Mr K.N. Malik has had a distinguished career in journalism in India and was the European Correspondent for The Times of India. He was a Senior Researcher Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and a Research Associate, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. He wrote columns for the Illustrated Weekly of India and the Tribune, Chandigarh. He is the author of” India and UK- change and continuity in the 1980s.” He pioneered reporting in Civil Aviation and Tourism in India.
I met with him last week at his flat in an exclusive part of Kensington.
Mr K.N. Malik’s experience stretches far beyond the media.
It was in his early years that a spirit of giving was instilled in him, he said.
He explained that he and his childhood friends explored different philosophies like Marxism before settling on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, founded before Mr Malik’s birthyear of 1929. Mr Malik said that he always wanted to work for society, and that during the Freedom Movement, “The Congress Party, the Socialist Party; all had inputs in one’s mind.”
The RSS placed an emphasis on charity, service and self-discipline so that its members could train and give selflessly unto others. As a Hindu, he saw no religious division in his mind; He also joined the Gurudwara movement as a volunteer. His third seminal influence was being part of the Scout movement.
“You imbibed the service instinct, how to serve other people,” Mr Malik added.
He remembered going to Punja Sahib, near Rawal Pindi, towards the North West Frontier area of what is now Pakistan, and seeing a massacre during the period of the partition of India. He and a small group served in a refugee camp there.
In his student years, Mr Malik was involved with the evacuation and rehabilitation of people fleeing terror. He was part of a group that established the DAV College Refugee camp, Lahore, used by hundreds of thousands of refugees as an exit point from Pakistan.
“You care about the family of humanity almost than your own family,” he said of himself.
For a lengthy period, he was imprisoned, along with other senior professionals like doctors and lawyers. “We remained cheerful, even in jail,” he commented, admitting that conditions were hardly luxurious, let alone comfortable. Everyone slept on the floor. When his father sent his brother to suggest he apologise to the government and get released, K.N. replied, “What for? I’m quite happy round here.”
In Delhi, after his MA he supported himself by teaching two hours a day. Mr Malik applied to the Times of India, and was initially rejected. But he knew Prithviraj Kapoor, member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. “Prithviraj spoke to the General Manager and owner of the Times of India. I was told I could work as an apprentice; they would not pay me.”
Talent will out, and K.N. Malik started hitting headlines immediately. “Within the first month, two of my stories were lead stories.” The first was about a famous chimpanzee; the chief guest at a party given by the American Ambassador. The second was an investigation about the police intimidation of witnesses in the case of a murdered chief medical officer of health.
After this, the chief editor of the Times of India came to Delhi to meet K.N. He asked if he was being paid. “No,” came the reply. So Mr Malik was given a staff position and a suitable salary.
He was approached to move to England to report from here but refused. He was given salary increases and allowances. He continued to write fearless headline news stories, not tempted by any monetary offers.
Mr Malik held out in Delhi until he could not refuse any longer. At his departure, he was the only person ever to be given a farewell dinner by the chairman of the company, At that dinner, the chairman told Mrs Malik; “There is hardly a prime minister or minister of any party who has not complained about Mr Malik.”
“I thought that was the biggest tribute that could be paid to a journalist!” Smiled Mr Malik.
One critic was Indian president Giani Zail Singh, “who tried to get me sacked,” Mr Malik said. “My reporting didn’t suit him.” After a call from the president to his chief editor that resulted in a decision that Mr Malik’s stories should be vetted by the chief before they went to the city editor, this wily journalist made sure that a particularly important story on President Singh was filed on an evening when the chief editor was not at home, even calling his chief’s house to demonstrate due diligence. So the story was published; and as a lead!
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“You imbibed the service instinct, how to serve other people”
