#CMCExperiences

Mapping the future with the media head honchos!

Why was ‘Mic and A Bean Bag’ more than just an industry session for our student, Siddhi Jagdish. Let’s dive into her experience.

Siddhi- Just when you think you have a lot on your platter to finish, the college greets you with a week-long interactive session with the industry experts. Though it sounded like an exhaustive boot camp at first, it turned out to be a refreshing peek into the real world. The week kicked-off with a great session with with Mr Harish Iyer, a columnist and LBGTQ rights activist. His personal story and journey was a window to the plight of the LGBTQ community. His contribution to this field made me eager to know and gather more insight on this subject. After this session, I was convinced that we were in for an interesting week on our campus.

As the week proceeded, I went on to explore things I never had tried thinking of before. The session with the anchor and producer at CNBC Bazaar, Sakina Lakdawala, was where we presented a mock news bulletin and realized the kind of work and brainstorming it takes to make it all happen. Rahman Abbas’s thought provoking discussion on Pakistan urged me to search and watch ‘Tamas’ the television film. The Nickelodeon business head, Nina Jaipuria, drew a detailed map with her discussion as to how the media scape works to engage the children sector and what all strategies are plugged in by a team as a whole to make the channel a market leader, in such competitive times. The session by Raja Sen who insisted that a good movie is the one that just does what it’s ‘supposed to do’, which makes me think that way for every new movie I’ve came across ever since. A PR session by Arnab Mukherjee which brought to light the detailed concept of public relations, which debunked my thoughts on PR completely. A whole new insight into branding and a huge spectrum of research with Yash Virkud, Associate Vice President, Mullen Lowe Lintas, solved many of my doubts.

As a media student, it is always delightful to meet and learn from industry professionals in person. But what is precious are these enriching insights that they share with us. We get to have a look at the industry functioning from a closer perspective. All in all, as cool as it sounded, the ‘Mic and A Bean Bag’, series has inspired me and has made me more observant. I am thankful to TSCMC for taking the effort to bring this such programs to us.