To begin with, if you wish to be a travel writer then you must love to travel. You must travel with your eyes and ears open and sensitize yourself to all that is beautiful.

The first rule to travel writing is writing straight from the heart; no exaggeration.  One should write as one sees. Sights, sounds, feelings, emotions – all should be expressed succinctly to make the reader visualize the experience the writer has had.

As a travel writer one gets to interact with local cultures, to explore their realities, and to see how it is to be someone else. All this makes for great matter that can be written about. Also, one must read a lot so as to be able to express oneself freely.  Nothing exists in a vacuum, and you can’t write good travel articles unless you read good travel articles. When sitting to write an article, definitely study history books and guidebooks—but don’t overlook literary travel narratives. Pay attention to technique as much as content.

In travel writing, highlighting the various attractions of a particular place is of paramount importance. The first thing that attracts a person to a place is all that it has to offer. This could be in terms of its scenic beauty, adventure sports opportunities and so on. Therefore, include in your travelogue all the experiences that the place offers and thus lure maximum number of visitors to it.

Once you have done your job of enticing the reader to visit the place, you must provide adequate information regarding the ways and means of reaching that destination. You could give the information regarding airlines, trains, local travel, cost of travel or any other detail that you deem necessary.

Once a person reaches her/his destination then she/he may have trouble locating good and decent hotels. So, you could help your readers by naming a few good accommodation options that span budgets.

You can also try to include some eccentric tourist attractions. These tourist attractions could be anything from a visit to the local winery or a trip to purchase elusive items sold at the local market.

People like to know the background and culture of a place they are planning to visit. It gives them a distinctive idea of what to expect from that place. It also helps them in their choice of clothes, accessories, etc. So give them this extra yet necessary piece of information.

Lastly mention some dos and don’ts so that a person does not fall prey to cultural mistakes. Say a person is planning to visit the Middle East, then she/he should wear decent clothes and not indulge in PDA. Again people should avoid asking for beef in a Hindu country like India or pork in a Muslim country. Hence, knowing the dos and don’ts of a particular place makes a person a smart traveller.

Travel writing always benefits from a good knowledge of the region or culture. Even if you don’t use specific information in your article, research can help you write about a place or culture with confidence. Once you’ve arrived in the country, read the local English-language newspaper for details, quirks, and tid-bits.

If you are writing for friends or a weblog, you probably know your audience already. But if you’re writing for magazines, newspapers, or web sites, make sure you’re familiar with the publication and its needs. Never approach an editor with an unclear or inappropriate story. Our advice to you is that you must target small non-paying markets first to build up a body of work.

Whatever you do, remember that travel—not travel writing—should be your priority. Always keep travelling and experiencing new parts of the planet. Even if you never get a single story published, you’ll most likely discover that you have fallen in love with the world and this will make your life richer in a way you never thought was possible.

Newspapers are a tool used to gain insight and information into the happenings around the world. Be it in any language, newspapers are a tried and tested source of information that have survived the test of time. In the day and age of social media and live-time news, one may argue that newspapers are losing relevance. But let’s be honest, one’s day is not complete till the morning papers have been read!

A newspaper contains several beats. Crime, City, Politics, Science and Technology, Business, Entertainment, Sports, Travel, Education etc. are examples of such beats.  Politics, Crime and City are beats that are fill up majority of the space in a daily. Now, let’s take a look at each section and get to know what it covers.

Politics: There can never be a day when there is nothing substantial to report on politics. Therefore, it only follows that a newspaper dedicates substantial space and columns to this topic. Right from party politics, to complete election coverage, to political under-currents in the country, a newspaper covers them all.

City: The city section of any newspaper is of utmost relevance to the people who reside in that particular city. This section covers *everything* that is happening in the city: from local travel problems, to crime, to infrastructure issues, lifestyle concerns and so on.

Crime: This particular beat showcases the victims and perpetrators of all kinds of crimes. Be it city crimes, or ones that capture the imagination of the nation (like the Aarushi Talwar murder case), the crime beat reports them all. It also focuses on what the police/community are doing to combat crime and to rid the city of it.

Science and Technology: This beat includes research work and contribution of scientists to the field of science and technology. This beat covers less space as it does not excite the layman much. However, there are regular columns on technological and scientific developments that have the potential to change the world.

Business:  An extremely important beat, the business section provides us with news on the stock markets, world economies, and the general on-goings in the world of business. It also publishes interviews with business leaders and their expert take on all that is happening in the business world. While there are business newspapers which everyone in the business community subscribes to, the dailies give substantial space and importance to this beat.

Entertainment: Given India’s obsession with entertainment and sensationalism, most newspapers are succumbing to the demands of the customer and feeding them exaggerated news. Newspapers that offer ‘spiced up’ news are quite in demand. Since, not all news can be packaged as gossip, newspapers give ‘free’ supplements along with the main copy that are filled with ad-hoc gossip, rumours and popcorn information. Bombay Times is the best example of such a supplement.

