Anil who had graduated in Journalism from Mysore, joined me and we had a good publication with wholesome coverage of all aspects of the city and its people.  It was also a launch pad for budding journalists who have done well for themselves now-like Maria Abraham who joined The Week and later Reuteurs, Daniel George, Ranjit Prasanna, Stanley Carvalho, Aparna Khanolkar, Prajwal Hegde, Gautam Machaiah ,  Ravi Sharma and others. But there is more to running a magazine than just writing. Both Anil and I found out this harsh reality and we had to close it after two years. I remember the first anniversary of the magazine when we had a fabulous show at a prestigious venue in Bangalore.N Ram of The Hindu was the chief guest and we had the hoi poi of the city watching our stage show “Bangalore Darshan – a spoof on the city and its people.


I happened to read the autobiography of a TV Host in USA when I was visiting my son Anil and his wife Deepali  for 4 months. That is when I got the idea of writing my own! After all, a life worth living is worth writing about! So Time of my life-my autobiography was my gift to myself on my 50th birthday. Another autobiographical book I published, Corporate Draupadi, was a chronicle of my experience in a Public Sector organization.

Writing was my hobby but teaching has always been my passion. I got the opportunity to combine both as a guest faculty in the K C College of Management Studies, teaching journalism. Many of those who were in my class went on to become staffers in well known publications but the most enterprising of them all was Dilnavaz Shroff who launched her own publication Woman Executive Digest. Like all fund starved periodicals, this too died a natural death after a few years but it certainly remains a landmark in the filed of journalism and I am happy to record that!

Journalism is a reflection of the life and times of people. As a freelance Journalist for over three decades, I  captured this in my  articles/features/interviews and profiles .PEN DRIVE-Journey of a Journalist 1973-2005 is a coffee table book of 160 pages with a motley selection of 200 published pieces in leading dailies and periodicals. Scanned and presented in their original glory, the collection showcases the myriad facets of people well known and not so well known. Also featured are book and film reviews, humour pieces and assorted subjects. It is an encapsulated history of personalized journalism and a peep into magazine/paper production three decades ago. The quality of printing and production adds value to the anthology.

               Brought out in a limited Edition, the book is a collector’s item and is priced at Rs 2500
(concluded)
 







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