It was my brother who inspired me to write. My brother, Sagar, is a brilliant artist. When we were both kids, my father was posted in Dubai by Bank Of Baroda. In Dubai, we came across our very first youth, Young Times, which had a lot of sections which bode well with us children.
There was a column 'Canvas' which invited children to send in their drawings, paintings, etc. that would be printed in Young Times. Sagar, being the brilliant artist he was, sent in a few of his drawings to the mag, which in fact got published. Following suit, I tried my hand at drawing as well and sent in my contributions to the mag. But mine were never published. I would invest a lot of sweat in what I thought were BLOODY AWESOME drawings, but the mag would never publish them.
It was time for me to leave Dubai. As a last desperate attempt at seeing my name in print, I dashed across a letter to YT asking them why they never published my drawings and sent another drawing. They still didn't publish any drawing, but they instead published my letter! I felt vindicated!
Months later, my dad found a job in Bahrain and we were back in the Gulf. I came across Young Times again. This time though, I didn't try and get any of my drawings published(I still have a grudge against them for not publishing them because my drawings were good!!! I still think so at least!!!). Instead, I started sending them letters. Thoughtful letters, thought provoking letters. I started taking part in YT contests, tried sending my stuff to every column which invited reader contributions. And got to see my name in print quite a few times. I was a happy teenager.
The turning point of my life came in the summer of 2001. I was 13 that time. There was a celebrity cricket match organized in Bahrain and to my dismay, I didn't find any mention of it in my favourite magazine, Young Times. So I wrote an article on the event and sent it across to YT with an email in which I asked them why they never covered events in Bahrain. After all, it was an integral part of the Middle East. I ended the letter by taking my chances and asking them if I could cover it for them, if they didn't have any correspondents in Bahrain.
They said yes.
It was a long shot, but hey, it worked! And with that, started my tryst with journalism. On October 1, 2000, I got a letter signed by Mr. B. Surender, the then-editor of Young Times, who accredited me as a correspondent of Young Times. I was in the 9th standard at Indian School, Bahrain at that time. I am not sure what Mr. Surender meant when he said I, a 14 year old school going kid, would be the Bahrain correspondent of Young Times but I had my own interpretation of it. So when a celebrity event took place in Bahrain during October, 2001, in which Sajid Khan, Shankar Mahadeven and Hema Sardesai had come to perform, I got the phone no. of the organizers from the local newspaper and called them up and requested for their interviews.
What followed was my first press conference at age 14, and my first interview with Sajid Khan, which Young Times was ever so happy to publish.
It's been 7 and a half years since. I am 21 now, have just finished off my last year at National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, where I had been studying Computer engineering since the past 4 years. In the meanwhile, though, what started off as a hobby has turned into a passion and now I have 100 odd interviews of Indian and international celebrities to my credit, including the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Aiswharya Rai, Michael Schumacher, Viswanathan Anand, etc. I am still free lancing for Young Times and am having a kick ass time.
I don't know where my life or career is headed. Journalism is in my blood now and I am feverishly looking for a job in the media field! I have two jobs in the IT sector and I am all set to forgo them to follow my dream.... Wish me luck!
So well, happy reading :) ! And do come again!
