Hello!

Here is a Krispy Chicken ad made by TYBMM student Anjali Khandvilkar for her Media Planning Project. We think the ad is cute and adorable. What do you think?

Shivangi Prabhavalkar is an exceptionally talented photographer from SYBMM, KC College. Showcased below are some of her best photographs. Hope you love them just as much as we did. 🙂

Here is what Shivangi has to say about her passion, “Photography is my passion and I love to experiment while capturing frames. According to me, it is important that you connect and understand the subject of your photograph and thus in most of photographs I make a conscious effort to capture the subject’s uniqueness. I like to defy some rules and add a touch of my own to the compositions. I like challenges and tackling them from behind the lens is what I enjoy.”

You can get in touch with Shivangi, here: www.facebook.com/shivangi.prabhavalkar

By, Karishma Venkiteswaran and Saumya Trivedi, SYBMM, KC College

In the summer of 2007, in one of the most crowded suburbs of Mumbai, a harmless dog was brutally beaten up with hockey sticks by a group of ‘fun-loving’ teenagers. This was an act committed with no prior provocation. The consequences of this incident not only turned the otherwise ordinary young boys into criminals, but also led to the untimely gory death of the dog. In the light of this heinous deed, is it possible for us to tag humans and animals as separate entities?

Stray Dogs

Cruelty to animals essentially means inflicting suffering or pain upon animals for reasons other than self-defense. The Puritan definition of animal cruelty classifies it into two sub categories – active and passive. Active is the committing of intentional physical atrocities against animals, whereas, passive is the apathy and ignorance to the needs of animals.

Recently, animal cruelty has become a topic of debate in the wake of the Victoria carriage controversy, wherein, Sultan, the horse died due to negligence of the rider; this created a furore regarding the safety of the horses in our city. Shirley Advani, founder of the Save Our Strays Organization, believes, “Dogs and horses don’t belong to such a congested city. How do you expect them to ply in the traffic ridden roads of Mumbai?” It has been reported that the horses are not only forced to work all day, but also made to brave the monsoon without a proper shelter.

Victorian Carriages in Mumbai must be banned. Do you agree?

Not only horses, but also cattle and monkeys are falling prey to cruelty. As per the Food and Agriculture Organization, in the year 2000 alone, 24,300,000 cattle were killed in India for other industrial purposes. Circus industry proves gruelling for the animals, where they are forced to display stunts uncharacteristic of them, after hours of intimidating practice. PETA India reports state, “Birds used in circuses often have their wings clipped, which prevents them from flying. Elephants are routinely beaten to keep them docile.”

Circus Elephants

Zoo, oft considered a safe haven for animals, in reality, deprives animals of their natural surroundings. In Mumbai, the Byculla Zoo paints a sorry picture regarding the well being of animals. Hina Thadani, a visitor at the zoo was appalled to see the condition of the animals there. “I was shocked to see people pelting stones at the hapless hyena which was trying to escape its cage restlessly. Even the crocodiles were listless.”

Now the question that arises is why humans commit such heartless atrocities against other living beings. “In my opinion, the perpetrators of animal cruelty are downright psychopaths” says Selvi Raja, Animal Welfare Officer at the NGO, In Defence of Animals (IDA). This fact is backed up by a number of psychologists who believe that most of the criminals start off as animal offenders.

Negligence on part of the pet owners is a cause of concern since many are not aware of the appropriate ways of handling of them. Ask Karan Harimohan, a resident of Borivli, who recently lost his two week old pet hare. “I was not aware that hares are sensitive to touch, especially in their lower belly area. By cuddling him, what I thought was a show of fondness, ultimately became the cause of his death.” Advani comments, “Fearing animals, a large number of housing societies come up with bizarre rules, barring pet owners from providing a home for them.”

In India, religion plays an important role in shaping the mindsets of the people. Hence, for people from certain communities, killing of cows and elephants is not warranted, since they are thought to be sacred. However, they do not shy away from killing dogs and horses which are perceived to be from ‘lower’ religious strata. On the contrary, some communities do not take into consideration any ‘caste or culture based hierarchy’ induced on animals.

Cruelty to animals is not only the fault of the offenders, but also of the guardians of the law, that is, the police force. Mr. Shenoy, the manager of IDA, says, “Quite often, the police refuse to lodge an official complaint mainly due to their lack of knowledge regarding the animal welfare laws.”

The above mentioned predicaments boil down to one major all inclusive cause of animal cruelty – apathy and lack of awareness at governmental, societal, cultural and most importantly, individual levels.

