Yesterday was fun. Nadja Kriewald, chief international correspondent at n-tv, the “CNN of Germany”, came to report on Bangalore. Together with her camera collague Christian we rushed through the city the whole day. I gave various interview-takes from any thinkable angle: Sitting in the front driving through the traffic jam of the city, standing on Church Street, walking with Nadja through Brigade Road etc.
n-tv is starting off in February 2007 with a new format on foreign countries and, impressively, as India is gaining increasing recognition in Germany, the subcontinent will be featured first. Nadja and Christian had an exhausting tour behind them, visiting villages in North India and the slums of Calcutta. From what she mentioned on her intended approach, I believe that her overall concept will really the point well: That India is both boom and doom, both opportunity and misery, both incredible wealth and unimaginable poverty. Like my Indian lawyer once said: “Whatever you say about India, also exactly the opposity holds true.” And just letting these contradictions co-exist without seeking the western-typical synthesis, eventually comes closest to something like the truth for India 2006. By the same token, for a very compact read I recommend from Olaf Ihlau, former foreign correspondent for the Spiegel, his new book “Weltmacht Indien” (German language only).
In the evening they took some more camera shots on the nightlife of Bangalore in one of my favorite places “Taika” and we ended with a joint dinner. Now comes the sorting out and cutting-phase for Nadja so that the story can get broadcasted in February as planned. I will keep you updated here on my blog.
Feeds
Yes, N-TV – they continue to fade away, being almost gone now.