The Heart Behind THE HEADLINES

Ace newswoman. Investigative journalist. Go-getter. That is the NAVIKA KUMAR the world knows. She lets Primrose Monteiro - D'Souza in on a totally different side of herself

- Primrose MonteiroD'Souza

HER family calls her a drama queen. It's a very different type of drama from what India and the world knows of Navika Kumar.

One where she's hosting primetime news shows for both Times Now and Times Now Navbharat - all part of a persona that comes from three decades of investigative journalism and political reportage.

This 'drama' comes, she tells me, from being a Punjabi "I tend to make a song and dance about things in my personal life; drama runs in my blood," she says. Currently, it is her empty nest that is giving her angst. Her two sons Sidhant and Suchet no longer live at home. Suchet, her younger one, works in Bengaluru, Sidhant is married and lives close by with her daughter-in-law Anushka - she meets him on weekends, but Navika misses having them around.

Not that she's a lot in her home either. When we catch up on a Zoom call, she has just come back after over two weeks on the road; a fortnight where she has traversed Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh on the campaign trail, doing primetime news shows right through, and briefing her teams several times a day.

She has a backache and a migraine, she tells me, but, already by 11 in the morning when we log in for this interview, she has finished with edit meetings, caught up with breaking news, and has one eye on the 50 WhatsApp groups on which news is continuously flowing in.

Her summation of her life: "Never a dull moment!" It's always been a busy life, but, when she's not on the election campaign trails, Navika's life is more ordered. She does yoga thrice a week, stating, "it calms me down a bit." She catches up with her two news teams by 9.30 AM to discuss the agenda for the day, before sitting down to breakfast. "I lost my dad about five years ago, and my 88-year-old mother lives with me.