IN BLACK-n-WHITE, IN THE PRINT

Fort Lauderdale:

The difference between May 15 and now, is that I'm feeling more comfortable.

For, one, driving on the roads seems a trifle easier; I'm able to read roads better: the exits and entries on the web called highways!

Nothing could be more relieving than the bylines though. Other Alfred Friendly would agree with me on that. One of my former editors would always say, if you've to keep your editor happy and off your collar, file stories.

So what's really making the difference is the stories. I've got a few bylines going, opening a small window in to the world of readers and their concerns.

Afterall who do you write for? And why?

That's not all. I'm able to sight some of the things that I'm attempting to learn on this fellowship. Links to farm, farmers, renewable energy, subsidies, food, climate change etc are becoming ominous. Hopefully, some of it will be my take-home.

To observe the goings-on within the media is a bonus. Between May 15 and now, things have changed at my host publication. More changes - good and bad - are to follow.

It is a crucial process: The US newspapers - from the coveted New York Times and Washington Post to smaller like Sun Sentinel - are wrecked by the economic downturn. It's not as if they are in a limbo today because of the economy. The US media are in the storm for some time, because readership is bound south, with people relying on the online content for their daily or rather hourly dose of news and entertainment.

That's the side-effect of technology highways. In contrast to India people here have an easy and cheaper access to internet. Newspapers on the other hand are costly.

Only the last Sunday when I bought a copy of New York Times for $5 (approximately Rs 250), an African-American woman customer at Publix super shop raised her eye-brows to see me pay five bucks for the copy. "Fav bucks myan! Thet sucks!"

Readers would rather go online and read what NYT has to offer. I did not buy the NYT again today, 'cause I got my net connection this past week and now I can read the world online. That's another reason I'm more comfortable. I'm "connected"!

It augurs bad for me in the long run, but it also shows how addictive the web is. In India, cell-phones are becoming more addictive than internet.

In any case, it's just another way to be hooked up to the same things.

So the past fortnight while getting on to the field I have been able to witness the changes sweeping the newsroom.

What do you as a publication do for survival and sustenance? No easy answers. What the managements do, affects journalists directly. Do you make a transition to online or broadcast media? Do you lay off your human resources to cut costs?

Currently a number of spirals are at work. Worse, they are still the experiments.

Indian print is doing okay for the time being. But it seems journalists around the world would do good with additional skills for broadcast and online. So that's one more goal that got added to the list of my "must-do": Convergence journalism.

And nothing better a place to learn that than Sun Sentinel. It's a newsroom that is fast moving toward an amalgamation of print, web and broadcast.

Take, for instance, my story on caregivers that got published in the Outlook section of Sunday: If you go online, you can see a virtual slide-show of pictures, read this story, and see and hear the protagonist through the audio-visual files.

Having said that, I could however gather some important tip-sheets on how to write a good feature story from the Sunday Editor. I learnt, minute observations do bring life in the story. Editors at Sun Sentinel ask questions; take a close look at the stories and come out with suggestions that only betters the outcome.

For the same story online, readers can hear while reading about his story. There are many questions in my mind though about the process and its futility. Like how do you make the revenues from online? There's no economic model in sight at least for now.

I keep the discussion on that for some other time.

Indian media may skip the online and move on to the platform of cell phones, with 3G technology already in the market. My hunch is we'll be faster than the Americans on that front. Plus, our media companies would evolve an economic model for it.

Coming back to the print: Understanding the process of production was great.

The caregiver story has a strong visual appeal (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/sfl-caregiver-hardikar-outlook-053109-copy,0,5407583.story). It was carried in black-and-white, because the director of photography department felt the subject needed to be given that sort of treatment. How do you use quotes to bring in more effect; you can see in there. I learn the key to make the quotes work.

It's therefore not only how and what you write, but also how you present the story that is crucial to its appeal in the print.

Despite the staff being pruned, the Sun Sentinel is trying to stick to its processes of editorial production. That I could become part of that through my first major piece for them was in itself an education.

Our third month starts Monday. I've got a few stories lined up. Most of them would be joint bylines.

