Debarati Guha | Bengali editorial team

As head of DW’s Bengali editorial team Debarati now rarely works as a reporter and looks forward to every opportunity she has to tell the exiting story of a woman’s life and challenges.

Currently her work focuses on planning and editing reports for the Bengali Website, but writing about everyday people has always had a place close to her heart. It is important for Debarati that people all over the world learn more about the fears and worries of the common people in Bangladesh and in India.

Debarati inherited a fighting spirit and the ability to always look ahead from her parents, both of whom were born and brought up in Bangladesh. Thus, Debarati always considered herself a Bengali more than anything else. As the daughter of an advocate, she was interested in politics from an early age.She decided to study politics in New Delhi in order to better understand social situations and political events at home and aboard. During this time she coincidentally discovered that an Asian correspondent from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was looking for an assistant. “This could be the start of my career,” she thought to herself. Debarati got the job working for the Asian correspondent and spent two years writing, doing research and travelling as a reporter to India, Australia and the USA.

Debarati has been living in Germany since 2005. She first worked as a television and radio trainee at DW and later she completed a DW training program. Originally she came to Germany because of love. While she was a student, she met her future husband and accompanied him to Germany. Through all of this, she never lost her connection to home. Debarati grew up with classical Indian music, dance and Bengali poetry and she has brought all of these passions with her to Germany.

Debarati has been called “the grandma” by the Bengali editorial team because she cares about others and tries to understand their worries and problems. Debarati’s curiosity about people and their stories stretches through her life like a golden thread. For her being a journalist means being open, especially to different opinions. She is often reminded that it is always important to remain objective.

As an ambitious journalist and anchorwoman, Debarati has many plans and now that she is a team leader, she can concentrate more intensely on issues involving the Bengali speaking community, from Bangladesh, from India and from all over the world.

Debarati characterizes herself as a workaholic and her work is indeed very important to her. Nevertheless starting her own family remains the most important thing. She learned from her parents to see life as a special gift and she wants to pass that message on to her children.

Text: Elena Isayenko
Edited by: Adelheid Lucas
Translated by:Wesley Rahn