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| P.V.Vivekanand, Editor, Gulf Times, Sharjah, UAE |
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The
young man who left the moorings of Ottappalam in search of a job in civil
war-torn Beirut later became an influential journalist in Jordan who could
intercede on behalf of the belaboured Malayali contingent fleeing from
Iraq during Gulf War 1. P.V.Vivekanand
could then do what even Ministers from India could not secure – open the
border of Jordan to let in refugees from Iraq.
In
a self-effacing manner, he considers his intervention just a small help.
But the man of such influence started his career as a proofreader
in Jordan Times. However,
within 4 months he had progressed to the features page and by the 7th
month to the international page and by the end of the year, to the front
page itself. Later he was to
become the senior editor of the paper.
He
wrote for news agencies like UNI and Reuters and for American and British
dailies as well. He was
responsible for modernising the English wing of the official Jordan News
Agency, Petra.
Seeing
his influence in helping the refugees at the border, an Indian paper
wrote: “If you want to get anything done in Jordan, you shouldn’t go
to the Indian Embassy, but to Vivekanand.”
However,
considering the education of his children, Vivekand had to leave Jordan in
1997. From 1998, he is the
editor of Gulf Times, based in Sharjah, UAE.
His 5 year stint as the editor is itself an achievement considering
the fact that 6 editors had come and gone during the 2 years before his
appointment.
Gujarati
advocate Chitra is his wife. Anoop
and Vismaya, their children. While
reporting the Gulf War 1, he learned with amazement the imminent birth of
his daughter. And so the
choice of name, Vismaya.
Courtesy: Malayala Manorama, April 20, 2003.
Contributed by: Administrator
