Yesterday SSC Board exam Results got declared. They brought back the memories of my SSC Result I had got in 1994.
I had got 1st rank throughout all the exams in 8th and 9th standards. Infact up to preliminary exams of SSC also I was Standard First (that was the term we used in my school as there were separate Boys and Girls sections then) in all 10th class exams also. My parents never asked me to study or force me into anything. I doubt my father knew also which all subjects I had in 10th class! But I remember that day of June 1994 very well even today and I will never be able to forget it. My favourite teacher C. D. Ashar Sir had once shown me the wooden board in our school where names of all those who were 1st rankers in SSC board since the inception of the school. He said,"Nayak, I want your name to be there this year." But that SSC Board exam Result day came and I stood, not first, not even second but Third in the school. Two girls were ahead of me. I had scored 90.85 % (636/700 Marks) which was not at all a bad score and I was 28th in Mumbai. I had not only missed Merit List by 7 marks but also I could not obtain 1st rank in the school. I was very sad inspite of scoring above 90% marks. The grief increased when all the prizes and praises went to Aruna Gada (The girl who came 1st in my school).My Tution Teacher Kumudben personally visited her home and congratulated her but she didn’t come to my home. All these facts hurted me the young me then. My parents and my sisters were very supportive. They knew I had aspired to be the first and didn't even come second. But my parents explained it is a dream for many to score above 90% marks and I had a very bright future ahead. Had I been depressed and stood there only with my failure to be first in the school, I would not be where I am today. I moved ahead. I accepted my result. So what if my name was not printed on that wooden board where my favourite teacher wanted it to be? I took admission in D.G. Ruparel college science stream and even though I was a vernacular student (Gujarati Medium), I managed to score 93% in H.S.C and completed my Engineering Degree from one of the Best colleges in Mumbai (VESIT, Chembur). Today I have completed my M.B.A also from India's one of the Best Management Schools (JBIMS). Also I am working in one of India's leading and world's one of the Best Stock Exchange's (National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.) technical arm (NSE Info Tech)
Had my parents kept over-expectations and put me in pressure during my SSC or after SSC, I would not be able to achieve all this today. I love my parents for that. They never bothered me with their expectations and always encouraged and let me took my decisions on my own. I am Thankful to them for that.
I urge all parents of the SSC students who got their results yesterday, not to discourage their children if they have failed to score high marks or if they have failed. SSC is not the End. There is a long way to go. And today where we are! We have so many choices to make! Try to learn what skill your child possess and help him/her grow in that field. Don't burden him/her with your wishes and aspirations. Let him/her be what he/she wants to be in life.
I pray for all the students that they achieve what they want out of life....
Friday, June 27, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The Rain Goddess DhundhiyaMata...
I Love Nature and I love all Natural Beauties one of them is Rain! (Ya...I consider it a Beauty!)I love the showers of Rain and the climate it creates...I love the Aroma of Soil when the first rains of the season wets the over heated Earth...I love the clouds, the rainbow, the orange evenings (we call it 'Khileli Sandhya' in Gujarati) and the gusty winds rains bring along with it in the monsoon...
Though some people don't like the gloomy flavour attached to the dull kind of climate during monsoon and some others do not like the water all over the roads and the mud and the need to carry an umbrella or a raincoat wherever you go, I think nobody would wish Rain should not come as soon as possible after a hot hot summer! Everybody longs for it. Year by Year summers are getting hotter and hotter and winters cooler and cooler. So this year when the monsoon started little early, in the first week of June (usually it starts in the third week of June), everybody was happy that they got a little relief from the pangs of summer heat...but after raining for continuously eight days or so the Mumbai Rains seem to have taken rest! It has vanished since a week or so. We all are now waiting for the rain to return. This waiting reminds me of my childhood days.
There are some beautiful cherishable memories associated with my childhood and the waiting for rain. There used to stay an old lady called Prabhaben in my neighbourhood and we children used to call her ‘Prabhamasi’. She was a very strict lady and we all used to get scared of her a lot. But one traditional ritual related to the Rains, she taught us and that is still fresh in my mind after about 20 years.
