“Sir. Thank you. Aapne woh sting operation ke saath statement air kar ke story ka impact hi kuchh aur kar diya.”

“You are welcome, Ms. Kashyap. Aur main aapko ek baat bata doon ki aap ek achchhi reporter hain. Lekin agar thoda dimaag thandha rakhengi aur thodi maturity se kaam lengi to iconic reporter ban sakti hain.”

“Seekh rahi hoon aapse, Sir.”

“Flattery ke marks nahin milenge performance appraisal mein. Aap kaise aayi hain? Scooter se?”

“Nahin Sir,” she gave an embarrassed smile, “Armaan ko zaroorat thi. To maine aaj cab li thi.”

“Main aapko drop kar doon?”

“Ji. Agar aapko problem na ho to.  Mujhe aapse kuchh discuss bhi karna hai.”

“Chaliye.”

—

“To bataiye. Kya discuss karna tha aapko?”

“Pahli baat to ye ki maine Dr. Sinha se baat karne ki bahut koshish ki lekin woh baat karne ko taiyaar hi nahin hain. And it doesn’t look like he is embarrassed. Woh dare hue lag rahe hain. To mujhe lagta hai ki aapka shaq sahi hai. Baat yahan kuchh aur hai.”

“Aap us student ke baare mein pata lagayiye… Nahin, hum kuchh bhi indiscriminately air nahin karenge. Lekin real story us direction mein ho sakti hai.”

“Theek hai, Sir. Aur ek baat poochhni thi.”

“Zaroor poochhiye. Dil mein mat rakhiye sawaal. Kyonki maine notice kiya hai ki aapko sab kuchh explain na kiya jaye to aapke bhadakne ki propensity kaafi zyada hoti hai.”

“Sir, please embarrass mat kijiye. Maine aise hi bahut sharminda hoon.”

He chuckled, “Uski zaroorat nahin hai. Poochhiye.”

“Aapke paas Mahi ke videos the na? Sunny se liye the aapne.”

“Haan the.”

“Phir aapne air kyon nahin kiye?”

“Maine dekhe videos. Aur main… aapke judgment se sahmat tha. Hamein woh nahin air karne chahiye, especially jab Mahi apni consent dene ke halat mein nahin hai.”

Her eyes widened and she stared at him, “Aap sach kah rahe hain?”

“Main jhooth kyon bolunga?”

“Aap mujh par itna gussa the.”

“Kyonki aapne ise responsibly handle nahin kiya, Ms. Kashyap. Sahi kaam karna itna aasaan nahin hota. Uske consequences se bhi deal karna hota hai. Sirf ye kah dena kaafi nahin hota ki woh footage air nahin kiye ja sakte. You should also have come up with an alternative plan for the bulletin.”

“Aapko itni jaldi raid ke liye information kaise mili?”

“Jiske through aapko Mahi mili, usi ko maine follow karwaya tha. Ji haan. Main aap par nazar nahin rakh raha tha. Rather mujhe lah raha tha ki Mahi se badi story break ho sakti hai is lead ke through. Isliye use follow karwa raha tha. Halanki maine ye expect nahin kiya that ki mujhe next story itni jaldi mil jayegi.”

“Agar nahin milti to…”

“Main Mahi ke videos air nahin karta.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Next time–”

“Responsibly handle karoongi. I promise.”

He smiled.

“Waise aaj Mahi ka phone aaya tha. Agar hum chahein to she is willing to give an exclusive interview. She is not fully recovered. Medicines ki wajah se lethargic hai. But she is in her senses now. She has also said ki selected footage pahle ke videos se hum include kar sakte hain. She hopes ki woh un logon ke liye deterrent saabit ho jo vulnerable hain drug ke chakar mein padne ke liye.”

“That’s excellent. Pahle batana chahiye tha. Ab mujhe saare bulletins replan karne honge ise accommodte karne ke liye.”

“Sorry Sir. Mujhe pata nahin tha…”

“Mazaak kar raha hoon, Ms. Kashyap.”

She smiled.

“Waise, Ms. Kashyap, hamari dosti to pakki hai na?”

“Aise kyon poochh rahe hain aap? Main aapse jhagda to nahin kar rahi.”

“Isliye poochh raha hoon ki ab jab hum dost hain to aap mujhe Kabir kah ke bula sakti hain, nahin?”

