Nahi Manaunga Christmas

Nahi manaaunga Christmas
bahut hua ab bas!
apne andar gusse ki aanch ko pakne doonga,
paani nahi daaloonga, sulagne doonga
iss baar kisi ko kehne ka mauka nahi doonga ki,
'Indian hain...yaaddaasht kamzor hai...bahal jaayeinge-
antarrashtriya cricket se, Yashraj films ki ticket se
ya phir Eid se, Christmas se'...hamaare jhelne ki khatm ho chuki had
bahut hua, ab bas!

nahi manaaunga Christmas
kaan khol ke sun le Jesus.
chilla ke is liye keh raha hoon
ki lagta hai tu behra ho gaya hai,
do hazaar saalon se bhi zyaada swarg mein rahkar
aaraampasand aur boodha ho gaya hai.
Tujhe dhamaakon ki awaaz ab sunaai hi nahi deti,
hamaare riste hue yeh ghaav...hamaari peeda...hamaari vedna
dikhaai hi nahi deti!
naseeb maan, heaven mein recession nahi hota,
nahi toh teri naukri toh gayi thi...
are kab taknaam ki khaayega, performance toh de,
tere bas mein nahi ab kuchh toh chhod gaddi,
doosre ko mauka toh de...

ab nahi aayega dharti pe toh kab aayega,
ab jab tak tu nahi aayega
nahi manaaunga Christmas,
bahut hua ab bas!

Taj - Tumhe Janmdin Mubarakho

होटल ताज, भारत का पहला 5 star होटल. किसी ज़माने में ये दुनिया के टॉप १० होटल्स में गिना जाता था. आज भले ताज टॉप १० में ना हो, लेकिन जब बात किसी होटल के शान की हो, तो ताज, आज भी दुनिया के बेहतरीन होटल्स में गिना जाता है. ताज को आज १०५ साल पुरे हो गए हैं. इन १०५ सालो में ताज ने महाराजाओ की शान से लेकर, आतंकियों के कहर तक, हर चीज़ देखि है. पर ताज आज भी खड़ा है, अटूट और निडर

समुद्र के रास्ते जब कोई मुंबई आता है, तो इस आलिशान इमारत की तारीफ़ किए बिना नही रह पाता है. तभी तो, इसे ताज कहते हैं. १९०३ में बना ताज, आज १०५ साल का हो गया है. हम बीसवी सदी से इक्कीसवी सदी में पहुच गए, भारत एक modern superpower के रूप में उभर रहा है. लेकिन बीसवी सदी के third world country माने जाने वाले भारत का होटल ताज, आज भी होटलों का सरताज है. समय के साथ साथ नए और आधुनिक होटल्स भी बने, जिनमे पश्चिमी देशो की तर्ज़ पर ऐश ओ - आराम की तमाम सुविधाएं भी दी गई, लेकिन ताज कभी अपनी संस्कृति को नही भुला. ताज हमेशा जाना जाता रहा अपने भारतीय संस्कृति से जुड़े छवि के लिए. ताज के इस प्रयास ने कही उसे दुनिया के बेहतरीन होटल्स की फेहरिस्त में पीछे छोड़ दिया, लेकिन ताज ने अपनी गरिमा बरकरार रखी. आख़िर, इसका निर्माण भी तो दुनिया के सामने भारत की गरिमा को प्रर्दशित करने के लिए ही किया गया था. ताज उस अंग्रेजो के ज़माने बना, जब होटल्स के बहार लिखा जाता था, Indians and Dogs are not allowed. तब J R D Tata, अपने और देश के आत्मसम्मान को बचाने के लिए आगे आए और आज से एक दशक पहले करीब ७५ करोड़ की लागत से इस आलिशान इमारत को बनवाया...और नाम दिया ताज

एक समय में महाराजाओ की शान तो आज CEO's और विदेशि पर्यटकों की ठाट बाट, ताज ने एक लंबा सफर तय किया है. इस होटल में लगे crystal belgium chandeliers और दीवारों की पेंटिंग्स ने इस होटल के इतिहास का हर एक लम्हा देखा है. वोह लम्हा भी जब प्रथम विश्व युद्ध के दौरान इस इमारत को एक हॉस्पिटल में तब्दील कर दिया गया, और वोह लम्हा भी जब चंद आतंकियों ने ताज के मेहमानों को ताज में ही बंधक बना दिया. ताज के पाक दीवारों को उसीके मेहमानों के लहू के छीटों से दागदार कर दिया.

