Effecting change, one snap at a time

Through this process of change, have newspapers lost sight of their main goal…to effect change?

I got into photojournalism expecting to change the world. But that was over 20 years ago, and the newspaper — The City Tab — has long since gone to the recycle bin in the sky.

Throughout my career I have witnessed a number of changes; the shift from analog SLR cameras, to multiple-framing motor-driven analog SLR cameras, to the current multi-frame SLR digital cameras. Newspaper themselves have undergone a massive transition. Black and white have given way to a spectrum of colours, and articles have clipped down to meet the shortening time and attention spans of the current urban reader.

But through this process of change, have newspapers lost sight of their main goal…to effect change?

Some two decades ago I was on assignment on Mysore Road, when I saw school children hefting heavy school bags, making their way across a water-logged, filthy drain. They had deigned to take off their shoes as they made their way through the water. Once on the other side, they put on their shoes and trotted off to school.

I found out they did this six days a week. There was another route that avoided the drain, but that would add an extra three kilometres to their journey…so through the water they went. This was one picture I was not going to miss, so I shot a couple of frames and returned to the office.

The next day the picture appeared on the front page of my newspaper. The then acting Governor Justice, Shanmughasundaram Mohan, called my office the same morning and asked my editor if I could accompany him and his team of advisors to the spot where the picture was taken.

On reaching the spot, Justice Mohan saw first hand the plight of the children, and even had a word with some of them. He then asked his advisors to request the Madras Engineering Group (MEG) to build a floating bridge at the spot, as soon as possible. The MEG reacted in record time finishing the ordered job in 24-hours flat. Later that month a permanent bridge was constructed for these children.

The fact that it was my photograph that effected this change filled me with a sense of pride few moments have been able to duplicate. This was what I, as a journalist, was meant to do.

A few days ago, a friend and I were discussing how newspapers ignore reportage on the state of basic civic amenities. The bridge over the gap between civic authorities and the end user remains at the bottom of the ravine. Let us hope that in the future, not only will that bridge be rebuilt, but that it provides a path to a greener, healthier city