One of my earliest recollections of childhood is Kapil da.... climbing atop a rickety tree to get a better shot on the camera of the Assam Tribune premises for the annual calendar published each January for its subscribers.. even after 75 years, the paper still stubbornly publishes the calendar with its ’white house’ for an image and yes! You’ll find it in literally every household in Assam. Adorned on walls by Grandpas to even my friends to date.
That winter, Kapil da was told to get a ’better’ picture in the ’colour films’ newly available in the market. Dad helped him out a bit and sure enough, that photograph is used till date on the calendar.
This is Assam Tribune, Assam’s premier and one of the oldest English dailies in the state, situated on the R G Barua road, the road named after the architect of the paper and of modern Assam.
Assam Tribune is not counted in competition by the rest of the newspaper media in Assam. It is way apart and does not (possibly humbly) mention its feat in terms of circulation to the entire north-east region. A part and parcel of every Assamese, this paper can boast of local news coming to it then of its reporters going out to collect it.. well of course that does not mean that there is no reports! The reporters do their job just as my Dad did when he was assigned as a Special Correspondent to Shillong.. all press conferences and social gatherings had to have a representative from the Assam Tribune.. possibly thats why I recall a childhood with a very high social profile..
I’ll let you on an incident that happened at a press conference for the launch of Maruti in Shillong.. their first model which is now known as the maruti 800 old model. Dad and his colleague from The Statesman were sharing drinks with the Manger specially flown in to Shillong for the launch of the car. Now this Manager casually happened to mention to them that ’’reporters do not have enough money to buy this car’’. THAT WAS IT! My Dad’s colleague reiterated by saying that ’’we will drive it on your bald head!’’ (forgive me for this :) ) and they got what was the first two red Marutis in the city.. Possibly the marketing gimmick of the Manager worked straightaway in Shillong.. what with the reporters themselves availing of a car each!
Bliss in Shillong was over when Dad was summoned back to Guwahati. The paper was then and even today is run by R G Barua’s son, P G Barua. Many incidents with the paper happened during the long period that my father was associated with it till he left it in an Editorial capacity. From being blindfolded and let into the hubs of extremists organizations to spending the night in the wild, Dad has seen it all.... Thanks to the Assam Tribune.
Now before I divert from the topic.. here is something of what I know of Assam Tribune:
The paper was originally published with the help of a lot of manpower.. the quarters are still situated within the complex itself and have now be usurped by many who had long since retired. Workers would set each letter of each news column by hand.. just as in the blocks of a typewriter.. maybe you’ll find such a setting in some newspaper museum or archive somewhere but it was a tedious task and involved long hours of concentration with letters and letters! Spelling mistakes were thus common during those days.. what with the ’so called intellectuals’ always preferring a better job then that of the setter but the paper was flourishing... whether it was news or nevs.. as long as it reached the public, it did not matter.
The paper publishes a ’’news from the past’’ column in its Editorial page which lists news from its archives.. some hilarious, some grave like the time when Assam was given a goodbye!
It can afford the best quality newsprint for local papers in the region with the publishing machines also worth in crores. Although it now lacks of a real news person as such, what with P G Barua himself the Editor now, it still runs.... because it gets all the advertisements and news on a platter and because the public sentiment (like mine) does not allow it to unsubscribe from a paper which has been in the house for all these years and yes! It still has the news first thing and first hand!
I wanted to write a more descriptive review here for my Dad but decided on dividing it into two parts.. the second part in his paper, his first love ’’Assamiya Khabar’’ in the Regional Dailies section of mouthshut for Assamese dailies.
Till then, adios and see you soon....