A couple's dream

A couple’s dream

by Jupinderjit Singh

Journalist couples, especially those working as reporters, must be sharing a dream, my wife and I always talked about. How it would look like if we saw our bylines on the same day on page one in our paper --- The Tribune?

Two reporters, even if they are husband and wife, posted at one station can have a joint byline on a single story on the front page. But we thought it would be quite embarrassing and childish. And it was almost impossible to get two different stories carried on page one the same day if the place of posting was a city like Ludhiana.

We tried it for many years but the desire remained unfulfilled. It was, however, no problem for us to be together on the front page of The Ludhiana Tribune. Some ardent readers had nicknamed us “JK express”, taking the initials of our names.

The front-page dream of the main paper eluded us for almost eight years. And, finally, when the day of reckoning came, it was no occasion to celebrate. We thought it would have been better had the dream never realised. For, it was the day of a great tragedy that hit Punjab --- the death of singing sensation Ishmeet Singh.

Some readers have a habit of congratulating reporters on a page one story even if it is about a tragedy. I always got irritated when someone called me to congratulate me on a report concerning a tragedy. I remember how one reader, much to my displeasure, congratulated me on the display of my story on the Jodhpur stampede, which consumed 215 lives.

But that day no one called me. The entire region was in a state of shock. The Tribune dated July 30 carried an interesting story by me about power theft. Above my story was Kanchan’s byline. But it was no occasion to express joy. That day no one could be happy. Ishmeet had reportedly died of drowning in the Maldives.

My wife had reported the story, which broke late on the July 29 evening. We had already reached home after finishing our day’s work when she got a call from a source. Within minutes the worst that had happened was confirmed.

Next morning our stories were on page one. We saw the paper with a heavy heart. I remember tears rolling down our eyes.

This was the cruelest stroke of destiny to fulfil our wish. We never shared the dream again. And if ever we get such a chance again, we hope it is related to some happy occurrence. Amen.