Js And The Times Of My Life

by Jug Suraiya

‘I never wanted to a journalist’ is Jug Suraiya’s trademark tongue-in-the-cheek beginning to this book.

And yet, everything that impacted on his life appeared on the pages of first the youth magazine Junior Statesman, and later, the hoary Times of India. The chapters in this book are told in the same voice as his regular columns. The characters they describe—some well-known to us, some not—will remain immortal in our minds. Suraiya is the first Asian to have won the Grand Prize for Travel Writing awarded by the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA).

Genres: Autobiography, Nonfiction

342 pages, Hardcover

Published June 11, 2011

About the author

Jug Suraiya is a prominent Indian journalist, author and columnist. He is best known as a satirist and columnist. Suraiya is a former Editorial Opinion Editor and Associate Editor of the Times of India.

He is a writer distinguished for satire, wit and humour in his writings. Suraiya reflects on his personal reminiscences while drawing astounding parallels of some of the most famous personalities or gently touching at the absurdities which have become part and parcel of our lives.

Suraiya also created a daily cartoon in the Times of India called Dubyaman with Neelabh Banerjee, staff artist of The Times of India. It is loosely based on US President George W. Bush.

He became the first Asian to win the Pacific Asia Travel Association gold award in 1983, for travel writing.

Reviews

[Nipun · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this auto-biography Jug takes you through his work life, from the time he started as a correspondent for the Junior Statesman(JS) to being in charge for the edit page of TOI, (arguably) one of the largest selling daily in India. As you would expect from a veteran journalist, he has plenty of stories to tell and being Jug, they have to be funny.

As Jug takes you through the highlights in his career, you see the transformation of India journalism from that of elitist big brother to that of pandering populist business. You get to relive the major events of the recent past (Princess Diana's car crash, emergency, 9/11 etc.) from the perspective of a journalist. Among other things you get to know from up close some of the most eminent journalist of the past generation and also find out why all letters to the editor begin with "With reference to" in The Statesman.


All in all, it makes for an entertaining read.

[Sourojit Das · Rating 3 out of 5]

JS's columns have been eagerly consumed by millions...and so it was with the first 2-3 chapters of this book...I am grateful for the introduction to Desmond Doig..who's travelogues should be on their way..and the wonderful world of Junior Statesman...
The chapter about Me and Himal by Brindle (Jug and Bunny's dog) is brilliant as well...
It could have been made a little bit shorter towards the end...but a nice read nonetheless..and yes, I did finish this in 3 sittings...so best keep it for those interminable afternoons at work

[Swetank Anand · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lots of different things in just a single book(real lot), wow! .......Learnt a lot of weird things like, sometimes people write something meaningless in newspapers to let readers derive own meaning from that random shit. And also how a newspaper is manipulated for earning more.
Some things about celebrities of past,
A Bihar n kashmir of past which were not much different from today, hypocrisy of indian affluent class etc.

[Sambasivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written with amazing humor and clarity of thought. It is always great to read books written by editors as you are ensured of a minimum quality and readability; and it is a bonus if the content is good. Go for it.

[radhika ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

the first book i've borrowed and actually fully read from my library so its special like that
so deeply funny and cutting, and has such important conversations. had no idea who this dude was before this, now i want to be his friend man
really good time

[Tiru Arasu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just takes us thru his professional career. Nothing much

[Akriti Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

One star out of the three I have given to this book is purely for the last chapter "A career of pissing people off."

I would however like to disagree with him on a certain point. In his book Jug Suraiya talks about how Times of India didn't have and good story to cover for a while, how nothing significant was happening in the country around that time. He should not attempt to justify bad journalism on his part by blaming the lack of stories since, TOI doesn't care about covering or reporting rural India at all.

[Vik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would not say it was an interesting book to graduate, however I must appreciate the fact that author confessed the same in the first section named 'Statutory warning'. Author suggested to not to read it at one sitting. My word of advice is to do the opposite. I only liked two chapters from entire book.
Read only if you can get this book for free.

[Tia Raina · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first experience with Jug Suraiya came when I was in the seventh grade, nonchalantly flipping through the newspaper. And what a surprise it was - newspapers had funny columns? This piece of literature is no Booker Prize winner, however, it is what it set out to be - entertaining.

[Ritesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written book. Some of these have appeared in print earlier as a part of the "Jugular Vein" column and some others are new writings. This is a book you must read if you want to understand the Indian dailies better. i thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

[Monica Vaswani]

Gripping. Beautiful narrative. Complete entertainer.

[Yoginder Agarwal · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those who've regularly read Jug's columns, the third edits, the wit and cynicism, it is refreshing to know the sensitive, politically aware human being married to Bunny and adopted by Brindle.

[Rahool Gadkari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Titillating read. Jug Suraiya keeps it short and funny. If you enjoy reading his columns then I'm pretty sure you'll like this.