ताज ने बहुत कुछ देखा है, बहुत कुछ सहा है. जिस ताज ने इस मुंबई शहर को इस देश के आर्थिक राजधानी के रूप में उबरते हुए देखा, उसी ताज के बर्बादी के मंज़र को सिर्फ़ इस शहर ही नही तो पूरी दुनिया ने निस्सहाय होकर देखा. मगर ताज चुप रहा. शायद येही उसकी ध्रिड़ता थी. और इसी ध्रिड़ता के सहारे ताज ने १०५ साल गुजार लिए. आज ताज का जन्मदिन है. लेकिन ये कहना ग़लत नही होगा, की १०५ साल पुराने, भारत की शान के इस प्रतिक का आज पुनर जन्म है

ताज...तुम मुंबई की शान हो, तुम्हारे इस पुनर्जन्म पर मुंबई वासियों की और से ढेरो शुभकामनाये.

Birthday cake se identity check

Ek magazine ke office mein sabko samaan nazariye se dekha jaata hai...jis tarah se ek circle mein chaaron taraf se centre point ki doori baraabar hoti hai vaise hi yahaan bhi sab baraabar hain...vaise kabhi-kabhi kisi occassion mein logon ko apni pehchaan bataani padti hai, designation sahit. Agar yahaan bhi dabi aawaaz mein bol kar chhipa gaye toh gale mein latka patta aukaat bataa dega. Ismein sab likha rehta hai ki aap wahaan kya karte hain...yeh aapka ID hai...heen granthi ke kaaran aap is patte ko jeb mein daal kar apni identity chhipa lein toh aapke birthday ke din aapki aukaat nahi chhup sakti. Agar aapke birthday ke cake ki packing mein Mongini jaise kisi brand ka naam nahi chhapa hai toh aap apni aukaat khud hi samajh sakte hain...aur agar koi brand hai toh samajhiye thik- thak aukaat hai aapki...aur agar aapke birthday mein cake ke saath samose bhi mangwaaye gaye hain toh aap company mein kaafi unchi haisiyat rakhte hain...waise anya awsaron mein sabko samaan nazaron se dekha jaata hai ...aisa lagta hai yeh cake se juda administration kaafi padhe-likhe, jaise MBA kiye hue log sambhaalte hain...MBA maane master in bakery administration...

Office ke reception ka interior laal ho!

Ek nayi magazine ke prakaashan ke shuru hone se pehle iss baat par charcha ho rahi hai ki office ke receptionroom ka interior kaisa hona chahiye. Meeting house of lords ki hai house of commons ki nahi. Isme unhein bulaya gaya hai jike paas bhaari- bharkam yogyata hai…jaise shahar ke sabse bade crime reporter ko…use crime ki achchhi samajh hai, isliye interior ki bhi hogi … Doosra political reporter hai…use politics aati hai …. isliye interior bhi aata hai…aisa maanne ka kaaran bhi hai…wo apne views se kisi ki bhi sarkaar banwa sakta hai…isliye nirmaan ke kaam mein uski poorani maahiri hai …/…crime reporter ne apna sujhaav diya , saara furniture laal rang ka hona chahiye…logon ne poochha kyon? …kyonki laal rang khoon ka rang hai …magazine mein crime ki khabar na ho toh magazine chal nahi sakti …aur crime mein hatya ki khabar na ho toh wo crime apne magazine mein chhapne ke standard ka nahi…chuki hamari magazine ka crime se aur crime ka khoon se gehra sambandh hai. isliye magazine ke interiors ka colour laal hi hona chahiye… Political reporter ne iska samarthan kiya yeh kah kar ki desh ki raajniti left chalaye ya right dono ke laal jahnde ke niche janta ki hi laal honi hai…isliye laal sabse yogya aur important colour hai …so, magazine ke office ka interior toh laal hi hona chahiye….is tarah se yah prastaav poorn bahumat se paas ho gaya…Pass ho jaane ke baad kisi ek ko dhyaan aaya, ‘are, hamare yahaan life style aur interiors aadi cover karne waala bhi toh ek reporter/ sub editor hai….busy time mein apna fengshui aur vaastu gyaan sabko jhaadte rehta hai ( busy time mein isliye kyonki jab wo ye gyaan jhaadta hai toh thoda busy ho jaata hai, vaise wo khaali hi rehta hai…uski na koi nishchit kursi hai na computer…jo kursi thodi der ke liye doosron ne khaali ki , utni der ke liye wo uski ho jaati hai)…so sabne decide kiya, chalo meeting ke baad uski bhi rai jaan lete hain, khush ho jaayega…

