Everything is not a story, can't be

Today I'm under too much distress .. not because I've any physical problem rather it's a mental one.

Actually I was doing a story on role of Unorganised Sector in the forthcoming general elections. For that, I caught up some construction labourers and as we do in every stroy, asked several questions ... like are you satisfied with the government, has your conditions improved in last few years etc. And the answers were on the expected lines .. which we all know.

We all know that nothing has changed for them. Their conditions are as pathetic as they used to be. Though their wages have improved a bit but that's not sufficient. Not sufficient at all.

There are several reports of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) which at length has dealt with the issues of Unorganised Sector in India. But just for the sake of information ..

77% of the population still lives on a wage of Rs 20

India has nearly 40 Crore workers in the Unorganised sector / 91% of the total work force of the country

They hardly have any pension, insurance or other such things and one small disease can eat their entire family

They are still waiting for Social Security Schemes promised by the incumbent UPA government

The Slowdown/Recession has hit them hard and claimed/about to claim almost 1 crore job opportunities meant for them

This list is endless and I can go on but coming back to the point .. One of them said .. Babu, agar kuchh badla hota to hum yahan kahe aate, apna ghar chhod kar . He just can't lift his eyes, probably dwelling with shame.

And I was terribly upset, in fact i'm still upset because I've always advocated and believed that everything can't be a story. We, the journalists, always / usually treat everything as a story. But it can't be. Life is not only a story.

I was upset because despite being sensitive to their issues, I was asking the same insensitive questions and after that, doing the Piece-to-camera (PTC ), which we, the television reprorters have to do always for a story.

Just for the sake of a 90 second story, I was rubbing salt to their wounds. I knew that I can't take their issues forward / I'm incapable of changing their lives but I was glorifying their issues, so that my story could get telecasted .

It's frustrating / insane but even then, I can't shed tears. On my part, this episode was completely uncalled for. Isn't it?