The man who didn't need Google

Those who saw the lanky Kanti Bhatt often perceived him as docile He was anything but that clarifies Bharat Ghelani editor of Gujarati news magazine Chitralekha while mentioning his special guts The first superstar of Gujarati journalism master of all and beloved mentor to many Bhatt passed away at 88 on August 4Bhatt was the son of a farmer from Zanzmer village in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat He was academically inclined and graduated in commerce before he began to teach Later he spent several years in Penang with his uncle while he handled his business After a fallout with him Bhatt came to Mumbai in 1966 with three options before him a job at the State Bank of Saurashtra at cultural venue Kora Kendra and the lowest paying onemdashas financial journalist at VyaparAt Vyapar Bhatt quickly proved his mettle Once he made a name he wrote for a string of publications including Chitralekha Mumbai Samachar Janshakti Sandesh Yuva Darshan and Jansatta He also launched one of Gujarats most popular news magazine Abhiyaan with his journalist wife Sheela Bhatt and publisher Ashwin ParekhBhatts reportage had a unique style that mixed investigation and information Ghelani gives an example If we were talking about potatoes and the method of farming in Scandinavia hed give the reader an indepth picture of how potatoes landed in the Nordic country travelled to India and so made it a relatable piece And this was when there was no Google He relied entirely on interviews with people and personal research says Ghelani adding that Bhatt wrote for Chitralekha from 1969 to 2017But not all of what he wrote was gentle He covered tragedies politics and the Bhopal Gas tragedy with Ghelani Ae mara constant saathi hata he was my constant companion He was daring we have faced mobs togetherOver 197980 in a series of incidents the Indian police was accused of blinding 31 undertrials in Bhagalpur Bihar Ghelani says Bhatt reported of the controversy that saw contradicting versions and severe criticism of the state machineryDrPrakash KothariMumbaibased sexologist Dr Prakash Kothari fondly remembers Bhatt his friend of 50 years as a young journalist who came to interview him in the 1960s Harkisan Mehta the editor of Chitralekha and some other magazines had assigned Kanti to interview me for Beej After he left I called up Mehta to enquire about Bhatt No one had asked me the questions he had says Kothari Bhatt had no prior knowledge of sexual medicine He was simply a dedicated journalist a mini Google of those times says Kothari Je maanta e lakhta ane je lakhta e jivta What he believed he reported and what he reported he lived byAt one event Kothari remembers being joined by Bhatt and veteran journalists Harkisan Mehta Tarak Mehta and Chandrakant Bakshi In a questionanswer slot Bakshi stumbled on an answer Bhatt intervened and covered up for his friend When I teased Bakshi he said to me Dosto ane daru joona sara Ramakda nava sara Old friends and alcohol are the best If you seek the new look for toys Bhatt is an old but true friendOn July 20 author and senior journalist Aashu Patel whom Bhatt considered his manas putra soul son organised an event to honour Bhatt with a dandiya session along with Sheela Bhatt and Uday Majumdar This was Bhatts 88th birthday He loved to do garba and what a sight it was to watch him dance says Patel former editor of leading newspapers and foundereditor of Gujarati magazine Cocktail ZindagiPatel was also the last person to have met Bhatt a few hours before his death I was with him at the hospital and then his home the previous day We chatted for hours on his birthday last month Patel remembers recalling his early years in a village near Porbandar While working at the farm with his father and running a small shop with his older brother he dreamt of becoming a journalist At 16 he wrote his first letter to Bhatt and several after One day I got a reply It said Looking at your writing and thoughts it seems like you can be a journalistPatel who was yet to graduate took the first train to Mumbai He was 18 Sheela ben took me on as a trainee reporter at Abhiyaan On my first day at work Bhatt told me I was to reach the Santacruz airport the next day He didnt say why I realised I was going to cover the Aga Khan Medical Center inauguration at Jaunpur in a chartered planePatel remembers Bhatts advice No matter what keep writingFrom left Senior journalist Aashu Patel looks on as Sheela Bhatt speaks with Chitralekha editorinchief Bharat Ghelani at a prayer meet held on Thursday PicNimesh DavePatel says that in 2007 when his daughter Shakti died an untimely death at 26 Bhatt was back at his desk within four hours He wrote four pieces every day along with the hugely popular daily column for Gujarat Samachar Aaspaas and Chetnani Kshane for Divya Bhaskar He had discontinued Aaspaas a few months before his death but continued to write the weekly Chetnani Kshane The last one appeared on the day he diedPatel has a piece of paper with him on which Bhatt had scribbled a note about how he wished to coauthor a novel with Patel He used to tell me Taare shabdo ni kheti karvani che You are a farmers son but you must reap with your wordsI gave him alimony so that he could read and writeSheela Bhatt was 18 when she first met Kanti 47Sheela Bhatt was all of 18 when she first met Kanti in 1977 after she contacted him by dialling a number printed in Abhishek magazine I had finished my intercommerce exams and we met at Cafeacute Samovar in Jehangir Art Gallery It was love at first sight for him For over a year I spent time with him in secrecy before we were married says Bhatt However she says journalism wasnt her first calling I would have probably been a lawyer or bureaucrat We were opposites I was an urban girl writing for the Indianised Gujaratis Kanti Bhatt was brought up in village but was global in thought His writing found resonance with the Kutchi and Gujarati community in Bhuj Rajkot and Bhavnagar He was well read and profound an entertainer with words while I was into current affairs I am a method writer his writing had a natural rawness says the veteran journalist who has spent time as political editor of Indian Express former editor of Rediffcom and presently works as a senior editor in DelhiA diary she wrote for Rediffcom mentions thismdashAfter my marriage when I first entered his house I found the teapot kept on an old edition of Mahaveer Meri Drishti Mein by RajneeshhellipAmongst the authors writing in regional languages our favourites are Ghalib and Tulsidas Kanti being an eccentric humble and insecure soul buys and begs for books He tells me that without Colin Wilson J Krishnamurti Henry David Thoreau Erich Fromm and P D Ouspensky he would have died long ago I believe himThey were 29 years apart but that was never a hurdle Perhaps because mentally I was 28 at 18 And at 47 he was 37 in his head says Sheela admitting that later difference arose due to the choices they made By 1992 Sheela Bhatt moved to Delhi to launch the Gujarati edition of India Today The two separated in 2002Kanti was a selfconfessed miser I gave him alimony after our separation It started with Rs 2000 and grew to Rs 30000 He needed three maids to cook clean and maintain the house so that he could carry on unhindered with his reading and writing In the last 40 years of our marriage I have never spoken about us although he said a fair bit to the media I was a realist serious and he was profoundmdasha dreamer He didnt have the knack of taking lifes big decisions We both readily helped people we didnt know and he was the father of my daughter That was enough for me to support himDawood capturedRemember the picturemdashone of the only pictures mdashof Dawood Ibrahim in a yellow jersey It was Kanti Bhatt who captured the photo at the Sharjah cricket match in 1986 Sheela Bhatt was behind Ibrahims first ever interview at his Dongri home After this Bhatt interviewed him one more timeCatch up on 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