The influence of teachers on us as people and professionals cannot be overstated. One word of encouragement, slight nudge in the right direction can put us on the path to a dream career and success. So this Teachers’ Day, we caught up with Anand Narasimhan, Managing Editor of Special Projects at CNN-News18, to know who has been the most influential mentor in his life and career.
In a special podcast series titled ‘My Teacher, My Inspiration’, Anand Narasimhan revealed he never studied to be a journalist and instead seemed destined for a career in advertising after wrapping up his MBA.
“Two teachers actually said ‘your destiny lies in front of the screen as an anchor’. At that time, there was Doordarshan and then it was NDTV. And then other channels were only coming up. This was late 1990s-early 2000s. So, I had an Economics professor who said your career lies here. You need to be here. And then there was my MBA professor Neel Kanthan," Narasimhan said in the podcast.
“I told him, listen, I wanted to be in advertising, and I’ve got a job in advertising, and he just shut the door. He said ‘what the heck are you doing?’ He said your life is not in advertising. Your life is not in the corporate world. Your life is there. And at that time, I remember there was some news channel on his screen and there was I think CNN-IBN also on his screen at that time. So, two channels were there on his screen. He said you’ve got to be there."
“So Professor Neel Kantan is somebody I will always remember… Professor Sahuraja said ‘you have a life on stage’. He was my principal at Podar College. So, it all started from there. But every night, when I come back home, I see my mom and I always think of the fact that many years ago, when I was in ninth standard, she said ‘I think I want to see you on prime time one day’. And that was the DD era you know. So, every night I’m living my dream job," he added.
Talking about mentors and teachers in his journalistic career, Narasimhan said: “When I got into sports broadcast, Jason Dasey, a senior presenter, said ‘you’ve got potential’. He would help me out and he would just do it without even me asking. Des Cocken was my boss and he started on a 4 am shift with me…"
News18’s ‘My Teacher, My Inspiration’ podcast series features CNN-News18 anchors who speak about what Teachers’ Day means to them. From their parents to school teachers to college professors and mentors in the newsroom, they pay tributes to the personalities that shaped their life and career. We hope these special podcasts will help future journalists find their inspiration.
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