dont know what to say..after the ordeal of the delivery and the shock of seeing the baby fall away, to get up and out of the toilet and jump from the train..it has to be a mother's love..nothing less would do
As a journalist working with The Hindu, I would have loved to file this story. The reporter does a wonderful dispassionate job here. See the impact of the scene described with total non-involvement. Hemingway was the master of this craft.
I would have edited it like this if it were to pass through my hands. Cut out all the adjectives. Cut out all emotions. *** KOLKATA: A baby born inside the toilet of a moving train fell safe through the toilet outlet on to the railway track in West Bengal’s Purulia district late on Tuesday night. Bhola Roy, his wife Rinku and their son were travelling on the Tatanagar-Chhapra Express. Around 11 p.m., Ms. Roy stepped into the toilet where she went into labour. The child was delivered in the toilet, but fell through the outlet on to the tracks. Ms. Roy jumped off the moving train even before her husband or co-passengers could pull the alarm chain. The train was eventually stopped and both mother and child were found to be safe. They are now under care and observation at a nearby hospital. (story ends)
First of all thanks a lot for the valuable comments. I just can’t help wondering about this paradox; the use of adjectives. They are supposed to make writing more effective (Isn’t it so Sir?) but the writer achieves it by cutting them down to a minimum. I have a copy of ‘Indlish’ that wonderful book on plain English by Jyoti Sanyal in which he describes in detail how one can communicate effectively in simple English rather than opting for journalese. Hemingway! Aah that brilliant short story he wrote in six words: ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn."). Do you remember the story, ‘Neypayasam’ by Madhavikutty?
(See the number of adjectives I’ve used in such a small paragraph! Bad habits die hard.)
There was an interview with Vinod Thomas in The Hindu the other day and a news item about legless amphibians found in North East, yesterday. You did them, right?
Arun, yes, I am the same chap. I use a different language when doing journalism. A lot of diplomacy is involved in the way we conduct ourselves in the corporatised environment. My blog is my attempt to disentangle myself from its stiff ways. There is something spiritual about keeping out adjectives. Adjectives are when the observer wants to colour the fact, manipulate it; while, only the fact as such is the fact. There is a different quality to what you see if you can obliterate yourself from the scene around you and watch, without a stake or an involvement. Hemingway had worked very hard to polish his craft. But he is not the be all and end all of literature. There are greater writers who have used other approaches. I feel that it is all about how well the writing creates the impact meant by the writer and also what the writer has to say. In fact, what he has got to say is what makes all the difference, isn't it, once we learn moving out of the trap of the words.
That was exactly what I had wanted to ask; how you juggle between poetry and reporting. Now you have provided the answer without making me ask. Adjectives, now it acquires a whole new meaning. Are emotions and sentiments, for example obsessive love, possessiveness, can be compared to adjectives? Sometimes I reach that blissful state when I can see, look at things, as they are, devoid of all emotions / embellishments. It’s like training oneself to acquire a detached or even clinical perspective. But then, the line is too thin, between acquiring a clinical perspective and being cynical. Am I making any sense? I’m not sure.
Mathew: Hadn’t it come to your notice? Oops! Let me know how you say ‘The Hindu’ in German.
Being clinical and being cynical are different, are they not? You are clinical when you are not coloured, you see the false for the false. We see fact when we see the false. The word cynical brings your ego into the scheme of things, adds colour. You stand on a higher pedestal and look at things with a feeling of being superior. Then there is no love...I have been a cynical chap before, used to see everything with a sarcastic sneer on my face. I have since realised I have been a fool blind to the beauty of it all. (We are becoming very philosophical nowadays. Am I confusing you?)
Of course, they are two entirely different things; being clinical and being cynical. But the line in between is a thin one, don’t you think so, sir? Confused? indeed! But you’re not confusing me.
11 comments:
truth indeed is stranger than fiction!
dont know what to say..after the ordeal of the delivery and the shock of seeing the baby fall away, to get up and out of the toilet and jump from the train..it has to be a mother's love..nothing less would do
Kochuthresiamma P.J: Yes Ma'm, indeed.
