MY DATAQUEST JOURNEY: THE EARLY YEARS OF INDIAN IT

Sharing interesting nuggets from my life as a tech journalist at a time when Indian media hardly covered IT in any form and peculiarities from that era. (Part 1)

I had completed my MBA from AIigarh Muslim University a year earlier, and then tried my hand at a fish farming startup venture with a few MBA class fellows. The venture failed miserably. In our MBA program, we had studied all the popular subjects under management subjects-marketing, HR, finance, advertising, sales, production, etc-but it wasn't enough. In fish farming, for which we had taken a huge 250-acre pond in the middle of western Uttar Pradesh's nowhere, "muscle power" management skills and street smartness were probably the most important requirements.

"Enough is enough, fish farming is for goondas. You get out of it right now, and get yourself a decent job," my father, a university professor, thundered one day. Next morning, I was on the train to Delhi, to get a "decent" job.

Q1: Name five international computer companies: It was November 1989, and I was sitting in D-74 Panchsheel Enclave, the New Delhi basement office of CyberMedia, waiting my turn for a job interview. After a little wait, a young man entered the small room. "I am Dr Srinivasan, and I head IDC (International Data Corporation), a world leader in tech market research," he introduced himself. I had no clue about anything, so I just nodded my head. A friend of mine had got me here. Anyway, as Doc (that is how Dr Srinivasan was called in the organisation, I later came to know) started questioning me on my skills in developing a questionnaire and getting it filled, I realised that this interrogation was for a market research executive job. Just then a young lady walked into the room and whispered something in Doc's ear, and he stopped asking questions. "I guess you are here for a reporter's job interview," he informed me, appearing to be confused himself. However, in a minute the lady appeared again.