Local Stories: A Cake for Appa

I started in journalism working in the field.

There were these loosely-strung lessons from my gurus and these were at the desk.

You did not get distracted even if your Ed bent down to one side, picked up a bottle and took a swig at noon.

Off you go now, would be the order.

And off we went - to the Madras Zoo, Mount Road, Egmore. Looking for stories.

My second guru had lovely combos - he wrote on cinema and investigated the dark. 

V. Shekhar took me on his film studio rounds. I just had to hang close to him and he went about chatting between deep smokes. He never took notes. But soaked in everything to pen columns for ‘Star & Style’. 

When I began to write on cinema - just the news - one of my first copies was on actor Silk Smitha. It got published in ‘Sun’ magazine. 

42 years in this profession and I still work in the field. This is where the real stories are.

And like V. Shekhar, I have been blessed with lovely combos - coverage of the neighbourhood, and assignments across the country.

So when I walk around the Mylapore neighbourhood, I talk to people. And they tell me their stories. Even if they do not know who I am. They talk. 

Recently, I dropped in at Winners Bakery in Alwarpet, opposite our office: for a bite.  I spotted three Chennai School boys fiddling their fingers.

They had ordered a cake.

It was Charan’s dad’s birthday. He is a driver.

He told me he saved his pocket money to treat his father. Rs.325 was the bill.

The cake arrived. Decorated with ‘Happy Birthday Bhagyaraj’.

‘Please add Appa there,’ Charan told the baker.

Wish him for me, I told him.

Your name?, he asked me.

Just wish him, I said.