Around the 10th, I'd move to other department, to work with my new mentor, Mr John Dahlburg, one of the most prolific journalists at the Sun Sentinel.

John has worked in India for the LA times; after his stint in Russia and in Europe. He's been to Nagpur as well. He's now leading the investigations team at the Sun Sentinel. I would get to train with him on several things; writing tight and writing narrative, investigating an issue and generally what's going on in the town.

So that's looking ahead.

Meanwhile, the Sun Sentinel Editor, Mr. Earl Maucker, sent me a mail after reading my first byline: a lighter opinion essay really that appeared last Sunday.

His mail, having "loved the piece", came as an encouragement. I'll treasure it for a long, long time.

Despite his extremely busy schedule, Mr Maucker made it a point to write to me and subtly let me know that he's watching! That he's there for any help I need.

Isn't that some distance I've scaled the past fortnight in this distant land?

EXPLORING NEW PASTURES

Fort Lauderdale:

Right at the entrance of this big complex, I feel there should be a signboard: "Win a prize if you come out buying nothing!"

Not for nothing is the Sawgrass Mills one of the top shopping destinations in South Florida, for the travelers and buoyant shoppers seeking exquisite things at one stop.

Last Saturday, I drove down to this complex, so vast in its expanse that you will stand the chance of losing your way out unless you consciously mark the signs up. I entered with a resolve not to spend a single dime; came out spending seventy bucks!

And I understand that the downturn has had an adverse impact on sales here too! Can't believe that! For if this is what they call a negative impact, what did I see there then! If I'm not wrong, I saw a shopping frenzy. And gee, that's still not the best, they say. Wow! I mean, you can see what buying means at Sawgrass!

If you are a shopping buzz, particularly a window shopper, check out the Sawgrass Mills website and you'll have your answers!

There was much to learn there: American Consumerism, for sure!

Next stop the same evening was Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, a few miles south of Fort Lauderdale. This was cool and soothing.

If you love ocean and beaches, this is the place to be in for Sunset. There are nice little coffee shops where you can sit hours reading books and enjoying breeze. The weekends also see some local bands playing their numbers for you, if you will!

I drove down to Miami last Monday to attend the International Pow-Wow, an event of the scale I'd never seen before.

Pow Wow is a native American synonym for spiritual gathering. Americans use it for consumer gatherings like these too. That's evolution for you!

You never know, you may have Pow Wow replaced by 'Vipashana' in the future if that concept flows out here and sells like a good brand!

The American Travel Association organizes it every year at different locations to showcase the country's travel spots and do business.

This year, obviously, there was a marked difference, in that the buyers, who are the wholesale travel operators and companies, were aggressive in bargaining while the sellers were trying to put their best foot forward to woo the buyers.

The US doesn't have a separate ministry or department for tourism. Each city or destination has its own department to sell its brand, or spots, to the potential tourists, giving the best value they can on each dollar committed.

2009 Pow Wow did a business of $4bn (roughly Rs 2000 crore) in two days. I did a lot of scanning, and collected info that could be useful in the future.

Apart from the expensive stuff, there are lots of destinations in the US that are offbeat and not so expensive, I learnt.

But tourism business is in for a major change. What's more sports tourism is on the rise. Sounds bizarre, but Golf Tourism is one of the big drivers in the segment.

A lot of Europeans travel to the US to play golf! So many of the big hotel chains are now buying lands or developing golf courses to enter that segment of the business. I met a buyer from the US who brings about 10,000 Europeans on his tour-packages only to play golf! That's a lot of business. He's developing a micro-website that would put on display for the potential tourists places they could visit while enjoying playing golf alongside. Matter of status!

It's very difficult to play golf in Europe: very expensive and a status symbol. So common people don't get to play the game since most clubs and golf courses are beyond their means. So they travel to the US on vacations and play golf! It's cheaper and easier. It's a business worth millions and millions of dollars!

Guess, our IPL is heading the same path! More money for Maratha Strongman!

Thursday, I went on a tour of a facility owned by Florida Crystals, one of the most powerful corporates in the US that controls half of the sugar trade here.

