Dinesh Kamath had worked with great journalist Behram Contractor (Busybee)

Above: Dinesh Kamath, Editor of Newsband, and Behram Contractor (Busybee)

Above: Behram Contractor (Busybee) while he is relishing one of his favourite dishes at a restaurant in Mumbai

Above: Behram Contractor or Busybee, one of India's greatest columnist and journalist. Hat's off to him!

I am proud to say that I had worked with one of India's greatest journalist who was none other than Behram Contractor who would write his articles under his popular pen name Busybee.

When I was doing my course in journalism at Bombay College of Journalism at KC College, Churchgate, I was sent to Midday office to work as intern for 12 days. The editor of Midday at that time was Khalid Ansari. The very first day I went there I got the opportunity to sit face to face with the greatest newspaper columnist, Busybee (Behram Contractor). Now I was one of the greatest fans of Busybee whose articles I would read practically everyday. Busybee had a special space reserved for him on the last page of daily newspaper Midday. He had his own style of writing. He would write in a simple, lucid style very humorous articles and sometimes even emotional ones. He would write under the heading 'Round and About'. Busybee was also fond of eating. There was a phase in his career when he would go to new restaurant everyday, eat the best dish available there and immediately after that he would write detailed article on the dish he ate and also the restaurant he visited. During his career as a journalist, he visited a great number of restaurants, ate a great number and varieties of dishes and wrote innumerable articles on the restaurants he stepped into and the dishes he simply relished. Well, I was telling you about my personal meeting with Behram Contractor or Busybee. I had never seen Busybee's photograph and hence I didn't know how exactly he looked like. But I had seen his cartoon sketched by the great cartoonist Mario Miranda. Hence when I came face to face with him in Midday office on my first day as intern I immediately recognized him. I asked him, "Sir, are you Busybee?" He just nodded. Next I asked him, "How do you get all those ideas?". He just made a gesture which meant 'God knows how!" After that my training as intern began. Throughout the time I worked as intern there I would observe Busybee while at work. Those days there were no computers. Busybee would type on a manual typewriter. He would type his daily article directly on the typewriter and that too with just one finger. While typing he would have chats with his neighour who was also a journalist and whose name was Carol Andrade. I also wrote some articles just the way Busybee would write and then showed those works of mine to none other than Busybee himself. He would get impressed. On my last day as intern he told me, "Dinesh, you are a good writer. Go and join the Times of India's evening newspaper 'The Evening News'' You can definitely be like me." I had never felts so much pleased in my entire life. Imagine such comment coming from a legend like Busybee! I did go to 'The Evening News' office but unfortunately it was on the verge of shutting down. For your information, Busybee would work for 'The Evening News' before joining Midday. It was in The Evening News that he had started his popular column 'Round and About'. A huge number of people would buy The Evening News just to read Busybee's columns. (The Evening News had to shut down once Busybee left that paper. So great a man was Busybee.) After that Midday grabbed him and he did the same magic for Midday too. If Midday today is one of the prominent newspapers in Mumbai it is solely because of the solid foundation that Busybee single-handedly laid to it in its initial stages. Had it not been for Busybee, nobody would know about Midday which would die a silent death. For your information, Busy-bee in the later years started his own newspaper called 'Afternoon' of which he was the publisher and editor. He continued writing his column 'Round and About' for his own paper 'Afternoon' too. The newspaper became a big hit overnight. Busybee or Behram Contractor is no more today but his best works are still alive on many book stands in the form of many volumes.

Here is a short biography of Behram Contractor, also known as Busybee. He was born in 1930 and he expired on 9 April 2001. He was one of the greatest figure in Indian journalism during his times. He worked at the Free Press Journal, Times of India (Bombay) and Midday before forming his own newspaper 'The Afternoon Despatch and Courier' (better known as Afternoon) in 1995. His column 'Round and About' was the most loved editorials in the city. He also wrote "Eating Out' which featured one of the best Mumbai restaurants giving a glimpse of many Indian and international cuisines. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990 and the Goenka Award for Excellence in 1996. In 1998, Contractor published From Bombay to Mumbai, a collection of the best of Busybee's columns from 1996 and 1997. Behram Contractor died in 2001 from a heart attack. That was one of the saddest days for me! Bye!