Family, Friends, Festivals and notebooks

Notebooks have been used by reporters through the ages to document the lives and journeys of people they meet and events they witness.

Even in this high-tech age where mobile devices ranging from phones, tablets and laptops have sometimes replaced the much revered notebook, that lil (sometimes black) book remains a staple for all journalists.

“If you end up not having electricity or a phone to document a story, the notebook will always be there for you to capture it all,” says photo-journalist SC Shekar who has collaborated with New York Times writer Chen May Yee for a photography exhibition called NOTED.

The exhibition is part of this year’s edition of the George Town Festival where selected journalists from both home and abroad, along with one of the classic tools of their trade (read: notebooks) are being celebrated.

It was fun hanging out with family and friends in a sea of past and present journos and be reminded that one of the greatest jobs on earth is to be on the fringes of history, report it and know what a difference one has made.

My cousin Leslie, my former colleague Anis, and friends like Nades, Kay Tat and Jahabar are fine examples of journalists who in their own way, have enriched the lives of Malaysians and those abroad by shaking things up not simply for the sake of selling newspapers or expanding the readership of the media platforms they represent.