Why I never went beyond being a correspondent in 10 years?
It has been 10 years that I worked in journalism. 2003 May
when I started as a rookie (lesser than a trainee) when I worked for free for
nine months at Mid-Day Pune. From the 10th month onwards they
started paying me Rs 3000…my first salary ever! I was 18 then. Mid-Day was a
fortnightly and I was learning everything from Rupa Chapalgaonkar -the only
editorial person there. We worked like pals…sometimes even stayed in the office
when work deadlines burnt our asses. Mind you –fortnightly or weekly deadlines
are deadlier than daily deadlines.
Then came the big break (seemed big that time) at Sakaal
group with The Maharashtra Herald. I was 19 when they took me up as a trainee
with Madhav Gokhale as my boss. I was there for four years when it was revamped
into Sakaal Times. As Madhav Gokhale continued to be my boss, I was assigned
various assignments from writing on macro-level civic issues to handling beats
like education and health.
But this is not about my career graph. This is about the one
thing that I have learnt on the job…the one thing that will continue to be on my mind
in any jobs I take up in future…the one thing that the worst boss in my career
taught me.
In 2008 September I was interviewed at The Indian Express by
the Pune resident editor Vinod Mathew Jacob. He gave me a written test which I
cleared and I was included in the team. I had heard about his not-so-good reputation…but
I thought more about the brand than the man.
It turned out that I was the new subject for his torture. There
were many moments of mental torture –shifting beats every month so that I don’t
get used to any single beat, pestering for stories so that I attended more of
his calls than actually make any story-related calls, a number of insults in
public… But the worst was when he stole my story idea –that of Iranians in
India voicing against their newly elected President Ahmadinejad for his own
national page one byline. And the second worst was when he put an
under-performer remark on my appraisals in 2009 because the management had
mandated him to select two persons as part of cost-cutting. Under-performer,
which meant I was not filing enough stories, when the count was two per day or
I was not filing enough national stories, when my national story ideas were being trashed or
stolen or I was not licking his ass or was not drinking with him…
I thought of complaining, but never mustered the strength. I
thought of resigning but the idea of being jobless was unbearable for someone
who was used to earning her money since she was 18. One of my friends –also a
journo from another publication suggested complaining MNS about the torture.
But I was too naïve and always thought, ‘what if I complain and it backfires
and I never ever get a job in journalism again?’ The ‘under-performer’ remark on
my appraisal left me a correspondent for the next three years.
While Vinod resigned to join The New Indian Express, his
successor found it difficult to recommend my promotion till 2012. The other male
colleague who went through similar torture is now with PTI Mumbai.
2013…when I was finally ready for a promotion, I decided to
get pregnant, have a baby and quit my job. I quit in May knowing that I would
be getting a promotion in June...but my priorities were different. I want to
raise my baby during her foundation years by myself and not get distracted by
anything else.
I am ashamed I never stood for me then…I am ashamed I never
fought him back…Sometimes I feel ashamed I was a journalist. But not any more…even
if I was an “underperformer”, at least I didn’t
drink on the job, did not take perks from sources and never misused my press
card.
After reading this, many would say I was a fool for not
fighting back...many would ask why I am writing about him and naming him now?
Many would question if this is my way of getting back at him, not that I am out
of the fiels? The answer is partially yes. I always thought of giving it out in
public. And now I have the time..
This is how some editors are and how some reporters are! After
all journalism is a business, not a profession...We supposedly teach the world
about fighting for morality and fighting for self, but here was a moral-less
editor and a gut-less reporter. But now
that I am not a reporter any more, I will always be gutsy…
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