ADITI RAMAN

I clearly remember my first attempt at penning down a short story for our middle school magazine. Eager to produce the best, I racked my brains all night to come up with a very humourous piece. Most kids were working diligently at it while others submitted their parents’ compositions. I wanted to do it all by myself and not take cues even from my then favourites Enid Blyton’s fairytales and Aesop’s fables. It was early in the morning when my maidservant came to my room to sweep out the dust and heaps of crumpled sheets strewn around my bed, (a consequence of my inability to get the ingenious storyline right in the first shot), that I lit up with a splendid plot. The maid had seven children and each of them was just a year older to the next one. Despite their poverty, they were the most cheerful lot of people I had ever seen. Contrary to my stuck up convent colleagues, protecting themselves from the tanning under the sun and their skirts from the slightest of crease, these street kings partied with the old rubber tires, rolling them away with glee. This was going to be my break: the life of seven children, a stark contrast to the award winning film on seven Von Trapp kids of Vienna. Completely oblivious to a sea of grammatical and semantic errors in my first literary venture, I happily submitted it, swelling with pride that I did it. The teachers loved the story and also admitted having racked their brains to edit my article, thereby teaching me the basic tools of writing.

On reaching high school, I was made the editor in chief of our school magazine and the head of the debate club. The pressure of composing the entire magazine within a set time period, with good articles, poems and editorials along with photographs of sports day, 15th august, and other school ceremonies, thrilled me. Getting to edit and scrap bogus writings (decided by me), and the autonomy to set parameters with some help from our teacher, gave birth to the creative writer within me. I loved being able to boss around and get the best from my writer’s guild, just like a daily newspaper editor in chief. As the head of the debating club, I learnt the art of researching on different topics and critically examining them. However, I did get confused while choosing a desired line of profession later in college. Totally baffled about what I should do right after a rigorous history specialization, I tried listing my strengths, weaknesses and aptitude for numerous professions that came to my mind, including gardening.
Out of nowhere, this old stack of very sacred literary writings came out from a suitcase I recently required to pack my things in for a short family trip. It triggered my mind and in the split of a second I decided that journalism was everything I ever wanted to do. A further push was initiated by the several documentaries screened that particular month on history and discovery channels, regarding the life of journalists in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and other disturbed parts of the world. The enthusiasm that these journalists exhibit to investigate all that they possibly can, and their grit to face the resulting perils inspired me. Travel and Living, showcasing city mapping, BBC producing shows as Hard talk, and the magazines world over, coming up with brilliant news items and articles every single day only drew me closer to journalism. Besides the appeal for the work, I was also rather concerned with the money the journalists make, as journalism is not seen as a money minting profession. Honestly, the money factor, especially in case of Print media for which I was most keen, did give rise to a tiny speck of apprehension, but then its all about a calling too, and money is no measure of a profession.
Therefore, it was then when I realized that covering stories, addressing important issues that affect people, and also those that would entertain them, infused with powerful writing and editing are all that I want to do for the rest of my life. Journalism will not only place me in my desired area of work but also equip me with knowledge and the skill to use that knowledge in everything that I choose to compose.
The most attractive thing about journalism is that you are never restricted by a paucity of options. We have a plethora of topics to choose from; arts and culture, sports, business, environment, celebrity profile writing, movie reviewing, fashion, science, international issues, politics, lifestyles and anything under the sun. I got greatly moved by a piece I had once read by Journalism is wide and adventurous and I am eagerly awaiting the experiences likely to come my way as a journalist. Only after so many years did I realize that those like the children of my maidservant are in a desperate need of a voice. The legal right to investigate and report and the professional training given to the journalists to do that, make me fall in love with the profession all over again. I want to be that journalist.