Pursuing Life

On what subject(s) are you an authority?

When I was around the age of 15, I was very much detached from this world, very calm with negligible responsibility to shoulder and I had all the time in the world to stay with my thoughts and imaginations. But, none of those thoughts were associated with studies or what I wanted to do in life.



Children today are far sharper at a much younger age, even though the lack of discipline and patience might make things difficult for some of them but many of them will grow to create a bright future, at least that is what I wish to hope. In my childhood, although not with much depth, children did talk about their future and what they wanted to do. But not me, I was the kind who didn’t like the ‘Where do you see yourself after five years’ question.



At 15 I picked up this hobby of sometimes sitting and singing away my time when I couldn’t sleep at night which was often. I wouldn’t lie, I did consider pursuing it for a very brief period of time, but never seriously.



School would be over one day and I didn’t have a clue what I would do. I hadn’t really realised I would love to someday sit and write down the very thoughts that I had spent my childhood with, all of which is a memory now.



So, I wanted to do something adventurous, and when I heard about my grandfather’s career as a journalist which is a very inspiring story in itself, I decided journalism is what I would go for.



Among the group of friends I had while studying journalism after school, nobody actually pursued journalism beyond graduation. Everyone settled in with careers. I don’t know what reason others had but I felt that the field did not have what I was looking for and I was once more astray, serious this time though, about finding something for myself.



I came across the field of book publishing, and working with books was an instant attraction, I was a content editor and my skill in writing is something I developed on my own. Back then the field of book publishing was not appreciated enough, with some people completely ignorant of the fact that there are so many people who work behind getting a book ready to be published, right from school books to general books.



I still remember trying to explain to people what exactly I do in my job profile and the reaction was mixed with some even saying ‘anyone can do that’. When I think about that particular response today, I wish I had handed that person some work. Who knows I would have learned something one way or the other.



I later on worked with focus on school books and although my subject was English but my journalism degree allowed me to work on General Knowledge, Social Science and of course the weekly newspapers. I had a good learning and working experience until I wanted to move beyond school books and that is what I am currently doing.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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