All deadlines met

In her latest book, newsroom, writer Renuka Nayyar chronicles her 30 years as the first woman journalist in the tribune group of publications and the challenges she faced.

While writing this book, I made sure I did not look back in anger but recorded some of the most painful and satisfying experiences of my professional and personal life without interjecting any afterthoughts," says writer and former journalist Renuka Nayyar, while handing over her eighth book in Hindi, Newsroom, published by Chetna Parkashan, Ludhiana (Rs 200).
The first woman journalist to join The Tribune Group of publications way back in 1978, Nayyar served in different positions, including handling the daily edition of Dainik Tribune and finally retiring as its Magazine Editor.

She recalls, "That was the time when most newspapers including The Tribune did not want to hire women as the employers thought they were not fit for the job and there was no guarantee they would carry on working post marriage." Stressing that she had to prove herself at every juncture even if she knew that she was way better than many of her male colleagues, the 65-year-old writer says the environment at her workplace is a metaphor of the society we live in. "Leave alone accepting women as their seniors, most men have a problem sharing the same responsibility with them. The feudal mindset has not changed a bit, even today," says Nayyar as she recounts that she was generally given 'soft' cultural assignments to cover rather than hard news, which she was interested to do. Giving an insight into the working of a daily newspaper, the former journalist writes in her book how her male colleagues became extremely uncomfortable when they had to report to her when she took charge of shifts. "This is something they just could not bear with.

But I made it a point to snub them there and then so that they understood I cannot be taken lightly. Of course, you cannot help the whisper campaigns that suggested that I must be really close to some top editor to get a senior position," she says. Not just her negative experience, the writer has also chronicled how several people in the organisation went out of their way to help and encourage her. "Though they were quite few, but yes, I was fortunate to have some male friends who looked beyond my gender," she says. Talking about her love marriage that lasted 15 days and experience of living alone in Chandigarh, Nayyar insists things have not really changed for single women even today. "Look at the crime rate against women. Can a woman living alone even think of inviting a male colleague home for coffee without the neighbours talking about it? How has the mentality changed in the past 30 years?" Though several women joined her and other organisations in the region in later years, Nayyar insists the top managements ensure that they don't reach important positions. "You can count the number of women editors on your fingers. Believe me, despite their competence, they have to work way extra to prove that they deserve those positions. The younger lot of girls, seeing themselves on television, think that things have changed. They have not, really," she says.