12 February is a very happy day for me. It’s the day I was officially born in 2006. I was conceived much, much earlier in 1999, when Indiantelevision.com contributing Editor Satya Wanvari did a few interviews with the likes of Archana Puran Singh, Ajai Sinha, Vinta Nanda and the lovely Shefali Chayya. Then our General Manager Harish Patil (one of the key members of the founding Indiantelevision.com team) took a stab at giving me birth by writing about a few shows, along with another rookie correspondent Harsha Khot.
I then went into hibernation and was once again revived in 2003 thanks to a conversation Indiantelevision.com group founder Anil Wanvari had with a journalist Vickey Lalwani (he currently works for Mumbai Mirror) to write a column on happenings on sets, with TV shows and in actors’ lives. I was thus carried in the belly of Indiantelevision.com for around three years in the form of interviews and short gossip pieces. I flourished being the only one of its kind in India, talking about television actors and shows when even the mainline newspapers, almost completely ignored this breed.
Came 2005 or 2006, and one of the senior journalists of Indiantelevision.com, Aparna Joshi was convinced by Anil Wanvari, Business Manager Anoop Wanvari, and Managing Editor Thomas Abraham in those days to carve out a separate website dedicated to all-things on TV.
And thus I was ejected into the world as a being totally separate from Indiantelevision.com and began taking giant steps thanks to Mama Joshi, who had a sharp young boy of her own in real life. Extremely waif-like, Mama Joshi is a very serious journalist and took to writing about the lives of actors, shows, producers, directors, religiously and seriously. I began to gain the attention of those whose lives I covered. She and Thomas ensured that I had a warm welcome into the world in the form of a welcoming into the world with a party at the Hyatt Regency, Mumbai.
Some very good young enthusiastic journalists ensured that I was kept in fine fettle: Ananya Sengupta (she writes for Telegraph these days), Riya Anandwala (she is an American journalist), Raj Dixit (he works for ABP News now), Anjum Farooki (she was seen in Colors’ Balika Vadhu), Kavita Shyam, amongst others.
The pressure of nurturing me however got to my then mama and she decided to take time off and concentrate on herself and her real life son.
I was then left to fend for myself until another nanny came to look after me: Jahnavi Pal. I was after all only three or four years old then, I did need a nanny as my creator Mr Wanvari was busy with a zillion other things, right from The Indian Telly Awards, The New Talent Awards, The News Television Awards, Radioandmusic.com, Animationxpress.com, MipTV, MipCom, Midem - being preacher of the gospel of Indian television and music all over the world.
Ms Pal did one good thing to start with. She worked with a friend of Indiantelevision.com, an American gentleman Andy Jacobs, Thomas, Anil Wanvari, IT head Prem Rupani, designer Jay Hasija , BC Webwise’s Chhayya Carvalho to make me undergo reconstructive surgery and come out looking like a hot young thing.
And then followed a period of consolidation, of slow growth. Ms Pal belonged to the old school of journalism and was most comfortable doing things which were tried and tested. The new ways of the Internet world like using social media to reach me out to newer eyeballs was not something that kicked her sensory organs. She, however, fed me a lot; got me familiar with the industry I was attached to. A number of writers again helped me looked sexy, like Neha Maheshwari (currently with Bombay Times), Vijaya Tiwari (working with Indiatimes), Yojana Phadnis (working as PR with Hanmer MSL), Sonali Joshi (currently with Mid-Day, Mumbai), Mayur Lookhar (currently with Times Now) and others. Four years under her care gave strength to my limbs to allow me to walk. But I had become a little overweight and slow to move. And then she decided to move on in September 2011.
The last year and a half have been one of the most exciting periods for me. For one I have a very dear friend who has been looking after me only as a lover can. I have shed weight under Siddhartha Laik, become fleet of foot, and I always make the industry’s and readers’ heads turn when I walk past.
Siddhartha ensures I have a fabulous figure and fabulous dresses every day in the form of exciting stories. Siddhartha is the new age journalist who understands what it takes to make me more and more popular with those who want to gawk at me online. And what he does not; he takes the efforts and pains to understand. He has a motivated young team (Kavita Yadav, Angarika Mainkar, Srividya Rajesh, Ashish Mitra, Dharini Sanghvi, Anil Merani, Rucchita Mishra, Amar Mehta, Tejal Mistry, Pallavi Bhattacharya and Tanmay Bidwai) which works with him to ensure that I am the Ms Universe of the television world. I have grown more than 700 per cent in the past nine months and today nearly a million readers pore over me every month. I love the attention I am getting. And I want more. I love glamour, I love being talked about, I love being noticed. And Siddhartha and his team are going to do everything they can to make me grow sexier, bolder and wiser.
The future ahead for me looks brighter than ever. I have the perfect 36-24-36 figure and guess what…soon I will capture the imagination of the entire world. I, Tellychakkar.com, am Television!!!
It's a very Happy Birthday wish I send out to myself! And I am very happy to be popping the bubbly on my eighth birthday! A big thank you to Indian television: actors, directors, technicians, producers, broadcasters, online content creators, the PRs and artiste managers who try and get their clients on to me. And thanks to all those who read me throughout every day - whether from India or the US or the UK the UAE or France or Singapore or Canada or Mauritius or Australia or Pakistan or the 171 countries that I have visitors from. I love you; and I know you love me too! Spread the love around! A big Mwaaah to all of You!
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