Come the month of May and she used to call us, all children and ask us to get some ‘Lal Mati’ (soil) and we all sat in a circle. She then used to get some water and made a small figure of a Rain Goddess called ‘Dhundhiya Mata’. Sitting idol of this rain goddess looked beautiful even though it was not in perfect shape or had any artistic touch. Prabhamasi used to stick two small white stones as DhundhiyaMata’s eyes. She used to make a little nose and little mouth also on the face so that the idol looked like a human figure. Two tiny hands and two tiny legs were also the part of the idol and DhundhiyaMata was made to sit on a tile or a flat big stone. Chundadi of a nice clean cloth was put on the head of this idol and on her forehead Prabhamasi used to put a KumKum Tika. We all children used to see the making of this idol and then her symbolic Sthapna in open air on the grounds in front of my home. It was believed that DhundhiyaMata will bring rains early and in good amount, if we regularly pour some water on her head every day and pray to her to send the Rains soon. She was called ‘Rain Goddess’ after all! Daily two to three times we children ensured that DhundhiyaMata get her share of ‘Jal Abhishek’. We enjoyed this game. It was fun to see DhundhiyaMata’s idol decaying with all that water we used to pour on her head. The custom was so. Finally DhundhiyaMata used to ensure that Rain come on time and the last remains of her idol be washed away in the first few showers of it. That is how the Visarjan of DhundhiyaMata’s idol had to take place. I still remember how I used to eagerly watch through my window how DhundhiyaMata’s idol looked in the Raining water and how gradually it used to diminish and finally only the nice clean cloth remained on the tile after all the soil used to get washed away by the rain water.
For a few years Prabhamasi made DhundhiyaMata idol and then I took on her legacy and made it sure to make the idol with my little hands for some more years till the time I got adult and got busy with my higher level study and then Job etc. As a child I always had great faith in this ritual and Rain Goddess DhundhiyaMata. Don’t know whether it was DhundhiyaMata who brought the Rains or not but then certainly we all children believed so. And we all religiously and regularly followed the ‘water-pouring on her head’ ritual with sincerity.
I wonder Today’s generation children would do so? They would hardly get any time out of their busy school schedules and then their videogame or internet sessions.
This year I feel like making a DhundhiyaMata Idol again! To call the Rain back who has vanished since a few days… (And I promise if I do so I would surely click a picture of the idol and post it here in this Blog!)
Though some people don't like the gloomy flavour attached to the dull kind of climate during monsoon and some others do not like the water all over the roads and the mud and the need to carry an umbrella or a raincoat wherever you go, I think nobody would wish Rain should not come as soon as possible after a hot hot summer! Everybody longs for it. Year by Year summers are getting hotter and hotter and winters cooler and cooler. So this year when the monsoon started little early, in the first week of June (usually it starts in the third week of June), everybody was happy that they got a little relief from the pangs of summer heat...but after raining for continuously eight days or so the Mumbai Rains seem to have taken rest! It has vanished since a week or so. We all are now waiting for the rain to return. This waiting reminds me of my childhood days.
There are some beautiful cherishable memories associated with my childhood and the waiting for rain. There used to stay an old lady called Prabhaben in my neighbourhood and we children used to call her ‘Prabhamasi’. She was a very strict lady and we all used to get scared of her a lot. But one traditional ritual related to the Rains, she taught us and that is still fresh in my mind after about 20 years.
