An end

…and then, a start.

Let’s go a little further than this Twitter thread. My time at The Economic Times comes to an end today — an eventful journey that first began sometime in June 2018. It was fun, exciting, just to be able to move on, consolidate the amazing opportunity I received at The Ken between September 2016 and May 2018. That unique opportunity to emerge out of the proverbial (and literal) paywall, back to the mainstream, and beyond.

As I look back, and I do have a tendency to do so, I was this reporter, coming off a hugely buzzy media startup, strutting my way to the offices of The Economic Times in ITO, New Delhi. Whatever people continue to say (and said at the time), the newsroom, tucked in a basement in, had a unique buzz to it, perhaps even hallowed in its impression, inhabited by familiar bylines on the newspaper, but more so, those years of experience.

I still recall that day quite vividly, you don’t forget them easily. I sauntered along with my laptop and that familiar notebook, eager to meet would-be colleagues and just get a sense of the task at hand, popping in and out nervously, and oddly feeling, if I even belonged there. And here I am, nearly three years after that day, filling my exit forms, and closing out a chapter, which I quite relished.

To be on the front-lines as a reporter, and the sidelines as an observer, as India emerged as a global theatre where technology and politics intersected seamlessly, was nothing sort of a privilege, and an experience I’ve grown into. It was a unique yet disturbing vantage to be in, traversing and chronicling the several rabbit holes that have come to define our deeply polluted information ecosystem today. To add to it, I spent the last year focusing on stories that were lost in the rigmarole of daily reporting – the intriguing world of how the weeds of technology policy was actually drafted and created (those rules, guidelines, notifications and so on).

It was something I wanted to continue reporting on, but I guess it’s fair to say that the third-year syndrome kicked in. And kicked in hard.

Which is also why it is perhaps time to fade away from all of that. For now. Maybe not quite for good perhaps, as I look to explore this apparent dystopia in newer, longer formats. As I write this, I don’t quite know what medium that could manifest itself in. But what I can tell you, is this dystopia is here to stay and probably, get worse.

But I’m here for a fresh start. That clichéd new challenge, and in turn newer opportunities. A start, firmly entrenched in a skill journalists are most familiar with – storytelling. A start, that hopefully brings to the fore everything I’ve learnt as a journalist for the last 14 and a bit years – be it as that scrawny lad covering a cricket match from the press box, or when as this baldish, bespectacled man in his 30s interviewing startup founders and the like. And, a start, that keeps me grounded in a path I’ve chosen to follow, especially in recent times – to keep learning on a daily basis, to have your assumptions constantly challenged, questioned, and thereby grow into an even better professional.

I don’t intend to go on and on here. But it has been a while since I’ve written something, and frankly something like this.

The farewell tour usually begins with a spate of thank you messages. I thought I’d end mine with some. So, thank you to the editors — from the top to the desk to have helped me in this stint I thoroughly enjoyed, learnt and grew out of. To colleagues, I enjoyed working with, hanging out and bantering along. To those I didn’t get a chance to work with, who knows, we’ll end up somewhere again! And to the readers, to whom, what I reported and wrote at The Economic Times, made some sense, or even didn’t. For the brickbats, the nitpicks and the occasional praises, thank you.

I hope to continue writing and creating, telling more, and better stories — with the heft and depth they deserve. For publications, for myself, for readers. Again, not just to survive in these challenging times, but thrive, as those motivational speakers would say. To also build something cool, fun and edgy, that just doesn’t meet market expectations, but also is respected by peers, colleagues, and the broader expectations.

That time is here. That time is now. And I can’t wait to get to work tomorrow.