Ready to cook up a storm – Shanta Saikia

This is my fourth year with exchange4media, and what a time it has been! I head the news desk here and have my hands full editing and rewriting copies, meeting deadlines, coordinating with the reporters and the tech team. Some say that a desk person’s job is a thankless one, someone who always remains behind the scene. The reporter gets all the accolades for a ‘well rewritten’ report, but little would the reader know the drastic surgery and resuscitation that goes behind putting up that one perfect report on the website.

Still, my reward is seeing the clicks increasing and the reporter getting easy access to more news on the basis of his/ her report.

Being a hardcore foodie, I see myself as a master chef leading a team of helper cooks. The cooks gather the ingredients and chop, peel, wash, grind, mix, sauté away to their hearts’ content. The master chef steps in to supervise whenever needed and then adding the (secret) magic touch to dish out a culinary masterpiece! A bit too grand for your taste or hard to digest? Well, this is from someone who takes immense pride in her work.

The challenges are many – grammatical roadblocks, incomprehensible paras, disjointed thought processes, deadline misses, raised tempers. But at the proverbial end of the day, I come away richer from the experience.

On the way I have learnt new ways of people management and an almost Zen like patience.

On a personal note, the year 2007 was the most horrible year of my life. Having to live with an amputation for the rest of one’s life is unthinkable, yet the experience has not been as painful as it would have otherwise been, thanks to the devotion and encouragement of my family, the untiring support of the entire exchange4media Group, and my wonderful neighbours.

I took it easy in 2008, recuperating and regaining my strength. Now I am ready to take on anything in 2009.

Here’s wishing all of you the best year ever in 2009.

Peace!