Advertising Vs Reality

Note: If you are offended by the following post then please know that it does not aim to take away from the creative accomplishments of the team on the project mentioned. It simply aims at bringing out a facet which probably was lost during all the presentations and pitches.

I had seen some photographs of it some time back.

I have seen a few shares and re-tweets of the same.

I have received email forwards about it too.

They weren't directed at me. I just happened to be in its course to a larger audience. May be it was a self congratulatory bulletin to the industrywallahs or a ceremonial justification to those who paid for the campaign. It could very well have been a public service announcement as well. I simply happened to be in the path of this piece of communication.

As an idea I agree, it is superb.

A company tied up with Dhaba owners in the Kumbh Mela and handed out more than a couple of million chapatis/rotis, heat-stamped with a message asking people if they had washed their hands with a particular soap. They said it helped them reach a larger audience in a low cost but effective manner.

These self-honouring circulars end with a claim that the soap company increased awareness about cleanliness in people as they ate with cleaner hands.

Seems like a perfect end to the powerpoint presentation too. But there is another aspect to it. The reality of basic human instinct & feelings.

Let us look at the chronology-

1. People who will pay for their rotis and are here at the Kumbh will not eat anything before their holy dip because they are here for the Sangam snan. They have reached the dhaba after walking for a minimum of 3 kilometers after their bath.

2. People who will not pay for their rotis (assuming that maybe these rotis were distributed free of cost) will be eating them at free langars/dhabas. They have been standing in a queue for a long time to get their share of rotis.

3. In both cases they are extremely hungry.

4. They finally have the plate of food. The joy of seeing your meal when you are hungry is beyond compare.

5. At this moment, when they are about to eat, they see a stamp asking them if they have washed their hands.

6. Most people cannot read so they will continue eating.

7. Those who can read will have an instant emotional drop if their hands are not washed.

8. So basically what has happened is -

A tired and hungry person who was about to have his/her meal has been made to feel at fault  because some soap company wants them to know that 'you are supposed to wash your hands before you eat'. Trust me, anybody who can read and write in this country already knows this!!! In fact those who can't read, they know this too! Add to this the the loss of face, if they are there with their children.

9. Even if they left their plates (which I doubt happened often) to go wash their hands and eat, their appetite is gone.

10. The result -

Clean hands (maybe), indifference (by those who cannot read), loss of feel good factor which they had achieved after undertaking a long journey which comes along only once in 12 years, embarrassment in front of servers, loss of face in front of kith and kin, loss of zest for the food they are going to eat.

To top it all....burnt rotis are being served which nobody likes to eat!!

Free food langars @ Kumbh 2013 serving chawal & dal

The Big Fat Film Fraternity - Typical Conversations

Every industry has its share of people who, for very apparent reasons, have characteristic ways of behaving with each other. Physicians Vs Surgeons, Creative Vs Client Servicing, Teachers Vs Administration, Politicians Vs Bureaucrats etc..

I have enjoyed their conversations. Here are just a few videos that talk about the big fat film fraternity. They are funny and so so so familiar. Kindly take them in the right spirit and enjoy :)

Note: Some of them are a bit technical and will be understood only by people from within the industry. but the ones with the actor, steadycam, location, costume, art director, agency producer and continuity dept. can be understood by all.

VFX (special effects) guys Vs Producer

Video Editing Hell

Steadycam operator Vs Director (Organic haan :)

On set Art Director Vs 1st Assistant Director

Costume Designer Vs Production Manager

Assistant Director Vs Actor

Ad Agency Producer (film dept) Vs Video Editor

Location dept. Vs Accounts

Continuity dept. Vs Director

Kabir as an NCD

Kabir speaks of God's love in the following two dohas but he places them at diametrically opposite locations. 

ऊंचे पाणी ना टिके, नीचे ही ठहराय
नीचा होय सो भर पिए, ऊंचा प्यासा जाय

साधू कहावत कठिन है, लम्बा पेड़ खुजूर
चढ़े तो चाखे प्रेम-रस, गिरे तो चकनाचूर 


His sayings are never to be taken literally. They are to be felt. That is when you rise above geometry and it stops confusing you.

