Dear Reader,Jobs are suddenly having a moment in political discourse. Or perhaps it is joblessness that is having a moment. Getting a job is difficult enough these days, so there is precious little discussion about changing one. And before anyone suspects a political jibe, let me clarify: this is a newsletter about jobs. I am not trying to jab anyone.Still, politics has lately supplied some interesting examples of career mobility.On September 2, Wednesday, Air Marshal (Retd) Jeetendra Mishra, who was decorated for his role in Operation Sindoor, was appointed the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ayodhya’s Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.Happy about his new job, Mishra told the media that he had applied to serve the nation, and his focus would be on discipline, hard work, and integrity. On the alleged embezzlement and siphoning of cash offerings at the Ram Mandir, he said there is a need to learn lessons from the past but not let the past burden us. He was happy that after 43 years in uniform, he got the opportunity “to serve the Shri Ram Temple and the Ram Bhakts”.All the best, Mishra saab, on the new job you got post-retirement. Life has literally begun for you again at 60.The other one to get a new job was Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman, who had hogged headlines for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 during a dogfight over the Line of Control on February 27, 2019. He was captured by Pakistan after he bailed out of his aircraft and was returned to India three days later. Seven years on, in March this year, he quit the Indian Air Force and joined a regional carrier, Fly91, according to reports. What prompted the Vir Chakra awardee to move from the armed forces to a civilian job is not known.The third interesting job case I found was that of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan, Girvar Singh Tomar, who became a monk after he lost his job in 1999, allegedly because his cycle touched his senior officer’s vehicle. Tomar, a resident of Morena, became Baba Girvar Das, sporting mustard-yellow robes and flowing hair, when he joined the Nirmohi Akhara in 2001. According to reports, Das got back his job last week after the CRPF complied with a Chhattisgarh High Court order to reinstate him. Babaji was quick to visit a barber shop to get rid of his locks and beard, and joined the 85th Battalion of the CRPF.I have also heard of a number of instances of journalists, after retirement or in the middle of their careers, leaving their jobs and joining other professions, such as public relations, communication, and political consultancy. Some opened cafes and bookshops. When Sanjeev Srivastava, a senior figure in the profession who spent over four decades in journalism, including a stint as the BBC Hindi’s India Editor, opened a kachori shop in Jaipur, there were mixed reactions. Some hailed it as entrepreneurship; others lamented the lack of space for neutral journalists in this era of “isms”.What strikes me as a political journalist is that I hardly see any politician changing his trade even after retirement, let alone while active. There is, in any case, no retirement policy in politics, though there are occasional disruptions like the Margdarshak Mandal, introduced by the BJP in 2014 to keep leaders such as L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi away from active posts, or Janardan Dwivedi of the Congress advocating that politicians should quit active posts after 70.Hardly anybody thinks of taking up an alternative career, or any other work at all. Is it that there is nothing exciting left for them to do after years in politics? Is there no other fulfilling work left? On the contrary, I see a lot of lateral entry into politics from different walks of life. To name the top entries, there is Prashant Kishor, who quit his fledgling career in political consultancy, and the darling of social media, Shashi Tharoor, who quit a decorated, high-paying UN job to pursue politics.Though I do not recall any politician worth the name having quit politics and taken up another profession full-time, there are cases of politician-authors, politician-lawyers, and the like, overlapping their roles as the times demanded.That may also be the reason Indian politicians refuse to recede into the background when promising youngsters seek a share of power. Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and Virbhadra Singh of the Congress are a case in point. Even George Fernandes was adamant about contesting elections in 2009, though his health did not permit it. In the BJP, we have already seen the unceremonious exits during the Margdarshak Mandal phase.Even young politicians find it easier to switch ideology than profession, and there are a number of cases of young leaders, including spokespersons from the Congress and the BJP, switching sides—more from the Congress in the last 10 years, as the party has been out of power—after berating the other’s ideology aggressively for years.Kumar Vishwas, the poet-turned-politician, went back to his poetry concerts and Ramcharitmanas recitations after a bitter fallout with Arvind Kejriwal in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The journalist Ashutosh, too, is back to authorship and independent journalism. In August 2018, Ashish Khetan also quit the AAP, saying he wanted to pursue his legal career full-time. But I do not see this trend in the BJP or the Congress, or, for that matter, in any other party. Is it because most of those who joined the AAP then were not hard-boiled politicians, and hence grew disenchanted with it soon enough?In my home State, Bihar, I find leaders of the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal switching sides so frequently that I sometimes fail to keep track. But I have not come across any politician from my State who chose to bid politics goodbye and take up another profession, even though doing politics in Bihar is fraught with challenges. Is it because they prefer not to go anywhere else, or are all other roads closed to them once they enter the seemingly forbidden territory of politics? After all, we have all heard stories of how, until some time back, credit card companies were hesitant to issue cards to journalists, lawyers, and politicians. I have also heard of many cases of people from these trades, especially the last, being denied rented accommodation.What do you think is the reason people from all trades can join politics, but not the other way round?I am reminded of a Bollywood cliché: “Hamare dhandhe mein tum aa to sakte ho apni marzi se par apni marzi se jaa nahin sakte [you can join our profession as you wish, but you cannot leave it in the same manner].”We would be glad to hear your thoughts on this.Until the next newsletter.Anand MishraPolitical Editor, FrontlineCONTRIBUTE YOUR COMMENTS