Technology has Taken Over

Was your entry into journalism, as a trainee at The Statesman, New Delhi, by design or default?

It's a funny story. People of your generation will probably not understand. When we were in final year at St Stephen's in 1963, we started thinking, ‘After BA (in history) what?' I did my MA but we were thinking what career we should get into. In our time, barely 20 years after the country's independence, job opportunities were very limited. There were five or six options for boys: IAS, the Army, tea gardens, one of the British companies, medicine and law.

In the IAS, IFS was the first choice.

The Army was on the lines of the British Army. It was very attractive - there were tremendous perks, one did drills till 12, then went to the club, played polo; every day-to-day need was subsidised by the government. Being a manager of a tea garden also meant a good lifestyle. The British companies, called boxwallahs, too, provided an excellent lifestyle and very good salary.

People wanted to join one of these professions because you could then get a good-looking wife.

Most people in our class sat for the Civil Services exam. My father, too, wanted me, too, to take the exam. But around the time of the exam, I was away playing a friendly cricket match in Dehradun. My father was livid when I told him I wasn't applying for the IAS. He didn't talk to me for days.

One day, a friend of my father's who was the editor of The Statesman in Delhi came home for dinner.

He asked me, "What will you do?"

"I want to be a journalist."

"Why?"

"I like writing."

"This is not enough. Journalism is a profession. It's a different thing."

"I'll learn."

"Come to see me in my office."