As we drove close to their ba-gas power plant in Okeelanta, an hour's drive from Fort Lauderdale, we could see only acres and acres of green sugar fields.

The company owns - hold your breath - 155,000 acres of land here and that's just one of their facilities. That was my first major tryst with agriculture in the US, and what shape it's taking with new policy shifts that are on the anvil in energy sector.

Meanwhile, in the newsroom, I could see the production process for my first story: A lot of planning goes into the process. I attended a meeting of respective section heads who finalize how a story needs to be presented in the newspaper. I was amazed by their close eye for minutest detail: color tone for photos, caption styles etc!

I am reading lots of new issues, meeting new people and heading on...

Coming weekend is longish: Three days. Monday, the US observes the Memorial Day, to honor and remember their war dead. Back in office on Tuesday.

I will in the mean time continue treading on some new roads in this distant land!

ME, "THE NEW LUCIA OF SS"

Fort Lauderdale:

"He is this year's Lucia!"

Well...as I said in one of my previous entries, introductions could get interesting and funny. I never realized I could be the one at receiving end ever!

I loved it though. One of my four mentors here in Sun Sentinel, Doreen Hemlock, the 50-something ever-jovial kid-at-heart widely-traveled journalist, introduced me as the "Lucia of 2009" to some of her colleagues, to cut short the long introduction.

And almost invariably, everyone would great me: "Aha! How are ya! Nice to meet you!"

Lucia Baldomir was an Alfred Friend fellow from Uruguay hosted by the Sun Sentinel last year (2008), and Doreen, who played mentor to her, found it the easiest way to introduce me in this vast newsroom as I nervously trudged past the cubicles. She would almost instantly burst into giggles repeating it.

To that extent, I owe my gratitude to Lucia!

Then, an email notice circulated in the intra-net spread the word: I'm the new fella from the land of Slum-dog millionaire and cricket-frenzy world.

I'll write it some other time, but by the way, South Florida has cricket-playing people: The Caribbeans, Jamaicans, Indians et al. They have a cricket stadium too!

But Doreen's trick helped a great deal. I felt more connected! It was more important than any other thing, and she got it spot on.

Journalists in the US newsroom may not always be all that forthcoming or willing to meet you, we were told. And that did prove right. But with Doreen around, I found a connection and starting point. She brings up the common points, common interests in a way that helps me connect. Bob, her colleague on business desk, for instance loves music and covers health. Doreen got me hooked on to him on common ground. Music and my special interest in learning about persons with sickle cell anemia in the US.

Last evening, I handed him two CDs - Ustad Sultan Khan (Sarangi) and Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (Flute), and he'll do me a favor by making a few copies of the albums so that I can gift them to all my mentors and new friends.

Bob's a good base guitarist himself and performs with a band at private concerts in this part. What's more, he's going to connect me to the right people for a subject I desire to explore as a personal interest other than the professional goals!

In the first couple of weeks that I have been in Sun Sentinel this has been the most critical triumphs for me: Personal connections.

Two weeks on, and I've begun to navigate my way through the newsroom on my own. The security personnel smile at and greet me. Which means I am now a familiar face. Two or three journalists stop by, smile and talk on their own. The cafe guys now know my brand of coffee so they don't wait to ask me what, but hand me the cup and bill.

One more thing that's a value to me: Learning to explore and research the vast pool or information on Sun Sentinel archives. It's a world unto itself, so deep that you can spend days digging into its depths, researching stories that you want to. That was thanks to Barbara Hijek, a News Researcher here, who gave me a lesson on it.

"Here we go!" as my mentor Antonio Fins says. Things are moving on.

Tony, as he is fondly known in the office, is astoundingly cool headed, especially when things are coming to a boil. He's there always to explain things to me.

In the newsroom, I can sense an uncharacteristic silence and dip in the morale. And understandably so. At least 30 journalists would no longer be in the newsroom coming week. It's a season of layoffs! The fear and uncertainty is all pervasive.

I spent my first week with the Editorial/Opinion team that Tony heads before getting on with Doreen to work some story ideas.

