camilpark

A fortnight after I joined a Marathi newspaper in Ahmednagar district, the editor summoned me and to my astonishment, asked me to include an unusual task in my daily working schedule. He asked me to ring up a local telephone number at the stroke of midnight and get results of the day's matka lottery. The telephone number was of the local matka bookie and my job was to get the two matka prize numbers selected by Mumbai-based Matka king Ratan Khatri. I was dumbfounded when I heard my assignment. After my experience of journalism in Goa, I had never imagined that ringing up a matka bookie would be a part of a sub-editor's job profile. In a few seconds I found myself telling the editor that I would not like to do that job, which was against journalistic ethics, I felt. The editor took out tobacco from a sachet, ground it on his palm with his thumb and carefully put it in his mouth. He then asked, "What is unethical in getting matka numbers and publishing th...

A witness to the Emergency rule (1975-77) That morning, soon after I had arrived at our tailoring shop in Shrirampur, the cycle riding newspaper boy had delivered the newspaper. I was a 10th standard student then but was addicted to newspaper reading. The news content of the newspaper on that day startled me and immediately I pointed it out to my father. The day was June 27, 1975. Sakal, the Marathi newspaper, which I was reading had carried the news that an internal emergency was imposed in the country on June 25 late night and that leaders of all opposition parties including Socialist leader Jaiprakash Narayan, former Union Minister Morarji Desai, and Jan Sangh leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee have been arrested in various cities and sent to jails. Although a minor, I understood the significance of the news. I had been reading newspapers thoroughly for the past many months which had been a turbulent period for the country. I had read about the students’ agitations in Guja...

बुधवार, १३ जून, २०१८ मुखपृष्ठ महाराष्ट्र देश-विदेश कला-साहित्य समाज अर्थ क्रीडा मनोरंजन करिअर न-नायक दिवाळीअंक मुखपृष्ठ     देश-विदेश      goo.gl/a4fxgB  अनुशासन पर्वाच्या आठवणी बुधवार, १३ जून, २०१८ कामिल पारखे आणीबाणीचा कालखंड देशाच्या इतिहासातील काळाकुट्ट काळ समजला जातो. अर्थात शिस्तीचा कालखंड होता. मटके, खासगी सावकारी यांना चाप बसवणारा होता हेही लक्षात घेतले पाहिजे. तो दिवस भारतीय लोकशाहीच्या इतिहासातील सर्वांत काळाकुट्ट समजला जातो. मात्र त्या दिवशी म्हणजे २६ जून १९७५ संपूर्ण दिवसभर देशभर काय घडामोडी होत होत्या याची सामान्य लोकांना काहीच कल्पना नव्हती. त्याकाळात दिवसभर जे काय घडायचे ते दुसऱ्या दिवशी सकाळी वृत्तपत्रातून कळायचे. रेडिओ दिवसातून फारच कमी तास चालायचा आणि त्यातील बातम्या तर फारच कमी असायच्या. त्यावेळी मी नुकताच दहावी इयत्तेत प्रवेश केला होता. दुसऱ्या दिवशी म्हणजे २७ जून १९७५ रोजी श्रीरामपुरात सकाळी मी माझ्या  वडिलांसह आमच्या दुकानावर पोहोचलो आणि तेथे मी वर्तमानपत्र वा...