Not Kamal In English, Kamaal In Hindustani

Friends and colleagues of NDTV바카라�s veteran Lucknow reporter Kamal Khan, who died of a heart attack on Friday morning, have already written thousands of words in tribute to what a giant of a journalist he was.

They바카라�re all in past tense but in a deeper sense, Kamal isn바카라�t gone, he lives on through his work, and through the people he impacted all around him.

Kamal's left an indelible imprint on television journalism in Lucknow, UP and India. The highpoint in most of the tributes is the sobriety and syncretic nature of script, tone and delivery, in Kamal바카라�s body of work, mostly for NDTV India.

The themes stretched across politics, religion, governance, society, all walks of life. And Kamal바카라�s work didn바카라�t leave out the usual punctuation marks in a TV reporter바카라�s life either, that is crime and accidents. Even here, the tributes point out, he eschewed any trademark 바카라�breaking news바카라� screeches and yet got the important information across. He told his viewers, and there were lakhs of dedicated followers of his personal news footprint, about what happened, in simple language and a calm tone.

The stock phrases, Lucknawi andaaz and ganga jamuni tehzeeb, have also been liberally used in all tributes. That was demonstrated, in finality, by the fact, that the Ganga Arti on Friday evening in Banaras, was dedicated to Kamal.

Having spent well over a decade in the NDTV newsroom in Delhi, it바카라�s the interpersonal, newsroom impact of Kamal that I want to dwell upon.

Although NDTV India was for much of this time, an independent organic entity, and there was always, willy nilly, an English language reporter posted for NDTV alongside Kamal in Lucknow. Kamal바카라�s latest English reporter counterpart in NDTV Lucknow, Alok Pandey has written about how the by-now-seasoned 바카라�Lucknow ka baashinda바카라� mentored him during his entire tenure in Lucknow. The earlier English reporters haven바카라�t written yet, but informal chai shop reminiscences through these years gone by, always marvelled at Kamal바카라�s ability to sound laid back and yet convey the urgency of the news of the moment.

It was this unique approach of Kamal바카라�s that Alok has absorbed. Alok had already done stints in Patna and Kolkata, but in Lucknow under Kamal, he has really flowered. Kamal didn바카라�t scream, ever, even in breaking news situations. Alok is, well, quite intense, but he doesn바카라�t scream either. That바카라�s a huge gain, a priceless imprint if you look at the larger imprint of the banshee wailers that make up the bulk of both newsroom and live TV field reporters and anchors across India today.

Like all TV organisations, there was a well oiled constant phone and personal contact ebb and flow between reporter and headquarters, and it was here that Kamal impacted many mini-Kamals at NDTV바카라�s Delhi hub, in both the English and Hindi desks, although in a manner of speaking he 바카라�belonged바카라� to Hindi more. His imprint was large across the English desk too. We always made it a point to look at his long-form journalism, the brilliant half-hour documentaries on varied subjects.

(Image credit: Faceboook) 

A large number of his stories were painstakingly translated and carried in NDTV English. Getting the nuance right was a huge challenge, and a largely Anglophone desk gained immensely from the dulcet tone of Kamal바카라�s use of Hindustani, especially the messages in his famed P2Cs (pieces to camera). Strong in content, but gentle in choice of word and delivery. And whenever the English reporter took a break, we obviously relied exclusively on him for everything.

Across the board, all the people I바카라�ve spoken to over these last twenty-four hours and more, especially those who interacted with Kamal from the desks here, have more than many times, emphasized the near-yogic impact of that voice, even in a breaking news situation, saying just something like 바카라�Jee Haan, abhee dekhtey hain, itmeenaan rakhiye.바카라� - That last quotable quote, to me, jumping up and down at my desk, in a highly excitable state.

NDTV India바카라�s flagbearer anchor and my close friend, Ravish has written both on Twitter and in his tribute on the website, 바카라�there will never be another Kamal바카라�. But I바카라�d like to differ. Because there was Kamal in Lucknow, there are many Kamals all around us. His colleague in Delhi, Sushil Bahuguna has spoken in a Facebook post about his ability to calm his audience just by the sheer use of nonviolent language. This, in an era where UP saw all that it has seen, from the Mandir-Masjid days onwards.

Another tireless 바카라�calm tv news바카라� campaigner, Hridayesh Joshi, says there were many who cribbed about Kamal missing the immediacy of some newsbreaks. But they realised perhaps within the hour, that the gravitas he brought in his treatment brought in more value. That in a way, has remained the larger NDTV ethos too, despite the challenges of time. Confirm, reconfirm and rush to the camera, rather than just rush to the camera.

바카라�In TV news, there is Glucon D, an immediate sugar rush, and there is Ayurveda, a longer-term approach. Kamal sir was definitely the second.바카라�

Kamal went on air for the last time with senior anchor Naghma Sahar. On 바카라�Prime Time바카라� on Thursday night, they spoke about Congress and its choice of a large number of women candidates. And, says Naghma, Kamal spoke of how entrenched misogyny is in our society, by giving the personal example of his own home, where the help always served him, the male, first. But more than this, it was the way he put it, always, that emphasized the message more than the medium.

In the immediate aftermath of his passing away, Naghma says, she remembered a piece to camera from Ayodhya, where he spoke of how the Muslims there always prepared the garlands that adorned Lord Ram in his many abodes there. This, he said, was just a little distance away from where the apostle of syncretism, Sant Kabir, lies buried. The English transliteration is not anywhere near how it actually sounds/sounded in Kamal바카라�s Hindustani.

The verse from Hairat Allahabadi that echoed through Naghma바카라�s mind:

Aagah Apni maut sey, koi Bashar Naheen

Saamaan Sau Baras Ka, Pal ki Khabar Naheen

Rest in peace, Kamal, nahee Kamaal sir.

(Madhusudan Srinivas has been in journalism, print and TV, for over three decades. He worked at the NDTV editorial desk between 2006 and 2019)