Sujata:It has to be a mother’s love, you’re absolutely right. Last night while discussing it, a friend opined the same.
As a journalist working with The Hindu, I would have loved to file this story. The reporter does a wonderful dispassionate job here. See the impact of the scene described with total non-involvement. Hemingway was the master of this craft.
I would have edited it like this if it were to pass through my hands. Cut out all the adjectives. Cut out all emotions.
***
KOLKATA: A baby born inside the toilet of a moving train fell safe through the toilet outlet on to the railway track in West Bengal’s Purulia district late on Tuesday night.
Bhola Roy, his wife Rinku and their son were travelling on the Tatanagar-Chhapra Express. Around 11 p.m., Ms. Roy stepped into the toilet where she went into labour. The child was delivered in the toilet, but fell through the outlet on to the tracks.
Ms. Roy jumped off the moving train even before her husband or co-passengers could pull the alarm chain. The train was eventually stopped and both mother and child were found to be safe.
They are now under care and observation at a nearby hospital.
(story ends)
Sir,
First of all thanks a lot for the valuable comments. I just can’t help wondering about this paradox; the use of adjectives. They are supposed to make writing more effective (Isn’t it so Sir?) but the writer achieves it by cutting them down to a minimum. I have a copy of ‘Indlish’ that wonderful book on plain English by Jyoti Sanyal in which he describes in detail how one can communicate effectively in simple English rather than opting for journalese. Hemingway! Aah that brilliant short story he wrote in six words: ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn."). Do you remember the story, ‘Neypayasam’ by Madhavikutty?
(See the number of adjectives I’ve used in such a small paragraph! Bad habits die hard.)
There was an interview with Vinod Thomas in The Hindu the other day and a news item about legless amphibians found in North East, yesterday. You did them, right?
Arun, yes, I am the same chap. I use a different language when doing journalism. A lot of diplomacy is involved in the way we conduct ourselves in the corporatised environment. My blog is my attempt to disentangle myself from its stiff ways.
There is something spiritual about keeping out adjectives. Adjectives are when the observer wants to colour the fact, manipulate it; while, only the fact as such is the fact. There is a different quality to what you see if you can obliterate yourself from the scene around you and watch, without a stake or an involvement. Hemingway had worked very hard to polish his craft. But he is not the be all and end all of literature. There are greater writers who have used other approaches. I feel that it is all about how well the writing creates the impact meant by the writer and also what the writer has to say. In fact, what he has got to say is what makes all the difference, isn't it, once we learn moving out of the trap of the words.
jeez...i would have thought it was a fake news if someone had send it as a email forward...amazing!!
That was exactly what I had wanted to ask; how you juggle between poetry and reporting. Now you have provided the answer without making me ask. Adjectives, now it acquires a whole new meaning. Are emotions and sentiments, for example obsessive love, possessiveness, can be compared to adjectives? Sometimes I reach that blissful state when I can see, look at things, as they are, devoid of all emotions / embellishments. It’s like training oneself to acquire a detached or even clinical perspective. But then, the line is too thin, between acquiring a clinical perspective and being cynical. Am I making any sense? I’m not sure.
Mathew: Hadn’t it come to your notice? Oops! Let me know how you say ‘The Hindu’ in German.
Being clinical and being cynical are different, are they not? You are clinical when you are not coloured, you see the false for the false. We see fact when we see the false. The word cynical brings your ego into the scheme of things, adds colour. You stand on a higher pedestal and look at things with a feeling of being superior. Then there is no love...I have been a cynical chap before, used to see everything with a sarcastic sneer on my face. I have since realised I have been a fool blind to the beauty of it all.
(We are becoming very philosophical nowadays. Am I confusing you?)
Of course, they are two entirely different things; being clinical and being cynical. But the line in between is a thin one, don’t you think so, sir? Confused? indeed! But you’re not confusing me.
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