Mystory@Sidharth Sethi: How my college education impacted my career

Quite surprisingly, my mother's sudden demise in the year 2000 set the path for my career. Honestly, I was quite directionless before that. I wasn't a great student and quite strangely, never ever wanted to be great, but one thing which I always craved for was to have my name or photograph published in the school magazine. While the world was ushering into the new century, I was mourning her loss and dreading the upcoming 10^th Board Exams. Dreading, because I failed in almost all the subjects in the pre-boards. That was the time when my first cousin decided to lend me a helping hand and came to my rescue and helped me score 72%.

During the session break, I had gone to my uncle's place in Meerut. It was there that I wrote my first article about my mother, how she looked, how she brought us up, how I had my own share of differences and some really special moments with her. I casually sent that article to the Times of India office and after a week, I received a call from their editorial head informing that they've decided to publish a small snippet from the same in one of their upcoming educational supplement. I became a star.

First time ever, I received so much appreciation from all my school teachers. My Maths teacher who always looked at me like I was the biggest crook she ever heard or knew (the feelings in fact were mutual), patted my back and kissed my forehead.

The break got over and despite pressure from my father, and almost all the family members, I decided to go against the family tradition of taking up Science in Class 11, score well and become an engineer. I was aware of my capabilities and managed to negotiate with my father, picked Commerce (still with a heavy heart as I wanted to take up Arts) with Mathematics which I still hate as much as I did then.

I passed Class 11 with grace marks, opted for Physical Education to be on the safe side. As expected, I scored 18 out of 100 in Mathematics but passed with an aggregate of 60%.

Once again, I decided I wanted to pursue Media studies and went to Manipal University for my graduate degree. Came back and spent a year doing some jobs here and there. Finally decided I'd do my post-graduation but couldn't gather courage to study for another two years, hence took admission in one year PG Diploma course at Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan.

I represented my school and university in numerous events such as quizzes, debates, singing competitions, acting competitions, essay writing competitions, etc.

I got my first job with a Delhi based publication house as a reporter. After six months of working there, I got another opportunity with their competitor publication house as a reporter. Since they offered me better salary, I found no harm in leaving my first job. I spent another six months in my second job when I got my first big break. I joined the online-business arm of Hindustan Times as their Web Editor. This was the time when recession hit almost all the industries in the country. I remained safe.

About the Author:

I am Sidharth Sethi, I always had great inclination towards cultural and extra-curricular activities. I was awarded 'Young Reporter' badge from the Chief Editor of Times of India, Late Dr Dileep Padgaonka for my articles that got published with them. At my graduation level, I pursued BA Media Studies course from Manipal School of Communication and I have complete PG Diploma in Journalism from Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, New Delhi. I am currently working as Head of Content at GoPaisa.com.