Hello, my name is Sana, and I’m a freelance journalist.

And if that opening sounds like I’m at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, that was deliberate. Because being freelance is a kind of addiction.

I love what I do, get to attend glamorous events, never get bogged down with monotonous tasks – and the best part…wait for it: I get to be my own boss. What’s wrong with that?

Try telling this to your favourite uncle or your dad’s colleagues, and the reaction is: “So you’re a freelance journalist. And you run a blog. What kind of job is that? Is that even a job?”

Little do they know. But this question makes me feel as if I am missing something by not seeking formal employment, that I was not being serious somehow. So guess what? I got myself an admin job. I lasted less than a month in the job – the long hours and repetitive tasks failing to appease my creative and flamboyant side. When I was chatting to a friend on the day I quit, I said that: “if you cannot be tamed, you have no option but to be your own boss.” But he disagreed, saying that: “Being your own boss is a fanciful idea of idealists and the bourgeoisie: some people cannot, despite wanting to!”

But I cannot understand why so many people stay in their jobs despite being unhappy, dissatisfied and unfulfilled in those jobs. You spend more than a third of your life doing your job – shouldn’t you at least do something that makes you happy? You need to earn an income, yes, but you also need job satisfaction.

Some people need the structure and security that comes with a nine-to-five job and a regular paycheck, and enjoy being part of a bigger picture. There are some jobs – like banking and some services – where you just cannot work on your own, and if this is your chosen field then you would have to work for a boss. But otherwise – I would recommend working for yourself.

Being freelance is such a liberating term, but some people (especially professionals like doctors) regard it as demeaning. I look at it in another way – if a doctor opens his own practice he is effectively going freelance.

I guess that a lot of what is important to you in life has to do with your socialisation – the people who shaped your thinking in your formative years. One such person was my IST lecturer Lee Gibson. Lee introduced me to the life of Richard Branson – the dyslexic youth who dropped out of high school and started a magazine called ‘The Student’ from his friend’s house because his mate’s house was near a pay phone, which they gave to clients as their office number. The Virgin brand is where it is today because of one individual who was prepared to go against the norms of society and follow his dream, wherever it might lead. It might be added that, despite his educational lack, Branson has never been afraid to take risks, and is known for his self-confidence and cheek!

Lee was also the one who kept repeating like a mantra in almost each and every IST class: “University only teaches students to get a degree and work for someone else and make them rich. Why not start something yourself?”

I always thought it was an Indian thing that Indians expected their children to pursue careers in commerce, engineering or medicine (or, as in earlier generations, a teacher – that most noble of professions amongst Indians), but a non-Indian friend told me that she also had to deal with family resistance when she started out at a freelance journalist – “When are you going to get a proper job?”

So perhaps this comes from parents wanting their children to choose something safe and secure and not to take risks. Perhaps it’s worse when an Indian girl tells her folks she wants to be a freelance journalist. I know the PPS insurance forms even ask whether your job would entail working in conflict regions! (I should be so lucky!). I guess this would depend on your chosen genre, but I can safely say that the average journalism job – like running the Indians In Africa (IiA) blog – is not remotely risky. Unless, perhaps, you annoy someone with your writing who decides to attack you at a cocktail party!

Through IiA, I have made so many new friends, learned so much about different things, been inspired by people who have risen to life’s challenges, and perhaps best of all: I got to be mentored by someone who is also passionate about the power of journalism and who has already experienced what I am going through right now (oh, and who has made a success of it). Niki, this one’s for you!

(PS – the term ‘freelance’ dates back to the Middle Ages in Europe, when knights fought battles with horses and swords and lances. Most knights fought for their particular feudal lord who owned them, but there were some skilled and experienced warriors who were free to fight for whoever would pay them to do so. They were known as ‘freelance’ as they owned their own fighting weapons and hired themselves out to the highest bidder. So I would like to think that this means that I am fighting my own battles!)