Apostrophe monster, teacher and an old school journalist is what Sathya Saran takes pride in saying she is. This, besides being an author, columnist, freelance writer and a lover of print media. Erstwhile editor of an Indian women’s magazine, Sathya was in town to unveil her latest book — a biography on singer Jagjit Singh. Titled Baat Niklegi Toh Phir , the book is about the life and music of Jagjit Singh. It was launched at Taj Banjara by Sanskriti Club.
Sathya Saran is one of India’s well known journalists and editors. She is currently working on a number of books as consulting editor with HarperCollins India. Also a communications and publication consultant, Sathya helps with start ups in the media.
Sathya took a year to complete the assigned task and it has been the most gratifying one, she says. “My biggest hurdle was to get Chitra to open up. It is not easy for anyone to open up about their life partner after he is no more. She is brave and did share a lot about the man as his wife,” she says.
Sathya says during the course of her writing the book, she met a lot of other people close to the late singer. She says she didn’t feel any different and delighted than a reporter who goes about looking for her story. “That is an awesome feeling and none but a journalist will understand that. I am old school and I love reporting and writing the old way. The real information comes from real good source, so I went to meet his personal assistant, people from HMV records where he mostly recorded his albums and a host of others,” says the author. Sathya says she was thrilled when the assignment came to her “because, I like everything about his music — lyrics, voice, tunes,… everything. I first heard ‘Unforgettable’ at a friends place and the album just got me hooked. I gathered all information about it and on my way home, stopped at a music store and went home with the album,” she recollects.
Sathya says she always knew she wanted to be a writer. “Journalism was one part of that dream, other was writing books on books and novels on Guru Dutt and S. D. Burman,” she says. Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey by Sathya Saran is a warm and insightful look at the life and works of two remarkable artistes — Guru Dutt and Abrar Alvi. Guru Dutt and Alvi partnered to give Indian cinema some its most enduring classics and this book brings back some of the agony and ecstasy that went into the making of these works. The other books to her credit are Night Train and Other Stories re published as ‘The Dark Side , From Me to You: On life, love and learning , Sun Mere Bandhu Re: The Musical World of S.D. Burman .
Sathya loves everything that is classic and old school but isn’t against technology and development. “I am all for digital media, it is fast paced; news travels faster. But while we are looking at quick deliverables, we are missing on in-depth analysis, because in 300 words one cannot pack in a lot of information,” she laughs.
Is that why she is still maintaining her long braid, “Yes, it is. But how I wish the volume and the length matched.”
