What’s up, your highness?
How do you address royalty? A reporter was flummoxed when she got a phone call from a Maharaja. She opened with "Hey," and then followed that with "What's up?" much to the horror of her colleagues. On the plus side, she finally got to save a number in her Blackberry with 'Maharaja' under the space for 'Title." Such a nice change from the usual “Mr.”, “Mrs.” and “Dr.”
All about the money
“There were days when people gave me five paisa and asked me to return the change; and I used to return one or two paise,” an interviewee recently told this reporter. His wife then piped up, adding, “Today, when one changes a 100 rupee note at a grocery store, you get back, maybe five rupees. The cost of living has risen many times in our own lifetime...” and the reporter was left wondering if incomes, across the board, have risen to match it?
Puppy love
This reporter didn't realise how closely her handbag resembled a daschund until she went for an interview recently. A black and tan daschund, that was the exact colour, size and shape of her bag, curled up next to it and she almost picked up the wrong thing when she left.... Oh, and she also wishes she had clicked a picture of the two together...
Local issue
Reporters have to dot their i’s and cross their t’s, which includes how they frame their questions. While covering Holi celebrations in an area whose population is predominantly Rajasthani, this reporter was all but roughed up when he asked a group of youngsters who were clearly not North Indians but were daubed in Holi powder, “Are you locals?” In city parlance, ‘local’ connotes ‘cheap’ and ‘third-rate’. Cowering under the raised fists of these youngsters, the reporter explained the other meaning of local that was lost on them.
