Mahatma Gandhi had once said become the change you want. I decided this year that it will be 5 years since i’ve worked with DNA, my longest stint so far. This would be the final year if i’d be compelled to cut my cake. (I took off to the jungles to see tigers so was spared that public cake cutting embarassment). I’d decided i HAD to get a better, more paying job than at DNA. I had reached my maximum, had done well & want to do something more.

To achieve this i worked to believing that i HAD to change…i must. New look (new hair cut), new belief, assertion

Well, i have a strong belief after i once read years ago a comment fm a very senior journalist in the west. “After working for over 10 yrs in the industry and that too with ethics, all you get is a watch or clock…wc costs peanuts to the company.” So i kept this statement in my mind.

I would not stay more than 3 yrs on an average. I experimented, risked shuttling between different mediums & languages. I switched from Broadcast to print at a time i wanted to take stock of my career & self. I needed a grip on my health, life & the innane work i was doing. I was NEVER trained to be a ‘byte-taking’ journalist. But realised i didn’t fit in the current scheme of things. Wc was temporary, byte oriented.

My dear friend J was keen i switch to prove i still have the mettle. I am formidable journo that he knew of me….so he asked if i’d join DNA. i’d avoided the newspaper like hell. Some people i didn’t want to work with I wasn’t sure if i wanted the same daily nonsense. I wanted time to write good stories, do good investigative work & have some fun in the profession that i had CHOSEN…to work passionately.

SO the best kind of work i got to work for the weekend issue. Take a good responsible position & got that much of work too. I was given the free hand to do specials. It is not frequently that a journalist gets a byline in the launch issue and i got it! Besides got a front page byline for 3 consecutive issues from launch. So i’ve actually achieved all that a journalist can dream of!

Got to do some really good specials, cover stories. Moreover had editors who pushed me took pleasure in pushing myself, increasing my benchmark & most of all stood by me…they showed faith in me. They heard me out if i said there was some story or news wc needed to be highlighted. They also wanted the best from their staff.

times they r a changin’ as Louis Amstrong sang….now its time to leave a place where many of us had big dreams for DNA. They instilled faith in us & made us believe we will be doing something different. We would create a newsy new paper. Well we weren’t off target. But we made mistakes, of hiring, constant change, confusion with whats news or not, presuming on behalf of our reader, constantly sending mixed signals. Besides constantly changing bosses…that is a trend wc this organisation management needs to get rid off. This is a menace wc has caused more harm than good.

Now that was NEVER part of my package deal or contract that i will be compelled to adjust to a new boss every 6 months. TO re-prove myself, talent, news sense. NO. Sorry bosses who have their own favourites, likes dislikes, yes boss types. I must’ve NOT liked most of those bosses but my commitment to my job was never less than 100%. But there is a limit. A point of “this is it….can’t take more…” that’s where i reached.

But instead of getting into the negativity i decided to make the changes within. Im glad i did it. went to the jungles, saw tigress who sealed my decision to quit! “If its tiger, its change,” said Jaideep my pal… & I quit DNA..now where ever the paths take me i will go….