Thesaurus for money

Ganesh Yellapur is yet another journalist who left his profession to become an entrepreneur because he was bored from the routine in his life. More than that, not liking the atmosphere in Bengaluru, he wanted to work around his home-town in Yellapur of the Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka. So, one day he decided to start his own firm and left Bengaluru.

Even though he had a roaring career as a journalist, he did not think twice before quitting to achieve what he thought was best for him. He had been in journalism for 12 long years working in mainstream vernacular newspapers.

In general, across the vernacular media, daily newspapers in particular, borrow a major part of the content from English. During these years, the translation was part and parcel of his everyday work. It had just become a routine at some point of his career, providing him an opportunity to test his skills.  Becoming a journalist is a choice for him and not an accident. “I must say choice! When I entered journalism, I was 20 years old – too young for any serious assignments, isn’t it?  It was neither a planned step nor a decision based on thoughtful consideration, but purely passion driven. I had a passion for writing. At that point, this career looked lucrative since there were opportunities to write”, says Ganesh Yellappur.

Was he disillusioned by media atmosphere which became the reason for quiting? Was there a feeling of stagnation in the job? “Disillusioned” might not be the proper expression to describe this situation, says Ganesh. “If Gabriel Garcia Marquez can still say that journalism is the best of the professions, who am I to get disillusioned?” he asks. The feeling of stagnation? “Yes. I am averse to routine work and I would be happier if I could make changes to the way I work every few years. So I guess,  in a way it is extremely personal”, he says.

Quitting media and becoming an entrepreneur was not a natural progression for Ganesh. He chose to become a self employed language consultant. Ask him how he feels about this change and he is quick to add, “The realisation of what makes content a service helped me to shape up my product. Language is an essential business that keeps growing every hour. The difference between being a journalist and being self employed is about increasing stakes and the fun and joy of living your own business,” says Ganesh. But cash is a cause of worry, he shares.

At the moment, Ganesh Yellapur is happily living a life in the translation business, located near his hometown. The best thing in this business is that work can be done from anywhere with a laptop and internet connection to communicate. That is what made him ditch the seemingly boring routine of working at a news desk and become a man who could write his own fate by his own efforts. Yellapur did not leave journalism completely though. He writes a column for a reputed vernacular newspaper called Vijayavani. That is how he tastes journalism even after becoming an entrepreneur.