Who Is Priyanka? A Jammu Based Journalist With An Unconditional Love Towards Kashmir
"The day we stop identifying people on the basis of religion, cast and ethnicity; the veil will fall down, the boundaries will vanish, acceptance and humanism will prevail with open minds interacting with each other under one roof." Believes Priyanka
Shoaib Gani
Journalism in this part of the world keeps on pushing its own favourite narrative and for that reason it always remains in the News and faces a barrage of questions for not drafting what netizens want it to.
The greatly desired type of journalism, showcasing particularly the hidden talent, the unexplored places, the family happiness, love and the message of peace is something which Priyanka Gupta has been successful in managing as a journalist.
Priyanka Gupta, a Jammu based female journalist started her career with Gulistan TV– a Jammu and Kashmir based television channel, as an anchor and took off with a daunting task of taking up public grievances from both Jammu and Srinagar.
The Kashmir Radar’s field correspondent, Shoaib Gani in his endeavor to bring out the most unusual stories about people contacted Priyanka Gupta just to ask, “What makes her so special for the people of Kashmir?”
Here are the excerpts from the interview with Priyanka.
“Soon after I was handed over the task, needless to say – I received lots of love and appreciation from the other side of the tunnel. A kind of ‘acceptance’ and unconditional warmth and love from Kashmir which took my imagination to the next level.” Said Priyanka while talking to Shoaib Gani.
Priyanka without any further analysis and fact finding talked to her seniors and managed to change the title of her task to “Kashmir exclusive.” A platform where she wanted to serve the people, particularly the people of Kashmir.
Priyanka’s eagerness to spell out the reason behind her unconditional love towards Kashmir was decorated on every word she spoke of her experience while working in Kashmir.
“I always wanted to speak my heart out and apostrophize the feeling of working in a place you don’t actually belong to. I could easily decipher the broken language of the people of Kashmir, which had clear signals of love and peace in every word I translated.” Said Priyanka.
Priyanka’s every answer about Kashmir was laden with poetry and philosophy, as she spoke less about journalism and more about the amount of love she receives from the people of Kashmir.
“Once you feel the pain of a person; nature, as a matter of course bridges that gap created by ideological differences and other worldly negative things which separate us as humans. I am a humanist, very empathetic and above all a pure vegetarian [laughs]” said Priyanka.
“As far as I have understood the core of journalism, it should be based on trust. If you fail in building up even an ioata of trust among the people you work for, you have undoubtedly failed as a journalist.” Said Priyanka.
Now that Priyanka has completely immersed herself into kashmiri culture, she wants to engage with more and more people to learn the language (kashmiri), which may prove beneficial in developing the strongest bond between her and Kashmir.
Talking about the percentage of hate she receives from the people of her favourite place (Kashmir), Priyanka had no figures to mention as according to her, Kashmir is a place where she has stayed with strangers, talked to the unknown and dined with the most beautiful women (unknown), but out of all these experiences she says, she never had a bad experience which could have prompted her to change her mind.
Back in her home town, Priyanka is often trolled for being Kashmir centric, as she keeps on covering stories only about the people of Kashmir, donning kashmiri outfit especially Pheran. From providing platform to young artists to News about ‘lost valuables’ she, without giving a second thought starts a ‘Facebook live’ and informs the public about that particular issue.
Moreover, Priyanka receives tremendous family support for doing what she loves and she is never questioned about her career choice which in other part of the world could have been otherwise, as she has done Masters In Business Administration (MBA) and later chose journalism out of passion.
“The day we stop identifying people on the basis of religion, cast and ethnicity, the veil will fall down, the boundaries will vanish, acceptance and humanism will prevail with open minds interacting with each other under one roof,” were the lines Priyanka concluded the interview with.
