Clickety clickety.
Ph-ooooooooooooooo-one!
Hey, good story!
Does anyone have Satya Paul's number?
Does anyone have a Nokia charger?
Madam, chai.
Have you filed your story yet? The whole page is hanging just because of you!
Clickety clickety clicke-- oh fuck!
Okay, my story's not working out, I'm sorry.
Bringgggggggg, briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, briiiiiii--- hey, I said phooooooooooo-ooooooone! Where were you?
What stories are you working on for next week?
Rustle, rustle, clink, rustle, rustle.
I'm going for my assignment, call me if you need anything else for my story.
I need those pictures. Right now.
Has he given you the layout?
Does anyone know how to spell the French attache's name?
Guys, Google's down!
Shit, I'm late!
Clickety clickety clickety click.
Okay, my story's done.
Ah, the music that is a newspaper office at six pm.
| My latest book is The One Who Swam With The Fishes.
"A mesmerizing account of the well-known story of Matsyagandha ... and her transformation from fisherman’s daughter to Satyavati, Santanu’s royal consort and the Mother/Progenitor of the Kuru clan." - Hindustan Times "Themes of fate, morality and power overlay a subtle and essential feminism to make this lyrical book a must-read. If this is Madhavan’s first book in the Girls from the Mahabharata series, there is much to look forward to in the months to come." - Open Magazine "A gleeful dollop of Blytonian magic ... Reddy Madhavan is also able to tackle some fairly sensitive subjects such as identity, the love of and karmic ties with parents, adoption, the first sexual encounter, loneliness, and my favourite, feminist rage." - Scroll |
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no wonder the terms melody and mah-lady sound similar. very nicely written.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of music Ms Confessor, did you get my e-mail?
ReplyDeleteWell, at least your day's soundtrack doesn't consist of any of the following:
ReplyDelete"What do you mean there's summer reading?'
"Homework? We had homework?"
"Can I borrow a pen/pencil/piece of lined paper? No, you're right. I haven't been prepared for class once this year."
"I can't believe you're making us read 10 whole pages all by ourselves! Don't you know 'The OC' is on tonight?"
"We have a test today? I didn't study!"
Of course I'll start to look forward to hearing them again in a few weeks.
Cool... you have one of those boys to bring you chai as and when you feel like?
ReplyDeleteNeat idea. Maybe you should work on it some more?
ReplyDeleteJ.A.P.
No pic? Wha' happened?
ReplyDeleteim sure you don't need this to be told, but you make really good reading :P
ReplyDeleteMine would be a deathly silence. With faint sounds of people's keyboards and mouse clicks. Yeah, very faint.
ReplyDeleteWith the occasional use of the wonderful shredder. How I love that noise...
sagnik: Are you calling me a malady? :P
ReplyDeletemint: Yes, yes and reply is on its way. In fact, you should've got it by the time you read this.
amandarama: I don't know. I quite like your soundtrack too :)
penny lane: Yes, but it's not so cool, because I'm one of the rare coffee drinkers, so I have to beg and plead for them to get me my coffee :)
J.A.P: You think? In what way, exactly?
n.a: I didn't think this entry needed a pic, did you?
shreya: We always LIKE being told, we do :) Thanks!
vignesh: Y'know, I'm not sure WHAT noise a shredder makes! :)
This decidely seems like a good soundtrack, as opposed to my office where there is this rap style concoction of four letter words that get hurled at the other as teh clock ticks away! :)
ReplyDeleteSeems like a nice place to work at. I love the concept. :)
ReplyDeleteHey...the shredder for the office sits right next to my work station !! Whurrrrrrrr.....Thats the Shredder noise...Hmmm..decidedly one of my favorite sounds too. Why ? It reminds me of a mixer mom used to grind her masala's / chutneys in, when she was in a tearing hurry, (as opposed to using the grind stone) to quell the undying hunger of her kids just back from school. Somehow the faint aroma of all those fresh chillies, coriander, cucumbers et al emanating made my mouth water. It always meant that batter fried onion rings, mirchi bhajiya's, raw banana fritters were on their way along with garam garam chai.
