Reporter’s diary: When “Tamil teriyade” was the only Tamil phrase I knew
It has been two months that I last went out reporting. Who knows how many more months will the Covid-19 crisis take to blow over and I will be able to step out with my pocket notebook and pen, doing the job I love the most. As I sat today reminiscing my fond days at my J-school, I found this writeup that I had penned down the day I covered a story on the women’s safety measures in Tiruvanmiyur railway station, an MRTS terminal in Chennai.
Battling Monday morning blues, I struggled to reach college on time today.
“Thank God you are only a minute late. Sit quickly, the movie has already begun,” said Sanchari, removing her bag from the seat that she’d saved for me. Our college was screening the 1985 documentary ‘Shoah’, today being the 75th International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Despite longing to watch ‘Shoah’ since the day I read about its critical acclaim, I couldn’t properly cherish it. All my grey cells were getting invested in looking for a story idea for my reporting assignment, which I could take up with my littlest knowledge of Tamil language.
After half an hour of wracking my brains and looking for cues in my pocket notepad, a doable story idea struck my mind. A daily commuter in the MRTS Chennai, I had been often been chased by middle-aged men and passed lewd comment at. So, why not do a story on eve-teasing and the measures taken by the railway authorities to prevent it?
After getting my story pitch approved, I started for Tiruvanmiyur station, a nearby railway terminal, frequented by IT employees due to its proximity to Thiruvanmiyur IT parks.
The moment I stepped out of the college campus, the Chennai sun reduced my sheer determination to a third of what I had when I found the story idea. Priyada, a helpful soul, spotted my pale face on her way and dropped me till my survey spot.
For the next three hours, I spent time chasing commuters for quotes. Yes, Print professors at ACJ have a weird obsession for quotes. I remember a time when the entire stream of 160 students was reporting on the same day. Looking for relevant quotes, around 70% of us had landed up at the Ripon Building, the Greater Chennai Corporation headquarters located at Raja Muthiah Road, Periyampet.
I too needed an official quote today. I made desperate attempts at the Railway Government Police Station at Thiruvanmiyur, explaining the officers, the purpose of my visit. Generally the next few minutes after I utter “Tamil teriyade,” (I don’t know Tamil) pass in silence. Today, it was half an hour. It was one of those days when I regretted not learning the local language.
Ten minutes of disgruntled look from the Sub Inspector and two phone calls later, Priyada yet again came to my rescue. After 20 minutes of translation from English to Tamil and back, Priyada asked, “Are we done Ritu?” “Enough torture for the poor soul today,” I thought, and said, “Thank you Sir.” The Sub Inspector looked more thankful though. And why not? Poor lighting, no CCTV cameras, alcohol menace, lack of women’s safety ̶ we had asked him all ̶ and the man was doubly sure to make things look hunky-dory.
While the commuters and cleaning staff complained of the police’s sheer negligence to passengers’ and workers’ safety, the Sub Inspector, with a pretentious smile on his face, kept reminding me of Narendra Modi’s “Sab theek hai” (All is well) statement at Howdy Modi, last year.
