Arnab Goswami
Editor-in-Chief, Times Now

There's a great hustle bustle of activity at the Times Now office. It looks like, it's been a day of hectic meetings and amazing news breaks for Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami. As I enter his cabin, his cell phone keeps beeping incessantly and the sms' keep pouring in; yet Arnab looks all charged and raring to go.

For the first time ever, Goswami gets candid on his exciting journey as an editor-in-chief.

My initial years …
Since my father was in the army, I changed various schools around the country. Also, I grew up in a family of lawyers and politicians. After doing my BA from the Hindu college in Delhi, I went through a period of uncertainity in my life. I was not too sure what I wanted to do in life. But somewhere along with the way, I figured out that I had a very strong connection with England. I had a strong desire to study law at Oxford. Though, I didn't get a chance to do law but I went on to do Social Anthropology at Oxford.

My Oxford days
I didn't really enjoy studying Social Anthropology or didn't quite like the `Oxonion' circuit so-to-speak. Later, I had an opportunity to do a PH D, but somehow I came back to India and joined the Telegraph in Calcutta. For about an year, I worked on the Edit pages of the newspaper. Later, I had an offer to join Outlook magazine, but somehow as luck would have it I went on to join NDTV.

My days with NDTV
At NDTV, I started off with doing some small stories, but being a quick learner I soon graduated to important stories. I was fortunate enough to cover three general elections, the Jain Hawala case and many other important stories. Working with Prannoy Roy was an excellent opportunity. I also owe a lot to my News Editor Appan Menon (who is unfortunately nomore).

After spending a good nine and a half years at NDTV, I had made up my mind to move on in life. I was scared of getting too comfortable at my job and was itching to take on a risk. I wanted to take on something that would challenge me. There were offers to head existing news channels but the offer to launch a new channel from scratch was a great opportunity.

Launching Times Now
My initial meetings with Mr Arun Arora and later with Mr Vineet Jain convinced me that this was the biggest risk and challenge that I was waiting for. On a personal level, launching the channel has been a great learning curve in terms hiring people, handling production, programming and deciding the overall look and feel of the channel.

Restless and raring to go
I always want to try out new things in life. After the launch of the channel, we are now in the process of experimenting with newer formats and forms. Now, our aim is to take the channel to the top.

I try to remain level headed
This profession can sometimes give you an exaggerated sense of self importance. My aim is to try and remain level headed all the time. I've seen people change a lot after getting into this profession. I try to keep a low profile and be one amongst the team.

My mind is always at work
Sometimes there are abnormal levels of stress in our profession. Also, the news business can really get a bit obsessive as one can't afford to miss out on a single news break. Somehow, my mind is always at work and it's part of my nature. I find it difficult to cut off. Also, it's hugely competitive. Initially, I didn't want to be in the rat race but now somehow being in the race, now I want to be the fastest rat.

Relaxing Mantra
I keep shuffling between Delhi and Mumbai. Whenever, possible we take off on a holiday, or go for long drives. I don't really like to party much or network. I try to spend a lot of quality time with my five year old son, who loves to watch me on television and imitate me all the time.

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