IF CYRUS GOES CAN ARNAB BE FAR BEHIND

“As he was valiant, I honor him…

 But as he was ambitious, I slew him.”
― William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Two similar events unfolded over past few days… Cyrus Mistry, the Chairman of Tata Group, was sacked. Arnab Goswami, the Editor-in-Chief of Times Now, resigned.  Or, was forced to go?

For decades, I have been a loyal admirer of both these organization – Tatas and Times of India. Maybe, it is more a kind of sentimental attachment to these names, maybe, I am governed by the fan-psychology, which is more emotion-based rather than reason-based.

Yes, with Tatas, I admired the conservative, trust and value based approach to business… Like so many around me felt, I, too, felt that Tatas believed in fair-play and integrity. I abhorred, always, the short-cuts to glory… I abhored making it too big too fast… People like Jamshetji, JRD and Ratan Tata have fascinated me… I have found them to be gentlemen in business.

So, when Cyrus Mistry was removed, my loyalty was with Ratan Tata and his Tata group… I do not know the real reason why Cyrus was removed except the ones I gathered from his leaked email and some newspaper reports… But, reasons apart, I felt, Ratan Tata was right.

Now, am I thinking too much from my heart?  Yes, I am… and, I know it.

Similarly, the first English daily I started reading was TOI and despite so many other dailies trying to make way into my heart, I have refused to be disloyal to the old lady of Bori Bunder… I have found the approach of TOI a very moderate one… I have never seen too much of activism or siding by this newspaper…. The conservative, value-based approach has appealed me always. So, my loyalty has been steadfast when it came to Vineet Jain (the present MD) and his family.

So, last evening, when social media went viral over Arnab Goswami quitting Times Now, my gut feeling said, “No, he must have been forced to go.”

No matter what the TRPs said, and no matter what the world said and why the nation got glued to Arnab’s News Hour at 9 every night, I felt that was not the way news had to be presented and debates had to be conducted… He was too brash, too full of himself… too impatient and offending… He carried his own agenda… and he was over-ambitious…an  arrogant autocrat. “How does he manage to survive in a group like Times of India?” I have wondered so often. And, I always knew his end in TOI would come…

Am I happy that Arnab is gone… quit or forced to quit?

Well, my loyalty is with TOI… however sentimental fool I may appear to be.

Both Tata and TOI empires have been built, I can say, over centuries. People like Cyrus and Arnab do not define these groups, leave alone determine their success or doom… The roots are robust and vision is too, too comprehensive for that. Storms have come and storms have gone… They will withstand this storm, too…

While I wish the best for both Cyrus and Arnab, I wish to remind them of this line from Julius Caesar:

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Internet