Veer Sanghvi on role of media on mumbai attack

Kal yaani sunday Veer Sanghvi ne apne HT mein chhape article ' Mediam or mess' mein media ki bhumika ki kadi aalochna karte hue kuchh sawaal uthaayein hain. Yeh kaafi sahi aur zaroori sawaal hain. Ek, at times of national crisis, we don't need hysterical reporters telling us how bad things are, we can see the pictuures for ourselves....we needed calm authority and a sense that even as the horror of the crisis unfolded, the rest of india was still functioning normally.Do, was it right to show the commandos being lowered on to Nariman house in real time? Should tv channels have revealed that many guests had taken shelter at the chambers at the Taj?...in both cases lives were lost....iske baad media ke logon ka yeh sharmnaak bayaan ki humein authority ki taraf se yeh batana chahiye tha ki kya dikhana hai kya nahi...self regulation naam ki koi cheez bhi hai ya nahi...agar nahi toh govt. media ko control karne ke liye kisi tarah ki koi regulatory body laane ki baat karti hai toh hai tauba kyon?... Teen, a channel air interviews with terrorists and give false news such as the claims of fresh firing at VT station...Unka ek sujhaav bhi mahatvapurna hai...One way of avoiding security breaches was to ensure that all live coverage went out after a delay.That way , terrorists would not get information in real time...To that list add one more; the tv channels must never repeat the mistakes of the siege of Bombay.

Desh ke system ka pyramid

Apne desh mein jo sabse pratibhashali hote hain ve 12th karne ke baad IIT jaise sansthanon se engineering vagairah ki padhaai karne chale jaate hain. Jo inse kam pratibhashaali hote hain woh unmein compete nahi kar paane ke kaaran majboori mein graduation kar ke doosre competitive exams aur MBA aadi ke dwara IAS aur aise hi anya officers ya CEOs bante hain. Desh ke engineers desh ke nirmaan ke liye jo bridges, roads, metro rail etc. ke projects banate hain, ye officers unki jaanch karte hain aur unhe pass karte hain. Inse jo kam pratibhashaali hote hain ve MA, PHD ya LAW karte hain ya patrakaar bante hain. Ye gyaan, kaanoon, jantantrik prakriya jaise dando se vikaas ke kaamon mein rore atkaate hain. Jo inse bhi gaye- gujre hote hain ve neta ban jaate hain, jo thoda bahut vikaas ka kaam hua toh laal fite ko kainchi se kaatkar unka inaugration karne pahunch jaate hain. Aapko aashcharya hoga ki desh mein inse bhi gaye-bite log hote hain, jo bhai ya don ya aatanki ban jaate hain aur netaon ko ungliyon pe nachaate hain. Desh aise hi chalta hai...Pyramid ka sabse nichla bhaag sabhi upar waalon ka bojh ab tak nahi dhota toh yeh pyramid kab ka sad kar gir chuka hota. Is tarah ke examples aapko desh mein har jagah dikhaai de jaayeinge.

