[A rather lengthy adieu to colleagues at Niyogi Books, where I worked as Editor and left in 2018.]
Convent schools or
even English medium schools were unheard of in the small village where I grew up.
I had, by God’s grace, good English teachers in my primary and high schools.
English, therefore, became one of my favourite subjects.
I first tasted the blood
proofreading and editing at CSDS, where I first worked with journals China
Report and Alternatives. Mr Bejoy Bhattacharya was my Guru who initiated me into
this exciting field. And my thirst for more blood remained when I left CSDS.
I indexed a number of books in TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute). I also gave a presentation to colleagues in TERI on indexing. All this gave me a good insight into the ‘what’s, the ‘why’s, and he ‘how’s of indexing.
I should say this is
also when I started serious editing. While reading the manuscript for indexing,
I used to mark the mistakes I noticed. And my markings were appreciated. It prompted
them to make sure that I indexed all the important publications of TERI. (Shshshsh:
I smiled confidently. And patted on my back!)
Once a colleague
asked me if I could prepare an index for a book written by her sister-in-law. The
book was on Puri Jagannath Temple. I did. The publisher commented, ‘These were the
kind of indexes I was looking for but was not getting’. These comments gave me
a little more more confidence. What about freelancing on indexing?
A few months later I understood
SAGE was looking for editors. I thought maybe that was the time to open up! I
expressed my interest, and I was taken in as an in-house editor. Wow! The feeling
was great! This, THIS, was the job I aspired for! And here it was, in my hands!
This gave me an opportunity to learn first- hand about working in a publishing house.
After seven months, I
left SAGE to pursue freelancing once again. But this time I was a freelance editor
more than an indexer.
And SAGE regularly gave
me editing jobs. In fact I was one of the two external editors who were
assigned ‘extended projects’. To be assigned an ‘extended project’ meant that
right from the beginning I had to look after the project such as editing, quality
checking, and corresponding with authors It was not just copy editing. I was content.
Life was peaceful.
Then one day I
received a call from the Vice President, Commissioning, SAGE, asking me if I would
be interested to take up an assignment at NCAER who was looking for an
experienced editor to bring out their Annual Report. I said, ‘Why not?’ At NCAER
I continued to work much after the Annual Report was published. I edited papers
and book chapters written by staff. But I found that the ‘politics’ was not to
my taste. It was becoming more vicious and I decided ‘enough was enough’.
I came across an
advertisement inviting applications for the posts of Editors at Niyogi Books
towards the end of 2012. I mailed my CV to them and forgot about it. (Remember
the Hero motorcycles advertisement, “Fill it, Forget it”?)
Then one day I
received an e-mail from Papia Dey inviting me to come for an interview. I only
had a vague idea about Okhla. I got a slightly clearer idea (so thought the
fool in me) of the area from the Internet. But once inside Okhla, it was an unending
maze. I had to enquire of several people before at last reaching D-78.
[It happened again when
I came for a second interview after several days. I thought, ‘O! God! Okhla
will never change!’ I forgot that it was I who had to change. So I decided to
change. After joining, after having caught in the maze again, I tracked the whole
route up to the main road on foot and took note of the land marks (turn left
when you see the blue board pointing towards D block, turn right after the ‘lolli
pop’ building [it is not actually lolli pop, but I call it thus for ease of
recollecting], turn left when you notice the huge black gate on the right
marked 36, turn right turn after the huge gate, where on the left you will see Seventy6).]
And when I reached, I
was again slightly taken aback. I thought it was the back gate of the building,
and not the front. Such big publishers (I had looked into their Web site and had
been quite impressed) and such a tiny, quarter open, main gate? I asked the guard
if this is the front door or the back one. That was the front gate, of course,
and Papia would be available on the second floor. Having come from bright
sunlight, it was difficult to climb the dark stairs which was hardly lit. It took
a few minutes for me to adjust to the darkness.
On entering the second
floor I saw the open cabin right in front of me. If I hadn’t, it would have
been another maze with glass doors and glass walls all around. It looked like a
huge glass palace! The first impression was, ‘Wow! What an impressive office!’
I went straight inside and saw this lady beside a pile of papers and a
computer. I told her I was looking for Ms Papia Dey. After making sure that I had
come for the interview, she requested me to wait and pointed the sofa to me.
I was later led by
the lady (it was only much later that I knew that she was Papia) to a huge hall
where two ladies were present. When I occupied the chair pointed out to me, the
lady sitting nearer to me said, pointing to the other one, ‘This is Mrs Tultul Niyogi’.
The surname was familiar, having read the name quite a few times recently. I suddenly
realised I was sitting in front of the Boss! Until much later, only after joining,
did I come to know that it was Nitasha who had been talking to me. I was asked
a few questions, was asked to fill up a form and was told, as usual, that they would
let me know in due course.
One day I received another
mail from Papia asking me to come for a second interview. This time I met Mr
Niyogi in the presence of Ms Niyogi and
Nitasha. It was not an interview as such; he did not ask me any questions. I think we discussed general
things such as working in Niyogi Books. He assured me that we are all very cool people
and that I would have enough freedom
to do my work without
anybody looking over my shoulder
every now and then.
