NEWSMAKERS ACHIEVERS AWARDS AND MY STRUGGLE WITH PARALLEL JOURNALISM  (Paperback, Vaidehi Taman)

You must be wondering why the name of the book is “Newsmakers Achievers Award”, because this award event gave me numerous admirations and repute. My independent journey in to journalism was very challenging. While the Fourth estate in India was slowly losing its trustworthiness and veracity, I took the challenge of mentoring journalists and also acknowledging people who equally struggled to contribute to the society. Being a journalist In India is not easy. Entire media is divided into two groups, extreme right ideology or extreme left ideology. Some are hardcore critics of ruling party and its leaders. Some are staunch antiestablishment and other are blind broadcasters. They chose to become the mouthpiece of ruling party no matter how worst is the scenario. They refuse to talk about the policy failures, fiascos and lack of will. They even prove the wrong as right just to please leader lords. And the other sides there are bunch of journalists who love to only criticize. No praises or appreciation for ruling party even if they do something good. There is definitely something wrong with some of the Indian journalists, they lack balance. Being capitalist in nature can be too dangerous. Most media houses are owned by business or political mafias and they all speak what suits to their agenda. My newspaper called Afternoon Voice is independent and self-funded. But not knows to the masses because our reach is limited. We have provided an open platform to the column writers and citizen journalists. My newspaper is a vocation training center for aspiring reporters. This book is about those hilarious stories of sustenance of parallel media. One day my marketing team suggested me to do an award event to raise funds and that is how “Newsmakers Achievers Award” came in to reality with commercial intent but gradually it took an interesting twist by putting aside all those intentions of earning something out of it. Almost all the bigwigs of Maharashtra accepted this award for its uniqueness and trustworthiness.Each award recipient has a unique story to tell. If I have to mention few names then that would be Shree Balasaheb Thackeray, Shree Babasaheb Purandare, Lata Mangeshkar Di, Asha Bhosle ji , Pt Birju Maharaj, Mandatai Amte, Shree Devendra Fadnavis, Shree Uddhav Thackeray, Bhaiyyu Ji Maharaj, Shree Vikram Gokhale, all these people have left us with beautiful memories. The book is all about our independent survival and innovative ventures like “Newsmakers Achievers Awards”. This award event has become a bench mark in the era of commercial award ceremonies. You will find many award event invites on social media asking for nominations, when you approach them, they come up with entry fees demand. Honorary doctorates and awards are big market in India. People love to flaunt their procured accomplishments on social media. For that they can go to any extent to buy these trophies and certificates. We made this event very clean, we have learned to felicitate but not facilitate. This book is an overall view on India's fourth estate and its good, bad and ugly experiences.