Mumbai attack ke baad

Mumbai attack ke 15 din guzar chuke hain. Yeh ek aisi ghatna thi jispar peechhe mudkar dekhna koi nahi chahega. Lekin dekhna padta hai kyonki na dekho, na socho toh log hamein kaayar samjheinge..kaheinge inki toh aise haadse jhelne ki aadat hai...aur ve kyon na samjhein aakhir 9/11 ke baad America mein ek bhi aisi aatankvaadi ghatna dohraayi nahi gayi jabki Bharat mein har mahine do mahine mein aise attacks hona aam baatho chuki hai . Vaise iss baar janjeevan saamaanya hone mein waqt lag raha hai...lagna bhi chahiye . Is baar Mumbai ke spirit ke naam pe log chup chaap kaam pe nahi jaa rahe. Is baar janta mein jo aakrosh hai woh pehle nahi dikha. Lekin sarkaar abhi bhi galti pe galti kiye jaa rahi hai. Bharat ne jamaat-ud-daava par pratibandh lagaane ki maaang ki, Pakistaan ne jhat maan liya...naam mein kya rakha hai...naam badal kar phir kaam shuru ho jaayega,Pakistan mein yeh bachche bachche ko maalum hai , Bharat sarkaar ko nahi maalum! Kargil yudh ke samay Atal Bihari Vajpayee ne Nawaz Sharif ko phone kiya tha. Nawaj Sharif ko Pakistani army ke is kuraafat ki koi jaankaari nahi thi. Is yudhh ke liye zimmedaar Musharraf ke satta sambhaalne ke kuchh hi mahinon ke bheetar Mr. Vajpayee ne unhe Hello mr. president keh kar phone kiya. Attack ke baad PM Manmohan Singh ne bhi Asif Ali Zardari se baat ki ki ISI chief ko bhejo....Pakistan ke zarre-zarre ko maalum hai ki Pakistan mein ISI ke upar Pakistan govt. ka koi control nahi hai lekin hamaare PM ko nahi maalum. Vishwa biradari se maang toh yeh karni chahiye ki Pakistan ko terrorist state ghosit kiya jaaye, na ki jamaat-ud-daava par pratibandh lagwaane jaise dikhaawe ki kaararwaai se santosh karke apni janta ko yeh kahne ki zaroorat hai ki dekho hamne dabaav daala tabhi toh yeh sab kuchh hua.... Masood Azhar ko ghar mein nazarband kar ke unhe tasty- tasty biryaani khila kar uske aaraam ka prabandh karne ke yeh Pakistani dhakosle se hamaari maasoom dikhne waali sarkaar santusht ho sakti hai, janta nahi.
Iss baar America ke tewar Bharat ki janta se jyaada mel kha rahe hain, Bharat sarkaar se kam. Woh iss baar Bharat ko samyam ka paath nahi padha raha. Senator John McCain ne pehle hi Pakistan ko saaf- saaf keh diya hai ki koi thos kaararwaai karo nahi toh Bharat attack kar sakta hai...President Obama ne bhi kaha hai ki aatank ke shikaar desh ko apni pratiraksha ke liye koi bhi kadam uthane ki aazadi hai. Ishaara saaf hai, agar Bharat koi aggressive step uthata hai toh America nahi rokega. Hum aisa soch sakte hain ki America ka yeh badla paintra mandi ko dhyaan mein rakh kar hai. Agar war hua toh weapons ka Bharat achchha kharidaar hoga aur America ko mandi se ubarne mein madad mil sakti hai, iss baat ko sire se nakaara nahi ja sakta...vaise bhi Afganistan se sena bula lene ka Obama ka bayaan aa chuka hai. So, Pakistaan ki zaroorat ab America ko utni nahi hai...aur agar hai bhi toh Pakistan America ke khilaaf hone ki himmat nahi juta sakta kyonki IMF ki funding se toh wah saans le paa raha hai...waise bhi nuclear war na chhide iske liye America ne Pakistan ke nuclear reactor ki security ke liye apne officials bhej hi chuka hai. Phir kya , America ka saaf ishaara Bharat sarkaar nahi samjhe aur kisi nirnaayak nateeze pe na pahunche toh sarkaar ko janta kabhi maaf nahi karegi.
Yeh toh baat hui attack ke baad raajnitik ghatnakram ki. Lekin saamaajik chhetra mein ek bahut achchhi baat dekhne mein aayi. Bakrid ke mauke pe shaayad hi koi aisi masjid rahi ho jisne muslim bhaiyon se tyohaar saadgi se manaane ki appeal na ki ho aur attack ki kade shabdon mein ninda na ki ho. Yeh ek saath islamic aur hindutwawadi, dono kattarpanthiyon ko jawaab tha. Pehla yeh ki koi yeh na samjhe ki islaam ke naam pe begunahon ke khoon karke Bharat ke musalmaanon ka samarthan paa lega. Doosra jawaab Hindutvavadi kattarpanthiyon ko ek baar phir yeh ki unke is aarop mein koi dam nahi ki Bharat ke musalmaan desh ki mukhyadhaara ke saath nahi hain.Sabse achchhi baat Aamir Khan ne kahi ki," aatankvaadiyon ka hausla isliye jyaada badhta hai ki hum unse baat karte hain, samjhauta karte hain...kal ko kisi ne mujhe ya mere parivaar ko bandhak banaya toh mujhe chhudaane ke liye sarkaar aatankvaadiyon se samjhauta na kare...desh hit mein unhe sabak sikhaye." Yeh statement dekar Aamir Khan ne yeh bata diya ki ve sirf apni filmo mein deshbhakti ki kasamein nahi khaate , haqeeqat mein bhi wo jo karte hain uspar believe karte hain....iss baat ke liye Amir ki jitni prashansha ki jaaye, kam hai. Aakhir mein hum ATS chief shahid Hemant Karkare ki dharmpatni ke us aatmsammaan aur khuddaari se bhare faisle ko kaise bhool sakte hain jo unhone Gujraat sarkaar dwaara diye gaye ek crore rupaye ki sahaayata raashi bina ek pal kuchh soche lauta di aur saaf- saaf bataa diya ki Bharat ke sachche sipahi ki shahaadat anmol hai.Aise jazbe ko sau-sau baar salaam!

