First Day. First Internship

MAY 2014

With mixed feelings of joy, nervousness, frustration and excitement, I entered the Times of India office at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, ITO. I was accompanied by my mother and grandmother who came to drop me off on the first day of my first internship!  

My mother went with me till the reception. The receptionist told me to go to the HR Department where Miss Kavita Abron was waiting for me. The scheduled time for the meeting was 3:30. By the time I reached the HR department which was a flight of stairs away, it was 3:40.

On reaching the HR Department, I was greeted by a young woman, maybe in her thirties. The woman’s name was Kavita Abron who I was supposed to meet. Upon meeting Ms. Kavita, I was told to wait inside an air-conditioned office while she got my internship letter. I was happy as I didn’t have to sit in the scorching heat outside the office. After a few moments another intern walked into the office where I was sitting. He was a graduate and this was his second internship. He was hoping to get into the political department of TOI. He asked me which department I wanted to get into. I had no idea as I didn’t even know what all departments even existed. Yes, I do read newspapers and am familiar with the format of it but I didn't know which section belonged to which department. I was hoping this internship would teach me that. 

After about 15 mins or so, Ms. Kavita walked into the room with both our internship letters and a few forms to fill out. I was suddenly overwhelmed by all of it and got restless. The other intern told me calm down and said, "It happens, relax." After getting our internship letters and filling out the forms, me and the other intern headed toward the third floor. We were assigned people who we would work under for the duration of our internship. I was under the Executive Editor, Arindam Sengupta and later under Avijit Ghosh, the Features Editor.

It took me a while to meet Mr.Arindam Sengupta as he was in a meeting with all the other editors. I had to wait till the meeting got over. Once the meeting got over, I walked into his office and introduced myself. He asked me various questions about my education, interests and goals. I answered all of those questions confidently except for the one about how I wanted to spend my time at TOI during my internship. I was puzzled and didn't know what to say. Then Mr.Sengupta took me to Mr. Avijit Ghosh, the Features editor and introduced me as an intern. I was pleased to meet Mr. Ghosh, later Avijit sir who asked me about myself and what I wanted to do at TOI. He also asked me for my resume which I did not have at that time but promised him that I would get it tomorrow. He briefed me about my hours of working, introduced me to a young journalist, Kim Arora who would help me with my stories. Avijit sir told me thatI was to interview book authors, activists and filmmakers. How exciting I thought! 

I am still in touch with Mr. Avijit Ghosh and Kim who remember me and help me out when needed. Working with the Times Of India opened up many avenues for me. Through this internship, I got to interview a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mr. Kailash Sathyarthi, an activist for child rights in india!