Sports: This beat covers the last pages of any newspaper and will mostly be filled with cricket news (that is if India is playing). However, with the increased interest in different sports, more space is being dedicated to football, tennis, F1 and so on. Newspapers are now making sure there is something for every sports lover!

Editorial: This is the page in a newspaper that is read by almost everyone. The editorial contains opinions by various experts, the editor and people of knowledge on a variety of current issues. These steer away from merely reporting and go on to give opinions and advice on a particular topic of concern.

While a newspaper may choose to cover some beats and ignore a couple of others, the above mentioned ones are sure to find a place in all dailies.

Projects are an integral part of the BMM course. As per university rules, 50% of the marks are assigned to projects and the remaining are assigned to written exams. Therefore, it would be right to say that projects are extremely important if you want to score well. But then again, projects serve a more vital purpose than that. They help in the overall development of your cognitive skills and the umpteen presentations help in improving your public speaking skills. I can vouch for the latter. An introvert and a shy speaker, I am now able to speak eloquently and with confidence thanks to the many project presentations I have given. I am sure that these skills will help greatly during interviews and networking exercises with colleagues.

The fact that you are supposed to make all or most of your projects with the help of technology will also help you get acquainted with the same. One is required to constantly use softwares like Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop (photo-editing), Corel Draw (design), Pinnacle (video-editing) etc. The thorough knowledge of these is definitely going to prove beneficial should you choose to study further. Also, using multiple softwares results in many students discovering a talent they didn’t know they had! Maybe, something similar could happen to you.

Another major advantage of working on projects is that you learn how to work in a team. You will deal with all kinds of people, with various talents and temperaments when you are working on a group project. You won’t always work with friends, and sometimes you will end up working with people you don’t particularly like. Therefore, a group project will not only test your patience but will also help bring out the leader in you. Managing people, delegating work, meeting deadlines and keeping the group vibe cordial is essential to producing good, quality work.

The development of inter-personal skills is going to come in handy when you start work. Think of working in groups as a step towards working in bigger (and more complicated) teams at work. If you learn the basics of good team behaviour now, you will never falter when in working in any team, with any number or ‘type’ of people in your workplace.

It is for the reasons mentioned above that working sincerely on projects is thoroughly important. Do not outsource your projects and certainly don’t follow the cut-copy-paste method. The hard work will definitely pay off, be rest assured.

You join Graduation College after you’re done with HSC; that is you seek admission in Graduation College in the ‘developing phase’ of your life. It’s a phase wherein, just like young kids, you learn whatever is taught to you. However, the difference this time round is that you don’t simply learn whatever you see or hear but you rather ‘follow’ whatever ‘attracts you’ or all that is ‘in vogue’. In short, you tend to develop a herd mentality and at the same time you discover the rebel in you who craves to carve his/her own path.

Your personality stands to get influenced by your immediate surroundings, the people you interact with, etc. In the initial days of college, you are like the chicken that has just broken free from its shell; a newbie who is eager to learn new things and walk with the world. There definitely are many other things that influence your personality, but you spend most of your time in college and here is where your life perspectives are shaped. It is in the college campus that you ‘hang out’ with your friends, be it after lectures or even by bunking lectures! Thus, the college campus has a lot to do with how you behave and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the college culture does inevitably become your culture.

The above logic holds true in the case of BMM students as well. Most of the times you’ll find only a bunch of students hanging out and about in college after everyone has gone home and those will invariably be BMM students. Either they will be busy making presentations, or practicing for a play, or xeroxing notes for an up-coming exam. On a lighter note, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that a typical BMM student spends half her/his time either taking notes or designing PowerPoint presentations! And both these activities require one to stay back in college for long hours. Thedemands of the course in terms of the time you have to invest in what you do, is what makes choosing the right college extremely essential. Your campus is going to be your home for three years, so it is up to you to ensure you find yourself a very good home!

Also, the extra-curricular activities in your college play a major part in moulding your personality. The exposure that these extra-curricular activities promise is something that every BMM-ite is sure to benefit from. These will help you know your strengths, will push your potential to the limits and get you to be out-going and wise-in-the-ways-of-the-world in general. Therefore, if a college doesn’t participate in or organise many activities then it is advisable to stay clear of such a college. It is also important that the college you select organises its own BMM festival. It is in this fest that you will learn the nitty-gritty’s of organising a large scale event, of getting sponsors on board, of handling logistics and so on. Hence, presence of and active participation in your college fest is vital.

Debates, group discussions, interactions with the visiting faculty, cultural events, sports events, plays, youth festivals: all of these play a major role in shaping and nurturing your personality and thought process. In the end, it would suffice to say that the college you choose plays a pivotal role in your BMM experience. So, study hard and aim for the best.