I think of ‘SP’ every time I face the question: “Are you the same man that appears on Aaj Tak?” I continue to face this question hundreds of times, years after my formal association with Aaj Tak is over. Not surprising, for Aaj Tak was for Hindi television news what Surf was for detergents or Xerox for photocopiers.

I think of him whenever anyone’s Hindi credentials are mentioned with some respect in Delhi’s charmed circles. Not so long ago, it was not enough to know English; it was equally important not to know any other Indian language. Failing in Hindi was a mark of honour. Being at ease with a desi language defined you out of the monolingual English-speaking power elite. This power equation has altered a bit in the last decade or so. Your station in life is still determined by how well you speak English, but knowing Hindi is no more a disqualification.

If we can credit one person with this shift, it must be Surendra Pratap Singh. ‘SP’ launched Aaj Tak, initially as a half an hour news bulletin on Doordarshan, and took it to its iconic status. Today everyone knows that the viewership of all the English news channels put together is but a small proportion of the Hindi viewership. For every big media house, their Hindi channel is the real money spinner. It appears quite logical, if you compare the number of English and Hindi speakers. But only ten years ago it was not so obvious. Hindi media was a distant and very poor cousin to the all-powerful English media.

... contd.