They loved him, they hated him, they feared him; none could ever ignore him. Taro Chatung was a Common Man’s Journalist

By Rup J Pater

Days were there when there were no news…or not enough,worth reporting.Print sub-editors would rubtheir receding hairline and makeoptimum use ofthe world-wide-web to fill their respective four pages. For me it was a herculean task filling the 15-minute audio-visual news-slot at hand. 
By the way, www.com still ain’t a life-saver for audio-visual media in terms of copy-pasting!
On the edit suite, I was done with all the video reports of the day - organizing, clipping, cutting, narrating, etc. There were about four stories. After editing and setting all four on the timeline, I still had a little more than 3 minutesof time-space to fill. 
There were no more stories coming in.
Being trained in print, audio-visual medium wasn’t easy for me. Had it been for print, I could have played with the sentences - re-constructing, re-phrasing, re-aligning. Even resize the fontson a lazy day and fill up every darn inch of a page! But I just couldn’t manipulate the visuals at hand to extend the episode for another 3 minutes. ‘CID’ or ‘SaasBhiKabhiBahuthi’ type of soapsweren’t that popular then, for inspiration. Nor had the national-regional news channelscaught up with the now-mandatory repetitive visuals with equally repetitive narratives plus the horror-film stolen music to go with, to learn from.
The clock showed 6.50 pm, 15 minutes to deadline.
Tensed I started reviewing the ‘bytes’ of people in the raw (not RAW) footages, hoping to find something important or worth adding in the news-reel. My bad, the more I saw the more I felt like deleting few bytes from the final timeline instead! I was stuck…surrendered. Almost. 
Enter my saviour….my boss – Taro Chatung.
Those days I was working with Echo of Arunachal. With only four newspapers published from Itanagar, all were doing fine – content-wise. On the electronic front, few houses tried their hands at producing newsreels aired on DDK Itanagar. Except for one, rest faded away unable to sustain financially. 
Even today, it isn’t easy for electronic media, it was harder then. Unlike many may believe, DDK wasn’t paying these private producers to air their newsreels. It was the other way round. Producers paid DDK for the slot allotted to them to air their episodes. It didn’t come cheap and took its toll on the producers, who had neither sponsors nor advertisers. 
If not for Taro Chatung, his inimitable style of working and the never-say-die attitude, ‘News & Views’ wouldn’t have survived. It not only survived and thrived, it made a cult of a generation! Today I can dare say that DDK Itanagar not only thrived but survived a difficult phase because of Taro Chatung’s ‘News & Views’.

When cable TV ruled the roost and DTH service providers were changing the concept of TV viewing, DDK was stuck with its traditional antenna atop long bamboo poles. ‘News & Views’ ensured that these bamboo poles stayed put for at least another five years (2000-2005).

“So what’s up Rup? Hope today’s episode is ready,” Chatung sir queried as he pulled up a chair beside me.
When I told him that I still need one more story to complete the slot, he fumed first. Then smiled. Nonchalantly picked up his camera and walked out to his trusted car – yes the red Maruti 800. As he drove out, I heard him shout “five minutes”!
Chatung sir was made of a different mettle. He had stories running in his blood. All he needed was visuals and he had all the energies in the world to go hunting for these visuals.
7 minutes to deadline.
I vividly remember the evening he walked into my office at Echo of Arunachal. Without much ado, he came straight to the point. He wanted me to join ‘News & Views’ as a part-timer. 
“You may not know Rup, but I know people laugh behind my back. They laugh at my Hindi, they laugh at my style of narration and they make fun of my presentations. I don’t care, mind you but times are changing and I need to accept it. After giving a lot of thought, I have decided to leave the script, narration and presentation part to someone with good language skills, who can also double up as an anchor. You fit my bill,” was his explanation.
Before I could react, he pulled out a paper and placed it on the table. A ‘Letter of Acceptance’. Neatly typed, I just had to sign.
As I pondered, he pointed towards a blank on the letter and said, “Here, I have kept this blank. It is up to you to fill…the monthly remuneration that you expect based on your assumption of your capability, eligibility and productivity.”
It wasn’t a bad proposal. I could keep my present job. Give only two hours of the day in the evening to ‘News & Views’ and earn both ways! The only point confusing was what to fill in the blank! I couldn’t ask the world from Chatung sir knowing how hard he worked and how less he earned nor I wanted to work for less….at least not lesser than what I was getting.
Next day I was at the rented office-cum-residence of Chatung sir at Abotani Colony with the letter signed. As I held my breath, heglanced at the paper – not even for a full second, smiled and held out his hand.
“Welcome to ‘News & Views’!”
For those wondering, with much courage I had scribbled on the blank – Rs10000! Those years it was a handsome perk and a whole few grands more than what I was getting from the job at hand. Chatung sir didn’t even bat an eyelid! His confidence outshone all others.
3 minutes to deadline
As the brakes screeched outside, I knew Chatung sir was back…. with a story only a Taro Chatung can do. With the audio-visuals on his VHS tape, he set on the job of editing. When it comes to linear editing, I can well say that there was none in the state to match Chatung sir in speed and accuracy. Now that linear editing is history, there would be none.
Silence prevailed except for the whirling-grinding sounds of the VCR machines that Chatung sir pushed to the limits. My eyes were on the clock though.
2 minutes past deadline
“Deadlines at times are meant to be broken,” he laughed as he zoomed off in his 800 with the final VHS tape to DDK. 
As I watched ‘News & Views’ that evening, the genius of Taro Chatung became obvious all the more. The last story of 3 minutes was the story of the day, drawing attention and appreciation from all and sundry. And the saying that ‘a good journalist creates a story when there’s none’ dawned on me.
Location: Ganga Market. Subject: Clock Tower. 
Chatung sir thrusts his camera randomly on people asking them what time of the day it is. When they say the time looking at their watches, Chatung sir counters with “Aapkaghadikharabhaitu…” and “AapkaGhadisahihainawoh clock tower kaghadisahihai?” 
The tower-clock was not budging from 2.15 pm since months. 
The best part was when Chatung sir confronts an elderly policeman with the question – “Aaptoh full uniform me hai. Kahan se aa rahahaii?”
“Office se. Chutti ho gia.”
“Areyaapka office 2.15 me chuttihotaikya?”
“Naitoh. 6 bajipaar ho giaabhi. Chuttitohhogana…”
“Kun bola 6 bajgia. Aapwoh clock tower kodekhiyetoh, sirif 2.15 hi huahai.”
“Wohtohfaltuhai. Daily utna hi bajtahai!” 
For reasons best known to it, DDK stopped airing all news-based programmes produced by private parties on its channels. Chatung sir’s ‘News & Views’ had an untimely and sudden death ending an era of daring, innovative and intriguing journalism – never seen or will be in Arunachal Pradesh.
I had left ‘News & Views’ much before it went off air as I realized viewers wanted only him on screen. They didn’t want a picture-perfect script or camera-centric scholastic Hindi for narration. They wanted on screen someone who spoke, articulated and summarized like them…a common Arunachalee, albeit with some uncanny power that is not common. They wanted acommon man with uncommon power…not to punch but to question.Chatung sir it was…a superman of sorts.People on other side of the fence loved him, hated him, feared him, but just couldn’t ignore him. He was a Common Man’s Journalist.No one was or will be... in his shoes.
Well, as far as the Clock-Tower at Ganga is concerned, can’t say for how long but it started working the next day.
“Dekkha Rup….kuchnai ho k bhikuchtohhuahaina!” he had quipped to me days later, in his trademark humor, which….well, can’t be copy-pasted.

---

Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List