A special night at the GPH
AS I went over The Fiji Times anniversary souvenir issue published on Saturday, last week, my mind drifted to the 150th anniversary celebrations held at the Grand Pacific Hotel in style.
The date September 6, 2019 will arguably be one of the precious moments of my longstanding relationship with our number one newspaper.
On August 16, around midday, a Fiji Times Ltd vehicle parked in front of my gate and out came a beautiful iTaukei lady with the sealed envelope which had my name on the front.
The envelope bearing the name
The Fiji Times contained my special invitation card.
I could scarcely control my delight as I opened the envelope and saw the invitation card, which read, “The Directors and Management of The Fiji Times cordially invite Mr and Mrs Rajnesh Lingam to The Fiji Times 150th anniversary celebration at the Grand Pacific Hotel on Friday 6th September”.
I shared the invitation on my Facebook page and it captured many likes and comments.
I told myself, “I’m not going to miss this precious moment” and I went over the content and immediately made a call to Sharmila Devi to confirm my participation.
While reading through the invitation card I read all the previous letters written during the newspaper’s previous birthday celebrations.
The letter to the editor that I wrote last year in January read and I quote:
“We are ready and excited to begin our 149th year of being a newspaper that is credible, honest and fair”, this was the message from former Fiji Times Ltd general manager and publisher Hank Arts.
No disputes on the timely message as we march into the 2nd day of 2018. I agree with the editor that “The Fiji Times, having been around for 148 years, is expected to disseminate information to the masses”.
Hats off to the editor Fred Wesley for his powerful message and the following lines stood out for me, “We value journalism and what it stands for. We will strive to disseminate information that is credible, has authority and will help our readers make well informed decisions in their lives daily”.
I know the journey to strive credibility, fairness and neutrality has not been an easy one and there have been obstacles along the way but I am proud that our number one newspaper survived the challenges in 2017 and is ready for upcoming challenges.
Despite the adversities last year,
The Fiji Times stood up to the challenges and was a finalist in three categories of the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association News and Marketing Awards.
The Fiji Times hit top deck when the Kaila! Design Your Own Newspaper Project was announced the winner of the Best Young Reader Program and it was a finalist for the cause-related campaign.
The newspaper was also highly commended for the 2016 Rio Olympics coverage.
I salute The Fiji Times and its staff members for these achievements which newspapers dream of.
A good reader looks for fair reporting whether its news related to sports, religion, economics, personal opinions or politics and I am glad that this is what The Fiji Times strives for.
You don’t win popularity by writing on issues and stories that pleases one side of the community but you win hearts by writing on topics that capture interest of both sides of the community and I must thank The Fiji Times for achieving this feat and for generating a sense of joy and patriotism.
I enjoyed reading the educational and coloured lift-out in Saturday’s paper as it summed up the whole year’s events so well. I also congratulate our writers for the letters of the months from January to November 2017.
Finally, I share the sentiments of Kirit Patel the chairman of
The Fiji Times that, “Come 2018,
The Fiji Times will be about people, values, honesty, commitment, perseverance and unity”.
I can count on The Fiji Times to attain these media principles.
The letter that I wrote on the 150th birthday celebration of The Fiji Times reads and I quote,
Regular contributor to the letters to the editor column Kiniviliame Keteca wrote a brilliant piece (FT 06/09) as he paid tribute to The Fiji Times on its 150th anniversary.
Indeed Kini, The Fiji Times continues to be the voice of the voiceless on countless occasions and our newspaper has stood up to the many critics who wished to silence this newspaper.
My journey with The Fiji Times started in the ‘90s when I attended Khemendra Bhartiya School and because I loved sports, my focus was on sports stories, especially the sports lift-out in The Fiji Times then.
Back then, The Fiji Times cost 50 cents but my parents did not mind buying one as everyone in the family had an opportunity to read news.
When I reached secondary school the cost went up to 60 cents and I vividly remember one child would contribute 10 cents per week so our class was able to buy a copy of The Fiji Times from Monday to Friday from Reddy’s Supermarket in Wainikoro.