He would have done so well as a National Creative Director of any ad agency. He can get away by saying anything. Even if it has no synergy, just because he said it so beautifully, all is forgiven for him! 

A perfect blend of mysticism and householder values. 
The halo and the fat paycheck.

Of course the real Kabir would have never taken a paycheck or at least put it to a better use than pay the EMIs on the newly bought terrace flat. 'Nirmal Anand' of creatvity is lost on most of the hot-shot CDs of today. Some of them are my friends too. I look at them slogging away because God made them a perfecrionist. Unfortunately, it is their super bosses the Almighty forgot to fine tune.

Never mind the 'take home' salary of the NCDs of today. They get what they deserve. But the inflated egos, if they don't do something about it, they will soon be air-borne and only a prick can bring them back to mother earth. The prick they so love to call the CEO.

माया तजे तो क्या हुआ, मान तजा न जाय
मान बड़े मुनिवर गए, मान सबहि को खाय

Dear departed soul of the real poet, mystic and saint Kabir, please do guide these modern day impersonators. They try to be like you. They call themselves creative leaders. They even lead a few packs who want to follow them. But they are missing the essence. Share a bit of your common sense with them.

Digital immigrant - 35mm to 5D

"Ram, will you teach me how to load a 35 mm magazine in the camera?", I asked the camera attendant.

He looked at me. I was a rookie assistant to a cameraman. He didn't pay much attention and continued his work. He was completely justified in doing so. Maybe we do not understand this in today's world of affordable and easy to use digital equipments. But before Y2K hit us, film camera and people dealing with it were treated like the bowl of divine nectar and Gods. Cinematography had its lesser Gods too (technicians handling ARRI 2C, ARRI 3 and 16mm cameras etc.) but to be able to even touch the 35 mm camera (ARRI 435, ARRI 535) was a feat in itself. Anyone who was allowed to peep through the viewfinder was to give a 'beer treat' to the whole crew.

Loading a film roll for the moving camera was like reading Braille and playing Aurifi on iphone at the same time. You had to do it practically blindfolded with a very keen sense of sound for any click-clack. 400 feet of raw film stock rolled in a light-tight two-chambered magazine was to be changed/loaded inside a sealed changing bag. The changing bag has space just enought for the rolls and two glove like extensions from where you operate it. One had to know the inside out of it to do it perfectly. One ray of light in the bag and you could ruin the whole day's shoot footage or the new roll which was almost INR 9,000/- per stock at that time.

Not to forget the Formula 1 pit stop situation just as a loaded film roll was coming to an end while shooting. Spotless communication between the cameraman's assistants would indicate when it was coming to an end to make sure the attendants were in position right next to the camera to take over the used one and hand over a fresh magazine thus wasting no time in reloading. Trying to be extremely efficient while labeling it was the glorious task rookies like me performed by taking pride in knowing the stock codes, emulsion & serial numbers. If it was a multi camera set up or a hi-speed film shoot, we assistants would be in cinematographic heaven.

Ram saying 'no' under these conditions was perfectly all right for me.

We would meet at various shoots when providence made sure that the producer hired the camera from Rao's and my boss Sameer Sabnis as the cameraman for it. Almost one year later, Ram asked me to meet him after lunch on the sets. I went there. He had a small roll of 35 mm stock. A used 'NG' roll. Simply known as 'not good'. Of no use to anyone. He asked me, "Do you want to learn how to load a film magazine"? I felt like I had arrived.

He taught me how to change a roll. First without a changing bag and then in a changing bag. I wasn't officially allowed to change a fresh one but I was glad I got to learn it.

Then came the focus pulling incident. Using a tele lens means constantly pulling focus to keep a sharp image when the subject is moving away from or approaching the camera. More tele, more difficult the focus to pull.

We were shooting a bulls race in a village. The bulls ran the racing distance only 4 times in a day so we had to be perfect and gets all our shot in those 4 takes. It was a multi camera set up.

I was given the job to pull focus on a 600 tele which concentrated only on pin of the axle and wheel of the cart which was to come off sometime during the race. The director walked up to the camera and saw me getting ready for take.

