Journal-4

Today let me share some exciting facts during the the death of Shastri ji !.and some other exciting facts about 1971 war.

Another first for Express was the airlifting of photographs covering the funeral procession of shastri.

A plane was engaged for the purpose and all the centres were provided them.

If the publishing centre had no airport , the nearest one served the purpose.

It was a feat in the days when radio photo facility was yet to be.

 Another  major event I was associated with was the 1971 war .

I was heading the desk when the pak air attack started.

I was doing the van edition at that time.

The teleprinter would come out with flashes of the attack and I would dutifully include them in the galley.

I am referring to the western sector.

In the eastern sector there were moments of tension when the seventh fleet frigate had dacca in its gun range.

But the deterrent was the accord reached by indira with russia.

Over 90000 prisoners surrendered to india .

This brought about the ceasefire and also resulted in the simla agreement.

Benazir was perhaps a teenager when she accompanied her father on his simla trip.

Had india been more firm there was a possibility that the kashmir problem would have found a lasting solution.leveraging has not been our strong point.

Some asides from 1971 war

There were some strange happenings during the war.

Pakistan had better planes and equipment , yet failed in the western sector.

Later reports suggested the bombings went awry because there was a haze up above.

Indian navy had its finest hour when it encircled the Karachi Harbour and made mincemeat of the Pak ships stationed there.

it is as if the supreme intelligence was aware of india's just cause and backed it to the hilt.

Journal-3

Today let me share a few of my experiences during Indo-china and Indo-Pak war .!

image source:indo-china war

China was , is and will ever be a fascinating study. only  reasons differ.

When i was in Deccan Herald , The Chinese invasion took place. shortlived though it was there was panic in the country.

In the intervening period between the incursion and the ceasefire the newspaper carried an article that china never entertained imperial designs on any country.

how wrong the writer was!

Behind the ceasefire lay the threat of American intervention and J.F.kennedy’s  ready  response to Jawaharlal Nehru’s appeal for help.

Russia at that time was ideologically closer to china.

Then there was a battle between the two communist giants .

One of the charming things of newspaper work those days was the access to news as it came.

The ceasefire announcement came around the time the newspaper pages were laid to bed.

The edition was delayed and we carried the news. the edition was delayed and we carried the news.

Those were the days when most newspapers had three editions. one was early dock, finalised around 6pm and sent to distant parts of the state.another was around 11pm , the van edition as it was called.

it was meant to be carried to distant cities with a fixed deadline.

the newspaper laden vans would race at breakneck speeds .

the empty space , if any, would accommodate a few passengers ,they would wait on the outskirts to be picked up.

the city edition would be put together in the early hours,say 2am,to reach the stalls early in the morning.

My second brush with war and excitement was 1965,when i had moved on to Indian Express.

                        Image source: lal bahadur shastri

The war ended when superpowers prevailed upon India and peace talks were arranged at Tashkent .

Agreement was the big news of the day and the journalists sighed with relief.

But that was not to be.!

For,a few hours later Lalbahadur Shastri under whose leadership the war was fought died.

Tashkent was a laid back town and the girls at the telephone exchange hardly knew english.

That was when gen Kumara mangalam who was part of the Indian delegation walked in.

"He asked the girls to contact army hq where there would be a duty officer and before the girl could announce herself took the phone and spoke to the officer. i am gen Kumaramangalam speaking from Tashkent . the officer who was habituated to prank calls remarked , if you are gen Kumara mangalam i am queen of Sheba."

the swear words that greeted him dispelled all doubts 

and the message was conveyed to the slumbering bosses in Delhi.

Deccan Herald which had a stake in UNI  was alerted. Express was ignored.

But as luck would have it the news reached the time office of Express thru an alert driver and the editor was alerted.

In a jiffy the editorial team as well as the lino unit returned to their duties .

And the newspaper came out with a eight column banner announcing the tragedy.

In madras Ramnath Goenka went to Andhra Prabha section where some of the staff would sleep .

One of them was woken up and asked to do the revised edition.

He had a rich reward, by way of three increments.

Over 50,000 copies had been printed in vijayawada with the old news when the latest twist reached there.

The editor junked the entire lot and prepared the new edition.

Of such stuff was journalism made.! 

Happy to share more of such encounters

Share your comments and opinion below.

Have a great time

Journomurthy..!!