My first letter to the editor was an obituary to the late Tu Kiti our former 7s coach and then until 2003 I wrote a few letters on our 7s team.
I had to post the letters from Labasa Post Office.
My interest in writing declined and then I must say that our letter to the editor guru Allen Lockington inspired me to write and I started writing again from 2014 and to-date my letters can only be found in The Fiji Times because I believe in the newspaper’s ethics and principles and the stand The Fiji Times has taken to report what is accurate.
Even today, when I read stories from the Parliament I am proud that The Fiji Times reports accurately.
When you read both newspapers the difference becomes crystal clear and for this I thank our newspaper.
The Fiji Times staff and management members celebrated the 150th anniversary in a grand way at GPH and once again I salute
The Fiji Times for holding the true ideals of journalism.
I also thank my fellow writers for sharing their experiences with The Fiji Times and after reading the many letters I can conclude soundly that The Fiji Times is getting stronger and stronger.
Congratulations to the staff and management of The Fiji Times and thank you for choosing me to be part of the celebrations at GPH. I’ll forever cherish and savour this moment! God bless!
I have copies of many other letters that I have written showing support to The Fiji Times, Wesley and his team when they faced the toughest time of their illustrious career.
I shed tears when the final verdict was ruled in our favour.
Back to GPH and as my wife Madhu and I entered GPH the illuminating light was evident that The Fiji Times was the shining star as I was greeted by veteran photographer Rama, who did not hesitate to show his photography skills.
We then met the general manager of The Fiji Times Christine Lyons. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable when I glanced inside and I saw a host of public figures and I told Mrs Lingam that the occasion was bigger than what we had thought it to be.
I heard my name being called and I looked around to see the gentleman by the name of Kirit Patel coming towards me.
He was followed by Rajesh Patel and Jinesh Patel and directors of the Motibhai Group.
I couldn’t believe that the gentlemen could be so down-to-earth as we exchanged greetings and then took a picture.
The room was getting packed as time kicked and it was a joy to rub shoulders with prominent names such as Padmaja, Seona Smiles, Wylie Clarke, Arvind Maharaj, Sakiasi Waqanivavalagi, Richard Naidu, Sakul Kundra, Savenaca Narube, Geoffrey Smith, William Parkinson, Hank Arts, Daryl Tarte, Dr Anurag Subramani, Anil Senewiratne, PI Munasinghe, Taholo and Sina Kami, Jonathan Curr, Pita Nacuva and the list continues.
I was happy that Wesley took out time to share a light moment with us. I acknowledge the efforts of the staff members of The Fiji Times who looked elegant in their attire.
The hospitality of the staff members of GPH also made the night warm and welcoming.
I met my fellow writers Satish, Kini and Shalwyn. We missed the guru of the letters to the editor column Allen Lockington — the fine chap from Kava Place in Lautoka who sent his apologies which was not at all pleasing because Shalwyn and I were supposed to share the dining table with him.
Moreover, I was happy to have my all-time favourite rugby writer Kameli Rakoko sit with us.
Pita Nacuva shared jokes with us and we captured the moments with a selfie. The formal program was started by the wonderful MC Ajay Bhai Amrit and the speeches delivered by Kirit Patel, Dr Anurag Subramani, Daryl Tarte and Wesley were received with a loud round of applause.
Mr Kirit in his welcome address acknowledged the readers of The Fiji Times for their lovely support and elaborated that it was an opportunity to look back and reflect on the history and challenges which The Fiji Times encountered and endured along the way, while bracing it for the future.
He paid tribute to George Littleton Griffiths who founded The Fiji Times.
Mr Kirit then took the readers through The Fiji Times 150-yearold journey. We were assured about the future of The Fiji Times
with these lines, “To this day and going forward trust, fairness and integrity will be the ethos of The Fiji Times as these timeless values have been a linchpin to building the credible, reliable, trusted and respected newspaper that it is today”.
Mr Kirit concluded by thanking everyone for believing in The Fiji Times.
After the welcome address, Dr Anurag in his melodious tone added glamour to the night and these lines, “And holding the paper was like holding freshly
baked bread. It still felt warm in the hands. And the smell of the ink and newspaper was tantalising”, thrilled the audience.