He asked "are you going to pull focus?"
"Yes", said I.
He smiled and asked, "Where are you from?"
Not wanting to give my totally mixed up background, I simply answered, "Lucknow".
"If you don't get this right then I hope you know that you are going back straight to Lucknow and me to Calcutta". Everyone around me laughed while I got even more tensed.

We would not know the result of the shoot until the film was processed, sent in for telecine (film to video transfer for colour correction and editing purposes) and seen on a big monitor. Of course there was a video assist (a VHS output which gives you a rough idea of the shoot) but as everyone said, "Oh it's just the video assist, you can't judge colour or sharpness by it". This was our smart alec reply to all those ad. agency executives who wanted to make their two-bit contribution by commenting on the colours.

God was kind. The whole take was sharp and in focus.

Once you do this, gradually you get adept at measuring distances just by looking at it. You are generally right in your estimate. Feet, inches, centimeters mean nothing but just the travel time your eyes take to cover a distance.

Then came the lighting experience. It was like climbing a ladder one step after the other.

We were shooting Gabbar Mix. A music video. They were a rage - the music videos.

Dino Morea stood atop a rickety plank attached to a wobbly wooden staircase. There were to be some pyrotechnics and it was to blast. Sameer, my boss, asked me to go check the light on Dino and come back. I took the light meter, climbed those swaying stairs, took a reading and came back.

"You took only the key-light reading, I want the fill light too", said Sameer..

I climbed it again. The stairs creaking louder. I took the reading again.

"You got only the fill-light reading, what about back-light?", he reminded gently once I was down. This was his subtle way of teaching me to be thorough on the job.

I climbed those 'ready to crumble' stairs again and came back with a reading. Cursing him in my heart. Why couldn't he just shout from downstairs that he wanted the key, fill and back light readings. I am sure those curses never harmed him because my heart was also blessing him for making me go so close to Dino so many times :)

After that I never took a single reading again. One, two, three....click click click. I always took all the light readings available on location. Sameer told me later that we were the 'new generation' who needed a light-meter to figure out the light readings. Veterans like Ashok Mehta hardly used a meter and could tell the reading by just looking at the light. "Wow", I wondered in amazement at him and his predecessors.

Technical, Focus, Lighting, Camera Operation etc. are various sub-departments of a Camera team. I tried learning it all. But somewhere I failed. I learnt them well singularly but could never assimilate the collective knowledge to feel in command of the subject. I had a good teacher. He taught me well but there is only so much a teacher can do. The general joke going around in film circles it, "Those who cannot excel in one specialized field go and become the directors". I took it as my guiding light and moved towards direction.

16mm shoot in Venice

Electronics were for the those scraping the bottom of the barrel with Hi-8 or DV cameras for home videos. Digital HD was unheard of for most and those who did hear of it, rubbished it saying, "HD is good but can never replace film as it is too sharp, harsh and too detailed for creative aesthetics". Good TV serials and documentaries were shot on film too, before the Beta & Digibeta Cameras hit the market.

We were willing to carry our own bulky cameras, film stock and crew while shooting abroad than hire from there. I remember almost fighting with the German Visa authorities when the visa issuing lady asked why we wanted to take attendants from here and not hire locals for it. She would have never understood the relationship a camera attendant shares with the film camera he doesn't own but just takes care of. It is like his baby.

Then something happened.

A marriage. A marriage of the Giants!

It was as if ARRI/Panavision (rulers of film) married Sony/Panasonic (rulers of the electronic handycam market) and gave birth to a whole range of cameras that now rule the film scene.

Alexa, Red, Viper, Canon 5 D Mark III etc. are the children of this marriage. Never mind the brand names but you know what I mean...right?

film is film is film - even though its days are numbered

I am an immigrant. I moved from film stock to HD. I can never be like the digital natives. I can never disregard the beauty, hard work and charm of the 35 mm. The need of the hour is digital, so I have adapted, but my heart still wants 35mm.

I still want my senses to drive my judgement. Tell light & distance readings by looking at it. Tell when the magazine will end by just hearing its grumble. To sit at huge Telecine machines and try out all crazy 'passes'. Go for a reverse telecine for cinema prints.

