(Image via indiatoday.com)
Patru, a friendly monkey that had spent the last few years hopping from one tree to another outside the CNN-IBN office in Noida, was recently spotted dangling from a tree outside the India Today Mediaplex, according to some CNN-IBN journalists who had befriended the little simian and went looking for it when they couldn’t find it.
The discovery left many of them disconsolate. “First Karan Thapar, then Sagarika and Rajdeep, and now Patru! Folks are deserting this group in hordes. Why is this happening!?” wailed a junior editor in CNN-IBN.
According to insiders, many more resignations are expected in the coming weeks. “Patru leaving us is simply the last straw. I’m gonna leave too. There’s no talent left in this group anymore,” declared an editor with IBN7.
Ex-IBN journalist turned Aam Aadmi Party politician, Ashutosh, who had enjoyed many an intellectual conversation with Patru, perched on treetops and while climbing high walls, blamed it all on Ambani. “Even the Patru has left the Ambanis and choosed greener pastors, why can’t others at the IBN? It’s now odourless, tasteless and color less network!” (sic) he tweeted in his inimitable style.
Rahul Kanwal promoted to ‘editor at largest’
In related news, sacked journos hub’s India Today group’s top management promoted Headlines Today’s Editor-at-large, Rahul Kanwal to ‘editor-at-largest’, presumably to reassure the latter after the influx of a series of top journalists in the recent months.
“We wanted to convey to Rahul that we value his contribution to our group, and rank him over the other top journalists that are joining us,” smiled India Today founder and Chief Executive Aroon Purie. “We’d further upgrade his rank to ‘Super Editor-at-largest’ when Sagarika Ghose joins us, and ‘Super Hyper Mega Giga Editor-at-largest’, in the event Rajdeep Sardesai too follows suit.”
When asked what he’d do if Arnab Goswami joins the group, Aroon Purie’s smile vanished. “Then I’ll start calling myself Chief Executive-at-large,” he responded curtly.