Working on the move...

I am training to be a Print Journalist. I love reading and writing. Basically I am technologically challenged. I chicken out at the thought of using any sort of technology and softwares gives me nightmares. Imagine what my reaction would have been when I came to know that we have to compulsory do a broadcast story for a college assignment. No, I did not faint (have some faith) but yeah I did go Eeeeeeeeeep!


I was supposed to do a story with one of my colleagues, Rujuta, who is a broadcast journalism candidate. Hence she was in charge of reporting and I was in charge of the camera (me, handling a camera, laudable really). Being the reporter, she figured out the story idea, chalked out a travel plan, we went and booked all the equipment and voila, we were ready to go for our shoot. The story was about the propoganda created by political parties in the form of their party symbols on swine flu masks. The shop which was selling these masks was in Budhwar Peth, the Red Light area of Pune. Since we had started in the evening on her scooty, we were fighting against the loss of light which would make the shoot even more difficult. This, however, did not stop us from enjoying, gossiping throughout the ride and having a nice Bhutta break in the middle of our journey.

Finally, we reached our destination with just enough light to help us take our outdoor shots. Now I have to share the experience of handling a camera on my own for the first time. It gave me a sort of powerful feeling. There was a feeling of being able to capture all images on a tape which would stay as a memory for a long time to come. Having people stare at you when you shoot gives a person a heady rush (especially when it is a novice like me). However, with some slight mistakes, we were finally ready to take our shots and interviews. The shoot went on for some one and a half hours. We both were exhausted at the end of it. But the experience was an extremely exhilerating one. We packed up our stuff and again started off towards our next destination.

The next stop was Rujuta's home. She wanted to leave her scooty back home (petrol prices gone up by leaps and bounds if you didnt notice). Her mom made me eat some traditional Marathi food which included Bakdewadu. All I can say is Yummyyyyy. We spent a nice time with her mom who gave me a green signal to come to her place and hog on traditional Marathi food whenever I wanted. However, soon it was time to leave for our hill again. We left Rujuta's place and reached our bus stop. Then we started our journey back. We were so tired that we went off to sleep as soon as we settled in our seats inside the bus. Finally we reached our hill top, exhausted yet satisfied. It was one of the days which made me realize that I am not as bad with technology as I thought. I have lost the fear that Broadcast journalism held for me but I don't think I will be drifting towards a career in that medium until and unless I am dragged there kicking and screaming. :D