From daily buzz meetings to editorial discussion, I became part of the team that decides editorial position of the newspaper on the issues.

"The Buzz" is a popular section with online readers. The editorial writers throw a question connected with the people's lives here and one can see the feedback online. People write back, pro or against the question that makes a buzz in the town. It could be a national issue or a typically local issue of Broward county.

What may or may not buzz is discussed threadbare, before the team members freeze an issue for their serious editorials in op-ed pages. I was free to air, if I chose to, my opinion about an issue on the table, notwithstanding that I am a chance outsider. These are the only pages where you can freely air your opinion, pro or anti.

Last morning though, one of the team members gently informed during the daily morning meeting that she would no longer be with them from the coming week.

She's in the latest list of journalists being laid off.

I've never witnessed this before in my little-over-decade-long career, but the dignity with which this new friend communicated her feelings and gratitude to her colleagues and the sensitivity with which the team members responded was something that will remain deeply embedded in my memory for ever.

People here work as a team and if one gets laid off, it sucks every one else. I'll witness several hard moments in the days to come while I'm in this newsroom.

For me nothing could be more painful than to see people I am just beginning to know being fired, as the newspaper struggles to stay financially afloat and keep up its circulation figures in the new age media. US media is in for really hard times. But it is not the creation of those losing their jobs, and that's the irony of it!

Staying focused on my goals through the storm would therefore be tough.

I did come to this newsroom with a couple of goals: to learn first hand about the US agriculture and media. Given the economic times, there would be some obvious bonuses for me on the way. Among others, how are people coping with economic downturn, and how is a society transitioning through one of the worst economic meltdowns of modern times! Media, alas, is not living in isolation and so financial impacts on it could be felt from day one. I am realizing I would take home a lot more than I'd planned.

In the first weeks it was therefore important to figure out where and how to begin my pursuit.

Frankly, one can easily get lost in the new city, the new culture, the new newsroom. But with mentors around to take care, I can rest assured.

Important was also to get going with writing. I did a small piece on Indian election for an online blog; have written a small piece for op-ed page and finished writing a story that would go into a special Sunday section two weeks from now.

Few stories are "under progress."

That apart, I've met people from different sectors, some that are of my immediate interests and some that are totally new to me.

Then there have been some off-the-newsroom stuff: kayaking, boat-ride, shopping at grocery stuff, taking driving lessons and ensuring I don't piss off the Americans on the road, and much more than I can't divulge for obvious reasons!

What I could, for the sake of transparency though, is that I learnt how to operate the laundry at my condominium, operate the micro-wave without a blast and go shopping for groceries at the neighborhood super-chains.

Who else but one of my mentors could I resort to for guidance! So it was Chan - Chaning Lowe, senior journalist and one of acclaimed cartoonist of the newspaper - who had to do the honors. He did it uncomplainingly.

For most people here, it's hard to fathom an Indian journalist ignorant about using a coin-operated laundry and micro-wave. I had had tryst with none so far.

Chan was astounded to know that Nagpur goes without power for five to seven hours, and going by the way things are heading we are better off with hands and stove!

This afternoon, I met Mr. Kigsley Guy, former Editorial Page editor of Sun Sentinel and Tony's predecessor, over lunch. He's the new addition to my list of mentors!

With tasks cut out, I only hope my cup doesn't overflow with things I can't do!

SAILING IN CHOPPY WATERS

Fort Lauderdale:

From a distance, it appears like a languid canal, with sexy boats dotting both the embankments in a free display of affluence. Now this is what I would call affluence on the sails. This ought to be filthy rich man's world, you'd bet. It indeed is.

Only thing is that it's 2009, and not 2007 or 2015. It's all about timing, a smart and shrewd hotelier I spoke to the other day said. "You got to have your timing right in life; 'cause that's what determines where and how ya'd be!"

Well... I am talking about palatial bungalows along the serpentine canals that run through the Fort Lauderdale town, making it the "Venice of America." I've never been to Venice, so I don't know if the adjective fits this town or not. But that's what they call it here. The Venice of America, because you've got these clean canals - part of backwater rivers pouring into the Atlantic ocean - running through the town.

