Can you imagine that a store assistant rose to become one of the country's finest crime journalists? Yes, Mr Jyotirmoy Dey, better known as J Dey, worked as an assistant in the stores department at Hindustan Lever situated then at Sewree.

Dey worked in the company for about two u00a0years when he quit, as workers kept going on strikes resulting in the company declaring a lockout. I was informed of Dey's previous job only through a friend of mine who worked in the same company as him.


Pravin Mahida, Senior Sub-editor

When I first met Dey and started to getting acquainted with him, he was taken aback when I asked him about his first job. And, always the journalist, the first thing he asked me was who my source was.

Dey joined MiD DAY in the early 90s and at first found his job challenging. But, he took on the task u00a0with gusto and covered the real estate and environment beat quite adeptly.

Now, when I look back, I can't u00a0help wonder if Dey would have been a successful reporter if he had stuck on at Hindustan Lever.

Dey was a one-man army and knew all the dirty secrets of the crime world.

Though he would share tidbits and secrets of his stories without any inhibitions, he hardly ever shared secrets from his personal life, so much so that despite knowing him for more than 20 years, most of his colleagues didn't know what the J stood for in his name.

Now, that he has gone, all I can remember is his smiling face and his 'yes boss' whenever I passed his ubicle. Dey's achievements are taller than him and all I can say now is, 'Hats off, comrade."