Channel ID

The programming team is currently in the midst of shooting the channel id... its all suppossed to be hush-hush and not all team members are involved... however there were some cool pics that we shot, mostly working stills which will be part of the "making of"' anyways...but I cant resist the urge to put them up here...

Enjoy!

proud being in TV9

Being a fresher ..... and as a part of Upcoming news channel is like Dream come tru of any NEW COMER and that too in the profession like Media......and on top of that working with Mr Chandra mohan sir (CM sir....as we calllll him..............CM OF OUR OFFICE..[:p] ) knowledge and talent in a single person.......nd OUR sir ........... nothin more can ask for ....(isnt it guys....)

Our office was under construction wen i had joined and CM sir himself had been our tour guide for Under construction office .....

Changes infront of our own eyes can make a great impact ..... and the growth of self and our company simultaneously is a great thing ....
thnx a lot mam and sir to give such a great Oppurtunity .........will give best to make TV9 proud

thnx a lot take care

Riots and Jhankar Beats

When I had started this blog, it was meant to be an insiders view of a media house...with everybody contributing, especially the editor...But since our launch is getting nearer and we are all panicking neither Ganesh nor me have found the time to pen down so many important events that have happened in the last couple of weeks.

However, since today is kinda a landmark day ....hence can't ignore it ...but like a true Mumbaikar (ahem ...can visualize the Thackerays getting permanent frown lines) I chose to club other issues with it and finish off the backlog!

Well these days is kinda hectic... with the impending launch of the channel, most of my waking hours are at the office, I just go home to crash and shower. I've had my moments of self doubt and the feeling of failure has become a permanent fixture in my mind... I don't seem to motivate my team enough to make them work to the best of their ability and achieve their deliverables.

And with so much stress going on... Raj Thackeray has gone and gotten arrested... His MNS had beaten up non-maharastrains who were applying for railway jobs and since this vigilante behaviour has been going on for some time, the authorities decided to show their power and arrested Raj, thus enabling him to become a bigger hero in the eyes of the public. But amchi Mumbai has a strange way of showing support ...here people start rioting, burning taxis and autos with the rapid action force out with their lathis.

Hapless office-goers think ten times before venturing out...the client presentation is important so is their own safety... what if the rioters chose them to express their anger...do they also display their smattering of Marathi to safeguard themselves or do they beg and plead to get some semblance of sympathy.

That’s an individual choice and I wish all of them good luck to endure one more day like this... as for me, when I left my house I was lucky to find a taxi and auto. However, the auto wallah insisted on playing "Aisi Dewangi, Dekhi Nahin Kabhi, Maine-Tumne" with jhankar beats... I couldn't help laughing at God's sense of humour...the lyrics were appropriate to the situation and the jhankar beats (tudum-tudum....dhinchak...dhinchak...tudum dhish) adding the right tone.