Come the month of May and she used to call us, all children and ask us to get some ‘Lal Mati’ (soil) and we all sat in a circle. She then used to get some water and made a small figure of a Rain Goddess called ‘Dhundhiya Mata’. Sitting idol of this rain goddess looked beautiful even though it was not in perfect shape or had any artistic touch. Prabhamasi used to stick two small white stones as DhundhiyaMata’s eyes. She used to make a little nose and little mouth also on the face so that the idol looked like a human figure. Two tiny hands and two tiny legs were also the part of the idol and DhundhiyaMata was made to sit on a tile or a flat big stone. Chundadi of a nice clean cloth was put on the head of this idol and on her forehead Prabhamasi used to put a KumKum Tika. We all children used to see the making of this idol and then her symbolic Sthapna in open air on the grounds in front of my home. It was believed that DhundhiyaMata will bring rains early and in good amount, if we regularly pour some water on her head every day and pray to her to send the Rains soon. She was called ‘Rain Goddess’ after all! Daily two to three times we children ensured that DhundhiyaMata get her share of ‘Jal Abhishek’. We enjoyed this game. It was fun to see DhundhiyaMata’s idol decaying with all that water we used to pour on her head. The custom was so. Finally DhundhiyaMata used to ensure that Rain come on time and the last remains of her idol be washed away in the first few showers of it. That is how the Visarjan of DhundhiyaMata’s idol had to take place. I still remember how I used to eagerly watch through my window how DhundhiyaMata’s idol looked in the Raining water and how gradually it used to diminish and finally only the nice clean cloth remained on the tile after all the soil used to get washed away by the rain water.
For a few years Prabhamasi made DhundhiyaMata idol and then I took on her legacy and made it sure to make the idol with my little hands for some more years till the time I got adult and got busy with my higher level study and then Job etc. As a child I always had great faith in this ritual and Rain Goddess DhundhiyaMata. Don’t know whether it was DhundhiyaMata who brought the Rains or not but then certainly we all children believed so. And we all religiously and regularly followed the ‘water-pouring on her head’ ritual with sincerity.
I wonder Today’s generation children would do so? They would hardly get any time out of their busy school schedules and then their videogame or internet sessions.
This year I feel like making a DhundhiyaMata Idol again! To call the Rain back who has vanished since a few days… (And I promise if I do so I would surely click a picture of the idol and post it here in this Blog!)
Monday, May 26, 2008
Propagating wrong ideas through Movies...
Today I saw the movie ‘Jannat’ (with lead actors Imraan Hashmi and Sonal). I like movies on varied subjects and this being a movie on a different kind of subject - that of gambling, cricket match fixing/batting, I liked this one too.
Now this is not one of my most favourite movies or I didn’t like it so much that I would write a Blog on the same. But there are two three points I want to make through this blog about how movies propagate wrong ideas. There are a few strong points about the movie 'Jannat' which I would like to discuss through this Blog.
The hero is a gambler and is greedy creature who has left his home as his father is a poor honest fellow who could not fulfill all his son’s materialistic wishes. The hero is a firm believer that money if earned through a way like gambling where there is no direct harm to anybody or direct implication on anybody ), is fair(I believe there is direct implication on gambler's family members by gambling). The hero does not have any fear of loosing at all while gambling. He takes tremendous risk and looses lakhs of rupees in a single gamble game.
This hero has an innate skill of predicting the moves of a cricket match. By intuition he predicts the batsman will hit a six and the batsman actually hits a six. He says the batsman will now be clean-bowled and the batsman is clean-bowled on the next ball! He is unaware of his own skill and one day accidently realizes about it in a hotel while watching a cricket match.Later, exploiting this skill he earns a lot of money. He becomes very famous in Bookie’s world and due to this skill reaches South Africa with his girlfriend. He works for an underworld Don there. He makes a lot of money and becomes a very prominent Match-Fixer. The large amount earned by him is spent by the Don on Terrorist activities, for other illegal means like drugs, cocaine etc. But the Hero is indifferent to this aspect. Even though he knows the money earned by him is going for wrong means and is killing lakhs of innocent people around the world, he believes it is not his business to bother about how the money is spent. When the heroine confronts him, he even argues that even Indian Government is taxing the citizens heavily and then uses this amount for making nuclear weapons and guns and bombs. Now this point I have a problem with. How can he make such a statement? The Government also may be using a part of the tax money for the purpose our hero is mentioning, but he forgets that the whole idea of investment by Government in weapons and guns and bombs is for the Security of the citizens and not for killing them. So how can he justify his own indifference by blaming the Government?
