I, me, mine...
Some journalists, even when they write an obit, like to talk about themselves.
You don`t say!
Darius Nakhoonwala
One of the problems in writing a weekly or fortnightly column on the weekend -- the big shots prefer the weekend because they think more people will read them -- is that sometimes things happen on a Sunday or a Monday. Then you have to wait for your turn. By the time it comes, the reader has forgotten what happened.
The death of a former prime minister was one such instance. The leading columnists had to wait for more than a week, poor fellows, before unburdening their hearts.
So last Sunday we saw three of them holding forth - two of them on the same day, on the same page in the
Shekhar Gupta -- who thinks nothing is complete without his recounting albeit with a very becoming blush in the form of what he calls his reporting days - wrote a good article but spoilt it when he had to add "when I dropped by to seem him" and "... I wasn`t covering national politics in his heyday and had got to know him a little only lately, because he had more time, and if you were curious to learn more about Indian politics and its history there wasn`t a better tutor." He also got some details wrong, but never mind. Overall, he made an excellent point that Mr Chandra Shekhar was the great interlocuter and reconciliator.
Vir Sanghivi also made the same points. He was also the only one to point out that Chandra Shekhar had got
But, alas, most of Mr Sanghvi`s article was about himself perhaps because believes that the great are great only because he interviewed them once. Consider these gems:
"But I have to say that I felt sad and moved by the news of his passing. There was a phase in my life when I knew him reasonably well but it wasn`t just the personal connection that accounted for my feelings."
"I knew him best during his time at Race Course Road (though he never actually moved in there, preferring his homes on South Avenue Lane and at Bhondsi) and though contemporary historians remember that time differently, I always thought that he made a good Prime Minister, nurturing the office with simplicity and earthiness."
"I met Chandrashekhar one evening during the 1984 campaign and told him that I thought Rajiv would sweep the country. To my surprise, he conceded the point."
"I visited him often in that era and three things struck me about him. The first was that he really had no beliefs left, no vision of
"But it was the third thing that drew me to him."
"`Social climber` (pronounced `so-sull climber`) for accepting a high commissionership from V P Singh. Sophisticated journos sneered at his lack of pretension." But not Mr Sanghvi.
"I was glad when he became Prime Minister after V P Singh`s government fell but I knew it couldn`t last."
Mr Sanghvi also referred to a an ill-mannered journalist who asked the late prime minister why he dressed so badly. But he did not reveal the name.
For that you needed to read the obstreperous Mr Karan Thapar (on the same page, but befittingly below the fold). Mr Thapar, sadly, claimed credit for the bad manners with some pride, for such is the value the man seems to place on his own worth. Here are his gems:
"This week I`m going to start with the conclusion: Chandrashekhar was one of the finest politicians I`ve known."
"My gimmick may have succeeded in capturing attention but the PM was livid. Worse, everyone thought his reaction was justified."
There were many more. but I think I am feeling ill.
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