Here's to another day in Mumbai and cudgels to the guy who invented Jhankar Beats!

World Tourism Day

On the eve of World Tourism Day, MTDC took a bunch of journalists to Sindhudurg district to see the beauty of the place. The incentive was a alleged press conference with the revenue minister Mr. Narayan Rane.
Being from the programming side of the channel and waiting to shoot a travel show with the minimum amount of expenditure, I jumped on to the bandwagon with as much gusto as the journalists, armed with 5 bags of equipment (camera, lights, et al) and 2 more bags with personal effects.
The rest of the team gave me suspicious looks, they were armed only with a pen and a note book (the weapon of a true journalist) and an occasional camera or so... I ignored the looks and the language (predominantly Marathi...I only knew a smattering of it) and started briefing my cameraperson on the kind of visuals and treatment that we would need to do.
Seeing our enthusiasm, the others also decided to shoot a small feature or documentary to impress their top brass... more often than not, I found the other camera persons shooting from the same angle as we were.
Unfortunately, the organizers hadn’t counted on trigger happy camera crew like us and most of the 2 day trip was spent on the bus travelling from one place to the other with 5 min stops to see the beauty of the district.
Our first stop was on a roadside restaurant for dinner, where I took out my Handycam to shoot the group in an effort to break the ice and overcome the language barrier, but I wasn’t quite successful.
Early Friday morning found us at a MTDC resort called Madhuvan where we stopped to freshen up and continue our journey towards Vijaydurg. The resort was one dilapidated one where the towels had two big holes as its USP!
Vijaydurg was a fort where few local politicians had gotten together to light the Maashal which was to be carried by a group of runners for the Meet on World Tourism day at Sawantwadi. The fort was surrounded by the Arabian Sea and as part of the run up to the event; there were folk dancers in green skirts (all men!!) and dhol beaters (trance at its best!) and school kids in Shivaji costumes. Unfortunately we could only stay there for few minutes as we had to rush to the next location - Kunkeswar Temple; But not before some 'Ghawne & alu sabzi with Thalipeeth" as breakfast. So what if breakfast was at 1230 hrs in the afternoon, it gave us the energy to play Antakshari in the bus.
We reached Kunkeswar all charged up and shot as much as we could in those 5 min that were allocated to us as we had to rush to the next location Tarkali Beach... I did get the feeling that we were playing the "Amazing Race - Sindhudurg" although there was no prize money at the end of this marathon!
We hit Tarkali Beach around 1700 hrs and headed straight for a sumptuous lunch of "Surmai fry, Bangda curry, rice and Sol Kadi" and post lunch we did manage to shoot some more footage.
Then we were on the road again ... on our way to Amboli resort... we reached the MTDC guest house (thankfully no more towels with holes, although there was no hot water in the shower....actually the shower didn’t work...we had bathe the old fashioned way of bucket and mug) around 2130 hrs. After freshening up, we headed straight to the dining room...there was a lavish spread of chicken tikkas, fried prawns, chicken biryani, chicken curry, rice, chappatis, salad, mango srikhand, etc albeit all cold...since we were running four hours late on schedule.
After dinner, everyone went for a walk, but Sunil (my cameraperson) and me got into battle mode and made plans to get up early to shoot... we reasoned that since the rest of the group would sleep till late, we will get some advantage over them as well as get the morning light.
Saturday Morning at 0600 hrs, we were ready with our camera and tripod in place and shot whatever we could manage till the others got up and joined us.... it was at that point that I just realized what the word “Competitiveness” means... none of the other journalists had a brief from their seniors on making a feature, they were supposed to cover the press conference only, but when they saw us shooting a feature, they wanted to do the same and earn brownie points!
Then we were on the road again to Sawantwadi for the press conference stopping for 5 min en-route to shoot some waterfalls.
Sawantwadi was a small bustling town all ready to welcome the high profile Revenue Minister ... the seminar went as planned (although I struggled to understand the language...I also dozed off in-between) and as soon as Mr. Narayan Rane left the podium all journalists breezed off after him to “Shilpagram” – the art & craft village where the minister answered questions to the eager journalists and where all of us feasted on a lavish spread of Malvani cuisine. There were crabs, different varieties of fishes, prawns, modaks, rice, ghawne, solkadi, etc.
As the day drew to an end, I realized that I had not got enough footage to make a travel show, I pulled all the strings that I could (the producer in me rose to the occasion) and I managed to convince a municipal officer to arrange for our stay and facilitate our shoot. From here onwards the shoot went on smoothly since we were not dependent on a third party.
We left early on Sunday morning to Sindhudurg fort ... to reach the fort we had to take a boat ride and once inside the fort, we lost ourselves in the serene surroundings and beautiful ruins.
After pack up we returned back to Sawantwadi to catch a bus back to Mumbai ...since I was dead tired from the shoot, I slept like a log in the bus till we reached Mumbai... however, that was not the end of the day for me... I got a call from the office for yet another shoot... this time it was to capture the fastest singer in India (or should I say the world?) Shankar “breathless” Mahadevan for the recording of our channel ID...but that as they say is another story...err another blog post ;)