Dr Anurag mentioned the three items in the paper then that he looked forward to — Flotsam and Jetsam, the comic strips, and the two pages of the most epic and thrilling cinema pockmarked which advertised movies such as Sholay, The Virgin Goddess, Harrowhouse, and Touch of Satan.
We listened in fascination with the way he shared his journey with the newspaper as he shed light on the memories of his grandmother and the significant role The Fiji Times played in his life.
I am equally excited that the history of my beloved newspaper will be written by someone who holds it dearly to his chest and I’m confident that Dr Anurag will deliver a piece that all readers of The Fiji Times will be proud of. In addition, veteran writer Daryl Tarte spiced up the night sharing his fascinating journey with
The Fiji Times. If anyone thinks that speeches are boring then I suggest one must think twice because this lad kept us wanting to listen to more and in the short duration he spoke so much —with such passion and enthusiasm and wrapped up the history of The Fiji Times recapping events in Levuka, and touching on the sugar industry, world war, the December 10th, 1959 riots in Suva, the 100 years of anniversary in 1969 and alluded to the 1970 independence day celebrations, the 1987, 2000 and 2006 coups and the devastation caused by Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston.
He shared how the Olympics victory brought the nation to a halt and summed up his speech with these lines, “It has been a long and eventful journey”.
He commended the staff member and management of The Fiji Times and left the vibrant audience mesmerised with a thought about the future and I quote, “But ladies and gentlemen let us just stop and think for a moment and ask ourselves. What will Fiji and
The Fiji Times be like in 2069 when this newspaper celebrates its 200th anniversary? Certainly very different from 1869 when it all began”.
There was a loud round of applause to show Mr Tarte that we would love to be part of the 200th birthday celebration.
Finally, the night belonged to the man himself — Fred Wesley.
One thing was for sure — when he mentioned these lines, “We are about people” he received accolades.
He shared that The Fiji Times was motivated to continue the great work that the late Mr Griffiths started, live his vision, and uphold and value the ideals of good journalism.
It delighted me to hear about the advancements made by The Fiji Times to match public standards.
Wesley hit the nail with these lines, “Our charter is to strive for accuracy and balance with the intention to do justice to every story we print and picture we use. We are not anti-government and we are not pro-government”.
However, Wesley drew the biggest cheer when he said, “Sleep assured we are firmly committed to helping our country move forward. Today, we give you a newspaper that is fair, just, balanced and honest. Today, we give you a newspaper that holds true to the ideals of journalism”.
The cake was then cut as guests tucked into the delicacies served by the hardworking staff of GPH.
The guests also mingled around and I took this time to meet some high-profiled visitors who walked in late. The food was glorious and appetiser.
Shalwyn and I shared a few stories about our 7s team. I could not stay around for long although I was compelled by the program to stay until midnight as my little and adorable princess Mahika was making phone calls to check where mum and dad were.
As we departed GPH with grand memories, The Fiji Times staff member handed us a souvenir piece, which I tucked carefully in my family safe.
As we drove towards Nadawa, a breath of fresh air gave me an air of optimism that The Fiji Times will continue to dominate and that there will be no turning back despite the road being rough. Isa, I can continue adding more but I’ll run short of pages. Once again happy 150th birthday
The Fiji Times and thank you so much for making me part of the anniversary as this momentous moment will be shared by me in years to come.
Vinaka vakalevu The Fiji Times and may you continue to prosper and fascinate readers with true and credible news! Thus, I pay tribute to the founder of The Fiji Times George Littleton Griffiths, the directors of Motibhai Ltd, the staff and management members of The Fiji Times, Wesley and the guests who were part of the special night at GPH.
The following days I read some beautiful articles by the likes of Professor Brij Lal (Good Old Times) and Seona Smiles (The smell of the ink, the roar of the press).
I conclude with the words of the late Griffiths in his first editorial, “The only promise that we make is that we shall watch the times and try to make our paper a public good; a practical, useful and honest medium for the support of honour, truth and right”. Cheers Fiji!