REMEMBERING J DEY...

"The day a journalist betrays his source, that's the last day in the life of a journalist...because no one can trust you after that", was the first.

"A crime reporter works 24 X 7 X 365, amidst many odds but no rewards", was the second.

"It’s a tough beat. But you’ve to be passionate about what you’re doing", was the third. 

J Dey...India lost a fine journalist

These were the three key lessons on investigative journalism I learnt that evening from the late veteran crime-investigative journalist, Mr. Jyotirmoy Dey better known as J Dey when I had gone to interview him on an assignment for my post-graduation term paper....and it all seems that it was just the other day; but you won't believe it's been five long years! Few weeks prior to our meeting, I remember that evening in our department names of some of India's finest investigative journalists were shuffled and each of us had to pick one for our assignment; that's how J Dey  came into my ambit of study. But the clincher was that we had to meet them in person, talk with them, assimilate and absorb all that we could from our living encyclopaedias on investigative journalism. After all investigative journalism is something no teacher could teach; you had to meet one to understand what it takes to be one!  

  

Now, I had no starting point and I had to create one. While most of my colleagues had prominent names like Hussain Zaidi, Sucheta Dalal, Renni Abraham which I had heard but this was relatively a new name for me....anyway it was worth exploring! My colleagues intermittently dropped hints that he wrote mostly on the crime scene in Mumbai while some others said there was an air of mystery about him as none of them could describe what he really looked like; the only description some managed to give me was that he once wrote a popular column for a leading publication and the picture accompanying the column had a cap on which covered most of his face... so there we had no identity! I googled him but didn't know where he worked and what he looked like. I browsed through newspapers of a few months but to no avail I just couldn't find the name J Dey...until one day my colleague brought me the inaugural edition of Hindustan Times which was launched with a bang in Mumbai and the lead story was the nexus Bollywood with crime. Whooo boy!!! I had finally found him. At least I now knew which publication he worked for; I was just one step short of getting the numbers and fixing up an interview. I tried calling the office and whenever I enquired about J Dey,I was told he was not there. By hindsight I later realised that being an investigative journalist was no mean feat; your work hours were never defined, you never knew where your next story would come from; it could take days, weeks or even months after all you had to corroborate your story with indisputable facts and accurate information from reliable sources if you had to be a journalist of integrity and impeccable repute as J Dey.In times where journalists are accused of having vested interests...here was a man who stood tall (and quite literally too!) even after decades of reporting on the crime scene. 



Dey at the launch of his book 'Zero Dial'

Now getting the phone numbers was not really difficult as much as it was to get Mr. Dey on the line...he was always on the go; though the receptionist on coming to know my purpose of meeting him was kind enough to tell me what time he was likely to be expected in the office. I tried once, twice...I was clearly running out of patience, my colleagues had already scheduled their interviews, while some others were even submitting their assignment and here I was struggling to get an interview! As a matter of taking a chance, I made it a point to give a call to the Hindustan Times office every evening...and one day I finally spoke to him! My efforts had paid off...he was not only polite to say the least but he more than willingly gave me an interview for the following evening!  

Call it a habit, but I have always made it a point to reach at least half an hour early whether it was meeting friends or professionals...but I was more careful about this one...after all it was an assignment. It was a rainy day and there was a traffic jam...but there, my preparedness gave me an edge…but it wasn't good enough as Mr. Dey hadn't arrived yet even as I frantically enquired at the reception on whether he was even at all expected to be there in the office. He was already running half an hour late... in the meanwhile I got down to going through the questions I was going to ask him and later when there still was no trace of him, I began going through the newspapers and magazines that were made available on the rack of the office reception.

Now...I didn't know what to do...still no sign of Mr Dey; journalists were rushing in and out to file their story and I was searching him among them...until the receptionist called for me and said... did you see the gentleman who passed by...he's Mr Dey...and I thought...O yes how could I have missed the towering and athletic six feet tall journalist...and before I knew I was called for the interview. He must have realized that he had kept me waiting for a while so we promptly began the interview bang on. 



Hussain Zaidi:Dey's inspiration

I remember him telling me that it was Hussain Zaidi whom he looked up to as an investigative journalist and how he came from being a factory in an MNC to reporting on environmental issues to becoming an investigative  reporter. He enlightened me with the fact that he left his full-fledged job which paid him twice more than he earned as a reporter simply because he wanted to contribute something to the society. 

I must say that all through the interview, he did not display any airs about himself considering he was a celebrated journalist in his own right. He was down to earth, reserved and I had to actually prod him to elaborate his point while answering my questions. And when I quizzed him on what according to him was the term 'investigative journalism', he said it was just a hollow name. According to him it was like a batsman on the field and there was no guarantee that on the next ball he’d hit a four or a six! That was the simplicity in which he explained the term about the unpredictability of this profession...you could be at the pedestal or the very next moment you could hit the rock bottom!!

By the time the interview was over, he had broken the ice. In fact, he asked me questions about the course I was pursuing, my educational qualifications and my future career plans...though am sure he must have been tad embarrassed when he figured from my replies that neither news nor investigative journalism came even a close second in my career plan. He then asked me a key question on how would I come to know if the career path I had chosen was the right one or not. And I clearly remember replying him something I’d learnt from my HR module when I said that each of us were carved out for a particular field depending on our aptitude, provided we first realise it even before we capitalised on it. And he nodded affirmatively when he said, "You're on the right track". And thus saying so I thanked him for his time and he smiled and said that I was welcome.



Veronica Guerin...she too went the J Dey way

I still have his visiting card to this today even as I remember J Dey in this month's blog posting.Journalists like J Dey are the white knights of our society. Just as Ireland will always remember the iconic crime reporter, Veronica Guerin whose pen spake mightier than a sword, so will J Dey’s contribution to the society will be celebrated, remembered and emulated by the new breed of aspiring journalists in the years to come. At this point, I'm reminded of a dialogue from the blockbuster film, The Dark Knight where Harvey Dent, who is a white knight before becoming a two-faced man says, “You either die hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain". Perhaps, fighting the corrupt system he'd have become one...but on the brighter side of it, he died a hero in the line of action! 

Adieu Commander Dey...RIP

And yes...don't forget to write in and share your thoughts on what J Dey's loss could mean to the media and us.

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Psssst.... And yes dear readers before I go..don't forget to look out for the latest issue of Femina (the first fortnightly issue of Femina, July 13, see pic on left)...you can't miss this one,I won't tell you why...in fact you write in and tell me!! So...rush today and buy a copy of Femina! :-)

Love,Sonyaa