I am back after 10 days of hectic work during the Sharjah Intl Book Fair, an annual event that is the pride of Sharjah which brands itself as the cultural capital of the UAE. It is reportedly the largest book fair in the world now.
Though I was invited two days before the event started on Nov 3, the night before the lady in charge said my services may not be needed immediately as the work had been reduced. But at 10 am on 3rd morning she called and asked if I was free to come. Habitually bad at making such decisions, I thought I should say yes. After offering to come by 11 am, I realised I needed a little more time as the children were at home for Diwali holidays from the 3rd. So took 2 hours permission and reached after 12 noon.
My first event was a leaf printing workshop for children by a Lebanese film maker. But no kid turned up for the noon session, so I was asked to check if the other three workshops had any children. I chose chemical activity, then I had something to cover about a Spanish concert happening after 1 in one of the venues. No one at the information desk or the volunteers knew where the so called white tent it was being held was, so I missed it and took up two other assignments that day including book releases by Malayalam writers.
Writing the news reports on all these was the tough part especially as the time gap between sessions was minimal and each had to be given in an hour or two after each session. After the first two days, I felt I should call it quits. V, who has been very supportive when I am out on assignments picking me up in the night or buying dinner for all, advised it is only occasional work and I continue. Ditto brother, who said the work scene is like this.
I looked for reasons - such as Ash having his pre-Boards since last week - to wriggle out. But I didn't and things got better by the middle of the week, and I got a hang of things. By then, I was not going in the morning but after noon when I would start with a children's workshop - it also gave me some leeway if I was late by 10 minutes. The kids would have just started making something, and I could sneak in by then. I also had the advantage of asking the trainers for a brief after the session.
Some days I had a cookery session to attend - I attended sessions by Arabic, Korean and Malaysian chefs - and write about them. After the first two, I found out that I could use the cookbook they provided or use the QR code for the recipes.
The best programmes I covered were the talk shows with Jordindian, an Indo-Arab comedy duo and Chetan Bhagat book release in the Ballroom, where the VIP shows happened. V and my kids came to see Jordindian, one of their favorite YouTube channels, and Ash was able to ask a question to them during the audience round (when he told them that he likes their music more than their content, Vineet said, 'look, he has paid us a back-handed compliment). The queue for the Trevor Noah show last Friday was too long, and Mira skipped. I didnt go in either as I was covering something else.
In the evenings, I often had panel discussions by successful authors from different regions to cover - Tony Hawks, Ikigai co author Francis Miralles etc. The tough part was when I had to jot down while hearing English translations on the headphone of Arabic speeches. Listening was a key skill for this attention-deficit reporter, since even for the English ones I had no time to sit and listen to an entire speech and write about it afterwards.
The fun part was meeting people for feature stories - children, women and elderly on what books they read/bought/recommend. Some were reluctant to talk or be photographed (a staff photographer came along for these quests). The most friendly was a Nigerian teacher from Woodlem Park school Omotolino Hassan, who was thrilled to be photographed after buying a copy of My Vision by the ruler of Dubai. The most irritating was a Gujju woman from Bombay who looked suspicious and said she wouldnt like her face splashed on newspapers - when even an Emirati man graciously allowed his burqa-clad wife to be photographed. Among the children I could catch hold of on the initial lean day was a little Filipino girl who had bought Dog Man comics - she said, "this time I wont be shy and will look confident". Websites and newspapers picked up that story - newspapers here have the funny habit of using PR reports and adding the bylines of their reporters. But I tell you the effort was all mine , and my supervisor's (she vetted my copies initially but towards the end they didnt need much course correction).
There were some guffaw moments too. Like when Palestinian bookshop owner Samir Mansour teased if I would like to marry his son at the stall (old enough to be my son) which my translator colleague later told me; when I mistook a 30-year-old woman completely covered in abaya and niqab to be a senior citizen; and when some Malloo families asked V, who was taking my photograph attending a workshop, if I was the Malayalam writer-actress Sriparvathi and if they could get my autograph.
For my part I got a selfie with RJ Arfaz at the Bhagat session (his wife was interviewing CB) and with this year's Turjuman award - 1.3 million dirham prize for translation from Arabic - winner from Brazil.
The media folks sat on the first floor of Expo Centre, where the event was happening, and we were given 3 meals in fancy boxes and unlimited tea, coffee and water. Some of my food I shared/gave away to the cleaning staff from Indonesia and Africa. Our agency had a room to ourselves, so I didnt get to meet many mediamen here.
My assignments were over on Friday, a day before the closing day. Looking back, it was a fun and great learning experience and I hope I get more such gigs in the future.
p.s. Some links to my articles given in the highlighted text.
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