Dua mein yaad rakhna, so to say

One of the ways to tell an imminent cabinet reshuffle journalist Vinod Dua told Madhu Trehan in a Newslaundry interview once is to tap sources within Rashtrapati Bhawan Meaning people who organise flowerspodiumsmicschairs for a function that while kept under wraps needs to be planned for in advance nonethelessThis is how Dua knew of a cabinet reshuffle in 1992 during PM Narasimha Raorsquos tenure Dua also learnt that Sardar Buta Singh was going to be inducted into the new cabinet Only that neither knew for sure whether Singh would get civil supplies ministry that he eventually did or defenceAnd so he shot two separate prerecorded interviews with Singh as the new ministermdashof both ministries Singh as ldquodefence ministerrdquo promised to raise salaries for Navy and Air Force personnel that obviously never happened and the episode never airedThis is the kinda playfulness that usually animates reportingjournalismmdashthat you need a sense of humour for that Dua clearly had to recount it later Purism is usually for bores and wouldnrsquot suit Dua if yoursquove observed his sarcasm wit on TV over decadesmdashbeing Indiarsquos first Hindi anchor as against a spoonfed news reader on air since November 1974mdashso far back in time that onersquos tempted to believe there wasnrsquot even TV thenThere was Doordarshan the only staterun channel where Dua refreshingly grilled ministers from the same government that he owed his job to Gently still as a good host should with a guest after all And because politeness shouldnrsquot be confused with political correctness Neither does irreverence foreshadow eventual irrelevanceLast checked Dua 67 was a voice of authority on lsquodigitalrsquo Consistency being the keySurely there was pressure on Dua He remained a freelancer under professional contract all his lifemdashducking a direct assault on his freedom of speech from the powerful and therefore the pressured proprietors Retaining independence despite helping launch a series of private TV news channels and moving onHe refused to wear a uniform or do lsquoSahara Pranamrsquo on Subroto Royrsquos TV outfit Had both Pramod Mahajan BJP and Kamal Nath Congress ask for his head to roll at Zee News And walked out of Newstrack precursor to India Today TV because apparently he didnrsquot like the way the boss Trehan spoke to his colleague which does sound slightly flippant yesTowards the end of his long career Dua was slapped with that shady colonial lawmdashsedition which the Supreme Court struck down Besides and this is surely unrelated sexual harassment allegations against him on a Facebook postBut those arenrsquot the reasons distant observers overremember the dead soon as theyrsquore gone The hook is often elsewhere I think Indians of my vintage will remember Dua forever as the silvertongued sharply quick Hindi wrapup translator of Dr Prannoy Roymdashdecoding elections on TV nonstop mid rsquo80s onwards Dua was not a psephologist Roy is Uniquely bilingual and giftedly wellrounded Dua brought a Hindispeaking India to the same TV screen as the Englishspeaking elitesmdashthe chief spokespersons of whom may possess precious education or drawing room intellect but never the vocabulary to ever connect with masses of North IndiaThe masses that regularly make and break governments presumably based on what they know Itrsquos not a surprise that the combined earnings of Indiarsquos English news channels based on viewership has traditionally been less than what radio stations in Mumbai alone drawHomegrown exclusively English medium types can still access Hindi culture The reverse isnrsquot always truemdashfuelling at once an element of self doubt into the latter Dua brought cerebral swagconfidence to the Hindi journalist It helped that he identified himself as a broadcaster rather than practising ldquopatrakaritardquomdasha heavy word that wallows more in selfpity or selfimportance than producing much of evergreen worthHe had interestsmdashfrom poetry theatre to musicmdashthat were wider than his obsession with a daily beat For what do they know of whatever they cover be it cricket politics or cinema if that is all they know He hosted the popular food show Zaika India Ka that was about lajawab mohalla restaurants Rather than avocadosasparagus at posh restaurants of top chefs that only friendsfamily of an English food writer can accessIn the early rsquo90s Dua hosted Chakravyuh a studiobased programme on public interest issues what Aamir Khan brilliantly replicated as Satyamev Jayate in 2012 At a point in history where even knowledge is often equated with snobbery and the counter to it is taking pride in ignorance insteadmdashthe one thing trolls could simply never accuse the bright Dua of is being elite or elitistThat trite charge wouldnrsquot stick He grew up in Delhirsquos refugee colonies went from a government school to read English Honours at Hansraj College and spent leisurely hours at India International CentreAt once at ease he said with sharing morning tea with his friend who drove an auto rickshaw for a living and evening tea with Dr Roy instead Sure you could disagree with his views The danger in a society is when you want those views to disappear into lazy labels first and altogether thereafterTo misquote Voltaire if Vinod Dua did not exist in mediarsquos India it would be necessary to invent him Dua does not existMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper