Wow. I have no idea what to do, I'm sleepy, I feel sluggish and unmotivated. Not totally, mostly. What a feeling, not to feel anything good or bad completely, but just enough to make your life difficult.
I've been given the health beat by the bigwigs. "The universe conspires to give you what you want", I believe is the saying. I can see the pattern, but I'm not sure how to tap into this conspiracy. The job I have is very difficult for a fresher to get. I wasn't exceptionally good in the interview, so I have Sulekha to thank for the job. I also got the best possible boss to work under, Mir Ayoob Ali Khan. Everyone who knows him unanimously agrees that he's a gentleman. Fine. And now, I've been given the best possible beat a fresher can hope to get. I also have two really good contacts – one a former veteran of the beat, and another a very senior doctor in a huge hospital. One is like a walking, talking guidebook to how its done, and the other is a potential sacred cow. As I see it, NIIMS has the least amount of problems as far as infrastructure and stuff are concerned. So I can keep the neurologist in good humour for quite a while, while he gives me the dope on other institutions. I could do the same with most other hospitals, use one to get stuff on the other. Wah, that is the ultimate in strategy, and the nadir of stereotyped thinking. I am so darned conservative, always thinking in the box, in clichés, circles, two dimensional, looking at a single angle. I have no idea how to get out of this. That said, I smell something quite big in Sai Gopal. Other than the relieving fact that he seemed happy to speak to me, there's also the fact that he said "I'll give you all the contacts and numbers". That's manna, man. Man oh man! The other contact, the neurologist, is Vasudevan's brother in law. Practically family. Vasu's cool with me, and he wants good stories for himself also, so the doc will be more than forthcoming. I don't think I'll have any major difficulty in keeping his name out of the papers for a while. If the information is technical, I can get the quote from another neurologist. Hey, I just remembered, I know two of the best radiologists in the world – joga rao uncle and his wife. I gotta get in touch, man. I will also work on the hatke stories on Sundays, and churn out stories like a mutated journalist monster with nimble hands and a razor sharp, keen, incisive mind. Whoa, said noah. Stories do not drop on one's lap. They have to be planted, nurtured and left to mature on their own time, under the constant and watchful eye of the journalist.
The thing is, I don't ever remember having written these many words this quickly. A bigger surprise s the rush of contentment that I feel, like a chain smoker finally getting a fag after three days and nights. Imagine that first drag, deep into the lungs, that you let go only reluctantly. This is my first drag in a long, long while.
Its been almost a week since I got here. What have I done? A good bit of moving around, work to the casual observer. I know better. Its not work that I did this week, its dumb work. What an intelligent journalist can do with double the number of phone calls and less than half the number of one on one meetings, I have taken six whole days to do. I have filed exactly two stories, after having typed them thrice each, neither of which have been chosen for print. Call me pessimistic, but I just cant look at that as a great first week.
Man, I might as well wear a bull head mask and start chewing my cud for all the useless, boring, tiring, food-less running around that I did. Time for a quick resolution, triggered by sudden emotion, without any support of a plan – 'Enough dumb work. I will be professional henceforth'. That felt good. I still have no idea what I have to do.
Meeting GG was unarguably the best part of these few days. As usual, I imagined a power-packed conversation where I offer my eternal allegiance and he hands me the reins of the cultural u turn of India. I also had a few choice things to ask of him, like 'please let me keep this job' or 'please, please, let me publish just one story before I get the sack'. I went, I saw, he conquered. He inquired about my health, where I was staying, how I was doing and (insightful man) gave me two bananas. I hadn't had any breakfast. I didn't feel like asking him anything at all. Took theertham, left the place, spoke to appa and amma, and I was ready for another moo day.
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