Digital immigrant - with the recent buy, 5D Mark III

Every time I think how all this is phasing out slowly, I can see a day it will be all gone. It brings tears to my eyes. Why are digital cameras so easy to use, less bulky, cheaper and have such good low-light compatibility? Why are they so good that they make film look like a cumbersome ancestor? I might have moved on but I still want film to live.

But as Sant Kabir says

Taruvar paat se yo kahe, Suno paat ek baat | 

Ya ghar ki yahi reet hai, Ek aavat ek jaat

For the old to make way for the new is the tradition. To move with times keeps us alive.

Life Saver Ad

We were in Nawalgarh last week. A little getaway time we got for ourselves which we grabbed.

Nawalgarh is a small town (could be called a big village) full of narrow gullies and beautiful old havelis in the state of Rajasthan. A walk in the market takes you at least 60-70 years back. We stayed in a resort. We did nothing but laze around. We loved the lawns and the sun so much that we could be found there from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm reading books, having our meals, listening to Pallaji (a folk singer), getting Mehendi on hands etc etc.

Some of the local TV channels were fun to watch. One such channel was dishing out a time-streaked print of a movie we both liked. The movie was interspersed with cable TV ads. Some of them were of very poor quality. Some were just photographs strewn together by a decent narrator. No swanky graphics. No especially recorded background music. No deep baritone voice-over. No taam-jhaam generally one would associate with an ad.

One such ad of 'Jangid Hospital' made me smile. Maybe it had something to do with the name or the way they spoke about the facilities, the doctors available, dispensary, and other available machines in a hurried monotone. It made me think of all the big budget Hospital ads that leave no stone unturned when it comes to production or media blaring. What a stark difference.

I forgot about the ad soon and started ordering my dinner. Hubby wasn't hungry. The Aloo Tikkis and Bhelpuris of the evening were still sitting packed in his stomach. He asked for a Digene. I said I will get it from the front office after ordering my dinner. He insisted I get it right away. He generally isn't that way so I walked upto the reception area.

When I came back, I saw the door ajar. He was on the bed. He asked me to get the front office staff to get him a Disprin and a Sorbitrate. Till then I wasn't worried but now I was. I asked him what happened. He complained of chest pain.

We were in the middle of nowhere. All the doctors in Rajasthan in government hospitals were on a strike. There was no way any chemist shop would be open at 10:30 pm in this sleepy town. I cursed myself for two things - one not being able to drive our car and two for not having Digene, Disprin and Sorbitrate in our first aid box. If there ever was a Worst Informed Doctor's Wife Award, I would be the honourable claimant I am sure. We didn't know where to go.

Suddenly my husband remembered the 'Jangid Hospital' ad which had mentioned clearly the exact location, the doctors available, and that there was an ECG machine available along with a small dispensary. One of the Hotel reception boys was with us who guided us to the location. We reached there at 11:00 pm (can never forgive myself for the fact that Partha had to drive in those gullies in that condition in the dead of the night). By the time we reached, his pain had eased and it was clear that it was a case of gastric trouble but he didn't want to take any chances. We got an ECG done and bought the medicines we wanted from the dispensary.

We had both learnt important lessons in life.

Now in the comfort our house when I look back, I shudder to think what could have happened and if it wasn't for that little ad on cable TV. We would be running around looking for a hospital around midnight. Now this is what a hospital ad should be able to do - save patients by giving them exact information they need - not just a feel good ad that is made as a brand building exercise but does nothing for the patients.

Their ad was a life saver

The Trainee

I spoke with Sumira Roy today. She had hired me at JWT way back in 1998 when I was a gawky 23 year old with nothing but two years of ad film production experience.

For a small town person, the production experience had done little in terms of grooming or making me understand the business of Advertising. Apart from running like a headless chicken trying to follow orders or getting chairs for the Ad Agency people at shoots, my learning was quite modest.

At JWT, it was a different world. I was a part (albeit the junior most) of the glass and chrome world that I so admired from the outside. I was there without any professional degree. It was like rising from the ranks (in fauji terms).

Technically I was a ‘colleague’ to all the industry bigwigs. Letting it sink in was an experience in itself. To have an opinion and be heard was a luxury. I lapped it up. I must have swamped Sumira with silly questions and nervous antics which not just doubled her work at times but also made her answerable to her seniors for my mistakes.

