The Newslaundry interview by Madhu Trehan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM-2VXMg6VY&t=2s ) introduced me to this book.
The book is absolutely curt and to the point with economic usage of words in describing the ranges of areas he has touched upon. He talks of his childhood, marriage, his association with Benazir Bhutto, Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, subsequently leading to his journalistic journeys in India. While one gets to know Karan as a person well connected in Luyten's Delhi who pretty much can reach anyone who mattered in India, he was well connected in Pakistan as well. And one gets to feel personal relationships were much stronger than professional relationships. Towards the end, you see a few of the interviews and people he has become distant to eventually because he brushed them on the wrong side: Ram Jethmalani, L. K. Advani, Jayalalithaa, and Narendra Modi.
He talks about why he wrote the book. He had time and he wanted to tell more interesting parts of his life. Somewhere, I felt he has a sense of guilt which haunts him if he did the right thing with some of his interviewees. Moreover, he expects readers to judge his actions. He is trying to portray, he did things within the journalistic duties. I felt everything said and done, journalists have to clearly keep a balance. The people they critique are the same that they have to keep the best relationships for a continued stream of interviews. Today you see a different Karan Thapar on Incisive Interviews on The Wire. However, you do not see the big names from the political circles, rather academicians, writers, etc. only.
The book is definitely a must-read.
No comments:
Post a Comment