I was never interested in working for Indian Customs. I landed there when my dad, who was an intelligence officer over there, expired and I was offered the job under the quota reserved for children of custom officials who die while on duty. I had no problem performing the duties of a custom official but I just didn't like the job. I had always dreamt of and had worked towards becoming a journalist or film actor. But I never had imagined that I would land in a place like Customs. Throughout the 14 years during which I worked there I felt guilty that I was doing a job that I had acquired owing to my dad and not due to my own merit. I never liked that feeling. There were people who said that I could do nothing on my own. I would feel like proving them wrong. And today I have indeed succeeded in proving them wrong by becoming a successful journalist by my own merit. Every moment while I was working in customs I was searching for reasons to quit that job. I found the reason in the year 1996. I had come in contact with a maker of B-grade films, Pappu Yadav, with the help of Custom clearing agent (Import), Shafique. Pappu Yadav had his office at Ranjit Studio, Dadar (East). I invested a big amount for a film that Pappu Yadav was making. After the film was made it did great business and I got double the amount that I had invested. I became adventurous. I decided to go for film producing in a big way. I submitted a resignation letter to the Commissioner of Customs. Then I invested on three films that Pappu Yadav was going to make. This time I put in more than 80 percent of the money I had. I thought I would surely make roaring profit after which I could go on to invest in A grade Bollywood films. I was also dreaming of using in a big way my film script writing and film acting abilities along with film producing power. But I was shocked when the three films flopped extremely badly. One fetched me only ten percent of the money I had invested. The second fetched me five percent. While the third fetched me just twelve percent. I was almost bankrupt It was then that I regretted having left the Customs job. I had submitted my resignation letter on March 1996. It was in January 1997 that I went to Customs to withdraw my resignation letter. But to my horror my resignation was already accepted somewhere in May. Nobody had cared to intimate me about this. There was a rule that you can get the resignation withdrawn if you submit an application for withdrawal of resignation within certain period of time after the resignation is accepted. But it was too late for me. But I did apply for withdrawal of resignation immediately after I got the information that my resignation was accepted. I had a strong point that I was not intimated by Customs about my resignation having been accepted. But the Customs authorities refused to withdraw my resignation. I then made a case against Customs at Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). I was represented by a husband-and-wife couple who were both lawyers. The case went on for four years after which I got a verdict against me. I could have gone to High Court and appealed. But I was in no mood to waste my time and money. I appealed directly to the President of India who after taking a lot of time gave the verdict against me. I was expecting a reply from secretary of Indian President but it was someone from Customs Board who sent the rejection letter on behalf of the President. The thing is this court case and other procedures wasted my five precious years. Now I had to do service since I had no money left to start my own business. I did get offers from Customs Clearing Agencies but I rejected those offers since I didn't want anything to do with Customs. Then I did a course in accountancy and tried to be an accountant. I did medical transcription course and tried to be a medical transcriptionist. But both my attempts failed. I even tried to be film and TV actor but in vain. I tried all possible things to get myself employed once again but in vain. I then joined National Industrial Security Agency (NISA) and I got a job of a security officer/supervisor. This job I did for one and half years after which I got a big break as a journalist in weekly newspaper of Navi Mumbai, IN NEW BOMBAY which is now a daily newspaper called NEWSBAND. The rest was history! Now I've no fear of being jobless anytime in my life. I brought myself to this position by my own merit and not with the help of anybody. I feel triumphant today! Bye!
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