Change FOR THE BETTER

Want to transition from one career to another? Hear from those who did it on their own terms

- Shreevatsa Nevatia

It all started over lunch in the office canteen. Disenchanted and despairing, Khwaja Moinuddin began discussing possible exit strategies with his colleagues, Srinath and Bhagat Reddy. Not only was his job at a local TV news channel in Hyderabad gruelling, it also didn't pay him much. Worse still, says Moinuddin, “I saw that people coming into the field were taking it too easy. They had many connections but no experience. I didn't like their attitude. They had no respect!'

There was something practical about the enthusiasm the three friends had for YouTube. Moinuddin, for instance, felt the business of monetizing videos would let him transfer the skills he had honed over his 12-year-long journalistic career. “But we also thought being on YouTube will make us famous.” It was finally Srinath who hit upon something audaciously novel. "The idea was to start a food channel where in each episode we will cook food that would feed at least a hundred orphans," says Moinuddin.

Since Moinuddin's salary never did allow him to take his family out to restaurants, he had fallen into the habit of cooking at home, everything from biryani to gulab jamun. “My daughter would tell me my food was better than anything a hotel could serve, but I'll be honest—the thought of cooking for a hundred children really scared me." In September 2017, on the first day that Moinuddin faced the camera as host of Nawab's Kitchen, he had never boiled a whole chicken before. Having taken a loan of ₹