Virat Singh, Senior Correspondent, Mumbai Mirror, Fires Up Students and Calls for Action!

Virat piqued the students’ interest at the very start of the session by talking about one of his most powerful stories in recent times – that of Bijli and Lakshmi, ailing elephants who were rescued by animal activists from their abusive owners. Pointing to the one thing that he as a journalist and they as management students had in common – the city of Mumbai – Virat said, “As a collective force, so much can be done. All it requires is for people to come together and tackle an issue.”

When he asked the students if they had ever been part of such movements for change, however small, a few commented that they indeed had. First year PGDBM student Dipin Shah – who was quite a vocal participant throughout the session – stated that as a member of the Hill Road Association, he had helped establish a hawker-free zone in the Elco Market area of Bandra.

As the discussion livened up, on topics ranging from Asaram Bapu to eve-teasing on the city’s rail tracks, strong opinions were expressed by the class and differences came to the fore. Commending the students for their propensity for healthy debate amongst themselves, Virat also made an interesting observation: “When we start things as a group, two sides begin to emerge. One is a section of people who think from their hearts and the other who think with their heads. And both sides are important.”

Sensing the latent anger among students on issues that bothered them, such as pothole-marked roads and errant auto drivers, Virat suggested that the class take up a CSR project as a collective and pursue it during their two years at CFM. Faculty members Sweta Menon and Anshu Kulkarni announced later that they would certainly form a group and requested Virat to lead the students by educating them on things like filing an RTI application and learning how to ask the right questions.

Wrapping up the session, Virat said, “I agree it isn’t easy to fight in this brutal city. But as commoners, you can make a lot of noise. And as youngsters, you should not give up the fight.”

For more photos from this event, click here.

Next post: A summary of the session with Rajeeta Hemwani, VP – Content Engine, Star TV Network – Coming Soon!