Thank God you made me quit ANI on a good note......

Yes, I quit Asian News International (ANI) finally on Nov.15, 2010. That was my last day there.

I was in a doubt, whether I would ever be able to see or imagine myself living beyond working at ANI ever. My decision surprised many of my well-wishers as they learnt that I quit to join as media consultant at Morarji Desai National Inst. of Yoga (under Depart. of AYUSH), Ministry of Health.

It felt surprising also because I opted to not explore or utilise the available options of working in TV channels or rival News Agency and even Economic Times!) I know I disappointed many a people as much I disappointed the journalist in me. But , at the same time, my decision did delight all those who knew about the untenable circumstances I was working in for such a long time.

It will not be complete truth, if I said that I changed it for the sake of new opportunity. Rather, I left ANI as it had been consistently getting into my nerves.

The kind of intense stress and third-grade politics was killing me inside. I remember how on the very day I joined office on the third day after marriage, an emergency meet was convened to target me. It was a well-planned meeting to reflect an easily readable political trap for me.

I was told that my evening shift, that I did for over a year consistently, couldn't be changed in any circumstances. Even my weekly off, which was easily possible, could not be changed. It simply meant that no matter what my personal life was going to be affected henceforth. My bastard boss lacked humaneness when he mentioned the new rules of 'no change in shifts', exculively for me. I was told the evening shift meant for those who were not good writers. It was adding insult to injury for a person who had been writing on daily basis in last seven years without a break.

All this was a bastard act of Praful, an average Bihari journalist whose claim to fame is nothing beyond "Mere Bhaiya President ki security ke incharge hain". He colluded with Ashok DickShit to target me so that he could escape the hardship of evening shift.

My classification in the poor writers' category was quite hurtful. It was all the more surprising to everyone, as I am known for my writing among all.

It is worth mentioning here about the work profile I was assigned in ANI to evaluate my worth for Print Media section of ANI. In the last five years, I was made the sole incharge of Feature stories of ANI's print media section, the incharge of late evening shift happened two years ago. On the last day, as an ANI employee, my profile comprised being responsible for Jammu and Kashmir's stories, North East stories, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh stories, writing Ministry of External Affairs's Exclusive Feature stories, handling all political, and international stories related to President, Prime Minister, and External Affairs Minister's foreign visits, Sports (Commonwealth Games's opening ceremony and closing ceremony related all stories). Even though my sincerity and dedication to my work without complaint, despite everything, had earned me respect gradually from Ashok Dick-Shit, the very man I hated the most all these years, but I was too anguished with the politics as had been played in the recent past here that I wanted to quit even for peanuts.

Ashok and Praful had joined hands in Harami Giri (the bastard act of putting resonsiblity on others) for the sake of just 'Daru ki Bottle' (a bottle of whisky).

But I have no ill-will for the great organisation, the ANI, that offered me an opportunity to explore the hidden writer in me. It was quite a privilege to work upon a variety of subjects. Various forms of writing required for them were gradually developed in me. It was initially, like in all writing jobs, much to do with adapting the right formats and stuffing relevant information in that. Later, it turned quite interesting exploration of style of presentation with words and placements of additional or relevant information to every writing piece. The whole credit for enabling me to write to my fullest potential goes to I.Ramamohan Rao, the Editior-in-Chief, the person I directly reported to. The immediate boss, Ashok Dixit, was a dampenor always. His job has always been to keep others demotivated like himself.

Ashok Dixit, my immediate boss and News Editor, threw a farewell lunch for me at a fantastic hotel in Green Park and my main boss that I respected the most all these years, Mr. I. Ramamohan Rao, threw another farewell party at the renovated Karnataka Sangha, in R.K.Puram after two days. The gesture of both the bosses touched my heart immensely. It was a farewell worth remembering forever for its sincere gesture. Honestly stating, I least expected it !.

Regards
Chaudhary Sandeep Datta