Second point I disliked about the movie was a scene where the hero narrates his childhood days when he didn’t get all the luxuries the children of rich families get to enjoy. He says his father never took him from the way on which Ice-cream parlour or a Toy shop was present as they didn’t have the money to buy it. The hero says he does not wish his children also to pass through the same phase. He wants to give them all the pleasures in life. But at what cost? With the money earned by illegal ways? The hero speaks all these dialogues so convincingly that the gullible youth watching the movie gets convinced by his ideology and would get the wrong message. I heard two youngsters talking during the interval of the movie about this point. One of them was favouring the hero and said why one needs to bother about others when he is making money for self and the family? It is justified even when one does a little wrong by being little unethical and being selfish. I felt really sad hearing their conversation.
The end of the movie is fair. The wrong does not live longer and the hero gets killed by the police. The message – bure ka ant bura (wrong always looses/dies in the end) comes but very late in the movie. The whole movie according to me propagates wrong ideas by which the youth and the immature minds may get influenced wrongly. Movies are a very strong media impacting the minds of the audiences heavily. So directors and writers of the movies have the social responsibility of not propagating the wrong ideas.
Now this is not one of my most favourite movies or I didn’t like it so much that I would write a Blog on the same. But there are two three points I want to make through this blog about how movies propagate wrong ideas. There are a few strong points about the movie 'Jannat' which I would like to discuss through this Blog.
The hero is a gambler and is greedy creature who has left his home as his father is a poor honest fellow who could not fulfill all his son’s materialistic wishes. The hero is a firm believer that money if earned through a way like gambling where there is no direct harm to anybody or direct implication on anybody ), is fair(I believe there is direct implication on gambler's family members by gambling). The hero does not have any fear of loosing at all while gambling. He takes tremendous risk and looses lakhs of rupees in a single gamble game.
This hero has an innate skill of predicting the moves of a cricket match. By intuition he predicts the batsman will hit a six and the batsman actually hits a six. He says the batsman will now be clean-bowled and the batsman is clean-bowled on the next ball! He is unaware of his own skill and one day accidently realizes about it in a hotel while watching a cricket match.Later, exploiting this skill he earns a lot of money. He becomes very famous in Bookie’s world and due to this skill reaches South Africa with his girlfriend. He works for an underworld Don there. He makes a lot of money and becomes a very prominent Match-Fixer. The large amount earned by him is spent by the Don on Terrorist activities, for other illegal means like drugs, cocaine etc. But the Hero is indifferent to this aspect. Even though he knows the money earned by him is going for wrong means and is killing lakhs of innocent people around the world, he believes it is not his business to bother about how the money is spent. When the heroine confronts him, he even argues that even Indian Government is taxing the citizens heavily and then uses this amount for making nuclear weapons and guns and bombs. Now this point I have a problem with. How can he make such a statement? The Government also may be using a part of the tax money for the purpose our hero is mentioning, but he forgets that the whole idea of investment by Government in weapons and guns and bombs is for the Security of the citizens and not for killing them. So how can he justify his own indifference by blaming the Government?
Second point I disliked about the movie was a scene where the hero narrates his childhood days when he didn’t get all the luxuries the children of rich families get to enjoy. He says his father never took him from the way on which Ice-cream parlour or a Toy shop was present as they didn’t have the money to buy it. The hero says he does not wish his children also to pass through the same phase. He wants to give them all the pleasures in life. But at what cost? With the money earned by illegal ways? The hero speaks all these dialogues so convincingly that the gullible youth watching the movie gets convinced by his ideology and would get the wrong message. I heard two youngsters talking during the interval of the movie about this point. One of them was favouring the hero and said why one needs to bother about others when he is making money for self and the family? It is justified even when one does a little wrong by being little unethical and being selfish. I felt really sad hearing their conversation.
The end of the movie is fair. The wrong does not live longer and the hero gets killed by the police. The message – bure ka ant bura (wrong always looses/dies in the end) comes but very late in the movie. The whole movie according to me propagates wrong ideas by which the youth and the immature minds may get influenced wrongly. Movies are a very strong media impacting the minds of the audiences heavily. So directors and writers of the movies have the social responsibility of not propagating the wrong ideas.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Living in a chawl ...
Yesterday one of our neighbours - Pragnabhabhi, Kamleshbhai, Tejas and Chintan left their place in our neighbourhood in Malad and shifted to a new place in Bhayander. If we were staying in a building then it would not have made much difference but we live in a chawl in a colony called Bhadran Nagar. Hence it was a big incident for my family and many other families in our neighbourhood.
