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Lucknow Boy A Memoir
In an otherwise 'candid memoir', the author does not, however, explain if the influence of the great changes that were taking place in the western world were instantaneous or it was with time and reflection that he realized the full import of the events of the 1960s. On returning home, he made his luck by not pretending to be one of those intellectuals who were hastening the end of an age in West and ushering in a new era but by writing what he observed of life in Bombay. Later, he might have been too ashamed of his effort but it gave confidence and sufficient credibility to get an assignment to write the biography of Meena Kumari. Not too long after that, he saw his opportunity when Debonair needed a steering hand. It was as editor of this Indian version of Playboy that Vinod Mehta transformed himself by successfully juxtaposing the nude photograph and eminently readable Ruskin Bond, Vijay Tendulkar, Nissim Ezekiel, V.S. Naipaul, R.K.Narayan etc. The 'smutty' image of the magazine though remained, and it was this that prompted him finally to move on. After convincing Ashwin Shah of the desirability of a Sunday paper, Vinod Mehta entered the world of the 'big boys' not only of the media, the art, literature and culture but also that of the politicians and the corporate honchos. In his easy, irreverent and informal style, he recounts the manner of his successive sacking from various newspapers till he met Rajan Raheja, the proprietor of the Outlook, and steadied his ship. In the process he brings out the obnoxious relationship between the media and the politicians and laments the loss of editorial freedom. In this context, his run in with the owners of Independent, a sister publication of The Times of India and the politicians deserves to be analysed. It also brings in focus the speculative nature of news that sensationalises and aims at titillation. The debate over the dragging of Morarji Desai and Y.B Chavan's name as a CIA mole in Indira Gandhi's cabinet during Indo-Pak war of 1971 on the basis of untrustworthy sources does cast a shadow of doubt on the purpose of the news and one suspects was a hangover of the Debonair days. However, the fallout of the publication of the news has earned Dileep Padgaonkar the understandable ire of the author. The author would have been fair to readers and students of journalism if he had dwelt on how electronic media and leading editors of the country, Vinod Mehta not excluded, became purring cats during the solo performance of President Pervez Musharraf at the Agra summit. The book is highly enjoyable because of its racy and irreverent style, his mother and father too are at the receiving end, and there is never a dull moment. One wishes though that the portrayal of Firaq Gorakhpuri and the hearsay comments about former prime minister Chandrashekhar had been avoided. They neither enhance the quality of the book nor do they help the reader in understanding them better. A critical analysis of comments about Chandrashekhar would in fact bring out the urban prejudice against the sons of the soil politicians of the country.
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