Abhishek (Abhi) Choudhari (Print Journalism 2002) is the editor at ITN, a fledgling news channel in Mumbai, India. 
For three days last November, Choudhari directed a staff of some 20 journalists in covering the terrorist attacks in Mumba, which killed or injured nearly 500. He was stationed for several days in a hotel near the epicentre of the attacks. We asked him his views on journalism.
Journalism is probably one of the very few professions in the world where every day is new. Monday could be a press briefing with the prime minister, Tuesday a tête-à-tête with a movie celebrity, Wednesday an exclusive breaking news interview with a mafia don while Thursday can find you sipping coffee with business honchos at a conference.
I always say “being there” is the biggest high of journalism. You get to witness and interpret events that will be talked about for years to come, maybe centuries to come. You get to know the newsmakers on a personal basis, and understand what makes them click. You meet the powerful men and women whose writ runs large on their fiefdoms, and learn what makes them stand apart from other human beings. While millions will see the world and its newsmakers through the mass media, you are there with them in flesh and blood, sometimes shaping public opinion through your coverage.
Journalism in India has changed dramatically. When I started off 10 years ago with a newspaper, it was still a slow-paced 12-to-9 job. But after I returned from Canada in 2005, a boom in the news sector meant a minister getting a flu shot was now breaking news. With dozens of news channels trying to fill 24 hours of air time, the definition of what is news has undergone a drastic change. Sometimes working seven days a week, 15 hours a day is just part of the job.
Personally, journalism has been a very enriching experience for me. It took me to Canada where I studied and worked, giving me a chance to learn about a wonderful culture and a world I had known only through books and TV. On my return I have travelled extensively in India, going to places of which I had never heard, getting to know life through first-person accounts: rags-to-riches, survivors against all odds, tyrants and gods alike.
Journalism has taught me that the world is full of ironies. It sometimes makes me wonder if good guys ever finish first: where a mafia don is living happily in his 70s, while innocent people fall prey to terrorists’ bullets. A world where a religious belief is threatening the entire world’s security, while billions in the world find peace in God’s name.
And as the Bard put; it is a stage, one where the finest of actors play, the best of scripts direct and most eloquent of dialogues are spoken. And I look forward to being backstage, getting to know them before and after the show, where there are no pretensions, no masks and no make-up. I look forward to “being there.”
