Amit Shekhar the journo with mellifluous voice
A Journalist. A Columnist. A Poet par excellence. And what not.
Having worked in publications not less than six, Amit Shekhar's transient journey perhaps beginning from Reader's Digest to Business Today to Hindustan Times to Times of India to Outlook Money and others came with the practical underpining that guided him: life is not an easy outing; it has to be lived everyday with its share of highs and lows. Unwavering was his commitment to pen his thoughts and poems were the most convenient way to show his reflections on life. When he lived a very few of them making it to print and majority of them eluding us. His anthology of poems was released on Oct 23 his birthday in India International Centre New Delhi the event which i attended and those in the audience comprised of his parents, his two sisters, poets, journos and people from varied fields.
While in Delhi on occasions he looked distraught and disoriented and this was more to do with myriad night shifts and not that easy way to adjust to dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn template. A large part of his stay in Delhi was spent in Samachar Appartment in Mayur Vihar an upscale colony in East Delhi and umpteen times i visited his place. It was in second half of either '96 or '97 he joined HT. Night shifts were mandatory and nothing new for him; against one or two nights in previous stints here the week long night shifts kept him tied to uncharted waters. It was from here my acquaintance grew with him; he offering insights into the journey the life was and the unforgiving thunder that struck at the roots of its existence now and then.
Camaraderie that he shared with his colleagues and we were amidst peers like H Khogen Singh, Prashant Saxena, Gargi Kaul, Ramesh Babu, Rajan Nair, P Wangchuk, Thomas Mathew among others. A little over two years he spent in HT with one fine morning submitting his resignation to Gaur Sahib of HR Department. From here he moved to a dot com company which probably went by the name jobsahead.com. Working hours were flexible but what was bothering him was the cloak of depression that he was wrapped in and his endless struggle to tame it. Despite this constraint his editing skills were noteworthy and this factor helped him to gravitate from one job to another.
Late night phone conversations with him where he desired his pain be understood (largely to do with his take that we all are wandering in a world bereft of compassion and conscience), his feelings be admired (more to do with esoteric thoughts) and his all of a sudden gaining traction when moments of curiosity and contentment he would find himself in. "Achanak mujhe kafi accha lag raha hai" (I am in best frame of mind). Alok Jha and Bandeep Singh too were at India International Centre with Alok alluding to the fact that late night phone conversations with Amit was order of the day.
Once in office he turned up all dressed up in white showing symptoms of another milestone he wished to scale. Late in the night he landed at my place and said he wished to travel to Andhra and i suggesting him he should try to visit Tirumala. The very next morning he left for Andhra where his sister resided and couldn't keep his promise of visiting Tirumala.
When he left for Patna about five years ago he did not dodge from writing columns for The Pioneer the newspaper (Chandigarh Edition) and at the same time interspersed with poetic bursts that came from his pen that he largely kept to himself. The book on his poems is a true tribute to a man who was truly into multitasking doubling up as a columnist, poet and singer despite the odds that he faced. His rendition of Harivansh Rai Bachchan's poems are worth watching. This can be traced if one keys in Amit Shekhar The Poet in Google search engine.
His mellifluous voice would keep ringing in for years to come.
A Journalist. A Columnist. A Poet par excellence. And what not.
Having worked in publications not less than six, Amit Shekhar's transient journey perhaps beginning from Reader's Digest to Business Today to Hindustan Times to Times of India to Outlook Money and others came with the practical underpining that guided him: life is not an easy outing; it has to be lived everyday with its share of highs and lows. Unwavering was his commitment to pen his thoughts and poems were the most convenient way to show his reflections on life. When he lived a very few of them making it to print and majority of them eluding us. His anthology of poems was released on Oct 23 his birthday in India International Centre New Delhi the event which i attended and those in the audience comprised of his parents, his two sisters, poets, journos and people from varied fields.
While in Delhi on occasions he looked distraught and disoriented and this was more to do with myriad night shifts and not that easy way to adjust to dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn template. A large part of his stay in Delhi was spent in Samachar Appartment in Mayur Vihar an upscale colony in East Delhi and umpteen times i visited his place. It was in second half of either '96 or '97 he joined HT. Night shifts were mandatory and nothing new for him; against one or two nights in previous stints here the week long night shifts kept him tied to uncharted waters. It was from here my acquaintance grew with him; he offering insights into the journey the life was and the unforgiving thunder that struck at the roots of its existence now and then.
Camaraderie that he shared with his colleagues and we were amidst peers like H Khogen Singh, Prashant Saxena, Gargi Kaul, Ramesh Babu, Rajan Nair, P Wangchuk, Thomas Mathew among others. A little over two years he spent in HT with one fine morning submitting his resignation to Gaur Sahib of HR Department. From here he moved to a dot com company which probably went by the name jobsahead.com. Working hours were flexible but what was bothering him was the cloak of depression that he was wrapped in and his endless struggle to tame it. Despite this constraint his editing skills were noteworthy and this factor helped him to gravitate from one job to another.
Late night phone conversations with him where he desired his pain be understood (largely to do with his take that we all are wandering in a world bereft of compassion and conscience), his feelings be admired (more to do with esoteric thoughts) and his all of a sudden gaining traction when moments of curiosity and contentment he would find himself in. "Achanak mujhe kafi accha lag raha hai" (I am in best frame of mind). Alok Jha and Bandeep Singh too were at India International Centre with Alok alluding to the fact that late night phone conversations with Amit was order of the day.
Once in office he turned up all dressed up in white showing symptoms of another milestone he wished to scale. Late in the night he landed at my place and said he wished to travel to Andhra and i suggesting him he should try to visit Tirumala. The very next morning he left for Andhra where his sister resided and couldn't keep his promise of visiting Tirumala.
When he left for Patna about five years ago he did not dodge from writing columns for The Pioneer the newspaper (Chandigarh Edition) and at the same time interspersed with poetic bursts that came from his pen that he largely kept to himself. The book on his poems is a true tribute to a man who was truly into multitasking doubling up as a columnist, poet and singer despite the odds that he faced. His rendition of Harivansh Rai Bachchan's poems are worth watching. This can be traced if one keys in Amit Shekhar The Poet in Google search engine.
His mellifluous voice would keep ringing in for years to come.
