Career is a baggage?

I am feeling lonely and down today and it is not the best of the times to write a blog about the last two weeks. But deadline is approaching. There is no choice but keep on writing.

I know I have done a remarkable job on professional front during first week of May; my four bylines have been published in WSJ in one week which, according to Randy, is a record. It is peak of my career. According to one of my friend it is a miracle that a person from a small village of Pakistan who started learning English alphabets at the age of 14 has got four bylines published in WSJ in one week. Yes, it is incredible but, I am not happy; at least at the moment. I am missing my family, friends and country.

I belong to a big family. It is exhausting to live alone in a small room. There are many options available to make one busy but they don’t work all the time. I can’t spend the whole time watching TV, surfing internet or reading a books and newspaper.

I can’t live without talking to people. But here, it is the toughest job to find somebody to talk about. I have also tried to make some friends in the neighboring apartments but most of them are not interested in an ‘alien.’ The evenings and weekends are the worst time. Talking to friends on phones and family for hours and hours and wandering on the streets are the only alternatives.

During last two weeks, I also have many problems on the health front; first there was a problem with my wisdom tooth followed by sore throat, stiff neck and fever. It seems my body is not happy with my decision of coming here and has decided to give me a tough time.

May 7 is my birthday. I was away from family on the day for the first time in my life. It was tough but my friends at office especially Judy Dixon made it memorable for me. Thank you all.

I can't forget this birthday the whole life. My wife has given me the most precious gift on the day. Yes, she is pregnant. She knew it even before I came to America but did not inform me because she did not want me to miss the opportunity of availing the fellowship.

Sometimes, it feels that career is a baggage.

For me, the things have moved forward at a decent pace during the last two weeks. I have learnt a lot both at professional and personal levels.

There were the challenges on every day. I would have to find out the ways to face them and overcome them and I have done so.

My mentor is a very nice human being and a great help but I wanted to try myself this time. It was a deliberate effort and you guys will have to tell me, it has worked or not.

I was having a difficult time to call the sources for getting the information and quotes. I could not pick more than 65 percent of the telephonic conversations with people mainly because of their style which was very fast for me and the accent.

To get away from the situation, as the first and most viable resort I took refuge behind e-communication. I started requesting the people to reply my questions via emails. It worked but shaken my confidence as a journalist. A journalist can’t be successful with such fears and they make his/her scope of work very limited.

It is not the solution; I told myself the other day. Overcome it, start working on it. It is always a great help to talk to oneself during the lows. Nobody can tell you better than you how to shed the fears.

I picked up the phone with a mission and started having long conversations with the people. It started working the third or fourth day as I started picking easily around 90 percent of the chat.

I have got my first byline published in WSJ today and all reporting for the story I have done through telephonic conversations.

For me it is more important that I have overcome one of my shortcomings to a greater extent while working in a new culture than getting published. Yes, I am no more hesitant to give a call to anybody in America for my stories.

I also learnt during these two weeks that only having good ideas is not enough to talk to your editors. One needs to be totally prepared and knew most of the aspects of the issue, he/she is going to discuss with the editors.

You need to do a lot of research and talk a lot of people even before pitching your idea. It was a whole new scenario for me, how can I talk to sources if I am not sure whether I am doing a story or not. But, no you will have to. Finding maximum and talking to maximum sources before pitching the ideas is the most common practice in American newsrooms.

At present, I have been working on three ideas simultaneously, during last two days I have talked to more than 20 people for my story ideas and have read more than 100 pages to get hold of them.

I am still not sure which of them are going to be accepted. But I am not worried about it. I am only concerned about becoming a better journalist and equip myself with new techniques and tools.

Randy and John, I have realized now why you wanted us to work too hard during the orientation seminar. I can't overcome the tough situations here without that training.

I want to thank Betsy McKay for having faith in me and treating me like a reporter, all of colleagues in Atlanta bureau for giving me space to become part of the team and Marcus Stern for his cooperation and guidance.

Thanks you guys for sending me Atlanta. It is great city.