The Major, the mentor and the March 4 dateline...

Guest Column: Veteran journalist Rakesh Khar reflects on four decades of newsroom life and celebrates the enduring spirit of journalism

by Rakesh Khar
Published: Mar 4, 2026 3:48 PM | 3 min read

On March 4, 1987, the Hindustan Times carried a feature on Major A.K. Singh, legendary Indian Army veteran and a handicapped globe-trotter. For me, a trainee, who was then studying journalism at Kashmir University, it was a first national by-line.

For the world, it was an inspiring story of physical endurance and national pride. Back home it was a different story altogether: it was my father’s victory. An announcement that the nation provides for talent but without any bragging rights. As a teacher himself, he lived by the maxim of merit. He celebrated my by-line as symbol of perseverance.

The national by-line for a trainee wasn’t easy to come by. Looking back, the journey was the prize. The road to that page-one moment of the feature section was scripted in the Delhi winter around Republic Day. Getting across to the Major and getting him to agree to meet a young trainee was arduous. Having reached his transit accommodation somewhere behind Janpath, I found the Major was humble and helpful.

I was swelling with pride having met a real hero from the defence forces. The chat deepened my reverence for the forces, a belief that their grit is the ultimate benchmark of heroism.

While I was learning to be a journalist, my father was teaching me what it meant to be a believer. He was miles away with no easy facility to reach me. We could not speak on March 4. The newspaper reached Srinagar early afternoon. He had a copy in hand only late evening. He dashed off early the next day to the central news stand in Lal Chowk to pick up as many copies of the March 4 HT edition. It was his trophy.

He was a storyteller and the story was not about his son but about celebrating institutional excellence at the national media outlet. It was the collective pride he was soaking in rather than just being an excitable father. He taught me English at home, a subject he taught in college, hence the by-line was an expression of a teacher. He was the one who blessed my study of passion when journalism was a less-trodden path.

He was my first and most demanding editor. "You are only as good as your last by-line," he said when we spoke. When I moved to The Economic Times early 1991 under the legendary T.N. Ninan, he wrote to my mentor Ashok Bhattacharya requesting him to guide me. No shortcuts!

God, unfortunately, called him home on January 15, 1992. The Editor in him never truly left. As I enter my 40th year in this profession today, I can hear him scanning my copy for typos, reminding me to excel.

For me the March 4, 1987 clipping is a professional milestone, and a testament to Major Singh’s bravery. It is a symbol of a father’s love, a reminder that while my name was on the by-line, it was his heart that put it there. Curiosity, a key journalistic tenet, got me to speak to Major Singh yesterday after four decades, and I found him echoing my father's voice: Never say die!