Painting the office RED!!

No no, I haven't become footloose and fancy free ... no time to pursue such activities, this is a literal translation. I am going to paint the office red.
Yesterday while doing my usual hello's to everybody, I bumped into the architect (our office is still being constructed) and since I've always been fascinated with colours and painting (I once painted a friends wall with rollers... it was too much fun and I wanted to recreate it again), I asked Rajesh (the architect) to allow me to paint one of the walls... he was not convinced. I cajoled him saying that he will not have to pay daily workers wages to me... that I will do it for free... still I was not successful... not because Rajesh didn’t want me to paint any wall... but there are no walls in our office!
Yes, it is hard to believe... but there are no walls in our office (walls as in concrete wall... there are a lot of glass walls and wooden walls which cannot be painted).
However, being ever resourceful (jugadu) Indians, Chandramohan (big boss) came up with the idea that we can paint one column and one beam on the mezzanine floor which can be used as a graphitti wall by all the employees... so I am gonna paint the office RED... yaaaaa!
BTW, everybody is invited ;)

There take that

You wanna play tough??

Are Mithais Involved

Ganesh @ Ganesh

Its been quite some time, that we posted anything... its the deadlines actually... I think we should have a deadline for blogging as well ;)

Well apart from being a hectic week, we did manage to squeeze in time to do puja for the mezzanine and edit bays...Have got some pic of our editor smashing the coconut.... incidentaly it was Ganesh Chaturthi as well as Ganesh's Birthday... auspicious day!!

Empty Stomach is a Devil's Workshop

They say an empty mind is a devils workshop...we at tv 9 feel otherwise... we think that an empty mind is a result of an empty stomach...which in turn is a result of bad food, as a subsequent effect of bad or no cafeteria....hence, before any other facility we created a cafeteria... a terrace (big enough to for a basketball court plus audience rows) was covered up in white and green awning, tables were put up and lo and behold our cafeteria was up ... all it required was a smart food menu, coffee machine and snacks bar.

All meetings (official or otherwise) happen at the cafeteria nowadays, and its not unusual to find hot topics being debated under the guise of 'creative ideation' (whatever that may mean).

Some of the enthusiastic toilers decided to form a committee (in true Indian democracy) and decide what to put on the menu... all the foodies thought it was a great idea but the shirkers (read me) were quite eloquent about nipping the thought in the bud (imagine what they might start next... committee to start work...horror).

I guess I should shut up now, before my stomach starts growling again and I lose focus of this post ;)

Hello World

Hello World, this is not the first word that we will say when we go on air since we will be too busy bringing you news that you can use, hence we welcome you into our world as the countdown to reach your homes gets nearer.
Yes the time has come, the studios are getting ready, the office space is nearly complete (the skeletons are really good looking ;)) and the young blood (read reporters) are raring to go.
Will we be yet another news channel which will crowd your viewing time with inane news items or will we claim to be different… i am afraid that is a choice that is not with the audience or the market sponsors, it is with us …with the editorial team… we will show news that we believe in… news that we would watch.
But that is not all… we will have interesting lifestyle shows that will not only be fun but informative as well.
So grab your remote control and let the countdown begin… 9…8…7…