She blushed hard. “Mushkil hai. Aadat ho gayi hai. Lekin koshish kar sakti hoon. Par aap to mujhe Ananya bula sakte hain. Jab gusse mein daant rahe the to naam se hi bula bhi rahe the. Aapko to dikkat nahin honi chahiye.”

“Nahin. Mujhe koi dikaat nahin hai, Ananya.”

“Sir, I mean Kabir, bas next waala left. Yahi mera ghar hai.”

“Okay then. Good night.”

“Andar aaiye na. Ma se mil lijiye. Aur apne fan se bhi.”

“Fan?”

“Mera bhai. Armaan. Jab se aapne uski help ki hai, woh to aapka bada fan ho gaya hai.”

To her surprise, he blushed, “Aaj bahut der ho gai hai, Ananya. Phir kissi din aaunga. Mujhe neend bhi aa rahi hai.”

“Aisa hai to main aapko pareshan nahin karoongi. Good night.”

“Good night.”

—

“All right everyone. Pichhle kuchh dinon mein humne short term changes discuss kiye hamare content mein, jinmein se ki bahut kuchh implement bhi ho chuka hai. Kuchh slots mein hamari ratings skyrocket bhi kar gayi hain. Leki hum abhi bhi seocnd and third position ke aroud hi hang kar rahe hain. That is not disappointing. That is as expected. Kyonki number one ki position par jaane ke liye hamein medium aur long term mein changes karne honge aur unhein regularly monitor karna hoga. So today we will discuss those potential changes in our programming, which can bring us closer to our desired number one position. Main abhi ke abhi necessarily decision nahin loonga. This meeting is for putting forward ideas and discussing them. Mere kuchh ideas hain, jo main aapke saamne rakhoonga. Aur aapke ideas bhi sunna chahunga. Does that sound right?”

Nods and murmurs went up in assent.

He explaied his idea of creating programmes around themes. These themes could be slot-based, or could be about a certain time period. For example, the month of march could be devoted to women related programmes.  Then he put forward some specific programming ideas.

“I know ki hum yahan first mover nahin hain, but we need a programme based on real life crimes. And we can differentiate by choosing the stories according to a theme.” After a while he asked for ideas from others.

“Sir. I think national media par rural areas ki stories sahi se cover nahin hoti. We can dedicate some programmes to it,” Vinod proposed.

“That’s a good idea. Anything else?”

“Sir, I think hamein ek programme positive stories ke oopar karna chahiye,” Ananya added, “Ye almost compusion hai hamare profession ki, hum almost always negative stories report karte hain. Scandals, bribery, sexual abuse, murders. Ye sab sachchai hai. Lekin saari sachchai negative hi nahin hai. Duniya mein positive cheezein bhi h rahi hain, jo ki sensational ya breaking news nahin banti. Kyonki achchhe kaam karne mein time lagta hai. Overnight news nahin break ho sakti. Hamein aisi stories bhi karni chahiye ek programme mein.”

“I’m afraid, it will get boring too quickly,” Malvika objected.

“I don’t think so, Malvika,” Kabir said, “It needs to be produced carefully. But we must not dismiss the idea.”

“Sir ek idea mere paas bhi hai,” Ronnie said next, “Thoda ajeeb hai. To be honest main sure nahin hoon–”

“It’s okay, Ronnie. Go ahead. Abhi hum bas ideas collect kar rahe hain.”

“Sir. Aaj kal kai saari sites aa rahi hain, jo ki campus news report karti hain, from all over the country. They are getting popular among the young students. Websites par to, of course, kitna bhi content ho sakta hai. To ye directly translatable nahin hai TV ke liye. But agar hum campuses mein ho rahi intereting cheezeon par select news ka programme karein, to it might win us some young audience.”

“Another great idea. We need to flesh it out further, but I will definitely keep this in mind.”

After discussing more ideas coming from almost every corner of the meeting room, Kabir turned to Khalid.

“Plans finalize karne mein time lagega, Khalid. Lekin it is clear that we may need to hire aggressively. Hamein zyada slots mein fresh programmes karne honge, aur inmein se kai ideas ke liye hamein specialists bhi hire bhi karne padenge. So we need a good recuirtment and hiring budget.”

“Don’t worry about that, Kabir. Let’s create a recruitment requirement plan and get started on it.”

“Great then. Let’s get back to work.”

“Ms. Kashyap,” he addressed Ananya separately when everyone was dispersing, “Please meet me in my cabin. There is something I need to discuss with you.”

“Yes Sir.”

—

To be continued