Tarun Tejpal

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Tarun J Tejpal
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Tarun J Tejpal is a very renowned Indian
Journalist, publisher, novelist, and former
editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine. He was born
on 15th March 1963 in Jalandhar, Punjab. With his
hard work and dedication, he has overcome various
obstacles in his life. His father Inderjit
Tejpal, was an army officer due to which he grew
up in different parts of the country and making
himself aware of different cultures of the
country. He did his graduation in Economics from
Punjab University. After completing his
graduation he started working with The Indian
Express in the 1980s, but later on he shifted to
Delhi for his joining in the new magazine called
India 2000. But then again he left India 2000 and
joined India Today magazine in 1984. Within four
years he made tremendous progress in his field
and learned a lot of new things from these
organizations. A year later he married to Geeta
Batra in 1985. Later on he worked for 10 years in
India Today with so much passion and dedication.
He was finally able to join Financial Express in
1994 because of his laborious efforts.
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Then the time came when he finally became the
founding editor of Outlook (second-largest
newsmagazine publication in India). While he was
excelling in the field of journalism he
simultaneously opened a publishing company named
India Ink. This publishing company later on
published an award-winning novel The God of
Small Things written by Arundhati Roy in the
year 1998. Tarun Tejpal is a person who is never
afraid to speak his heart out, and he never
hesitates to take risk and learn new things. As a
journalist, he has always tried his best to
report every news with honesty and authenticity.
He is a man of his words. Apart from his
professional life, he is a very admirable person
in his personal life too. He is a proud father of
two daughters. He brought a major change in the
world of journalism through his magazine Tehelka.
Tehelka was Indias first journalistic website.
He wanted to bring back the aggressive public
interest journalism of the 1980s through his
magazine Tehelka, which he believed was lost
somewhere behind the glamour of fashion, food and
cinema. He co-founded Tehelka with one of his
colleagues in the year 2000. Furthermore, he
along with his team of Tehelka.com conducted his
first sting operation on the cricket match fixing
which was a huge success. And soon a book was
published on this sting operation. Thereafter
Tehelka became famous for its sting operation. It
was Tarun who brought the concept of Sting
operations in the Indian Journalism. He wanted to
share the true image of various big leaders to
the public.
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Few of the major landmark stories that Tehelka
covered where police encounters in the
north-east, The Ishrat Jahan and Tulsi Prajapati
murder, 2G and coal scams, operation west end
(defense deal bribes), Gujrat killings, an exposé
on Zaheera Sheikh, etc. Tarun always stood up for
the rights of the oppressed sections of the
Indian society like Dalits, Poor, tribal groups,
minorities, etc. And he proved this through his
magazine as well. He is never afraid to say the
truth. The reporters and writers of the Tehelka
magazine have won every journalistic award. From
International Press Institute Awards for the best
journalism of the year, winning Sanskrit
Journalism Award, Statesmans Award for Rural
Reporting, Ramnath Goenka Award to winning
multiple South Asia Laadli Media and Advertising
Awards they have achieved all of this.
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• There are various other awards that he has won in
  his life. Few of them are
• In 2001, he was named among the 50 leaders at
  the forefront of change in Asia by business
  week.
• In the year 2007, The Guardian named Tarun among
  the 20 who constitute Indias new elite for
  being the pioneer in sting journalism.
• Again in 2009, He was named among Indias 50
  Most Powerful People 2009 by Business week.
• In the year 2010, Tarun received the Award for
  Excellence in Journalism by the International
  Press Institutes India Chapter Award.
• Tarun was also selected as GQ Indias Man of the
  Year in the year 2011.
• Tarun Tejpal didnt confine himself to the field
  of journalism only. His first debut novel The
  Alchemy of Desire published in the year 2006 won
  the Le Prix MillePages Award. His second literary
  novel was based on the true story of his failed
  assassination bid. With the arrest of his five
  assassins, he got the idea of writing his second
  novel The story of my Assassins which was
  published in 2010. Later on Amazon Prime adopted
  The Story of My Assassins into the 2020s wildly
  successful web series- Patal Lok.

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• Here are some Reviews of Tejpals Fiction
• New York Journal of Books- Tarun J. Tejpal is
  brilliant. A master storyteller, he writes with
  graphic details so stunning in spots as to make
  the reader pause for breath.
• The New Yorker- A spine-chilling book ....
  written with flair and clear-eyed acidity.
• Financial Express- A devastating tale about
  political power and its malignity. With his
  ferocious new book, with his compelling writing,
  Tejpal ensures, hopefully, that Indian exotica
  will never sell.
• Business World- This book is a must-read.
  Extraordinary for its portrayal of modern Indian
  society....shatters any illusion we may harbor of
  being tolerant and just....weaves an extremely
  powerful plot and tells it skillfully.
• The Telegraph- "Harsh... sharp, written in an
  unconventional, ritual idiom that's suggestive...
  Once it starts it will be hard to put the book
  down.
• Tarun J Tejpal is a big name in the journalism
  world. He is a role model for many journalists as
  well as many novelists.

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Thank You