The exit of Akhilesh Das Gupta from the Congress might not cause a severe damage to the party in Uttar Pradesh but it has brought to fore the constant infighting in the party's UP unit. Congress high command at 10, Janpath either fails to realize the growing unrest among the state Congressmen or it seems to have chosen to ignore this problem that is plaguing the party for quite some time now. While Akhilesh Das has joined the Bahujan Samaj Party after his removal as a minister in Manhoman Singh's cabinet, the roots of Das's exit from Congress can be traced back to the change of guard in the UP Congress, following the party's dismal performance in the May 2007 Assembly Elections. Son of a former Chief Minister of UP, Babu Banarsi Das Gupta and Das - a flourishing businessman - always remained an eyesore for the Congress leaders in UP. Using money power, Das always tried to please 10, Janpath...

Occasion: 117th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The Venue: Newly renovated Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal, Lucknow. The event: UP's Chief Minister and firebrand Dalit leader unveils four statues - of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, his wife Ramabai Ambedkar and of Mayawati's guru and BSP founder Kanshi Ram. But there is something else which has generated curiosity among all those gathered in the Ambedkar sthal. It is unveiling of the fourth statue. 'Mayawati In flesh and blood' will be unveiling, 'Mayawati in stone.' But why did Mayawati unveil her own statue? Perhaps the answer lies in the reactions given by the people who had gathered for this occasion. Three categories of people witnessed this event: Firstly, the bureaucrats who it seemed had not slept for several days because they wanted to make the event a 'special one'. Second, the journalists who could not wait even for hours to make the event an 'unusual one.'...

For any reporter a Vox populi or voice of the people can be one of the easiest assignments ....When you are scrambling for news ideas every evening, a call from the assignment desk asking you to send a few vox-pops (that's what they are called in journalistic parlance) next morning comes as a ray of hope. And there is nothing like it when the topic happens to be cricket. Throw questions on cricket and public will crowd around you and your gun-mike will start to pick up voices from all directions. "Tendulkar! What a player he is." "Had he not got back his form...India would have lost the series." Public hai saab janti hai.... So you start talking cricket, even a street smart paanwallah can turn one of the best critics of the game. "Sachin is doing well because he has started to wait for the ball," says one. "Yes, Shastri, Gavaskar had completely written him off. How...

Twelve years ago when I passed out of journalism school....The only thing I remembered as a cub reporter were the five Ws and one H of a news report. These fives were: Who, What, When, Where and Why... And the lone H meant: How" The pundits of journalism those days believed that for a news report to be authentic and complete the reporter must follow this basic rule of 5W and one H. I still remember my first assignment was for the Pioneer. My editor assigned me the task of filing a report on a flyover which was under construction. Its construction caused a lot of resentment in the saffron brigade as a temple was proposed to be razed to the ground to make way for the flyover. It was a straight forward story which any sensible reporter could have completed and filed the evening. But it took me more than six days to complete the story. Day one went on discovering: The...