I never came to know if anything like this ever happened because at that time I thought I was always right and could do no wrong. She never scolded me, just hinted. Gentle and firm.

I had a choice last week. To or not to take a trainee anchor for a film I was doing. The first thought that ran across my mind was – Why should I take someone who is so fresh. This is a tight budget and tightly scheduled film. I must not experiment. I haven’t opened a training school. I will get someone more experienced, it will save me time. Money was an issue too. It is a professional suicide to get someone new.

Then I remembered Sumira. What if she had also thought like that and never hired me?

What if all the bosses in the world thought like that and never wanted to hire anyone new?

It doesn’t work like that. There are jobs that only a trainee can do. Yes the bum jobs. Jobs that no seniors want to do. Jobs that everyone else is too big for. That is how trainees get a break. That is what gives them an opportunity to show what they are capable of. And they are the ones who will do it with utmost sincerity and passion.

However small, all jobs deserve passion.

That is how trainees come into the picture. They work on the smallest task with the dedication of an Olympian. They do not behave like pigs on high heels which is how a lot of veterans would act like, if they took it up. Rheumy eyed trainees will burn the midnight oil and put their heart and soul into something that the pros don't want to touch with a barge pole. That is how happy professional accidents happen. That is how talent is discovered and everyone goes, "This one has the potential to be a biggie". The strangest part is they don't even get paid for all this. Most of the trainees in most of the companies don't get paid at all.

Sometimes they are even made to feel like an outcast. Many years back, I was in the editing room in our office. It was quite late. Maybe 9:30pm. A trainee with a very reputed brand came into the room. She asked, "can I sit with you and see the editing?" I said fine. Few minutes in, she was crying. I didn't even have to ask and she said,"They all left without me. The whole team has gone out for dinner with the Client. They didn't take me. No one told me."

I understand it is not always possible to take everyone along, to meet the Client or to present an idea. But the least someone could have done was sat her down and explained the situation to her. Finding out on your own that the team doesn't think of you as a part of the team is one of the toughest challenges a trainee faces.

Yes, there is a bit of confusion. There is some angst arising out of the time crunch. Sometime you even waste a bit of money trying to accommodate the lack of experience. But nothing that a few advices or co-operation from colleagues can’t handle. Takes a couple of months and they are an asset. No one is as loyal to the Company as a Trainee is.

Few firm instructions from time to time and lot’s and lot’s of patience. That’s all you need to welcome the new kid on the block.

When I saw Simi (a trainee news anchor with a channel) for the first time last week, I remembered myself 14 years back. And I remembered my mentors. I remembered how kind they were to me. How patient.

There comes a time when you have to stop being a trainee yourself (even though you will feel like a newcomer all your life) and start taking others under your wing so that you can nurture them well enough for them to fly on their own. Yes you do feel a little older (you are not the bacchha anymore) but I guess that is called growing up.

It is time to pay it forward.

I called up Sumira today and told her how nice it felt to pass the baton on!

(Just finished the offline edit. Simi did a good job of holding the film together as a narrator. She still has a lot of learning ahead. After the shoot she said, "This is going to be my first paycheck ever. I will keep it with me and give it to my mother when I visit her next month." I sincerely pray that she keeps this innocence, even when she becomes a well known news reporter. She is at the Parliament today to cover something, on her own :)

Simi

Ads released on Independence Day - 15th Aug 1947

I recently visited the Cellular Jail in Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (India). It was an early British Penal settlement. Criminal as well as political prisoners from mainland India were deported there for rigorous imprisonment which ranged from 10 to 50 years. Known as the dreaded 'Kala-Pani' then, it houses spine chilling details of British atrocities and torture.

Along with other things, there were a few newspapers on the wall. I will be writing about the 'Cellular Jail' in the travelogues separately. But for my advertising friends, here are a few ads that were published in 'The Statesman' on 15th August 1947, our Independence Day. 