There are 16 rooms in my chawl and exactly opposite is another chawl with another set of 16 rooms. The doors of our homes face the doors of the homes in the chawl opposite to ours. Pragnabhabhi used to stay in the home 2 rooms after my home. Just beside her stays Lalitabhabhi and Rameshbhai's family who is a Marwadi family. Exactly opposite to her stay Kokilabhabhi and Ketanbhai. These three families are very close to each other. We also have good relations with all the three.
Now, Pragnabhabhi and Lalitabhabhi together purchased new flats and Pragnabhabhi already moved to her new home yesterday. So on this occasion there was hustle bustle since morning yesterday. Kokilabhabhi came to our home and started talking in an emotional tone about how she felt on this occasion. She had tears in her eyes. She was not feeling well since last few days anyway and moreover this now. Her one of the closest neighbours and friend was moving away from her. She said what she would do when Lalitabhabhi also moves away after a few days. She would be all alone.
This is the essence of staying in a chawl or a community habitat. You are close to your neighbours. Even at the midnight you are in need of help and they are there. There are numerous other advantages. You not only share new recipes you make for lunch/dinner but also your grief and happiness. They - your neighbours are a part of your life. Kokilabhabhi had become emotional as she was feeling a part of herself was moving far from her. Her tears made me, my sisters and my mother also feel a bit sad.
In a chawl system, the neighbours are very much a part of your home. Me and my dad are most of the times out of our home for work but my sisters and my mother are kind of attached to our neighbours Rekhabhabhi, Ramilabhabhi, Manisha, Kokilabhabhi, Lalitabhabhi and Pragnabhabhi. Ramilabhabhi are at my home most of the times. At night/evening also when I return home after a tiring day, my mother is sitting and chitchatting with either Ramilabhabhi or some other neighbour. And at times I don't like that. I feel as if my privacy is at stake. But then I don't complain and perhaps I also feel I don't mind it because in the same manner I like the company of my colleagues at office, my mother and sisters like the company of my neighbours. They share their work, gossip and do the daily chores in each others company and watch saas-bahu programs also together!
There are fights also at times between families staying in the same chawl but then that’s part of life. Good and bad are sides of the same coin.
Your doors always remain open, your children grow up easily and there are lot many other advantages like the safety of your home in your absence etc. of living in a chawl/community.
Tomorrow even if I move out of my current residence to live in a bigger place, I will never be able to forget my this home where I was not only born but also grew into whatever I am today.
There are 16 rooms in my chawl and exactly opposite is another chawl with another set of 16 rooms. The doors of our homes face the doors of the homes in the chawl opposite to ours. Pragnabhabhi used to stay in the home 2 rooms after my home. Just beside her stays Lalitabhabhi and Rameshbhai's family who is a Marwadi family. Exactly opposite to her stay Kokilabhabhi and Ketanbhai. These three families are very close to each other. We also have good relations with all the three.
Now, Pragnabhabhi and Lalitabhabhi together purchased new flats and Pragnabhabhi already moved to her new home yesterday. So on this occasion there was hustle bustle since morning yesterday. Kokilabhabhi came to our home and started talking in an emotional tone about how she felt on this occasion. She had tears in her eyes. She was not feeling well since last few days anyway and moreover this now. Her one of the closest neighbours and friend was moving away from her. She said what she would do when Lalitabhabhi also moves away after a few days. She would be all alone.
This is the essence of staying in a chawl or a community habitat. You are close to your neighbours. Even at the midnight you are in need of help and they are there. There are numerous other advantages. You not only share new recipes you make for lunch/dinner but also your grief and happiness. They - your neighbours are a part of your life. Kokilabhabhi had become emotional as she was feeling a part of herself was moving far from her. Her tears made me, my sisters and my mother also feel a bit sad.
