At school he drove his teachers to distraction, constantly questioning their authority. At university, he acted out his rock star fantasies as the lead singer of a band. To read the Blair story – from rebellious schoolboy to global statesman – please click here…
The British media provides an interesting fare prior to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s expected announcement today regarding his resignation from his post.
I enjoyed reading The Times which has a varied material to read, hear and view. Click here to visit the site…
For a satirical piece on Who is Tony Blair? please click here…
“Prime Minister Tony Blair is announcing Thursday that he will resign after 10 years of leading Britain’s government, a Labour party official said, reports AP.
“Blair was traveling to his northern England parliamentary district to formally announce his plans. He met earlier with Cabinet members, who left No. 10 Downing Street without answering questions shouted by reporters.
“Blair would leave office in late June or early July, depending on how quickly his party elects a successor — almost certain to be Treasury Chief Gordon Brown.
“Blair, 54, led Labour to two landslide election wins in 1997 and 2001, and a narrower but still comfortable victory in 2005.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.