Photojournalists, competing in a constantly wired world, are under tremendous pressure to get ‘the right picture’. This means that they also have to muscle in, and run the risk of being muscled out.
Celebrities too, under 24/7 gaze, hire bouncers to protect themselves from not just their fans but also from photojournalists.
On Tuesday, actor Rahul Bose and TV personality Mandira Bedi were in the city for an event at Press Club. The celebrities were fashionably late. It later emerged that even as the photojournalists and reporters were waiting for them, the two were actually sitting pretty in a bus parked right outside.
When they finally deigned to emerge from the bus, the photojournalists swarmed them but were rebuffed by their bouncers.
With tempers already frayed, it led to a war of words, ending with the photojournalists using their clout to eject the bouncers right off the Press Club premises.
Walk in, walk out
Recently, a Minister, known for being pretty savvy with his public relation skills, was disappointed at a workshop when he saw there were hardly 15 persons in the hall.
The organisers, also embarrassed by the numbers, requested a group of CA students who had an orientation class in the same building to occupy the empty chairs. The youngsters obliged, as did their teachers.
It didn’t look too bad till the students and teachers walked out of the hall as soon as the inaugural was over and the Minister started speaking. “We cannot afford to miss our class,” said one of them, as he walked out.
The surprised minister began his speech by asking whether the walkout was in protest, used as he is rebellions galore within the party.
The horse has bolted
The railway stations get a huge number of footfalls every day. This makes surveillance a herculean task for the railway police.
Recently, an LCD monitor on the railway platform No.7 number was purloined.
When the news of this remarkable theft spread, this photojournalist went to the station to get a picture. While on the job, he was suddenly surrounded by the railway police, who had apparently been monitoring the goings on through CCTV.
Unfortunately, this zeal seemed absent when the monitors were being stolen, which proves that the police always arrive at the spot after all the action… just like in the movies!