(Double click and zoom into the photographs to read the body copy. If you wish to use these pictures for reference purposes, kindly inform me. Will give you hi-res ones. Please do not use them commercially as I have no royalty rights on them)

New & Improved*

These are two words which are not new for the advertising folks. I always laughed when any of our Clients used it for one of their brands. Every 6 to 8 months their products would go 'New & Improved' and they had a brand new reason for a new multi crore ad campaign.

One little ingredient or chemical change and they had the authority to use the tag. I always wondered how come KFC never said they had a latest recipe.Nirma never said their washing powder has these new blue coloured oxygeenated particles. No change. They all make a living out of their time tested, age old products. Older the better.

I have recently realised we the people are also divided into these two classes. Some who live off their deep rooted long standing beliefs and prefer to be just be what they have become in the natural course of life. They are firm, solid, dependable, been there all this while and less likely to vanish from your life in times of need. They live in the glory of the past and assume the world around them to be as it was then.

And some who are constantly in the quest for improvement. How they can make themselves a better person is ingrained into them. To learn new things, see new places, have newer experiences and learn from them all. These are the 'forever changing' people. Their beliefs and perspectives keep getting wider by the day, acquiring every bit of information about the world and themselves and collating them to become a better person each new day. They don't mind changing themselves if that is going to remove even one single impurity of thought of action from their life. Full of adrenalin kicks from the cosmic Brownian movements.

Both seem fine in their own right. It takes all kinds to make this world. The only problem is when an FMCG conglomerate takes over a Nirma or a KFC takes over Cup 'O' noodles. They just don't belong to each other. Or maybe they will complement and enrich each other. Who knows???

(* Some brand names have been used for reference purposes to represent what they stand for in terms of ideologies. No offence meant.)

Pearls of wisdom - In conversation with Gulzar Ji (14 August 2008)

My friend Anagha is doing a project on 'Waterproof Mumbai'. I am making a documentary on it. On 14th Aug.2008, we stood outside Gulzar ji's bunglow 'Boskiana' (Bosky is his daughter Meghna's nickname) waiting to ring the bell...we looked at each other and realised our journey on the project had begun.

We went in.
We looked around the living room. A 'floor to ceiling' framed photograph of Meghna (when she was 3-4 yrs old) reminded me of my Dad. We could see the adjoining study full of books, writings, papers and a window letting in the afternoon sun. We didn't dare venture there. We confined our exploration to the living room. Various statues of Buddha and his own caricatures filled the room.

Waited a bit. Despite our shy 'no no'...two cool glasses of green sherbet came in. Just as we started sipping...Gulzar ji walked in...apologizing profusely for being late. We stood up. In complete awe, we had no idea how to tell him 'it was perfectly all right...in fact we didn't mind waiting at all'.

As we got on with our work, all awkwardness vanished. Anagha was at her best as she explained the project to him. He recited 3 of his poems based on 'Mumbai in rains'. It was an experience to hear him recite & explain the nuances.

We had some time at our hand as we were setting and lighting up for his interview. For a moment there was silence and all three stopped talking at the same time.

I have no idea what possessed me. I blurted out 'मेरी बहुत सालों से इच्छा है के मैं आपको अपनी एक कविता सुनाऊँ. I said it and had absolutely no idea why I did so coz it had been years since I wrote and there was no way I would remember them by heart. One of those silly things you do on impulse and regret it soon after. He asked me to sit and recite. I smiled back and did as I was told. I started with a poem that had no name and nine verses. I should have chosen a small one. He wouldn't have had to suffer much.

I finished and sat still. Looking at Gulzar ji like I look at Dad at dining table after serving him overcooked chapatis and yet hoping to hear 'wah kya khana banaya hai meri beti ne'....

Now followed the biggest compliment of all (or maybe he was just being nice)...'तो क्या आपकी नज्मों की किताब छपी है या किसी magazine में publish होती हैं?'
I didn't know where to look. Just smiled and said 'नहीं, सिर्फ diary में हैं'.
He said 'अरे आपको भेजनी चाहियें magazines में. Reject हो जाने के डर से भेजना बंद नहीं करना चाहिए. मेरे ख्याल में तो जितनी बार reject हों वो अच्छा ही है क्योंकि इसका मतलब कम से कम editor ने पढ़ीं तो होंगीं'.