Last Thursday, my mentor - Antonio Fins, who is the Editorial Page editor with my host newspaper the Sun Sentinel - took me for a boat ride; his brother-in-law owns one. It was fun. I could meet Tony's family - wife and two kids, and his brother-in-law's family. It was a kind of late evening family outing in the Venice of America.

As we sailed on the waters, we passed by these eye-catching bungalows that we get to see in those lucid family operas or Hollywood films. We literally could peep through the windows to see the big celluloid sized flat TVs, glittering chandeliers and stuff. Most houses are second home to some of the America's wealthiest, who escape summers from wherever they are to be along the coastline for relaxation.

Saturday, I went through the same experience, but with a difference.

Chan - Chaning Lowe, who's my other mentor and a well known writer-cartoonist with Sun Sentinel - came in the afternoon with a Canoe and we went paddling it all along those streams, only this time the waters were choppy. This was a more than close look at some other mansions in different part of the city. I am still soar with my back and arms. Chan brought his little dog to keep company and she hopped on to the canoe to accompany us on what was my first experience paddling our own boat.

I'll mount a picture when I can, but this description shall help: People get out in the waters for an evening sail after their work and enjoy a beer or so before they come back for dinner or supper. Isn't that fun? But maintaining that boat means a price. In recession, that has taken a hit. People still try and keep up with that though. That's American affluence. Sadly it sucks fuel that we badly crave for.

Sunday, I drove to Miami beach to get some driving practice. And gosh, some one help me with those highways. I'm still grappling with my geography. Did we go east, west south or North??? I have no idea. It was thanks to John Dahlburg, my third mentor with whom I will get to work in the month of June when I join the team of metro reporters in thee Sun, that I could drive to Miami and reached home safely.

You need to maintain a speed of 70 miles lest you shall piss off many of those on your sideways.

Coming back to the boats and canals. As we sailed past the houses on Thursday evening, you could see the notices of rentals and sales every alternate bungalow. "They are on sale or rentals, because most of them have run into bad mortgages," Tony's sister, who works in real estate sector, told me.

That was just small tip of the bad home mortgage iceberg, an issue that America is awfully concerned about. People are vanishing like thin air overnight from their homes, unable to pay their loans. Want to know where they are heading? Don't know. But what I learn is that the numbers turning up at shelter homes across this county and the whole of the country are rising every day. Reporters talk about it. Editors talk about it. Common people discuss it across the table. It's everywhere. And it's getting worse. It's no more just people losing jobs; they are looking for shelters.

Most of those boats may not be sailing for until the economic storm calms down. It may take years, who knows?

Those who are still able to enjoy their evenings with bottles of beer on the cruise are lucky. And a canoe trip could be worth to find out who's doing well along those canal streams and who's not. It may throw up some great inside story.

From India this ocean look good. Take this: don't always go on the calmness of those waters. Stay alert, for there's always a storm brewing up beyond those.

A LOT HAPPENS IN THE NEWSROOM

Fort Lauderdale:

Five days into the new newsroom of Sun Sentinel -- by far still one of the biggest that I've seen -- I've begun to feel somewhat comfortable with the culture here.

The first small steps have yielded some exciting results and many new friends, but believe me it's one of the craziest times in the history of the US media, and a lot goes on in the newsroom today than the news per se.

Struggling to save their jobs journalists are putting in their best. But my host newspaper, the Sun Sentinel, may not have the same staff at the end of my program than what it has today. It makes me nervous and sad to be in the newsroom trying to learn my way through the work as an intern while several journalists get fired.

But that's the way it is, and it will be.

Notwithstanding the tough financial times out here, the newsroom is still trying to stick to some of its best practices. Journalism to many still remains a prayer.

Sun Sentinel has one of the best research and archive systems - this is one aspect that I would strongly recommend to my home newspaper. This is its spinal cord. And most journalists I spoke to about the online archive and research tool confer that the facility helps build context into a story at the click of the mouse. You can go back over decades to scan through the old issues if your story needs you to go that far in your research. Newspapers invest a lot on this critical department, and it pays off with the content in today's times as well.

