FRAGMENTS - THE SEGMENTS

News-Making

Rhea was an intern at the Today's Headlines; it was only until a week agothat she'd started getting some proper work. People outside may notbelieve that an intern and that too a brilliant student like Rhea was askedto clean tables, send to buy pads, make coffee, hang the coat and othercheap labor an intern wouldn't like to do. It was all part of learning, theseniors said; and having never learned to react to injustice, because of thepressure cooker education system, she did everything without a word back.It was after one of her works was finally noted by the Editor which shehad done during her college primary year, was she really given her firstproper work. It was a write-up she had to do on a strike gone violent; shestudies the matter well and does a decent write-up, giving genuine facts ina very catchy manner. Impressed with her work, the Editor sends her tothe Chief Editor. Decently, she hands him the write-up she had typed outand printed. The CE puts on his gold-rimmed glasses and reads throughthe whole write-up with a mock that every authority has towardssubordinates. Once done, he places the paper down, takes off his glassesand places it on the table. 

'First time,' he asked with a smirk;

'Yes Sir, intern,' she replied gently. 

'Well, let me just tell you, I'm completely disappointed with this workof yours. I think you need to learn the art of perfect news-making. Ifyou're interested, I can teach you.' She nodded her head and agreed, sowith a triumphant smile he began, 

'See, I hope you're a non-vegetarian and that you eat fish,' she noddedagain, 'well, this fish is a sea-food that is enjoyed in different manners. Ifyou offer this fish raw, the Japanese might take it, which is that very few people prefer it. You boil it and squeeze a lemon, some more than theformer will come for it. You add some spices and put it into a curry andheat it, the preference increases compared to the formers. You make apaste of the spices, put it all over the fish, and wait for it to be reallyabsorbed and then finally put into a frying pan with lot of canola oiland let it fry. The whole thing will draw people to fight for it. Thecaptivating smell, the spicy meat, the oil that hides within and theconsumer's interest, wow, people are gonna squabble for it. I hopeyou're getting my point, we can't be genuine and true here. I like yourlanguage but I hate those lines; all you got to do is just this, dispose yourraw fish and get me a fish fry like how I asked for, as soon as possible.' 

Rhea stands up and leaves, the CE still giving her the glare. He didn't likeraw fish or boiled fish, he wanted neither the fish curry too, he alwayspreferred the fish fry ever since the day he walked out of the very sameoffice, hearing the very same story, 22 years ago. He knew she was gonnarepeat this very same story to someone, someday; positively or negatively.