KT was professionally edited with first rate content

After a fairly successful journalistic career — at least I would like to think so — first as an Assistant Editor of the Times of India, then Editor of the Reader’s Digest,

The Indian Express and Sunday Observer, followed by a two-year stint at a Consultant with the United Nations, I felt it was time to retire and enjoy myself. I was a little over 60 years old. Then, out of the blue, I was invited to Dubai to meet the then owner of the Khaleej Times. The post of editorship of his paper was lying vacant and he was looking for somebody suitable to fill it up. I later learnt that he had interviewed several candidates but not found them suitable. One of my distinguished predecessors as Editor of the paper, Surendra Nihal Singh, who had also briefly been my boss in the Indian Post, had recommended my name, as had Khalid Ansari, who had been at Khaleej Times as well. So, I found myself at the Galadari farmhouse, two-hour drive from Dubai, being grilled by him. Alongside was a full-grown cheetah (among the owner’s passions was a fondness for exotic animals and high-end cars). Despite my obvious nervousness at the nearby cheetah, I must have satisfied my future boss, because the next morning I found myself negotiating terms with the KT’s General Manager Saghir Ahmed Khan. I came back to Dubai a short while later to take up KT’s editorship, while staying in a suite in the Intercontinental Hotel, which was owned by Galadari Brothers. I had a glorious view of the everbusy Creek, with the loading and unloading of goods from dhows.

At the KT I had a top-class editorial team. Patrick Michael was my very competent magazine editor. Bikram Vohra wrote a highly acclaimed and popular humorous column, and also became KT Editor. One of the first major changes I made to KT was to modernise the layout of the front page. Invaluable help came from Mohamed Aroos, a genius at visualing and designing. And I had a team of excellent news photographers. I would even go as far as to say that my editorial colleagues at KT would have adorned any major English language publication anywhere in the world. Most of them came from the Indian subcontinent, which comprises India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, but there was a sprinkling from other nations as well. Hence, KT was essentially cosmopolitan, crossing national boundaries. Though our readership consisted mainly of readers from India and Pakistan, we would carry plenty of news and comment from the rest of the world as well, so as to attract a wider readership. I held an editorial meeting at the end of the day, just before leaving office to review the main news developments during the day, with the news, finance and sports editors, but I made it a point to ask the news desk to ring me up late at night just before the paper was “laid to bed”, in case there was subsequent news which needed to go on the first page. Though there are always certain constraints in bringing out a daily newspaper from the Gulf, KT was very professionally edited, with first-rate news content, expertly laid out, and a comments page that addressed issues worldwide.

Finally, a few words on the environment in which KT operated. Though it has become a cliché, Dubai is a veritable Singapore in the Middle East. I learnt a great deal about Islam and many earlier misconceptions were removed from my mind. Dubai’s huge success is thanks mainly to its enlightened, progressive and go-ahead leadership. Very few places in the world are so efficient, fair-minded, law-abiding and welcoming. Little wonder that so many people from various countries and different religions want to work and holiday here. I was proud to be the Editor of an outstanding publication and happy to live in such a vibrant, exciting city.

Rahul Singh is a former Editor of Khaleej Times

Though it has become a cliché, Dubai is a veritable Singapore in the Middle East. I learnt a great deal about Islam and many earlier misconceptions were removed from my mind.