Gitanjali Aiyar passes away: 10 things to know about the legendary news anchor

One of the icons of India's TV journalism, Gitanjali Aiyar, has breathed her last. And with her closes another chapter of a time when anchors were neutral in their approach and presented news as it was.

With the demise of the great Aiyar, here we take a look into her life and career and bring to you the top 10 things you did not about her.

Who was Gitanjali Iyer?

1. Aiyar, began her career in the TV news industry, when she joined Doordarshan in 1976 after completing her graduation from Kolkata's Loreto College in '71.

2. Besides news, Aiyar was also involved in theatre and also obtained a diploma from the National School of Drama.

3. An Indian Express report reveals that Aiyar grew up by observing people like Surojit Sen and Pamela Singh reading news on the radio, and was greatly influenced by them.

4. News presenters like Aiyar became vastly influential across the country in the mid 1970s, before which Doordarshan only offered programmes like Chitrahaar and Krishi Darshan.

Aiyar, in a report by Scroll, recalls how influential people thought her to be when she was working with Doordarshan: “Once a man came and rang the doorbell to ask me to do something about bringing electricity to the chawl he was living in. Another time, an auto driver in Dehradun would not take any money after dropping me to the school where my son was studying. Many felt we were doing a lot for the nation. It was all very touching.”

In the same report, Aiyar is quoted talking about the challenges she faced as a news anchor back then without much technological aids.

She recalled, “We didn’t have teleprompters. There was someone who was manually rolling the script for us. It was very difficult to look at the camera and look down at what you were reading all at the same time. We also had to be agile at all times because a person standing near the camera would suddenly gesture and ask you to go faster or slower depending on what was appropriate.”

Geetanjali Aiyar career highlights

5. Aiyar's career in news began with her joining All India Radio's English news section immediately after her graduation.

6. Aiyar, one of the most well-known faces on television from her generation, won the best anchor award four times in a row. She was also awared the Indira Gandhi Proyadarshini Award for Outstanding women in 1989.

7. The news anchor also acted in a TV series, Khandaan, also on DD. Besides her career in TV, Aiyar often appeared in print advertisements.

8. After drawing the curtain on her career as a news reader, Aiyar also worked for the Taj and Oberoi hotel groups, as well as CII and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Geetanjali Aiyar cause of death

9. Aiyar had been suffering from Parkinson's disease. Sources close to the family have revealed that Aiyar had collapsed after returning home from a walk. Journalist Sumita Paul, one of Aiyar's close friends, revealed to IE that the latter was being rushed to the hospital but passed away en route.

Family

10. Aiyar is survived by her two children, daughter Pallavi and son Shekhar. Pallavi, herself an award-winning journalist, recalled in one of her Substack articles, how a picture that she posted of her mother on Twitter still drew fond reactions from several Indians.