Journey with Free Press

My journey with Free Press began in the year 1996 September. I started to function as the Sub-Editor-cum-Reporter. I still remember my first day, when I was assigned the district desk, under the leadership of K K Jha, a senior sub-editor. He was the one, who taught me the nuances of writing a district news copy.
The journey commenced with one or two DC news being done at the end of the day. But week after week, things improved immensely. Devendra Tarkas, the district desk coordinator, who shortlisted the news stories for the day and decided, what treatment to be meted to each. And eventually, after a year, I was handling the District News Page for Free Press single handedly, as K K Jha had moved on and had been given additional responsibility of Nation and Front Page.
Thanks to the inputs by the then Resident Editor Mr SR Singh, I mastered the art of news writing and handling the news stories (Sometimes with no head or tail and a lost identity). And District pages became my forte. Then came Mr Kalpesh Yagnik as the Resident Editor. It was a learning experience under his leadership, who put the entire reporting as well as editorial team on their toes. And out came everybody's flair for writing special stories.
And I got an opportunity to write on various topics like a day with Sumitra Mahajan, Book exhibition etc.

It was during this phase that the sub-editor handling the Kidsfare, the children's supplement of Free Press moved on, creating a slot. Having a knack to gel with children, Mr Singh assigned me the responsibility of Aunty Tee Dee (The editor of Kidsfare) from then on, in addition to the District News Page. Handling Kidsfare was a challenge in itself, as it involved visiting schools, interacting with children, parents and principals, with a view to publish the School Profile.

This was my first experience of this kind, but quite an interesting one. Although coordinating with the pagemakers Pawar ji and TP Emmanuel was tight rope walk. Are you listening folks!!! Just joking.

But being a part of Kidsfare provided an opportunity to interact with some really enthusiastic children from senior classes - names of some I still remember Nitin Nakra from SICA School, Namit Khungar from Daly College, Anirban Mukhopadhyay and Anamika Nandedkar from AECS Kendriya Vidyalaya. These bunch of kids (Who were then in classes 6-9) were an enthusiastic lot, who did not miss a single Saturday, when they were present at our office with the schiool report, an interview or an article on some topic. Or win a prize for a contest.

Aunt y Tee Dee, as the name suggests had been coined by the first editor of Kidsfare Tripta Dhingra. The name became a major hit among children as they started identifying the Kidsfare as a medium of interaction with Aunty Tee Dee. On Saturdays, Free Press circulation increased by a thousand - Kind courtesy - the Kidsfare. It has become a rage among the kids of Indore and there were hordes of children flocking the Free Press office to collect the prizes for the contests or even submit their entries. The SMS concept was redundant then and mailbox was the only option.
The most favourite among the children was the editorial as well as the Continue the Story Competition, in which the children had to add an episode of the ongoing story. It was fun, but when none of the children wrote - it was better. And there it goes.... My writing skills came to the fore. I even tried my hands at writing - anything that I lay my hands upon. Writing an editorial every week or the message from Aunty Tee Dee was a challenge in itself. As that was the most crucial aspect of Kidsfare.

But Ujwala had become a pro at it!!! Come hail, rain or storm!!! The editorials were ready on any given topic. Some days I just fell short of a subject.

Then I brainstormed and came upon an idea. I though of dealing with values. Be it Honesty, Perseverence, Compassion, Modesty - I wrote upon each and suggesting the children, as to how could they imbibe these values in their day to day functioning.

This was quite appreciated by the children as well as their parents.

The Free Press also organised an Kidsfare Annual Painting Competition around January 26. I had the opportunity of organising it twice. It was a mega event for Kidsfare, in which about 5000 children participated. Children from all over Indore and surrounding areas thronged to the Free Press premises to participate in the competition, which was runaway success among kids.

One of the major assignements covered during my Free Press tenures was an interaction with Sqn Leader Rakesh Sharma. It was indeed a lifetime opportunity.

Another lifetime experiment with Kidsfare was the Millennium Issue, as all other newspapers had done it. I too tried my hand at it and came out with a 32 page Millennium Special. It was an issue for keeps as it covered everything from medicine, science, space, to sports and education etc.

Life at Free Press was quite a happening one, with all the basic learning that took place in all these four years. The resident editor, who had taken charge in the last year of my functioning Mr PNV Nair of Deccan Chronicle fame also gave each one a free hand to experiment and write, whatever we lay our hands on. It was an amazing experience, as this provided us an opportunity to bloom to our fullest. Be it Kidsfare or the District Page, I gave everything a shot.

I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to my seniors and colleagues for their immense contribution towards molding me into a person, I am today. I have indeed been honoured to have worked with them - Mr Deepak Shinde, Shuchita Mathur, KK Jha, Bini Mathew, Shilpa Shaligram (now with ICICI Prudential), SV Sriram (Now Chief Sub-Editor with The Hindu), Rahul Singh (Now with Times Now TV Channel) and others who made this journey worthwhile.

But all good things have to come to an end and this era too led me to greener pastures at Hindustan Times, PACE, Bhopal. Rest is history.