Nik Gowing, the shining star of media world, the Chief Anchor of BBC, whom I fondly call my Grandpa - he is still young that is another matter - in private with a sense of humour was there in Thiruvananthapuram, the Capital of my home State of Kerala, India to attend the one week long Hay festival at Nishagnadhi Auditorium in the compound of Kanakakunnu Palace where luminaries from all walks of life, film-personalities, writers, cultural icons and media world from both India and abroad - all converged for about one week.Some of the noted dignitaries included Mani Shankar Iyer, Wlliam Darl Rymble, Sister Jesme, K.Sachithanandan, SashiTharoor, Tarun Tejpal, Paul Zacharia and the the 'Suitable Boy' Vikram Seth of 'The Suitbale Girl' - which is on the anvil.
I do have no plans to touch upon any other personalities at the moment, except Nik Gowing - BBC's pride.
My Grand Father - paternal to be specific whom I did have the rare opportunity of meeting only once in my life, thank God, the rare opportunity or blessing my siblings never did get as he had had many conncetions across the State and was always on the move. Whenever I see or recall the face of Nik Gowing my Grand Father's face comes to my mind as the former bears great resemblance to the latter.
Both luminaries in their own ways my Grand Father was a celebrated civil lawyer of those days whose main hobby was filing suits and winning them ultimately, the funny thing was that as he was a Zamindar of those times, across the State he used to sell the property to various clients then file suits against the same clients later pointing out loop-holes in the title deeds. As he was an accomplished lawyer of that time he took up his own cases and with documentary evidences proved his contentions. The charming handsome man was the heart-throb of many a pretty cute lady and he made them his life partners.
Sorry, Nik Gowing, the media personality is entirely different unlike my Grand Father nothing of such funs enjoyed by Nik Gowing and the latter's only obsession being journalism and his family life with his wife Judy and children. The day-to-day developments across the world, political, diplomatic - all which in every way are related to our world remain his forte. He views each, analyzes each and present them to the outside world through his news media BBC.
At Thiruvananthapuram in the course of his interaction with media personalities commented on the latest technological developments and challenges the media as well as the governments are about to be confronted with and the way the news reaching people that is with in split- seconds. One of the note worthy messages that he conveyed was 'Use social media responsibly and with responsibility'. For instance, he went on with the observation that it takes only two hours for a development in Antartica to reach the news centres, thanks to the innovative changes in the world of technology. His special mention of the roles of citizen journalists, and in a lighter vein his pointing to the fact that in the contemporary world, on a fine morning a man wakes up suddenly and to his great delight he finds that he is catapulted to the position of a journalist. In short everyone evolving into a journalist is the hallmark of present times.
His one observation while having friendly talks with our media personalities however made interesting reading. That each Minister of Kerala keeps five phones with them and hence they are better placed to read the pulse of the masses across our State. Judging by the number of phones a Minister keeps with himself or herself to keep in touch with the pulse of the people sadly is a new discovery by Nik Gowing at least in the case of Kerala. The stark truth is that Nik Gowing, the learned journalist ought to have undertaken a long journey throughout Kerala keeping the story of five phones by each Minister in mind. I very much doubt the renowned journalist was cracking a joke while he was enjoying funny moments with his brethren. If that be the case, he deserves applauses galore for his sense of humour.
Hats off to Nik Gowing...
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