ReplyDeleteummmmm.....my mouth's watering already...eM? yours ?
Hmmm...isn't it the chai guy who flirts with you all?
ReplyDeleteSounds pretty much like my old days...the routine is much saner now.
ReplyDeleteFor a look at the old days of journalism, check
out the following excerpt from the Los Angeles Times (full story might bore a few can post it on request):
This is more than a lament for the good old days,”
writes David Shaw in the Los Angeles Times. “And I
certainly don't long for the days when many reporters
played poker in the newsroom, took free meals and
gifts with both hands, and drank their lunch out of
half-pint bottles stashed in the bottom drawers of
tobacco-stained desks. But I'm convinced that when you
take the characters out of the newsroom, you also take
some of the character out of the newspaper.”
PS: Rhinestone came to my mind first..i don't know why i made it rhinocerous...but yes Rhinestone hats was what Buddy said in his letter
ReplyDeleteYou forgot lots of things such as:
ReplyDelete1) Damn the computer is hanging
2) Oh shit, I lost my story
3) Pickup the phone, I say pick up the phone (that is someone desperately trying to contact his/her source and muttering to himself/herself)
4) Don't blow smoke in my face (applicable for the non-smoking offices - wonder whether there are any left)
PS: Why do computers hang when a reporter is filing an important story? Cause they are in a noosepaper office.... (well, that was my line, that used to calm me down when the computer systems let me down, in the good old days when I was a journo).
Imagine my plight -- am surrounded by non-journo catty marketing people and all I hear is -- 'ei mashe target reach holo na (they are mostly Bong), 'VC with VP in ten minutes!' and, in moments of extreme stress, 'Where the fuck is the Himalaya RO?' (have learnt RO means release order -- for ads). Give me some good old journalistic bonding/bitching any day.
ReplyDeleteNice. Inspired to burn my own cd :)
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky. When frustrated, my Zimbabwean colleagues scream "You can KISS my BLACK ASS!!!" at the top of their voices.
ReplyDeleteIngenious post, eM !
ReplyDeleteI was looking for a I-am-off-to-TC somewhere in the soundtrack and was surprised to see none.
Very nice!
ReplyDeleteAnd your coffee man calls you madam? Wow! Mine will throw it almost on my face and say Chaya! (You knwo about the Mallu tea wallah stereotype)
I think Google being down and Phone being out of charge are the two biggest causes of trauma today! :)
sharanya: Heh. Rap style four letter words sounds rather fun actually! :)
ReplyDeleteanurag: It IS fun most days.
zg: I love that. But there are very few "characters" left, nowadays everyone's pretty much the same--young ambitious and selfish :) (Okay, I may be generalising a little!)
raxterise: A shredder that sounds like a mixie? How do you KEEP from eating all day??? :)
ab: NO he doesn't flirt with all of us, just a chosen few, actually just a chosen one! :)
lubu: Actually, we are a non-smoking office, the smokers have to go to the balcony outside. Which is why I didn't put any "smoker" type comments there. And noosepaper office... corny, but clever :)
marauder's map: Why marketing types? Don't you have fellow journos too? But yes, there are many Bong words flying around my office too.. only I didn't know how to spell them :)
gratisgab: Go for it! And tell me when you do, so I can see :)
jay: Ooooh I'd LOVE to do that! The number of times I have almost told sundry PR people to bite me is unbelievable.
vibhu: Off to TC? At six pm? It's called "meeting a deadline before you leave"! :)
primal: He says Madam very grumpily, if that's any comfort :)
some activity! my office is so quiet usually, except when my colleague decides to use his speaker phone and when they shut of the Ac at 6.00 pm. I miss the hustle bustle.
ReplyDeleteyou forgot:
ReplyDelete* choicest vernacular abuse being hurled in no particular direction by no particular person for no particular reason (or maybe thats just in the art room here)
* "jokes" like:
"Has he gone to meet Shah Rukh?"..
"No..he's gone to chicken Shah Rukh"
and of course...
* 16 different interpretations of the book of Genesis chapters 12 thru 21