Gujarat Media Club had its third Foundation Day last Saturday. 12 veteran journalists were felicitated at a function in a leading club in Ahmedabad. It had all glitter and glamour of a club. However, like in all previous functions thin presence of members of the club was conspicuous and also the lack of sincerity and commitment to the spirit of felicitation of veterans.
No doubt these veterans have had something to contribute to the profession. But the rationale of selection is still a mystery. Many much more powerful have been left out.  Probably, identity crisis ridden GMC wanted to catch attention of the peers in the community by catch all and please all strategy.
Veteran after veteran was introduced by Club leaders with great enthusiasm. Almost all forgot the time limit of two minute brief. But there was not even a second for the response of these veterans to their felicitation. I think the GMC has achieved a distinction that can get it a place in some kind of record with title "A cool Felicitation".
We find these veterans in their seventies and eighties worth felicitating, but we could not find even a second in our fluid schedule for a word of "Thank You" or a piece of advice by our veterans. We described them as shapers of journalism and journalists in Gujarat without giving them any chance to utter even a word.
This is more than an organizational lapse. It is a case of GMC piggy riding seniors to achieve some kind of identity without even having courtesy of allowing the veterans to express themselves.
Sadashiv Pathak represents the pre independence days when Ahmedabad was covered by four journalists only and he learnt journalism from Great Gujarati writer and activist Jhaverchand Meghani. Tushar Bhatt and Ramu Patel are among pillars of English Journalism of their time and are still known for their pen.
Ramu Patel had mooted the idea of Press Club long back. He could have shared his experience with members.
 Bhupat Vadodaria was not present. His son Kiran Vadodaria had come. Bhupatbhai is a versatile pen with regular columns in newspapers and several books to his credit. He has very simple interesting language, which is rare today.
These and other journalists could have given some piece of advice to budding journalists to shape themselves as a better journalist standing out in the growing crowd of media.
Many of these veterans were seen moving round alone or with their family members during dinner after the felicitation. At least some office bearers could be assigned responsibility of taking care of our elders.
The function had presence of over half a dozen IAS officers. Even the press note of GMC has mentioned the names of these officers very prominently. Certainly, it is a good idea for creating a brand. But whose brand was being created is a question?   
 
 

Have a happy reading.