It is very rare to have a person like him with an equal command over politics, economy, and international issues and command over language in the bargain who used to make boring and dead news reports by greenhorn reporters lively ones, leaving them spellbound. Every reporter in Sahara Time, the weekly magazine of Sahara Group, used to take his guidance on how to go about a particular story or report. People having differences of opinion with him too took his words sincerely and seriously. Sometimes when he used to say this is not the story but the other way round is the real story and even senior and seasoned journalists used to be perplexed but immediately get convinced by his arguments which mostly proved to be correct when things unfolded.

In some cases, he was even forthcoming with his suggestions. An anecdote about Mukul ji’s ability to look beyond the obvious dates back to the year 2010. It was often discussed among many senior journalists who had worked with him. It was in 2010 when the incumbent Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was appointed spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he called the reporter covering the BJP beat for the organization asking him to be in touch with the bright girl at the BJP headquarters. Terming her a person with promising prospects, he said that she is a JNU alumna with a good understanding of the Economy and may one day become Union Finance Minister. He also asked the reporter to speak to her if she agrees to write for Sahara Time on policies of the then UPA government. The reporter spoke to her and she agreed and wrote many pieces for Sahara Time. Rest is in the public domain, there is no need to write much about it. There was no other occasion or necessity to write this but this seems to be the day to say so.

This is just one incident but there are many others as well. When pulse prices rose to unimaginable levels, he predicted long ago with reasons that this was going to happen and many more other such things which can be found in his writings for various newspapers. This tells how far he was entrenched with the ground reality of the country with a journalistic perspective. A widely travelled not only in India but abroad and a well-read journalist, Mukul Shukla had a vast experience with various acclaimed newspapers in the country including Hindustan Times, Sahara Time, and Financial Chronicle. His active contributions to indianmandarins.com as Editor is invaluable since the time the web news portal and E-magazine was striving to carve a niche for itself.

There is no qualm in saying that the contribution of “Mukul Ji” to take Indianmandarins.com whatever little recognition it has in the world of new media, credit goes to him. As he led his life, he never took interest in management and strategy but whenever it came to the editorial policy of Indianmandarins (New Media Network), write-ups, facts, and facets he was highly proactive and asserted ruthlessly. To say the New Media Network will remain indebted to him is to belittle him. As members of the tribe that was guided, nourished, and mentored, Indianmandarins has decided to mourn the day by publishing only this obituary for the day to pay homage to the wordsmith par excellence.