REPOTERS’ DIARY : Rolling Hills is the place to be

In Telangana, the change in regime has brought in its wake a change in the capital city’s traffic-sensitive routes that the elite take.  All cars that previously used to frequent Pragathi Bhavan at Begumpet are now being routed through the Jubilee Hills, where Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s residence is located. The detour is no longer Banjara Hills, but Rolling Hills: the second most-sought-after destination in the city now. All the important people orbiting Revanth Reddy, those who play a key role in decision-making, and those who can help one connect with the CM, stay at Rolling Hills in Gachibowli. This includes the likes of Vem Narender Reddy, political advisor to CM. If you wanna know whose on the roll, head to Rolling Hills.
If you are not with them, you are against them
Scribes are not expected to take sides. Yet, netas see them in a different light altogether based on what and how they write. So, unofficially speaking, among journalists, these days there are three categories from the standpoint of netas: ‘ruling party reporters’, ‘opposition party reporters’ and ‘neutral reporters’, with the first two being a class apart. The regime change has merely reversed the roles of the first two categories. They easily get audience with the respective netas as well as benefits occasionally. Sadly for the third category, both netas and fraternal colleagues keep neutral newshounds at a distance and do not mingle with them. What is worse is that the ‘ruling party’ reporters want the neutral scribes to treat them with utmost respect as if they are unofficial spokespersons of the ruling party. Hurt deeply by this isolation, a ‘neutral’ scribe remarked in jest: “It is better to join one of the two factions, instead of remaining an ‘untouchable’ scribe.”