'NDTV's legacy carries in each one of us'

Tehseen Zaidi, who was formerly with NDTV, has put up a social media post on the resigning of Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy from the RRPR board.

End of an era!!!!!! End of an honest television journalism nurtured and promoted by prannoy Roy If the news of Dr Roy resigning is true then its an end of an institution & a big family which Dr Roy and Mrs Roy together created & nurtured. On my last day at NDTV I went teary eyed & got a warm hug from Dr Roy, Mrs Roy and my mentor Sonia Singh who motivated me & encouraged me to take up the new assignment. I refused to work at a competitor organisation who offered me 40 percent hike as I felt I will not have the courage to be an NDTV competitor & chose to join an NGO. My only sentence while saying good bye was apart from anything else I was in love with the staircase from where I will go to my workstation.

Seeing NDTV been taken over for me is like standing in the rubble of my childhood home after an earthquake. I know things are happening for better but the nostalgia is there. NDTV's legacy carries in each one of us, wherever we go we take our learnings and values of NDTV with us. NDTV is and will be a family with loads of love, affection, discipline & care inculcated in each one of us by @Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy (Mrs Roy as we lovingly call her). I will like to start with 1) as a youngster who joined media out of passion and the love for NDTV, it was a dream come true. After few months of working with NDTV I learnt ethical reporting - reporting which is factually correct, we never bothered about TRPs, content - ethical news was foremost. Dr Roy refused to put the 26/11 visuals saying he doesn’t want TRPs and told me not to make this mistake as it will put many lives at stake.

2) I found my life partner at NDTV. It was the only media house who encouraged couples and had a creche facility with Dr Nazli personally taking care of each and every aspect from deworming of kids to their study & playtime. 7 dedicated employees to take care of kids round the clock, we had the liberty to walk into the NDTV creche & feed our kids, play with them anytime. Because of NDTV I had a work life balance. 6 months maternity was only provided by NDTV along with maternity benefits.

3) All our meals were taken care by NDTV and it was one big family who was always there to help and support anyway. Dr Roy told us to address the office assitants and driver as 'Sir', that is the kind of values we learnt at NDTV. Our birthdays were specially celebrated at NDTV, we used to cut cakes together. Dr Roy knew all of us personally & used to address us by our first names. Whenever we meet he will open the door for me to step in and then will in his polite tone ask- when are you making kebabs for us.

Special pick and drop was available for female employees working late hours. Guards were instructed to escort us till our house in the drop-back. While waiting for an interview outside a minister's house we will receive all our meals, juices and fruits nicely packed. I hope NDTV will be able to maintain the same standards with or without Prannoy Roy.