"Don't eat gums; don't use I-pods or headphones and never show how wealthy you are if you want to be safe in Baghdad. These are the things that Arabs generally don't use. And if one does, he is quickly identified as a foreigner, which might put him in danger from the militias or the mushrooming kidnapping gangs," says Aparisim 'Bobby' Ghosh, who has been in the war-torn country for the last four years.
Bobby, who is the Baghdad bureau chief of Time magazine, has seen two kidnap attempts been made on him and his car fired at by American soldiers mistaking him to a bomber.
"The Iraq war is the biggest story for this generation and I feel happy that I am a part of this story," he says.
Thanks to his Indian passport, it made the Baghdad dream possible.
"I went to Baghdad two months before the war started. Saddam government had put Time magazine on black list. It was just impossible for any American journalist to get a visa. But since I was an Indian, even though I was working for Time, I was given permission. That was because Iraq likes Indians because India stood by them when sanctions were imposed on that country post Gulf War. The Indian passport had become an asset for me," he says.
According to Bobby, his Indianness (brownish looks) helps him daily in Baghdad.
"When I walk on the streets, people consider me as part of them. Unlike other foreign journalists, I can walk into anyone's house without arousing his neighbours suspicion," adds Bobby who lives in the Red Zone (the unprotected area of Baghdad where most of the bombings take place) to 'understand the Iraq situation better.'
Talking about the cultural connection between Iraq and India he says that at one time Indian films and music were famous in Iraq and now the Iraqis are again getting a taste of
Indian entertainment thanks to satellite channels.
Bobby's Indian background has also helped him to get close to Iraqi officials.
"Iraqi officials find it easy to talk to me. In fact, when the Iraqi constitution was being re-made, officials used to always get in touch with me to understand the Indian Constitution as they felt we were also facing the same problem. Finally I had to ask my Indian Bureau to send me copies of our constitution, which I passed on to the officials," he explains.
But, his Indian looks have not always been beneficial for him.
"At check-posts, American or western soldiers eye me with suspicion as I look like an Arab. But, all I have to do is open my mouth and show them my ID," he says.
Though Bobby has seen other close shaves with death as numerous bombs have exploded near his vicinity and moreover also because his house has been bombed too, what really scared him initially was his landing at the international airport in Iraq.
"It is the world's scariest landing -- a steep, corkscrewing landing. To avoid being shot down by Iraqi insurgents, the pilot must stay at 30,000 ft until the plane is directly over Baghdad airport, then bank into a spiralling dive, straightening up just yards from the runway," he says.
He adds that he now takes the aisle seat as experience has taught that it's the best seat to avoid sickness while landing.
Sharing his views on the recent incident when a wire agency photographer covering the Lebanon war in Beirut was fired for playing around with his pictures on Photoshop to give 'effect' to his image, he says, "Yes I can understand when journalist give effects to their stories or pictures when the war is almost ending. But, if you are in Iraq, one would not even think about it. There is so much happening around you, so much bloodshed, that one has to tone it down in their articles."
Even though covering Iraq gives him an adrenaline push, what he misses is the company of his family.
"At least I can be assured that my family is safe unlike my Iraqi colleagues who not only have to keep me safe but also their family and friends safe too," he says.
One thing that the journalist should be careful of besides being caught in bomb explosions or being shot at or caught in crossfire between the militia and the troops, are the kidnapping gangs that have mushroomed in the country.
Since, the Iraq war, nearly 200 journalist have been killed while covering Iraq, he says.
Throwing light on the present political situation in Iraq, he says, "The greatest tragedy of Iraq is that there is no statesman who can rise above sectarian, regional and linguistic politics. I don't see solutions to the Iraqi problem unless a new generation of leaders comes up. Iraq needs leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi."
