Friday Evenings at Press Club Hyderabad Continue ..... Memory Deepens into Dialogue in Today’s Get-Together : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

 Friday Evenings at Press Club Hyderabad Continue

Memory Deepens into Dialogue in Today’s Get-Together

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

(February 27, 2026)

If the first get-together at the Press Club Hyderabad was about planting a seed, the second Friday evening (February 27, 2026) proved that the seed had already begun to sprout. What was earlier described as a gentle experiment in collective memory, now unfolded with greater ease, deeper candor, and a widening circle of shared recollections. The idea remained simple: ‘Meet, Converse, Reflect, and Document.’ Yet, as often happens with meaningful initiatives, simplicity began revealing layers.

The familiar faces joined: Devulapalli Amar, GK Murthy, Bhandaru Srinivasa Rao, Press Club Secretary Ramesh Varikuppala, Vice-President Aruna Atthaluri, and myself. Joining us prominently this time was BS Ramakrishna, whose presence added a fresh rhythm to the evening’s reflections. Over a social drink and informal seating, pyramid dissolved once again into fellowship.

The evening opened on an unexpectedly playful note. BS Ramakrishna initiated what he called a ‘Photo Quiz.’ A photograph taken over fifty years ago was circulated among the group. It depicted a well-known personality, someone deeply familiar to all of us. Guesswork, laughter, teasing recollections, and half-remembered anecdotes filled the table. Interestingly, the quizmaster himself ultimately revealed the answer. The identity of the person, described affectionately as a ‘Friend in Need and Friend Indeed,’ was less important than what the exercise triggered: shared memory as collective ownership.

It was a reminder that journalism is not only about events, but about relationships built across decades. From there, the conversation flowed naturally into the evolution of print media. The transformation of print newspapers into predominantly digital platforms was observed without bitterness, but with curiosity. What truly defines ‘Largest Circulated’ in today’s context? Is it sheer printed copies? Is it digital reach? Is it influence? Or is it credibility?

The discussion, though light in tone, remained objective. The distinction between ‘Volume’ and ‘Issue’ numbers of publications surfaced as an unexpectedly technical yet significant point, particularly and especially in relation to government recognition and institutional benefits. What may appear as mere numbering carries structural implications for legitimacy and continuity.

The name of Andhra Prabha inevitably entered the discussion. There was a time when it was considered the most coveted Telugu newspaper for any aspiring journalist. To secure a position there was to earn professional validation. Some of those among us who had been associated with it, even briefly, or aspired to associate, recalled its editorial culture, discipline, and the pride it instilled. It was not merely employment, but it was apprenticeship in standards. The conversation gently evoked comparisons with present conditions, not as complaint, but in contemplation.

Mannerisms coupled with display of knowledge and skill of some senior journalists of earlier decades, and yester years, surfaced next, wondering as to how they carried themselves, how they edited copy with precision, how silence in the newsroom could be more instructive than lectures. There was mention of a group of three journalists fondly known as the ‘Three Musketeers’ whose camaraderie and intellectual sparring became part of newsroom folklore. Such recollections were not gossip, but they were unwritten chapters of institutional culture.

The dialogue inevitably touched upon the period of the Emergency under Indira Gandhi. The tone remained measured. The focus was not political accusation but professional memory, and how newspapers functioned, how pressures were navigated, and how editorial decisions were shaped by circumstance. References were made to figures such as Siddhartha Shankar Ray, DK Barooah, and AR Antulay, whose roles during that period had left impressions on media narratives of the time. The discussion remained reflective rather than rhetorical. Memory was treated as documentation, not debate. Just an objective critical appraisal.

Throughout the evening, contributions from BS Ramakrishna, Bhandaru Srinivasa Rao, and Devulapalli Amar anchored the discussion with historical clarity and contextual depth. My own role, as in the first meeting, was more of a listener and elicitor, nevertheless with occasional inputs, drawing out details that might otherwise remain unspoken. The pattern emerging from these gatherings is becoming clearer that, no single voice dominates, and instead, memory rotates.

GK Murthy then steered the evening toward a more personal recollection. He narrated, with warmth and detail, his long association with a Rajya Sabha member several times and TTD Chairman couple of times, from an initial acquaintance to close friendship. Through that association, he was able to assist several friends in obtaining darshan at Tirumala. The mention of a former Doordarsan Director known for his helpful disposition, added another strand to the tapestry of interconnected professional lives.

Such anecdotes illustrated how journalism, administration, public relations, and cultural institutions often intersect beyond formal boundaries. What distinguished this second meeting from the first was a subtle shift: from establishing the idea to inhabiting it. The first Friday proved that such a gathering could happen. The second demonstrated that it could sustain itself with fresh content, spontaneity, and intellectual seriousness without losing warmth. What is in store for next meeting is optimistic.

Once again, the meeting concluded not with formal resolutions but with quiet consensus. We would meet the following Friday. More members would be invited. More memoirs of public interest would be documented. The aim is not to create a closed circle, but an expanding forum: informal yet purposeful.

If the first article on Friday Meetings spoke of converting memory into meaning, the second meeting showed how meaning deepens through repetition. Institutions survive not merely through infrastructure but through conversation. The Press Club provides the venue, the participants provide continuity, but the idea provides life.

In an age when discourse often becomes fragmented and hurried, these Friday evenings offer a counter-model: unhurried dialogue, respectful disagreement, laughter sprinkled with learning, and documentation without dramatization.

The formula remains unchanged-

Meet. Reflect. Document. Continue.

But now, there is an added line born of experience-

Repeat, so that memory becomes tradition.

(As these evenings gradually find their rhythm, it is only natural that more like-minded journalists and Press Club members may, in due course, find themselves drawn into the circle, strengthening the continuity of shared professional memory.)