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| In a bid to spice things up at Indian Auto, we started featuring high-end foreign bikes in the magazine, which hadn't been done before |
In
an earlier post, I wrote about leaving CNET India and coming back to Jasubhai
Media, joining Indian Auto. I was just about getting started at Indian Auto
when tragedy struck. The story continues here.
When I joined Indian
Auto as executive editor in mid-2000, I had no formal training in journalism.
Before this, I had written a few tech-related articles for the Times of India
(Lucknow edition) as a freelancer and had worked for two years with CHIP,
as the head of writers’ team. At that time, my only understanding of what
automotive journalism can or should be, came from having read dozens of car and
motorcycle magazines – both Indian and foreign – every single month, for the
last 15 years. That, along with my love for all things automotive, had me join Indian
Auto and to this day I remain grateful to Maulik for having given me a
chance to lead Indian Auto.
Due to years of poorly-planned and poorly-executed editorial work, Indian Auto had become something of a damp squib and was largely irrelevant at the time when I joined. It did not matter what the magazine said or what its writers wrote – nobody cared. And since it was widely perceived as a once-noteworthy publication that was now down and out, Indian Auto also did not have the best of relations with some car and motorcycle manufacturers. This was something I had started working on as soon as joined – had started the process of going to each manufacturer’s office and meeting the PR, communications and marketing people in order to rebuild relations and communicate to them that Indian Auto was undergoing a major revamp.
In the meanwhile, we got an invite from Fiat India – they were launching the Siena Weekend and were organizing a drive for the media near Alwar, in Rajasthan. I attended on behalf of Indian Auto and in the evening, on the day before the actual drive, met the automotive journalist fraternity. Since there were no bloggers, YouTubers, Instagrammers and social media influencers at the time, there were only a handful of journalists from magazines and newspapers. Most journalists from these publications were well-established in their profession and had apparently been around for years. The few whom I did meet and talk to, seemed surprised that Jasubhai Media had hired someone with no prior experience of automotive journalism to lead Indian Auto. Since I did not really know anyone in the fraternity, I was largely ignored and left to my own devices, though one person – Murad Ali Baig – a writer and columnist for various magazines and newspapers, invited me to join him at his table for the evening, which I did. I was happy being there, not knowing how eventful the next day would be and what infamy it would bring to me.
Next day, after a hearty breakfast, all journalists were given a Siena Weekend each and we headed out from our hotel to drive the cars. And that was the last thing I remembered, before waking up in a hospital in Delhi. From what I was told later, I’d had a massive crash in the car – the accident, according to onlookers and some Fiat team members, was spectacular, with the Siena rolling over two or three times at high speed. Apart from some minor cuts and bruises on my arms, I must have hit my head really hard on something, because I suffered a massive concussion and became unconscious. The Fiat team had to take me to a hospital and since it must have seemed that I was in a serious condition, they had me admitted to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in New Delhi. My parents, who were in Bombay at that time, flew down to Delhi. I was kept in the hospital for 3-4 days and once the doctors agreed to discharge me, I was taken to an aunt’s (my mother’s younger sister, who’s also a doctor herself) house in Model Town. I had suffered a massive concussion and was, even one full week after the accident happened, dazed and confused. I had to spend 2-3 days at my aunt’s house in Delhi, after which my parents took me back to Lucknow. Apart from the concussion I had suffered, I had diplopia (double vision) whenever I tilted my head to one side, and had also suffered a painful tailbone injury, which sometimes made it difficult for me to sit on hard surfaces.
While a car accident is, of course, a terrible thing to happen at any time, this was a particularly bad time for this accident to have happened to me. I had just started making some changes in the way things had been working at Indian Auto, and the process of revamping the magazine in term of content and design had barely begun. There was hardly any editorial team to speak of, and resources were limited. And in all of this, now I would also be out of action for a month. While I recovered and recuperated in Lucknow, I was dying to get back to work and rejoin office in Bombay. While going to office wasn’t possible right away, I did speak to Mr Ramesh on the phone and we worked out an arrangement by which I would be given Internet access (no broadband in those days – we still only had slow, dial-up connections at home!) and would work from my apartment in New Bombay until I could return to office full-time. My parents accompanied me back to Bombay, to my apartment in Raval Tower in CBD Belapur, where I set up my desktop PC and got to work. Things at Indian Auto were in a mess and I began my efforts to do whatever little I could, from home.
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| My apartment in Raval Tower, CBD Belapur, New Bombay. This is where I worked from after the accident, before returning to office full-time | |
After about
two weeks, I was ready to start going to office again. The first day back in
Balarama building was stressful. Much had been said about me behind my back –
some of it by people within the organization itself, some by staffers of other
magazines. There were various stories and conspiracy theories floating around, according
to one of which I was half-drunk when I crashed that Fiat. The drive had
started at around 9 a.m. and I had already crashed by around 10.30-11 a.m. So, how
one could be drunk at that time of the day was beyond me, but what can one do
about ill-intentioned rumours? In this case, the rumour had been spread by a
senior journalist who had once applied for a columnist’s position at CHIP,
and I had turned him down after consulting with Gourav. So this was, perhaps,
that person’s attempt at getting revenge.
