MIDWAY : Taking the plunge

Saurav Dhakal

I’ve always been a firm believer that certain things in life suite one more than the others. If you would instantly feel at home with certain things, then it is likely you would develop a natural keenness for them. In the 22 years that I have existed, this has been one of the many valuable lessons. And fate too has some role in deciding one’s destiny. That is not to say that our cou-rse of action is predestined. That may be just why Napoleon said, “Man is the architecture of his own destiny.” By fate I mean to say that certain things are co-incidental and in the long journey that is life, co-incidences make or mar an individual’s career chart. The cumulative effect of such a spectacle results in a new pageantry — a rainbow being one such example. Being brought up in an itinerant family, I have so far experienced many things in life, as others would have too. They would easily outsize the Mahabharata. To pen them down is a wonderful feeling, but it’s not writing that truly excites me. It’s rather the art of talking one-to-one that helps us to better share our thoughts, ideas and experience. The intonation, stress and syllable besides the body language certainly help us express better. It was but quite natural for me to opt journalism as my career. “One writes out of one thing only — one’s own experiences,” wrote Baldwin. And extensive as my experience is, of visiting different places and meeting people, it would no doubt help me in this.

I have developed a growing fondness for people and love to share experiences with them. I love conversing and consequently, I love reporting. Talking about the salutary points of journalism, I find them by the scores. Where 47 per cent of the people cannot even read and write, it is the radio that has endeared the public. TV and information technology are yet to grow on a wider and professional scale. And then there is this present day turmoil. At a time when the country is in a fix, caught up in a vortex of power tussle, there is a dire need for professional journalism. I hope, imparting them the news, as incidents unfold, would be a kind of service, which would help them inspire to continue imagining. Imagination after all keeps the world going. Now that I have criss-crossed the country and have a fondness for meeting people, I can only hope that my inner voice is guiding me right in prompting me to be a scribe. I just hope that I have taken the right decision. Time alone will tell me if that is indeed right. After all, isn’t life all about sharing one’s experiences?