My dues and the search for jobs

 

Today is the morning of the 8th of July, 2020 - Wednesday. It has now been over a month since I left the Statesman newspaper office in Kolkata (5th June) . Still no word from them about my unpaid wages. I consulted a few legal practitioners (Pallavi Gauri and Eshan Saha) regarding the possibility of sending a notice to the organisation. A friend who has been involved in the industry, Abhisek Sarkar advised again it, stating that 'they would have their own resources' and that a case could drag on, an opinion my father shares. 

In the meantime I got in touch with Ratnesh, a senior fellow at the National Institute for Public Finance and Policy. My mother had forwarded my CV to him. They had met when together on a Chevening scholarship in the UK. He along with a colleague (a very upper-class sounding woman who's name I am forgetting) were looking for 'a fresh pair of eyes' to proofread and edit a paper whose contents are confidential. Having agreed to a timeframe and price, I undertook the task (took me for days) and sent the assignment in. Ratnesh acknowledged it's reception. I still haven't heard 

from them regarding when they plan to pay me.

Between these two jobs, my mother said that the she was looking for an article to be written fry among topics that she would suggest. This was for the Central Industrial Security Force's journal - Sentinel. The article I wrote on 'Community Policing' which you can also read on my blog was for that. It was submitted on the 13th of June. I was told that I would be paid three thousand rupees for it.

Compiling the amounts due from these sources a) The Statesman - 62,000 rupees, b) National Institute for Public Finance and Policy - 4500 rupees, and c) CISF - 3000 rupees, I am owed a total of 69500 rs.

The bulk of this is over six months due. Even with the revised rate of interest released by the SBI on the 31st of May, the interest on this amount alone comes to 1877 rupees per annum.

Notwithstanding I have gone ahead and been looking for paid work. A lead I received recently was about the resumption of the publications PAWS, a magazine based out of Hyderabad that focuses on 'people, animals, wellness, and society'. Having leafed through an issue - I see that it consists principally of interviews with up and coming young professionals, many of whom have gone on to start their own brands, ranging from from fashion, to textiles and footwear. I had visited their office a couple of days prior to the 26th of June upon being called by Dinesh Akula, a promoter for the publication (who incidentally was also on a Chevening fellowship and met my mother during one of their alumni meets. In his office, we spoke about how the magazine is handling the present covid crises, the processes entailed in its publication, the form of the articles, the audience we were trying to attract and the possible role that I could play in such an organisation. I was told that I could interview and write for them - something I have experience with in the past. Still no word from Dinesh, even after reminding him.

During the course of these events I have been pitching my ever growing CV to companies advertising all kinds of jobs on LinkedIn, from research, to copywriting, to teaching, editing, etc. All to no avail so far. 

On the bright side my parents got me a puppy.