Fortunately for me, Mr Ramesh had complete faith in me and did not believe any
of the nonsense that was floating around. And soon, it was business as usual.
Over the next few months, I spared no effort in revamping the magazine and
bringing it up to the standards of the competition in terms of design, the
quality of writing and professionalism in testing and reviewing cars and bikes.
One of our freelancers, Nivedita, had good connections with models and film
stars and was able to do some nice lifestyle features with these stars. Another
freelancer, Ravi, from Guwahati, who was a Royal Enfield fanatic, did some
great motorcycle stories from us. I also managed to convince a few foreign
writers to allow Indian Auto to use their articles, without expecting a payment
in return. All were able to provide was a byline and a short note introducing
these writers, and some of them made peace with that. IA had no budgets
to hire freelance writers in India, so we could definitely forget about paying
foreign writers!
I handled most car and motorcycle reviews, with some help from Biswajyoti, but
he also had to leave after a few months and went back to his hometown due to
his own personal circumstances. After this, we hardly had any team to speak of –
I handled all the testing and reviewing, while Norman handled the news and
motorsports sections. Some print publications back then were just beginning to
set up their websites and we also wanted to have at least a basic presence on
the Web. We tried to get the Indian Auto website started, but barely made
any progress due to a lack of resources. Lopa, our editorial coordinator, who
had also learnt some web programming, tried to help with getting the website started
but made little headway. In the meanwhile, Lopa and I had a big argument regarding
the website and she later decided to leave the magazine. I was sorry to see her
go, despite being quite upset with her at that time.
In the meanwhile, the management decided to move Indian Auto from
Balarama, in Bandra Kurla, to the Taj Building office on DN Road. So, for the
second time in two years (the first time was with CHIP), I saw my office
being moved from Bandra Kurla to DN Road. Since at that time there were only five
people in the Indian Auto editorial team – Norman, Subir, Mahua (who had
taken Lopa’s place), Ganesh and I – we were given one of the meeting rooms at
Taj Building, where the entire team sat. Mr Shah deputed one other person from
the group – Arun – to help with editorial matters, but Arun knew absolutely
nothing about cars or bikes and he and I never really got along. I tried to keep him
at an arm’s length, which he did not like. One day, he came into the room where
the Indian Auto team used to sit and expressed his anger over not being included
in the magazine’s editorial activities, despite the fact that Mr Shah wanted him
involved. We had a shouting match that day, after which I went to Mr Ramesh and
told him that Arun was in no way suited to being part of the IA team, and
that there was no way I’d let him be a part of the team as long as I was
around. Mr Ramesh, always a thorough gentleman – always kind and patient –
heard me out and calmed me down, and said he’d discuss this with Mr Shah.
Occasionally, there were also run-ins with the IA business manager who,
in the interests of earning some additional revenue for the magazine, insisted on
the IA editorial team doing that I was not prepared to do. Looking back,
I now realise just how naïve I was, how unprepared for the reality of running a
monthly magazine. Not just handling the editorial side of things, which I think
I had done a fair job of. But also the business side of things, which I simply
wasn’t aligned with. At CHIP, Gourav had shielded us from everything – his
being there had allowed us, the edit team, to focus purely on editorial work
and not be concerned with the business side of things. At IA, there was no
Gourav to shield me from things; I had to face the stark reality of running a
magazine, especially one that faced intense competition from other,
better-staffed, better-equipped publications. Then, as now, maximizing revenues
was most publishers’ top priority and editors who could adapt to that would go
on to do well. I couldn’t and soon, it was time for my exit.
I did have a meeting or two with Mr Jasubhai Shah but nothing much came of it –
the difficult issues remained unresolved and I decided to put in my papers at
the end of 2001 – just one and a half years after I’d joined IA. Mr Ramesh
was one person who tried to convince me to stay back, but I explained to him as
best as I could, why it wouldn’t work. The Group wasn’t prepared to provide the
backup, the resources required to push IA and single-handedly, there was
only so much that I could have done. In the end, Mr Ramesh gave in and I handed
in my resignation.
Once again, I was without a job and had time on my hands to think about what I
wanted to do next. I did go and meet editors of one or two other automotive
publications, but while they gave me a patient hearing, things did not work out
with any of them. I started writing a lot of emails, applying to whatever jobs
I could, but did not get any response from anywhere. Also spoke to Sridhar and
asked him if he could help me find some work – I was even prepared to move to
Bangalore – but nothing came of it. I was beginning to despair and started
thinking about the option of going back to Lucknow. After all, with no money
coming in, and with house rent and other monthly expenses piling up, for how
long could I possibly continue? But then one day I suddenly got a phone call
that would make things right for me again.
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| I did my best to revamp Indian Auto but had only limited success in this, due to a number of factors. But Indian Auto would prove to be a stepping stone for me into the world of automotive journalism and I remain eternally grateful to Maulik and the Jasubahi Group for giving me this opportunity in the first place |
The story continues here
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