Private screening in Surat

13

What do you do when you are stuck in floods and unable to move out anywhere. I was faced with this dilemma last week when I was in Surat. Due to some strange reasons, before I could reach the OB van(Satellite van), water from the Tapti river rushed into the city and put us on opposite sides of the city. My OB van was stuck somewhere close to Surat Station and I was in the heart of the city shooting stories but with no medium to release those visuals. By the second day, I managed to release one of my tapes through a senior Banker staying in my hotel. He and his family were airlifted by a private helicopter hired by his bank from mumbai. He kindly agreed to deliver my tape at the mumbai office. And to my relief, all the human angle stories that I had....

Mob and the Media

28

The five days I spent in surat covering the worst ever floods in the city will be forever etched in my memory. And there are various reasons for that. The rising water level, wading through neck-deep water, people's struggle for clean drinking water, basic food and survival stories that I witnessed. But there is something else which I cannot forget. The increasing intolerance against the media, especially the electronic media, among common people. The media by the second day had arrived in full strength and gathered near a hotel at Surat station. About six OB vans stood with full preparation as reporters were rushing to uplink all that they had shot during the day. But by the fourth day, one of the glass panes of our OB van had already been smashed by an irate mob. Surat residents were already frustrated and dejected with an inactive and....

Mob and Media

1

Mob and Media The five days I spent in surat covering the worst ever floods in the city would be forever etched in my memory. And there are various reasons for that.The rising water level, wading through neck deep water, people's struggle for clean drinking water and basic food and survival stories that I witnessed. But there is something else which I cannot forget. The increasing intolerance against the media especially the electronic media among common people. The media by the second day had arrived in full strength and gathered near a hotel at Surat station.About 6 OB vans stood with full preparation as reporters were rushing to uplink all that they had shot during the day.But by the fourth day, one of the glass panes of our OB van had already been smashed by an irate mob. Surat residents were already frustrated and dejected with an inactive....