In 2005, I was working with a newspaper in Chennai when someone came calling from my hometown, Thiruvananthapuram.
This person, who held a senior position with a national daily then, was a teacher-figure for me. He taught me the nuances of writing a report a year earlier at a media centre where I worked immediately after my MCJ course. It was of a big event and he supervised the media centre.
As a post-graduate in communication and journalism who knew more of theory than practical lessons, I was immensely grateful to whatever I learned from him. And I kept in touch with him after I got a job and moved to Chennai from Thiruvananthapuram.
When he told me about his Chennai visit, I was very excited as if I was going to meet someone from home. It was my first stint away from home and I was missing everything related to it. I was 26 and he may have been in his mid-40s.
He said we could meet over lunch at the guest house where he was staying. I went there and had a good time over lunch in the guest house restaurant that was just outside his room.
Post-lunch he said we could sit in the room and talk. I didn't see any danger or awkwardness in it as he was my 'teacher'! To confess, I was too naive with very little knowledge of the outside world.
I walked in to his room and started appreciating the things I saw there. I was gazing through the window still smiling and talking when he came from behind, held my shoulders and kissed behind my neck. I was startled and turned towards him. He cupped my face and planted a wet kiss on my forehead. I felt the area burnt of insult.
I scrambled out and left the place. I was hurt deeply and was struggling hard to hold back tears all the way to my hostel in Nungambakkam. I shared the incident with my roommate and later another friend who was working with a regional daily in Kerala. Both of them advised me to not keep in touch with him again.
I wrote a long mail to him about how the incident hurt me and why I wasn't interested to be in touch with him anymore. He just replied with a one-liner saying he didn't mean "that way". I couldn't take it any other way as I still remember with disgust the tremble in his arms and lips.
That was the last time I met him or talked to him. Thirteen years later, he now holds a plum post with the same daily he worked then.
I buried the incident in my memory as I had overcome the trauma it inflicted. Now I feel I have a platform where I must share it.
This person, who held a senior position with a national daily then, was a teacher-figure for me. He taught me the nuances of writing a report a year earlier at a media centre where I worked immediately after my MCJ course. It was of a big event and he supervised the media centre.
As a post-graduate in communication and journalism who knew more of theory than practical lessons, I was immensely grateful to whatever I learned from him. And I kept in touch with him after I got a job and moved to Chennai from Thiruvananthapuram.
When he told me about his Chennai visit, I was very excited as if I was going to meet someone from home. It was my first stint away from home and I was missing everything related to it. I was 26 and he may have been in his mid-40s.
He said we could meet over lunch at the guest house where he was staying. I went there and had a good time over lunch in the guest house restaurant that was just outside his room.
Post-lunch he said we could sit in the room and talk. I didn't see any danger or awkwardness in it as he was my 'teacher'! To confess, I was too naive with very little knowledge of the outside world.
I walked in to his room and started appreciating the things I saw there. I was gazing through the window still smiling and talking when he came from behind, held my shoulders and kissed behind my neck. I was startled and turned towards him. He cupped my face and planted a wet kiss on my forehead. I felt the area burnt of insult.
I scrambled out and left the place. I was hurt deeply and was struggling hard to hold back tears all the way to my hostel in Nungambakkam. I shared the incident with my roommate and later another friend who was working with a regional daily in Kerala. Both of them advised me to not keep in touch with him again.
I wrote a long mail to him about how the incident hurt me and why I wasn't interested to be in touch with him anymore. He just replied with a one-liner saying he didn't mean "that way". I couldn't take it any other way as I still remember with disgust the tremble in his arms and lips.
That was the last time I met him or talked to him. Thirteen years later, he now holds a plum post with the same daily he worked then.
I buried the incident in my memory as I had overcome the trauma it inflicted. Now I feel I have a platform where I must share it.
