It is not a child's play!

After a brief hiatus, I decided that it was time to update my blog. I
recently changed jobs and now I work as a sub editor for a well
reputed children's magazine. In my old job, my job profile included
dealing with angry clients incase I had reported or misinterpreted
some fact wrong and always keeping my doctor's name in handy by my
side, in the event of an unexpected but long overdue, nervous
breakdown!

Here, my job is pretty lax. The worst thing that can happen is a child
not being sent his prize for winning a content hosted by our magazine
on time. Dealing with 5 year olds is a piece of cake - especially
after dealing with 50 plus lava spewing professionals!! Coo the right
words and the child is rest assured that the magazine is in no way to
be blamed for the delay in sending the gift! The present job is also a
lot more creative than the previous one. We constantly have to come up
with new ideas for contests and coloumns in the magazine as ( as we
were warned umpteen times) children get bored really easily.

While still a college student I used to love reading. I did my
graduation from a college where you could find everyone's noses buried
in a book 24/7 - before classes, DEFINETELY during classes and after
classes - to well past midnight. On the eve of an exam, reading a
novel is one of the best prescribed remedies for the panic attacks
that paralysed us then. A close friend and voracious reader once told
me that she was so into a book that it was only when she saw the
rising sun tht she realised that she was up the whole night reading
the book. I personally found it a beautiful story but unfortunately,
it failed to strike the right chord with my lecturers coz my friend
was busy trying to catch up on her sleep during class hours! Her
rather loud snores evoked giggles and wide smiles from our classmates
and subsequent long and cold stares from my lectures. This silent and
omnious drama came to an end with a loud and angry thump on the table
by my lecturer - hence putting a brutal and quick end to my friend's
peaceful sleep.

But with work, I had to forgo my habit of reading. Now in my new job,
reading is as important as even coming for work! So I rushed to the
nearest library and began a membership. So that part of the job is
taken care of. But the most difficult part of my job is writing the
lyrics of the latest English songs. Apart from an occasional Bryan
Adams song or something catchy, my knowledge on the subject is
disgracefully limited. So something that would ordinarily take one 15
minutes, I take more time than that, surfing the net, finding out the
latest songs by Rihanna, Matchbox 20 ( my initial reaction on hearing
the name was - MATCH BOX WHA????) 50 cent etc etc. In an effort so
save some face, I asked my boss whether I could write lyrics of some
old songs like Simon and Garfunkel, ( and this time, it was her turn
to go WHAAA??) whose songs are really timeless, meaningful ( and a lot
easier for me to search !!!). This plan was obviously vetoed as we
don't really cater to 60 something year olds..sigh!!!

Now after hours of searching the net, I do know Rihanna's under my
umbrella song, Mandy moore's wild hope song and much more. So at the
moment, after getting the hang of my new job, its like second
childhood for me by being in touch with kids constantly and it feels
GREAT!