LIVING THE PRESENT
Being a newscaster is perhaps the most terrific experience in my life so far. I have worked in two other fields since I completed my Advanced level, one being a graphic designer and the other as a research officer. Well, speaking honest, I enjoyed both of them and I still like them. But why would I leave them and choose to be a newscaster by profession? Was it the fame or interest? Time would tell since I wasn’t very sure what I wanted.
I am here, more than a year at the field, being a newscaster and proud of it. I have a thousand stories to tell yet I choose a few.
Imagine, Someday you walk into your office with a promise in your heart to meet your sweetheart that night and all of a sudden your boss wants to meet you alone and requests you to go to a bureau! Pity! Knowing your boss doesn’t have a choice all you could do is smile and say “As you say, Madam!” The next day you will be all gone to some bureau. Some where you probably have never been. You wouldn’t probably know where you were going to sleep that night. All you could do was hope for the best and leave. This is a real scenario. It has happened with me many times.
Being a news caster for me is being in the present. Living the present. I can not plan much for tomorrow. Most of the things come unexpected, unwarned. Speak about the tidal waves that hit all Maldives at once, or the much organized Jalsaa(s) and other functions, it all comes as a sudden hit. “What’s next?” is always the big question. It is amazing how much people expect from me. It sometimes bothers me how easily people can forget there are at least about six thousand people living in the atoll, in at least five different islands, hours away from each other! Lack of regular transportation does always end me up in dilemmas.
Speaking about the tough life as a newscaster I must tell you my last experience, two days before I wrote this. I was returning from an island after covering some environmental activity. It was night when the activities were over. Oh! Did I forget to mention, sending video footage is possible only in the bureau station because internet connections, if at all, hardly reaches 54kbps in other islands of the atoll. So I always have to hurry to return to bureau if I want to send the footage soon. As I began the journey in a 12 foot engine boat, the sky was clear and heavenly. Twinkling stars were every where and the moon almost full and halfway through the sky. It was about mid night. I was an only passenger with a crew man and a captain. The small boat hardly rose a foot above sea level which kept giving me creeps despite the fact I have traveled quite a lot with dhonis. I got online with my mobile phone and started chatting with my sweetheart. I told her I wanted to kill time. I was carried away by the chat when I started realizing cool ocean breeze becoming harsh wind. I looked at the sky and it was getting darker and the sea was getting rougher. I was describing the scenario to my sweetheart and it all took less than fifteen minutes to turn the blissful night to a howling storm. I was praying to Allah for my safety. I could see the rough see when lightning strikes through the pitch black night. I wrote to my sweetheart “Black clouds over my head. Pray for me.” And it started raining. The rain was sharp as pins piercing my face. Sea throws into the boat at times I got all soaked in seawater along with the heavy rain. I couldn’t open my eyes because of the sharp rain and masses of sea hitting my face. The small boat inside the gigantic waves of the fierce ocean was the scariest thing one could probably go through. My whole body tense with fear, trembling in shiver, all I could do was pray. And I kept doing it. I could see the harbor lights of my destination and it felt like hours of struggle to get there in the storm. When we finally made it to the destination, I took all my equipments and jumped to the jetty. A sigh of relief left my trembling body. What happened next was something I never expected in my short, yet experienced carrier as a newscaster. There were two men taking refuge in the roofed jetty. I wasn’t surprised because they didn’t help me with my equipments. But rather I was jaw-dropped when they could start complaining about how TVM covers news events and practically warning me that I have only one chance to prove myself to them… I just returned from a news shooting, in the open mouth of a storm and the cold people were just blabbering whatever that crossed their skulls!? I was not speechless.
Being a newscaster I have seen how tranquil people can be. I learned it is best not to expect anything from anybody in this field. However times come when people would really appreciate the work. Although those are pluses for me to continue my career, the main thing is the satisfaction from doing something entirely on my own. Right from researching, to camera, and the final touches it all goes through my hands and when it leaves my hands, whole Maldives is watching it. The positive feedback to what I have done in my career so far has backed me up for some dreams.
I have a thousand reasons to hate this job yet I have a thousand and one reasons to love it. I love this job. It is about giving and giving more. It is about dealing with a different person everyday. Being a newscaster is the biggest challenge in my life so far.
HAMID HUZAM
