DON'T PUT YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET

By Rajesh Ghadge

“My English was always good thanks to teachers in a Christian missionary school I'm not therefore very surprised that eventually, I took to j o u r n a l i s m w i t h f l a i r . Journalism is an empowering and fulfilling profession if practised honestly, without monetising your conscience! There are different genres of journalism of course, and for my generation, it was never ' c o n t e n t m a t t e r ' . T h e journalism of the 70s and 80s was harder than today's easycome-easy-go social media journalism!” we worked for free and after one year I got my first job at a monthly political magazine entitled “Freedom First”, from there I moved to another monthly magazine “Debonair” here also I did not get much work to show my journalistic talent. But soon that day came when I met Mr Khushwant Singh from “Illustrated Weekly” w h o g a v e m e t h e f i r s t opportunity to publish a story written by me. Khushwant Singh was a most engaging editor and personality, I recall asking him, “How would you like to die?” He replied laconically, “in the arms of a woman doing it!” I was shocked. After the Debonair, I joined “Mid-Day” under the editor Behram Contractor, another good editor. I then quit to join the “ADC.”” Tara enjoys her work thoroughly and she firmly believes that journalism is far more exciting than secretarial work.

“When My father moved overseas in a search of fortune, my mother decided to join him with six children. I grew up in a conservative Hindu Gujarati family on the little island of Penang I passed through convent school and higher school education, doing my Senior Cambridge and then HSC,” she added.

Tara was born in a middle-class Gujarati family in Viramgam, Gujarat in 1949. She had done her preliminary studies in a Christian Missionary School and later on, she embarked on her successful journalist career. Her father, Ramanbhai, drove trucks for an uncle in Ahmedabad and later on moved to Malaysia for work. He eventually started his own import-export business. Currently, Tara is supporting her husband, a well-known journalist Mr Rajan Narayan, in his publication venture - Goan Observer.

As Tara turned 20, her father decided to get her married but she had different plans and decided to move out of the house and live her life independently. “I did a year's course of typewriting at the Davar's College of Commerce and moved out of home to live in a working women's hostel in downtown Bombay. Mrs Issacs o f t h e C o l a b a Y W C A employment bureau got me jobs. The first two to three years were rocky, unhappy years,” she narrated. Later on, Tara went to do her diploma in journalism at K C College, Mumbai from where she got an opportunity to do her apprenticeship at the TOI publications. “I was placed at the “Evening News of India” table to pick up hands-on rudimentary reporting- the usual what, when, where, who, and why basics. Those days, we were on typewriters. There

Tara married Rajan Narayan at the age of 50 when Rajan was the Editor of O Heraldo. “Mine was a late marriage. I was almost 50 years old when I married O Heraldo editor Rajan Narayan and shifted to Goa in 2001. Goa was not new to me since I had been here for trekking and beach-bumming on several occasions. To cut this story short, we've been married for 22 years now, grown older and wiser and seen good and bad times together,” she said.

Tara now takes care of the Goan Observer along with Rajan Narayan, “Rajan has more political acumen than me, but I share his political sensibility insomuch as one must have a conscience, be honourable, and do the right thing Environment, wildlife, food, and women's stories are my forte. My food column 'Eating is fun/Eating is yuk!' increasingly focuses on eating t o r e a p b e t t e r h e a l t h parameters It's one of the oldest foodie columns in Indian media, started in Mumbai and still continues in the Goan Observer,” she said. Although Tara and Rajan N a r a y a n h a v e w o r k e d together for a long time, they have also faced some bad days. “I think of leaving it all the time nowadays in our difficult bankrupt times. Sometimes I think I'm living in a nightmare! Journalism has become a nightmare- you can have no real idea. After 50 years in journalism, I cannot afford to retire. When you love your job, you don't retire of course. I like writing, meeting people, and listening to their stories. A good listener makes for a good journalist. Talk less, listen more! But journalism is a business like any other, the fourth estate of democracy.

B u s i n e s s i s d o w n a n d advertising revenue is almost zilch So many of us have become unpaid or paid employees of PR agencies and various politicians for want of government advertising,” narrated Tara.

Covid had impacted heavily on the media, and Tara was not immune to it “It has certainly been a bad time for t h e m e d i a . W e s t a r t e d suffering advertising-wise and post lockdown, our Rs 5 lakh budget plummeted to Rs1 lakh per month and it became an uphill struggle to stay alive and kicking. We have cut costs but this doesn't do much for us,” she said. Speaking about her future plans, Tara said “I see us struggling to stay afloat but we're doing the best we can and continue as long as our body beautiful works…as in mind and body, heart and soul. I would like to improve the quality of our content matter and presentation but need some technical help to do it. In a bad mood, I recall American p o e t E m i l y D i c k i n s o n ' s inspirational words, “Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul/And sing the tune without the words/and never stops – at all…” It is one of my favourite poems.” When I asked her if she has a message to working women Tara said, “We struggle only when we have a healthy c o n s c i e n c e ! M o r e m e n struggle to earn a living for decent roti, kapda, makaan, education for the children and the minimal creature mod-con comforts. Women do double duty at home as well as in the office, with or without help. Indian men are still all at sea when it comes to sharing domestic chores!”

“My advice to women is, don't m a r r y i n t o t h e s a m e profession. Couples often go for a toss when all their eggs are in one basket. We don't envision the future in bad times! Why do journalists marry journalists, doctors marry doctors, engineers marry engineers, and lawyers marry lawyers? If one partner is in a different job it means when trouble comes, one may often bail out one's partner. As it is I see couples in the same profession turning life into a bone of contention at homewomen get blamed for they a r e l e s s e m p o w e r e d . Seriously, I would like to quit journalism, and do another job – tell the hubby to relax, and take it easy, my income is good for both of us to live in peace t i l l t h e e n d o f t i m e o r doomsday!”