Off the Record

‘[Ajith’s book] is the first full account I have seen between hard covers which is exclusively about a journalist’s adventures and journeys in the field... An extraordinary first “rough draft of history”, a portrait of India from the 80s to the present time.’ – Vinod Mehta ‘Ajith Pillai’s account of his journalistic odyssey covers the period of India’s Great Transformation from the 1980s to the present. He does so with incisive wit and insight into a breathtaking range of issues. This ought to be a handbook for all aspiring journalists, since Pillai is an enemy of sycophantic corporate ideology and craven submissiveness to wealth and power which characterize most of today’s celebritywriters.’ – Jeremy Seabrook, British author and columnist In a journalist’s career, the best stories can seldom be published… Veteran journalist Ajith Pillai’s colourful career spanning nearly three decades has taken him from the murky underworld of Bombay to the icy heights of Kargil; yet, the reports he has written are only half the story. Now, for the first time, the ‘off-the-record’ experiences that never found their way to print are presented in this witty and engaging memoir. Beginning with a call from a furious Chota Shakeel, Dawood Ibrahim’s right-hand man, asking him to retract a story on ‘Bhai’ or face the consequence, Ajith takes the reader on a journey that sees him guide V.S. Naipaul to meet the ‘boys’ from the underworld; follow the sensuous Silk Smitha around Bombay on a New Year’s eve; witness the first shots of Operation Vijay during the Kargil War; track, along with a colleague, a Brigadier accused of high treason across the country; stumble upon embarrassed Congressmen in Kamathipura, Bombay’s red-light district; discover who was actually pulling the strings during Vajpayee’s tenure as PM; and coordinate the coverage of the multimillion dollar Scorpene submarine scam and the sensational Radia tapes. Written with Ajith’s trademark wry humour, these real stories, often more entertaining than fiction, are a testament to a journalist’s life, as well as a comment on the changing nature of the effervescent Indian media.