To be an Indian and in Baghdad

"Dont eat gums, don’t use Ipods or headphones and never show how wealthy you are if you want to be safe in Baghdad.""These are the things that Arabs generally don’t use. And if ones does it, he is quickly identified as a foreigner which might put him in danger from the militias or the mushrooming kidnapping gangs," says Aparisim 'Bobby' Ghosh, who has been in the war-torn country for the last four years. Bobby who is Baghdad Bureau Chief of 'Time' has seen two kidnap attempts been made on him and his car fired at by American soldiers mistaking him to a bomber. "The Iraq War is the biggest story for this generation and I feel happy that I am a part of this story," he says. Thanks to his Indian passport, it made the Baghdad dream possible. "I went to Baghdad two months before the war started. Saddam government had put time magazine on black list. It was just impossible for any American journalist to get a visa. But since, I was an Indian even though working for time I was given permission. That was because Iraq likes Indians because India stood by them when sanctions were imposed on that country post gulf war. The Indian passport had become an asset for me," he says. According to Bobby, his Indianness (brownish looks) helps him daily in Baghdad. "When I walk on the streets, people consider me as part of them. Unlike other foreign journalists, I can walk into anyone's house without arousing his neighbours suspicion," adds Bobby who lives in the red zone (the unprotected area of Baghdad where most of the bombings take place) to "understand the Iraq situation better." Sharing his views on the recent incident when a wire agency photographer covering the Lebanon War in Beirut was fired for playing around with his pictures on Photoshope to give 'effect' to his image, he says, "Yes I can understand when journalist give effects to their stories or pictures when the war is almost ending. But, if you are in Iraq, one would not even think about it. There is so much happening around you, so much bloodshed, that one has to tone it down in their articles." Even though covering Iraq gives him an adrenaline push, what he misses is the company of his family. "At least I can be assured that my family is safe unlike my Iraqi colleagues who not only have to keep me safe but also their family and friends safe too." One thing that the journalist should be careful of besides being caught in bomb explosions or being shot at or caught in crossfire between the militia and the troops are the kidnapping gangs that have mushroomed in the country. Since, the Iraq War, nearly 200 journalist have been killed while covering Iraq, he says. Throwing light on the present political situation in Iraq he says, "The greatest tragedy of Iraq is that there is no statesman who can rise above sectarian, regional and linguistic politics. I don’t see solutions to the Iraqi problem unless a new generation of leaders comes up. Iraq needs leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi," he states. Bureau Report