'Stringer': Life of a rookie reporter in troubled Congo

At 22, Anjan Sundaram wanted to see the world like many young people do and chose to go to Congo to become a reporter leaving behind promises of a stable career.
The intense period he spent in the country working for the media organisations like the Associated Press and the New York Times that took him deep into the shadowy city of Kinshasa, to the dense rainforests that still evoke Conrad's vision, and to the heart of Africa's great war, culminating in the historic and violent multiparty elections of 2006 is what his book "Stinger", published by Penguin, deals with.

"My book 'Stringer' would interest anyone who has ever dreamt of dropping their office job and pursuing their passion. It would interest people who would like to learn about and explore the worst war in the world - one that has killed more than 5 million people (from the violence and war-induced hunger and disease)," says 29-year-old Sundaram, a Chennai native.
"I travelled through many of those conflict zones, and met some of the worst murderers. It narrates the life and story of a rookie reporter - learning, seeing, doing for the first time. So the reader gets to learn with the reporter," the journalist-writer told PTI.

He says the journalist in him came about gradually.
"I went to Congo looking for a job as a journalist, but it wasn't until I was robbed at gunpoint -- of all the money I had -- that I found a job, just in time. Even then it was difficult. Initially I was able to publish only very short stories about plane crashes and deaths in the war -- these barely earned me enough to live on.

"I was also taking care of the Congolese family I lived with, paying for their food and other daily expenses. It took me more than three months of trying, and learning how to write news stories by myself, to begin to support myself. It was a very difficult way of learning how to become a journalist, but it taught me a lot."

But why Congo?
"I was 22 at the time, and like many young people I wanted to see the world. I had read that 4 million people had died in Congo -- the death toll is now at 5 million -- and that not a lot of reporters were covering the war.
"When I found my job as a journalist in Congo I became one of four international reporters reporting on the country. Four journalists covering an area half the size of Europe (that's larger than France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, all put together)! There seemed a lot of work to do in Congo, and not many people to do it.