If you lose a job, lose a job. Not your mind

My first 7 years of work were God-kissed. Well, I grew fast and in less than 4 years, became country’s youngest media director at Everest [A Dentsu Company] followed by changing sides to became the youngest VP [Head of sales & marketing] for a channel [Vijay TV] within 6. It was seeming like a joy ride with all calculated risks delivering. Parents were proud and family was happy.

Little did I know sharp growth meant sharp turns to navigate.

In a year+ of almost playing the No. 2 at Vijay TV, I got a call from BBC World. Usha, legendary head of India sales at BBC was moving and there was an opportunity there. I outrightly rejected it… and it was simple. The goods of moving back to Mumbai were overcast by the living luxury of Chennai, a fantastic boss in Rohit, a team of stars like Sriraman, Rajkumar, [who is my friend & partner now] and others and with the much larger turnover to handle. Of course, the free hand on programming, events & everything else was addictive. We lived our IP dreams through the channel. Created the world’s largest treasure hunt, 10+ musical events, new programming against the then mighty Sun TV and we made the channel revenues grow to a new high.

That’s when we worked on fructifying the first ever FDI in an Indian channel. The highs of negotiating with Dr. Prannoy Roy & Mr. Rao to get NDTV News to Vijay TV converted to working with Sameer Nair to convince Thalaivar Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan and other Tamil legends to host KBC in Tamil. Being on the KBC set or hosting events with Tamil stars were just another day in life. From there, with all naivety, we went on to negotiate Star’s smooth entry to Vijay TV. Little did we know that we were digging our own grave. It’s ironic that I myself, in a townhall, rubbished the ET article claiming Star’s takeover would cause job losses at Vijay TV.

One fine day, Peter Mukherjea walked in, took over from my boss and assigned Ajay Vidyasagar, to be in-charge. The next 4 days were painfully quiet. The writing was on the wall, but not yet on paper till Raj Nayak, the Star head of sales then, called me over. Raj & the HR head, spoke graciously, politely and respectfully of the fact that the Star system was not used to such young head of sales & offered me to do CRM at Mumbai. The problem was it was a job two grades lower and half the money. Raj being a people’s person, gave me a way out. My secretary and I were offered time to find something else. I still wish to thank Raj for being so kind at that time of self doubt & making it all less painful.

Anyway, on speaking with the consultant who had offered me the BBC job many weeks back, I found the job was taken by the lady next in command. But in turn, her job as Regional Head was available. How the mighty fall! I met with Sunita Rajan for that job and while I was waiting for the final answer, 9/11 happened.

Those 2.5 months of waiting were painful. But after a bit of feeling bad for myself, I put myself together. I started consulting & teaching at Ad Club, Madras where I met my now JV partner, Jai [then my student]. My father, so proud of me so far, got a heart attack and went through a bypass at Apollo. He didn’t take his hitherto 'good' son losing his job, well. But then I told him that I earned much more money in those 2.5 months than I did being in the job, which was not bad paying. The severance package was decent & consulting wasn't bad. The BBC job, which finally came through, paid almost as much.

When I joined BBC in Mumbai, all my remaining inflated ego, came crashing down. As Chisy, Anjali & Dezma would remember, it was humbling even for my driver who travelled back with us to Mumbai. He refused to believe I didn’t have a cabin, but only a cubicle. Thanks to the wonderful boss in Seema who understood my dilemma and at least gave me a place with 2 desks made into a small encloser and treated me almost as an equal for the brief time I spent there.

So, what’s the point I’m making through this long story? I lost a job early in life when it was not as much in fashion to do so. Along with the chip on the shoulder, I also lost some weight and confidence. But only for a brief while.

Quoting "All I did was remembered who I was, and then, the game changed".