I joined Niyogi Books
on Monday, 11 February 2013 and got the first assignment the same day. This first
book (Indigo) was, incidentally, released only in 2014 (‘due to reasons beyond
my control’!), much after I had completed another two books.
To cut a long story
short, I did a few more books during the past three years. I had very healthy
and cool interactions with all my colleagues. Due to my age (‘boodha ho gaya hoon,
na!) I think I got undue respect from several young colleagues. Instead of calling
me Jayanthan or even Mr Jayanthan, they called me Sir. But am I that old? I
don’t feel so (neither does my wife!). Somebody has said, ‘Age is only a number.’
Yes, but the problem is, when that number crosses 60, people look at you
differently. Suddenly you have become old!
Even Mr Niyogi and Ms
Niyogi used to address me with a Sir! Initially I used to be embarrassed. I
haven’t found such humility in many people. I have heard him shouting at and
reprimanding people who have worked with him for much longer than me. But till today,
he has not raised his voice at me even once. It is certainly not my credit, but
without doubt, his humbleness. And I whole-heartedly salute him.
I don’t remember when
I first noticed all those framed certificates that smiled at you from your side
when you climb up the stairs. Initially I used to feel like a VIP being
accorded a warm welcome by beautiful young girls smiling from both sides with thalapoli
in their hands!
Niyogi Books is the second
publisher I have seen (I confess I have not known many publishers) that gives
full credit to the in-house editor and designer by printing their names on the copyright
page. Hats off to Niyogi Books! This indeed is a very good thing to encourage the
staff.
After joining, soon I
mastered a very peculiar habit of literally closing my ears to whatever happens
around me. This happened because, all around me there were discussions in ‘Bongla’
of which I understood nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. Even three years
after nearly drowning in such discussions every day, I still cannot understand a
word of Bangla! I only know those few words (Kemon acche? Bhalo acche) that I
had learned from a Bengali friend several years ago. As a result, sometimes, even
when the discussion had switched over to English so that I could understand, my
ears refused to hear! Initially I did try to catch the essence of some discussions.
But after a few attempts I gave up.
Once a decision was taken
by all of them together that any discussion, especially work related, will only
be done in English or Hindi. And it was done, I think, for a day or two. One’s
love for mother tongue is like the proverbial curved tail that never
straightens. Soon we were back to square one. This, however, happens with
everybody. I also used to enjoy talking in Malayalam to the only other
Malayalee on our floor, sometimes to the amusement of other friends. I used to,
however, get a little upset when discussion suddenly turns to Bangla even in
official meetings! A few times I had to remind that there was a ‘foreigner’ present
among them!
One regret I have is that
Nitasha left a couple of months after I joined. She was an excellent guide, mentor,
and friend and I could have learned many things from her had she remained a little
longer. But destiny had other plans for her and she left to take up a far more important role.
One thing I found a
little disappointing is the emphasis on quantity, sometimes at the cost of
quality. If the printing of a book is delayed by a few days, the hue and cry will
die out soon. But if wrong or inappropriate information (or even grammar or spelling
mistakes), get printed it remains for ever. This can be solved by getting a few copies
printed immediately and then print bulk copies
later after making
all necessary changes.
Well, that is not a big question mark. I have three things in mind. (i) I want to spend a little more
time on religious matters. (I don’t hesitate, rather I am
proud, to say that I am religious. I believe
in that power which is called
variously as God, Mother, Jesus, or Allah.) (Some of you might ask, Sanyas? Mmmm
… not, exactly. But moving towards God, yes!) (ii) I have a couple of personal projects
on which I wanted to spend time and was not able to till now. Now is the time I
shall resume work on these. (iii) Any freelance job that comes to me will be taken
up, too. But I shall actually start marketing myself as a freelancer only after
a few months, when I finish a considerable part of my projects.
It has been very nice
to have met, spoken, known, and worked with you all. Though not a long
association to have an impact in your memories, my stay here has been very
fruitful to me. I have been fortunate to have met a friendly, open, helpful,
and sincere group of colleagues. During our first meeting, Mr Niyogi said, ‘We are
a very cool group, and you will have complete freedom in doing your work.’ Very
true! You are a cool lot and I had complete freedom (in fact, excess freedom!)
in carrying out my responsibilities.
I have no words to express
my gratitude to all of you for accepting and tolerating me with all my
shortcomings and eccentricities. But a time comes when you think it is time to
move on. And this happens with everybody at times. You feel something,
somewhere, is not right. At times it passes on in due course of time. But
sometimes some things linger on or recur. It, kind of, disturbs you a bit. You start
thinking, may be, MAY BE, it is time to move on.
You come alone to
(unless you are twins, or triplets, or quadruplets,
or ... or … what do you say when 11 babies are born together?!), and go alone from,
this world. Once born, we are all constantly travelling, sometimes alone,
sometimes in groups. Some of us continue on the same path while a few of us may
take a diversion. I think the time has come for me to take a diversion. And the
decision is entirely mine, and only mine.
I am sure, however,
that we shall again meet somewhere, sometime.
If I have hurt any of
you by my words or actions, during the course of our journey, I request your forgiveness.
