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Journalism of Courage
SURAT, Aug 23: An occasion like the Independence Day is reason enough for a still frame8217;. Completion of a 50 years of freedom is an added bonus for those who wield the small but potentially lethal camera. What follows on the pages of newsprint on the memorable day 8212; sometimes stretching even a couple of days before and after 8212; are moments, glimpses, frames that almost tend to portray something satirical.
And why only the Independence Day or the Republic Day. Birth and death anniversaries of our national leaders are also a good hunting ground for the lensman. And what could be better than the statues of our leaders, which are erected dutifully at almost every hundred metres where two roads cross each other.
For instance, on the birth anniversary of the father of the nation, the photographers click a beggar, lying beside the statue, who found the place cosy and quiet for a nap.
On Nehru Jayanti people find a picture with a crow perched on the head of the statue of the country8217;s first prime minister.
A poor family having a meal in a drainage pipe that they have made their home or a ragged child holding the tricolour is one of the most common photographs.
These photographs, usually are seen as hitting out to the leaders, saying look what mess you8217;ll landed us into.
Besides statues, societies, roads, commercial complexes are also named after our great leaders. Mahatma Gandhi Road, Mahatma Gandhi Chowk or a bus terminal with the name is most common. The Sardar Chowk, the Jawaharlal Nehru Bridge, the Maharana Pratap Baug, the Vivekananda Circle, not to mention the Indiranagar, Bapunagar, Subhashnagar slums, are to name a few.
All such places are a haven for lensman who come up with striking stills of the irony that the founding fathers have left behind.
But to be fair to newspaper reporters, there are people who jump over each other to get their picture clicked. Then there are others who see to it that they are right ahead during rallies, dharnas, bandhs, protests, or while submitting memorandums so that their photo comes the next day in the papers. And then there are people who give releases and statements only if their photograph is published.
One of the many reasons for having to do with such pictures is that here in India, we do not have the glamour entwined with public life as in the case of the United States of America. While many feel that we have not reached that stage yet, others say the day is not far.
However, till then Press photographers will have to put up with old beggars at the statue of a great leader, an impoverished family leaving in a drainage pipe or a crow perched on the head of a former PM.
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