This blog was an account of my trip to India in January 2008. During this time I worked on the New Indian Express in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
I meant to say a lot more to finish this blog off, but after five months back in the UK, I can’t really justify keeping it going any longer! Hope it’s been useful.
Posted in India
Last week, my Press Gazette article on journalism work placements overseas was published.
It made it into print pretty much how I filed it, but unfortunately, the links I’d included did not appear on the online version. So I’ve put them in this post.
You can find out about the placement I did in India here. There are work experience opportunities in Ghana, China, and New Zealand through other volunteering agencies. Continue reading
Posted in articles, media, placements, work
This week, I stumbled across an old post on Press Gazette’s Axegrinder blog about a young chap doing a work placement on a Sri Lanka newspaper during his gap year.
I found some of Andrew Liddle’s observations to be quite pertinent to some of my own experiences of India, though I think I was luckier when it came to my homestay. (Incidentally, I considered Sri Lanka as a possible destination – but after reading that post, I am glad I didn’t!).
Posted in food, placements, Sri Lanka
One of the things you notice about newspapers in India is the amount of news they syndicate from the UK and US.
On the New India Express, they would syndicate articles from the Daily Telegraph. A lot of the front page leads for Education Express were originally published in the Daily Telegraph – in fact, I must have saved them loads in syndication fees when I wrote for Education Express during my internship!
The Hindu’s favourite UK title is The Guardian, from which they source a lot of their comment and features. This is fine when it’s for your international news section. However, blogger Krish Ashok, is less happy with the fact that The Hindu also buys crossword puzzles from the Guardian.
In a post on his blog, he outlines his vision for a more Chennai-centric crossword.
Posted in crosswords, media, newspapers
Some kind soul should have let Max Gogarty know what he was getting himself in for when he started a travel blog on the Guardian’s Comment is Free blog section.
Sadly, the 19-year-old blogger’s account of hitting the road in his skinny jeans did not impress the notorious tribes of the blogosphere. And 475 comments later, he has apparently decided to give the blogging a rest.
I hope at some point, young Mr Gogarty will relent and give blogging another go. If he does, he might be wise to try blogging away from the lions’ pit that is Comment is Free – at least until he’s developed “his voice” a little more. I’m sure any blog he does attempt will generate lots of hits now! I for one think travel blogs are a much a more useful resource for planning travels than glossy travel supplements because anyone’s experiences can be valuable to someone else. That was one of my motivations in starting this blog. Though, I will admit that it’s not as well written as I would like it to be! Continue reading
Not posted for a while… mainly due to a lack of things to post, rather than anything else. I’m hoping to write something on overseas placements at some points but that’s dependent on when an article I have written for another magazine appears.
I’m also hoping to write something on blogging in Chennai, so watch out for that. In the meantime, have a look at my pictures from my stay. You can access it through any of the pictures in the blog posts or via the flickr link on the side bar.
I’ve been back for a week and during that time I’ve been reflecting on my experiences in India. Here are some of the best things about India:
1. Friendly people: People are genuinely curious and interested in hearing about your life, so it’s easy to find someone to talk to. Unlike some nationalities, they are happy to talk about sensitive things like religion and politics, which suits me fine! It’s led to some really enlightening conversations.
2. The colour: Someone told me before I went out there that India is a really colourful place. They were spot on. It’s like a walking, talking, singing, dancing rainbow. Instead of seeing billboard ads, you have advertisements painted onto walls in primary colours. Ladies’ saris cover the whole spectrum, though I doubt a white sari would survive the dust for long! Continue reading
My final article for Education Express was published yesterday. It was an feature on teaching children who are on the autistic spectrum.
Elsewhere, BBC online contains a story on the growing incidence of rape and sexual assaults in India and the poor response of some elements of the authorities there. The story is based on the experiences of a British woman living in Goa.
Arriving back in London was quite weird. Heathrow was unusually quite when I passed through and Tooting seemed like a ghost town compared to India – no crowds, crazy traffic and hardly any litter. Who’d have thought it!
Luckily, the weather is pretty mild at the moment, much to my relief. I can’t think of anything worse than arriving back to a freezing cold Britain.
On Saturday night, I enjoyed my first glass of red wine in a month and some beef – yum! It’s going to be strange getting used to washing dishes and clothes again after being looked after for a month.
I won’t miss the crazy commute to work. Those crowded bone-shaker buses make the Northern Line seem like first class travel by Eurostar. I will miss my hosts in Chennai and also the people at NIE – I hope to stay in touch if I can.
I’m back in London now, but I have no plans to end this blog just yet. There are a lot of thoughts, observations and memories that I have not put into words, so I plan to keep this going for the next couple of weeks at least. I also hope to develop the blog a little more, adding a couple of new pages plus more photos.Please feel free to make comments on my posts so far!
Posted in Uncategorized