I'm reading hundreds of stories on agriculture, particularly sugar, to build a sort of historic context for the issues that are in debate today. Had it not been for this insightful online internal tool, it would have been next to impossible for me to understand and learn so much in so little time. So that's my first take-home!

Then the freedom an individual gets to put his or her point of view or perspective during the daily meetings of the editorial board is very encouraging. You can beg to differ with your boss. And I believe we share this aspect pretty much as well.

But here's a difference: The informal luncheon discussion on writing stories that I attended today. A group of reporters and editors come together once a month and go back to some of the selected stories to critic the writing style and how it could still be better. The stories could be by in house writers/reporters or agency copies filed from any part of the world. It's the best way to brainstorm what you write.

How's the lead? The narrative? The context? The end?

We write words that create impressions among readers about the world that we live in. It's therefore pertinent on our part to use them selectively and judiciously. Friends back home in Nagpur, you've got to get your basics right, baby!

Some of the serious journalists, who sweat their day out researching and digging into their stories about policies and impact they have on commoners, are finding it hard to come to terms with an increasingly trivial stories about celebrities. And that's a similarity we share. The online content is slowly getting number one.

I wonder with the kind of staff and practises they have how could the US media still fail to signal the weaknesses the country's financial system had developed? How could the media collectively fail to report the process that would en snarl the entire world into its fold and hit so hard as to drive hundreds of thousands on the road overnight. Tens of thousands of homes here now bear the notices showing they are either for "sale" or "on rent". Many of them have gone broke with mortgages.

Media here and back home have some answering to do. If they dare do it!

FIXING NUTS AND BOLTS IN NEW MICRO-CHIP

Fort Lauderdale:

From my window of the plane flying over the blue-green clean coastline of Florida Sunday afternoon, the cities down under appeared like complex micro-chips: rectangular boxes and a web of green micro-wires running all over.

What are really some of the most fascinating and eye-catching tourism destinations in this part of the world along a long coastline looked from the top like big computer motherboards, complex though neatly designed for big operations.

And then those small dots got bigger and bigger and developed into sky scrappers as we began our descend to finally touch the base at this beautiful county. The lines linking the dots evolved into the vast streets and avenues dotted with palm trees.

Welcome to the land of Americas! This one's indeed the microcosm of the world around the US. You have the Cubans, the Caribbeans, the Mexicans, the Asians, and a whole lot of other communities. NRIs too have their micro-India in one corner.

Just a day into what will be my little world for next five months, I'm thrilled to say the least.

This one's completely different than the landscape of the heartland of Missouri, where we spent the previous three weeks before fanning out to various newspapers all over the US for our five-month stint. We are in the business baby, as my friend and co-fellow Rodney Muhumuza from Uganda would love to say with a burst of giggles and breaking into an instant sort of tap-dancing. We are in the game, baby!

The last three days were hectic. Finishing administrative stuff, meeting our new mentors who came to receive us in the Kansas City, MO, and learning how to adapt to the new culture. A culture that we see making steady inroads back home as well!

We spent the entire Saturday discussing the aspects of cross-culture adaptation with professor Gary Weaver, and honestly, it scared a shit out of me (excuse me for the language, but that's that, it scared the shit out of me).

"Promise you, you'll all feel psychotic earlier on in the program; that's what you call the culture shock," the Prof told us. Gosh! "But then once that phase is over you'll settle down and work your way around; everything will fall in place."

Professor Weaver has been working with the visiting friendly fellows over the last two decades and what he explained to us made a lot of sense.

We don't realize it while we experience it, but cross cultural adaptation could take a toll on you, if you are unprepared or come with ill-conceived notions.

Living and working in a new socio-cultural and economic environment is not only difficult, it could some times be frustrating in the beginning. The professor's experience with the fellows was the base for the day-long seminar that prepared us for the triumphs and tribulations - the highs and lows awaiting us, ahead.

What was quite interesting and I felt more significant was what Weaver said: "You'll break down communication with your gestures and silence more than your words."

And then he went on to demonstrate and explain how gestures and signals are read and mis-interpreted differently in different countries.