I said 'मैंने सुनाई हैं कुछ लोगों को पर जब देखा के उन्हें समझ ही नहीं आईं तो फिर बंद कर दिया सुनाना'.

He said ' इतनी मेहनत तो आपको करनी ही होगी. अगर आप चाहती हैं के आपके काम को कोई पढ़े तो उसे communicate करना आपका काम हैं. ये आपकी ज़िम्मेदारी है के आप लोगों तक पहुंचाए अपना काम, लोगों की नहीं.

I said a sheepish 'जी'.

He said 'जब देनेवाला talent देता है तो आपका फ़र्ज़ है उसे तराशें. आप कुछ साल पहले से अपनी poems मुझे दिखाना चाहती हैं (I had met him earlier on Debeers work) तो तब से आज तक जो आपने लिखा है, क्या आप उस से खुश हैं?

I said 'खुश का तो पता नहीं पर हाँ तब के लिखने और आज के लिखने में फ़र्क काफ़ी है. अच्छा या बुरा हुआ पता नहीं पर आज मैं उस वक़्त जैसा नहीं लिख सकती.

He said 'अच्छा ही है. इसका मतलब है आप grow हो रही हैं. अगर आप उस ही काम को अपना best काम समझें और दूसरी तरह का न करें तो ये complacency होगी. अच्छा या बुरा, आपके काम में हर वक़्त तबदीली आनी चाहिए. एक जीते जागते इन्सान का सबूत है यह. इतने सालों बाद भी मेरी हर नज़्म पर बार-बार काम करता हूँ मैं. कई लोगों को सुनाता हूँ. उनके reactions का ख्याल रखता हूँ और फिर जाकर कहीं ये छपती हैं.

मैंने एक बार लिख दिया....अब जो है सो है.....ऐसा कहना एक writer के लिए arrogance होगा. मैं अपनी पुरानी लिखी चीज़ों को वापस देखता हूँ और सोचता हूँ के ये कैसे बेहतर बन सकती हैं.

Me and Anagha were listening spellbound. I said 'हाँ किसी काम को ख़त्म करते वक़्त पीछे मुड कर देखो तो लगता है 'अरे ये शुरुआत मैंने ऐसे क्यों की...कुछ और करना चाहिए थी'. इस ही वजह से कई बार poems आधी ही रह जाती हैं और लगता है के 'हम कितने fickle minded हैं '.

He said 'पहली बात....कुछ भी लिखते वक़्त अपना दिमाग़ clear रखना चाहिए. ये तो बहुत ही natural है के आपने शुरू किया नहीं और तुकबंदी (rhyming) पहले ही आपके दिमाग़ में आने लगती हैं. इनसे ज़रूर बचना चाहिए क्योंकि फिर ये आपको मजबूर कर देती हैं तुक के हिसाब से लिखने पर. अब 'बारिश' को ही लीजिये...इस topic पर लिखने बैठो तो 'गुज़ारिश', 'सिफारिश', ख्वाहिश' ये सब सूझने लगते हैं.....यहाँ तक के 'खारिश' और 'मालिश' जैसे words भी आ जाते हैं. इनके हिसाब से लिखोगे बेटा, तब तो हो चुकी नज़्म पूरी.
तुकबंदी और अच्छा लिखना ये दो बिलकुल अलग अलग बातें हैं. अच्छा लिखो तो शायद कहीं कहीं अपने आप तुक मिल जाता है पर अगर तुकबंदी करने बैठोगे तो आप कभी अच्छा नहीं लिख पाओगे. हमें consciously इस से बचना चाहिए'.

I said 'हाँ, ऐसा तो होता है लेकिन इन बातों पर मैंने कभी गौर नहीं किया'.

He said 'तो फिर अब करने लगो. मुझे अच्छा लगा जो आपने लिखा है....मैं तो यही चाहूँगा अब ये मैं magazines में पढूं या आपकी किताब में. मेहनत तो है और वो आपको करनी ही होगी अगर आप professionally लिखना चाहती हैं. आसां नहीं है इतना'.

By then the lighting for the shoot was done and all three of us got up at the same time. As he walked into his daughters study to sit for the interview, he turned around and said 'ध्यान रखना मेरी बातों का'.