Veteran reporter Mahendra Ved’s book is a rotating kaleidoscope of big events from politics to films, scoops and gripping moments.
By S NARENDRA
This book is an unusual one because it starts out as a memoir of a veteran journalist Mahendra Ved but crosses that genre by offering much richer fare. As one reads it one gets the feeling that one is looking into a rotating kaleidoscope. It zooms on the seminal moments of recent Indian history and a scribe’s encounters with people who dominated politics, public life and filmdom.
Like most good books it has an enticing opening- Saare Jehanse Accha. It captures a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, the first and the only Indian astronaut so far, was riding a soviet space craft (1984). It was big news. The author brilliantly brings this far away story near to us. He gets a lucky break by being present in a room at the Air Head Quarter’s in Delhi that was receiving audio-visual messages from the spacecraft. In the same room was the (then) Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi. She speaks to Rakesh Sharma and unexpectedly shoots a question (in Hindi): “From up there, how does India Look”. “Saare Jahanse Accha “replies Rakesh Sharma. Those impromptu three words light up the nation. An essential science and technology story turns into a great local human interest one and becomes timeless.
Indira Gandhi is now history. The author captures a poignant moment between her getting fatally shot in the morning of October 21, 1984, and the evening. There was a total power vacuum in the national capital.
The Prime Minister was dead. The President of India was out of Delhi. Senior most government officials like the principal secretary to PM and the cabinet secretary were also absent from the capital. He happens to be outside the gates of the Rashtrapati Bhavan around dusk. A car enters the gate and out emerges the cabinet secretary Krishnaswamy Rao Saheb and rushing to restart the official machinery. This story is elevated with the headline: ’ When The State was Absent’. Here is an important lesson for freshers in Journalism. And there is also a lesson to the authorities to ensure there should be someone authorized to take charge of the government, if and when the need arises.
The chapter on Governance offers a few sidelights on the working of key institutions like Parliament, the government and the prime minister’s office as seen from the outside. Having been an insider in the government and PMO, I found these pieces written without the normal journalistic pretensions to be very interesting. This section brings out the difficulties of media reporters representing the media outside Delhi who are assigned to write stories about the goings on in the government. Only quiet perseverance opens the official door ajar. The author illustrates this with the story of prime minister Indira Gandhi reentering her office after a gap of more than 2 years. A rare moment. Mrs. Gandhi moves through the corridors of the south block in Delhi and enters the prime minister’s office room. Slowly surveying the room, she moves to the prime minister’s chair. Holding its back, she turns saying “Dhavanji ….’ (her private secretary). The author was the lone witness to this dramatic scene. He was trusted and allowed to move in a highly secure citadel.
Journalistic scoops sometimes do not drop into a reporter’s lap; often scoops need to be harvested from the political grapevine by discerning eyes and ears. This statement is borne out by the story of the author about the eminent scientist A.P.J. Kalam as the BJP’s choice for the President’s post. Except the editor of the Times of India late Dileep Padgaonkar, his colleagues had showed scepticism when the author shared this scoop. It hit the TOI front page. May have influenced the final choice.
Two features charmed me to the book. First, there are vignettes relating to films, their stars like Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar singing, Nargis, music maestro Naushad and south Indian legends like Jayalalitha. The other bait beckoning the reader to read the book from cover to cover is that one could pick randomly any section of the book without missing out on what was before it. (The reviewer is a former Information Advisor to PMs & ex-Principal Information Officer – Govt of India)
@75 AS I SAW IT – A Reporter Recounts. By MAHENDRA VED. PP 400. Price Rs 625. Published by India Netbooks Pvt Ltd, NOIDA, NCR of Delhi