In a chawl system, the neighbours are very much a part of your home. Me and my dad are most of the times out of our home for work but my sisters and my mother are kind of attached to our neighbours Rekhabhabhi, Ramilabhabhi, Manisha, Kokilabhabhi, Lalitabhabhi and Pragnabhabhi. Ramilabhabhi are at my home most of the times. At night/evening also when I return home after a tiring day, my mother is sitting and chitchatting with either Ramilabhabhi or some other neighbour. And at times I don't like that. I feel as if my privacy is at stake. But then I don't complain and perhaps I also feel I don't mind it because in the same manner I like the company of my colleagues at office, my mother and sisters like the company of my neighbours. They share their work, gossip and do the daily chores in each others company and watch saas-bahu programs also together!
There are fights also at times between families staying in the same chawl but then that’s part of life. Good and bad are sides of the same coin.
Your doors always remain open, your children grow up easily and there are lot many other advantages like the safety of your home in your absence etc. of living in a chawl/community.
Tomorrow even if I move out of my current residence to live in a bigger place, I will never be able to forget my this home where I was not only born but also grew into whatever I am today.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
My First Experience as a Radio Professional...
Being a creative and truly versatile soul I keep my fingers in many pies. It’s my nature to keep doing something new constantly in life. Kabhi dance to kabhi writing... Kabhi swimming to kabhi teaching..! Last year I appeared for a written exam at Radio station for Gujarati news reading position. (Have you heard a software professional doing so before?!)I passed this exam and a voice audition followed in February 2008. (It was just before a day I was supposed to leave for my marriage in Gujarat!)I cleared that too. And last month my training started for the post of a Gujarati news reader of Aakashwani - All India Radio. I have to reach AIR building after my office hours whenever I am supposed to do the duty. Generally 2 officers are on duty every day. They have to sort the news items from the heap of papers that keep piling up through out the day. (These news strips come from News agencies like PTI, Bhasha etc.)The news are printed in English and Hindi. The officers on duty have to sort and select some 10-15 news items for translation. They translate them into Gujarati and then it is supposed to be read by one of the officers during 10 minutes interval from 08:50 PM to 09:00 PM.I find it all very interesting - specially the reading the news on Radio (Live broadcast) part! Though this news bulletin can't be heard from anywhere in India (It is for Gujarati Audience in middle and East Africa) I am sure it would give me immense satisfaction and pleasure when I would read my first news on Radio.
On Wednesdays there is a program called 'Vartman Na Vhahen'(Current Affairs) and on Thursdays - 'Akhbaar Ni Atari e thee'(From the news balcony) which are both five minutes duration programs. Here the officer on duty would prepare an article from newspaper or write something related to current affairs on his/her own and read it on Radio.
Yesterday I got the first chance to go On Air. I had to prepare and read an article from a newspaper for 5 minutes. Now this 5 minutes should also include brief intro and the summary and the presenter’s name etc. I was over excited to step into the world of Radio and doing something new of this sort for the first time in my life. (I have participated in Radio Drama during my school days some 15 years ago and have cleared auditions also for Gujarati drama and news reading but this was for the first time I was going to present something professionally for a Live audience in Africa. I had chosen an article on 'Global Warming’. The article was long and my mentor Maitrayiben warned me about its length and that I would not be able to read it in 5 minutes. But I was over-confident and assured her that I would edit some part and finish it well in time.
