Journalist Le Thanh Nguyen - Head of the Lao Dong Newspaper Representative Office in the Mekong Delta (Can Tho) directly welcomed me at the airport when I first flew to this land of white rice and clear water (in 1997). He enthusiastically invited me to eat a bowl of pho, chatted with me with the kindness of an older brother and took me back to the office. That evening, the power suddenly went out and he picked up the guitar at the back of the room to play and sing the song "No Name No. 2" by musician Vo Thanh An with the line "In a girl's life, there are many dreams / God gives freely How long until I get married/ Only one love left to carry...". I always remember his voice at that time, so sad and felt like he was remembering a love affair... While drinking, he was always cheerful and enthusiastic, but no matter how happy he was, his eyes were always sad. And later when I had the opportunity to meet him again, when he had retired to attend a newspaper picnic, I still saw his gloomy eyes filled with an indescribable sadness.
I heard about journalist Tuong Vy (real name Cao Dinh Tuong), a famous writer in the sports industry, for a long time. I met him when I first came to Saigon for work. With a generous nature, Tuong Vy did not go to the field to watch the football match to write articles but instead spent time drinking with her younger brother. But with the professionalism of a journalist, when it was time for the match, he still asked the owner to turn on the TV so he could drink and watch. That evening, after drinking and drinking, he sat back and rewrote the article of his younger brother - a collaborator (collaborator) he ordered in the afternoon "because he wrote everything wrong about tactics" but still addressed his younger brother's name. royal. That is just one of many cases where Tuong Vy always behaves very seniorly with his juniors. Being able to hang out with him at night and drink a few nights at night made me see his "work hard, play hard" quality. Originally a Literature teacher, Tuong Vy writes freely and richly in literary style, from sharp football commentaries like "Hot Rain" to reportage "Sword Lake Stadium"...
If Tuong Vy has the arrogance and generosity of a Northerner boy moving to the South, then Tran Quang has the generosity of a Southerner. Journalist Tran Quang specializes in monitoring the newspaper's internal affairs, became famous for his series of articles about Thanh Huong perfume, and was later the person who received the first information about Van Quyen's involvement in match-fixing. He is also the person who taught me many lessons about life during endless beer matches. Tough and determined, brave in life, but inside he is a very sentimental person who values his brothers and sisters. Many memories with him from the time he took off the black vest given to him by a BBC journalist, giving it to me as a souvenir of my first trip to Saigon to the times I had coffee at Bach Tung Diep park next to the newspaper, or Drink at many different bars, with peak meals from 9am to 11pm. There is a stereotype that Southern people are liberal but rarely think deeply, Tran Quang is the opposite. Many times, when I see him teasing and teasing, I mistakenly think he has many hidden thoughts inside. Tran Quang is a person with many anecdotes, from the story of "fooling" a boss to the story of releasing a snake in the middle of a beer shop to release animals to play or the story of saving a reporter from being unjustly involved in a controversial case...
Poet and journalist Bui Viet Phong (former Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Lao Dong Newspaper) is warm and sophisticated, sensitive to life and people's hearts. There was a period when he was sick for a long time and when he returned to work, he wrote a series of essays under the pen name Dien Nam that were profound and rich in experience. I always remember the time when my grandfather invited me home to play. At that time, he was very weak and only liked to drink white wine from an old Soviet cup with only a few tiny pieces of sausage as bait. Afraid I was hungry, he cooked noodles for me to eat and excitedly talked about his poetry and journalism life...
There is a person who can be called a "know-it-all" and always looks at life with a humorous and slightly sarcastic look. That is Deputy Editor-in-Chief Tran Duc Chinh with the famous pen name Ly Sinh Su. I was also fortunate to sit and drink with him many times, and learned from him a lot of knowledge about the profession, as well as lessons in how to behave in life. The happiest times were sitting with him and poet and screenwriter People's Artist Dao Trong Khanh, a close collaborator of Lao Dong Newspaper, a talented person and rich in philosophy about life. “God sent us to earth to express ourselves. The universe is a big stage and the place we live in is a small stage. All of us, from the youngest to the oldest, are roles, all roles are "the one who takes off his shirt, wipes off his makeup, and shakes off his reputation and the dust of the world". Dao Trong Khanh once said that.
Lao Dong Newspaper is also a gathering place for many talented and personality-filled authors from female journalist Phuong Yen, journalist and poet Do Quang Hanh, reportage writer Xuan Quang... and many other names.
In the endless flow of time, everything keeps taking us away and then "Many nights, seeing me is like a waterfall / When I wake up, I can still hear it" (Trinh Cong Son).