In a country where individual freedom and material achievements are ingredients for identity formation, intrusion into personal space could snap communication in just a flicker. For Indians it's weird, but you can't go knocking the next door and say, "Hey! I'm your new next-door neighbor! Wanna go coffee with me!"

He'll go bunkers at you. He's also likely to feel: "Is this guy a nut?"

So Professor Weaver's class of dos and donts and what all could happen to all of us in a totally new world of people afflicted with recession and flu scares (as if this brings an end to the planet and they are the ones who'd bail us all out) helped. I'd rather take it as it comes. Remember what they say in cricket, take it as it comes. Or play on the merit. Ball by ball. This one's a similar situation.

There are many other interesting details of that seminar but I'm not gonna bore you with all that stuff. In nutshell, he tried putting in to context the differences between the two cultures and difficulties in getting hooked on to new life and work styles.

It's not who's right and who's wrong. Just that we are on two diametrically opposite poles. Yet, as I figure it out, basic spices in a curry called homo sapien sapiens remain the same, you go north, you go south, or east or west. People are people.

If I suffer some adjustment problems, I told my co-fellows before parting ways, I'm going to wake you up in the middle of the night and shout loudly: Man, I've gone nuts! But then there are new mentors from my host newspaper the Sun Sentinel with me to take care. I've got four of them, all welcoming, friendly and yes, journalists.

There are too many things in the hand: have to stack stuff in the fridge, explore the new neighborhood, take plunge into the pool that is right next to my entrance (and all my friends back in India, if you want to come visiting, bring your trunks), take driving lessons ('cause these nuts do just the opposite of us, and again, not to blame any one, they're just different,as prof Weaver told us, than the Brits who taught us all the crap they did before exiting our country), and if there's some time left in between working and wandering, grab some wine and multi-cultural food!

Exciting times ahead. Several things lined up.

I'm going slow first week plugging things, picking new tools, getting the nuts and bolts (read technical issues such as get cable connection going, enroll for driving lessons, and stuff) fixed, meeting new journalists in a vast new newsroom and remember their names. And get the hang of new culture. Which reminds me of the fact that I'm not gonna be nuts in going on and on by writing this piece as a fall back option for being unable to filing for my newspaper back home.

So far, there appears nothing wrong with me. Tomorrow, well...I can't say! But I was told somewhere down the line, tomorrow never comes!

WHAT IF? WHAT IF? WHAT IF?

Kansas City, Missouri:

This is with malice to no one!

I really admire Susan and Katie - the two women who have been literally baby-sitting us from the day fellowships for 2009 were announced (they're there, you know).

My admiration though comes not just for their deft managerial skills, but for loads of patience they have to answer, and answer, a volley of questions from us - the fellows, who don't think twice before posing questions.

What if I have a mobile and it rings in front of people and I have to take it and I am in the midst of a discussion and if I've to answer the call, will it be rude?

Oh!

Some times - rather most of the times, many of those questions do not even suffice academic interests, if you'll. But they get asked.

Because the mind needs to ask them to keep going. It knows the answers for most of those trivial things that you've been doing every day. But you ask, lest the silence shall eat and then you won't feel there was any work done. So questions get asked.

John, the Schneller, told us last week ask the Whats, Ifs, Wheres, Whys of journalism. That will take you to the story.

Perhaps the fellas have taken his advice rather seriously. And so, Susan and Katie have to face the volleys. And, I swear, they do it with amazing humility, with smile always on their faces. I've not seen them getting tired of silly questions so far.

Top on my agenda therefore is to learn from Susan and Katie - observe really - how they cope with those questions while still being joyful!

For the class of 2010, here's what may help: Ask questions if they are needed to be asked; if they yield information other than what's provided in papers and documents that the two women so meticulously mail you before you come here, or hand over to you when you're here. Read the things carefully: more often than not, documents may have answers for your whats, ifs, wheres etc. etc.

Hey, have I rubbed someone the wrong way? Is it okay to blog this? May be I'll ask Susan and Katie about this, and they surely would have an answer.

See, the mind keeps those questions going.