Was I nervous when I entered the recording studio? I had decided to record my own voice through my mobile as there was no other way I could have heard what and how I spoke. I had kept the settings also ready on my mobile just had to press OK to start recording. But as soon as the newsreader Jyotiben finished reading news I got excited and in hurry forgot to click OK on my mobile. I took my seat and started reading. I guess I was too fast. Though my pronunciations of Gujarati words were quite clear and I didn't do a single mistake in reading, I made a blunder! I didn't look up to see the clock hanging on the wall opposite to me which is a must ritual for a newsreader or anybody who is giving a live performance on radio. I didn't see what my mentor Maitrayiben wanted to tell me through signs. I didn't see at the big equipment which had a scale to show how loud you speak. Louder you speak higher is the angle by which the needle of this instrument deflects. I never noticed deviation of this needle. I just kept on reading (or running?!) to finish my article. It was more than 5 minutes. I could feel the uneasiness around but didn't stop. kept going on and on. even after Maitrayiben clearly signed me to wind up, I could not stop. Finally she had to come beside me and abruptly switched off the button to stop the broadcast and to allow the radio speaker Taruben to continue her further program. After the recorded program tape was connected to the broadcast equipment, Taruben gave me a firing! She was not angry upon me but she explained me all my mistakes clearly and with a seniors style. She is a veteran in this field and knows all the nuances of Radio job. So is my mentor Maitrayiben. She also didn't favour me and explained me all the things I shall take care of while giving a program on Radio. Both these ladies were very kind and didn't insult me at all or scold me but taught me some very important lessons. I felt very very bad from inside. I tried to read newspaper and book (Kite Runner) in train while returning home but could not concentrate and my mood was not good. After returning home, first I narrated the whole incident to my mom and sister but still mood-change thing didn't happen yet. Now today after a day is over since my yesterday's bravado and after writing it down in this blog and sharing it with all my good friends (you all!), I am feeling good and now I feel I have overcome the blunder! Now my next duties are in next week.
Hope I do full justice to my job as Radio presenter and do my Best!
On Wednesdays there is a program called 'Vartman Na Vhahen'(Current Affairs) and on Thursdays - 'Akhbaar Ni Atari e thee'(From the news balcony) which are both five minutes duration programs. Here the officer on duty would prepare an article from newspaper or write something related to current affairs on his/her own and read it on Radio.
Yesterday I got the first chance to go On Air. I had to prepare and read an article from a newspaper for 5 minutes. Now this 5 minutes should also include brief intro and the summary and the presenter’s name etc. I was over excited to step into the world of Radio and doing something new of this sort for the first time in my life. (I have participated in Radio Drama during my school days some 15 years ago and have cleared auditions also for Gujarati drama and news reading but this was for the first time I was going to present something professionally for a Live audience in Africa. I had chosen an article on 'Global Warming’. The article was long and my mentor Maitrayiben warned me about its length and that I would not be able to read it in 5 minutes. But I was over-confident and assured her that I would edit some part and finish it well in time.
Was I nervous when I entered the recording studio? I had decided to record my own voice through my mobile as there was no other way I could have heard what and how I spoke. I had kept the settings also ready on my mobile just had to press OK to start recording. But as soon as the newsreader Jyotiben finished reading news I got excited and in hurry forgot to click OK on my mobile. I took my seat and started reading. I guess I was too fast. Though my pronunciations of Gujarati words were quite clear and I didn't do a single mistake in reading, I made a blunder! I didn't look up to see the clock hanging on the wall opposite to me which is a must ritual for a newsreader or anybody who is giving a live performance on radio. I didn't see what my mentor Maitrayiben wanted to tell me through signs. I didn't see at the big equipment which had a scale to show how loud you speak. Louder you speak higher is the angle by which the needle of this instrument deflects. I never noticed deviation of this needle. I just kept on reading (or running?!) to finish my article. It was more than 5 minutes. I could feel the uneasiness around but didn't stop. kept going on and on. even after Maitrayiben clearly signed me to wind up, I could not stop. Finally she had to come beside me and abruptly switched off the button to stop the broadcast and to allow the radio speaker Taruben to continue her further program. After the recorded program tape was connected to the broadcast equipment, Taruben gave me a firing! She was not angry upon me but she explained me all my mistakes clearly and with a seniors style. She is a veteran in this field and knows all the nuances of Radio job. So is my mentor Maitrayiben. She also didn't favour me and explained me all the things I shall take care of while giving a program on Radio. Both these ladies were very kind and didn't insult me at all or scold me but taught me some very important lessons. I felt very very bad from inside. I tried to read newspaper and book (Kite Runner) in train while returning home but could not concentrate and my mood was not good. After returning home, first I narrated the whole incident to my mom and sister but still mood-change thing didn't happen yet. Now today after a day is over since my yesterday's bravado and after writing it down in this blog and sharing it with all my good friends (you all!), I am feeling good and now I feel I have overcome the blunder! Now my next duties are in next week.
Hope I do full justice to my job as Radio presenter and do my Best!
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