Introducing Deepak Sikdar

Over the past few months, Deepak Sikdar, CEO of People Network had not slept a wink. The Network’s flagship channel, TopNews, was continuously witnessing a decline in viewership. For his news channel, the day-to-day costs were still higher than day-to-day revenues. This meant that his harsh steps on reducing headcount, cutting free meals and pruning discretionary expenditure had not yielded desired results. Till last year, advertisers from sectors such as automobiles, financial services and real estate gobbled-up the prime-time news slot. This was not the case anymore; more so these advertisers wanted TopNews to extend the credit period from three months to six months. Today, he had just closed a chicken and egg situation. He had reneged on a 25 crores placement deal with cable operators’ association. As these cable operators will now downgrade TopNews’ frequency, the channel’s reach will become increasingly limited thus impacting the ad-revenues. Tough times call for tough measures...
Deepak’s main concern though was not surviving but leading. He had repeatedly got the news calls wrong. He never expected that Obama’s swearing-in ceremony would be a big hit. He took news feeds from agencies rather than sending a foreign correspondent. His big bet on the Indian Premier League’s coverage proved a damp squib. This South African Safari proved a bit too costly. In the just concluded Indian General Elections, the channel conducted exit polls in only a few important states. Further it tied-up with regional channels for live feeds instead of sending its own team. The channel turned out to be the Joker in the Great Indian Circus as poor and inadequate coverage made it slip on the TRP charts. Deepak always believed that identifying a potentially inflationary event and providing quality coverage before the competitors results in market leadership. His bets have gone wrong this year and he was pondering over the happenings over the world for which his channel should provide wide coverage; though keeping the purse strings intact.
In an expansive corner office with a backside view of the Arabian Sea, Deepak pressed the intercom button to call his personal assistant. Surbhi came in faster than the speed of Deepak’s thought. Who would not like to wrap-up the day faster for a monsoon prone Mumbai evening.
‘Surbhi, Call Aparna and ask her to report to duty. She has to cover the protests’ dictated Deepak while inhaling a good amount of tangy nicotine in a single breath. He was the only person in the office who was allowed to smoke in his room; after all for Board of Directors, he was still their best bet.
‘But Deepak, it was only today that she left for her week-long honeymoon. Won’t it be improper? ’ asked Surbhi softly as if trying to instil a sense of decision making. ‘I would give her a long break later. She has to cover these protests. This racism has suddenly become a hot potato and anyhow I am not asking her to come back’ Deepak reacted coldly. Surbhi plucked the curls off her eyes as she hesitantly dialled Aparna at Dresddom Hotel in Adelaide. She never wanted to make the connection. She understood the dreams that go into making for such an occasion. Deepak never bothered.

Pre-read - Novel Excerpt

It has been long since I shared an excerpt from my rather snail paced book writing. Have a read and do let me know your suggestions.
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“Hey Ashu,
3 more sapphire profiles. You have to choose one of them.
Dad
P.S. Take care of your health. It’s getting colder in Australia”
Ashish reluctantly yet engagingly browsed through the profiles of Shweta, Megha and Diana. As usual, all the profiles followed the same old order – age, caste and ever fascinating ‘height’ of the would-be bride. He wondered why the names of most of the girls ended with an ‘a’ and sounded so similar. He wanted someone refreshing as Café Boston’s XXX to extinguish his old flame. He was also disquieted that a senior lawyer like his dad was usually checking matrimonial sites during the working hours of the bar association.
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