* * *
[Journalist Ervell Menezes erv...@rediffmail.com will speak
at the Goa Book Club on his new book, on Tuesday, March 3,
2015 at Broadway, Panjim. The function is open to all, but
please RSVP via a text message to 9822122436]
* * *
Reading between the lines: memoirs of a journalist
FN
Someone wondered the other day, as we discussed this issue:
"Can an autobiographical be all that honest?" Of course, when
it comes to telling the story of our lives, we would like to
see it in a manner that favours us, that tells our
perspective, and reflects our ow likes and dislikes.
Yet, each autobiography has a useful role to play in filling
the gaps, and letting us understand the realities someone
with a ringside view of history perceived reality. Whatever
one may have been in life, anyone who knows what they're
talking about would certainly offer at least some new
insights. Regardless of whether they tell the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth -- as the cliche goes.
Ervell E. Menezes is a familiar byline in Goa.
Here, he has been a columnist. Colleagues in the
media would know him as the bearded veteran
mediaperson who lives, when in Goa, in a grand
white house on a scenic, curving road at Bastora in
Bardez. Ervell (that's the informality he
encourages while addressing him) has been a
long-time film critic, and the news-editor of the
Indian Express during an important phase in the
history of that publication.
My Days in Journalism sticks to what it promises in its
title. This 130-page book is an unpretentious, short and
quick read. It is an insightful account into his entry into
the Indian Express of Sassoon Docks-vintage (a far cry from
its multistoreyed, Nariman Point avatar). It begins with the
late 1960s sportsman's entry into the media on Rs 250 per
month.
The Indo-Pak war of 1971, film festivals in Europe, moving
out of the Express ("There was no boss to bug me and I could
write for whoever would publish me." p.6), crises on the
news-pages like the 3.30 am death of a Governor are among the
issues covered.
Tucked into the book are eight pages of colour, or sepia,
photos. These show the young Ervell with Peter Ustinov, at
the Indian Express news-desk, with former British Premier
Edward Heath, with a number of film-stars such as the "sex
bomb" Gina Lollobrigida or Ben Kingsley and Goldie Hawn, with
an unrecognisably slim Salman Rushdie, playing cricket, and
with sundry film-makers, authors, environmentalists. There's
even a photo with JP (Jayaprakash Narayan, for those too
young to remember), Mother Teresa and an astronaut!
One wouldn't see this as name-dropping; one of the few legit
perks in the media profession is the chance to meet up with
the big and the famous. These are pleasant memories and make
for great images too, which tie in with Chapter 8, titled
Catching the Big Fish (p 49)
If your taste is film, then you could appreciate Ervell's
book all the more. But to me, the meat of the book is when
he offers insights into the big names of contemporary Indian
journalism. He says Indian Express owner Ramnath Goenka
"took on Mrs Indira Gandhi head on during the Emergency and
after... he was virtually a giant...." Also Goenka "never
interfered with the running of the newspaper".
But there's another side to every icon. Chapter 10 (p. 70) is
about The Newspaper Baron. The Sunday Standard, which Goenka
bought from a Briton named Guy Horniman, became the Indian
Express. S. Mulgaonkar was replaced as editor during the
Emergency. Once, when Goenka met Ervell, he threatened:
"I'll sack anybody who doesn't do his job."
Ervell has an even more critical view of the next generation
that ran the Indian Express: "I'd rather have been fired by
RNG [Goenka] than praised by his grandson Vivek, who was an
entirely different kettle of fish."
Ervell is also critical of the editor-who-became-a-legend,
Arun Shourie. He mentions the role of the "light-eyed East
Indian" R.V. Pandit too.
He writes: "Arun Shourie of course was a different kettle of
fish even though he had established a reputation as the
Indian counterpart of the Watergate reporters...
"But Shourie proved to be a sanctimonious
individual, using journalism to get a foot into the
political door. That he was a true Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sanghite, I do not hold against him,
for he had a right to belong to any ideological
group he believes in. It is perfectly legitimate,
but he was stubborn to the core and often did not
give the other side of the story."
Chapter 7 is titled 'Those Foreign Jaunts' (p 42). As a
journalist who had his fair share of travel abroad, I think
this is a trifle misleading. Agreed that overseas travel has
largely been un-affordable for the Indian journalist, thanks
to the increasingly unfavourable rupee-exchange rate. But
such a chapter unwittingly furthers the belief that a trip
abroad is just an unpaid picnic, or is taken merely because
it can come without a price tag. Such encounters, when
undertaken with caution and moderation, can indeed be a
learning experience, one which broadens the mind, and where
one can (sometimes) indeed undertake productive work. It can
shape perspectives and inspire one to do more.
So writes Ervell: "I firmly believe that journalism should
take up social causes and fight for the underdog. It should
expose the misdeeds of the Establishment and ideally make
life better than what it is, and the best stories I have done
are in this realm."
Many would agree, but practising this can indeed be
difficult. Ervell tells of being approached for "giving a
certain angle to the real estate issue" in Goa.
One might see his view above as old-schoolish. But
these were the values which many of us, who entered
journalism in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, actually
believed in. Ervell hints at the changes when he
says an 85-year-old colleague "rings me up often,
laughing at the way events are covered today and
some of the trash that passes off for special
articles." (p 111)
All in all, an interesting book not just for media persons
and students of the media (there's so little to read for
journalism students in Goa today), but for anyone who wants
to understand more about how the media works, the experiences
of someone from Goa in this institution, and life in general.
One wishes the book had been more detailed, as it has many
important points to make which could have been developed
further.
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My Days in Journalism
Ervell E Menezes
Broadway PUblishing House
Pp 130. 2015. Rs 170
