Living together beyond journalism, forever

Part I

Living together beyond journalism, forever

Don’t we desire a permanent association with our journalist friends? They can be anyone from the new ones to the old ones from young at heart to young in spirit even if not their age. What if such a relation could be formed and nurtured forever without any cost?

What if that relation could be nurtured without bothering to meet in person till it suits or sincerely desired?

Like the Press Club, we can have our own lifelong friendly club which can exist forever if each one of us values it as our own built family or union.

Think of the advantages a solid group of close-knitted friends. What could be difficult for us as an individual might be possible for someone else from such a group. The more we think, the more we will understand they way we intend to think about it.

From helping each other to find solutions of difficult problems or challenges to exchanging the smartest, innovative and novel tricks of the trade or even personal experiences can turn so easy forever.

Without bothering about whether we are presently in or out of journalism for our personal reasons, we can still remain alive in journalism due to such a group. Today, we might be satisfactorily placed or living. But tomorrow, god forbid, we may badly need others whom we kept ignoring all these days. So what’s the solution? Let’s unite forever.  

Shakespeare wrote: Know Thy Neighbour, but we need to say: “Know Thy Buddy” to form and live in such a permanent family of friends.  

Part II

Is Family of Friends a joke or a must for us?

A few years ago I started a friends’ group – Family of Friends – in Asian News International (ANI).  Its prime objective was to enable one and all to share and exchange thoughts without restrictions and develop good relations under a common roof.

It was felt necessary to let individuals come closer and know each other by his or her tastes and real self. After all beyond positions, experiences, pseudo images or personal backgrounds, we all needed to exit together everyday.

We all know employees cannot work like different set of computers or editing machines. They also need to know each other for easier and purposeful individual happiness and growth and to handle work with ease.

Many of those, who existed in ANI as little groups, may or may not be in touch with all of them today or 10 years down the lane because of their everyday warm Hello’s range.   

Many of us may today realise our stupidities for losing such good relations due to naïve ignorance. In a phase, where we should have built GREAT relations like friends, we moved away like strangers. God bless our spouses, they may have liked us far more than they, hopefully, do today had they knew we belong to such a great circle of FRIENDS.

Most of us fail to understand in time the innumerable advantages of “being in touch”. We realise our blunders when we seek our old friends in most trying or happy times.

Sadly, we realise the POWER of our relations with other journalist friends of formative years, only when we require them as ultimate help, support or sense of relief in challenging times.

Should we not then stay “always in touch”? The FB (Facebok), Twitter, Orkut or SMSes could be some of the mediums. But still they cannot compare the one on one talks. The sooner we think over it, the better our life could be.

Part III

Ever thought of Family of Friends?

The concept of Family of Friends can be based on the idea of living together. Fears of losing a job and soon fading from every like-minded buddy’s memory can be overcome with it.

Be it exchange of ideas, a visit down the memory lane or simply chit-chat to lighten up  mind and spirit or even promoting and supporting prospective journos are just some of the benefits.

We need to know and remember more than keeping an important person’s contact number in our cellphones, being in touch and maintaining a lifelong friendly relation with buddies of same profession can be remarkably beneficial.

It is so unwise of us to stay out of touch with our own one-time closest buddies. Today, we are spread out in entire media in different parts of India and even abroad. Staying in touch and being of worth to each other for anything and everything could have been invaluable.

We all know it but still behaving stupidly to understand why it is taught: Unity is Strength.   Think over it and get back!

Let us join hands and live with the spirit of Family of Friends.