Stop Cruelty to Animals

Despite such glaring problems, there is still a ray of hope for us. The Government has started taking positive measures for the modification of pre existing laws. The Animal Welfare Act 2011 has increased the penalty charged to the offenders from the original sum of fifty rupees to a whopping ten thousand rupees with a possible jail term of two years. This is the first step on the part of the Government towards accepting animal cruelty as a serious crime.

For the laws to be implemented effectively, it is vital for the law enforcement agencies to be in sync with the changes in the system. The Government can conduct workshops equipping policemen with the awareness of the laws and promoting sensitivity towards the sufferings of the animals. This will ensure that they take proactive and correct measures to deal with the cases of cruelty.

Corporate social responsibility is expected out of the companies which deal with animal products and by products. With new technologies, alternatives to animal products are easily available in the market. In extreme circumstances of lack of substitutes, the companies should take up the moral responsibility of causing minimal pain to the animals.

For more than a decade, various NGOs have come into existence to prevent the cruelty meted out on animals, though there is still a long way to go for them. Zoos and institutions like IDA and many others local NGOs still lack funds and access to necessary resources due to the inability to promote their cause. The Government needs to start supporting such organizations through funding. Also, like Advani rightly points out, “Social networking sites are a smart way of spreading information to a wide range of audience, and NGOs should grab this opportunity.”

Off late, media has also been playing a responsible role towards protection of animals. Campaigns like Save Our Tigers and commemorating days like Poison Biscuit Day have guaranteed that this cause does not fade away from the public memory. In order to keep the momentum going, the media should follow up on cases which need to be highlighted.

Save Our Tiger

Animal rights activists like Maneka Gandhi have taken the responsibility of bringing to task those who commit crimes against animals, like in the recent Amar Circus fiasco in Nagpur, where she filed a report against the Circus owners for forcing a blind hippopotamus to work and for making the elephant Padma work, though they had not obtained proper permits for the same.

Man has long trivialized the sufferings of animals, at the cost of his humanity. Mahatma Gandhi always said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated.” It is time we live up to it.

Wise Cells Learning Solutions LLP

Organization Name: Wise Cells Learning Solutions LLP

Organization Description: Wise Cells is a technology focussed organisation with a specialisation in development of games, simulations, assessments and content for educational institutions as well as for corporates.

Location: Mumbai

Role Title: Marketing Associate (Content Writer + Social Media Manager + Inbound Marketing Executive)

Role Description: The role will offer exposure to the candidate in the areas of inbound marketing, content writing and social media monitoring / marketing. The successful candidate would be expected to create content and monitor social media activity for Wise Cells and its Clients while catering to the requests being received for Wise Cells Products.

Role Responsibilities:

1. Creation of Marketing Collateral for Wise Cells Products
2. Blog Article creation for Wise Cells and its clients
3. Monitoring of Online Forums, Social Media and News for Wise Cells and its clients
4. Alerting Wise Cells Team on comments or articles which require attention
5. Responding to enquiries received for Wise Cells Products and Services

Qualification Requirement: Qualifications are not a constraint as long as the candidate can demonstrate the necessary skills that are required for the role.

Skill Set Requirement:

1. Good Command over written English
2. Knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation Techniques
3. Strong understanding of the features on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus, etc.
4. Creative Aptitude with an understanding of User-Experience based designs

Experience Requirement: Relevant experience of writing for magazines, newspapers or blogs would be an advantage

Compensation/Stipend: Successful Candidates would be offered Rs. 5,000 as monthly stipend for a review period of 3 months. Candidates exhibiting strong performance would be offered permanent positions at Wise Cells and the compensation would be determined based on their performance during the review period.

Application Process: Interested Candidates would have to send their applications to info@wisecells.com . The application should contain the following:

• Applicant’s Resume’
• A brief covering letter indicating why they are interested in this role and how it would help them in achieving their long term career goals. Samples of their work should also be attached

Selection Process: Candidates would be selected from the list of applicants based by reviewing individual applications. The selected candidates would then be interviewed and given an assignment. The finalisation of the candidate would be based on the performance in the interview and the assignment.

Key Dates: Applications would be taken on an on-going basis till 2-3 successful candidates are selected for the role since the positions can be filled in by the successful candidates as soon as they would like to.

Denzil Lewis

Name: Denzil Lewis

Company: WATMedia
Designation: Editor @WATBlog

Questions:
Since when have you been in the field of journalism/reporting?
I have been blogging for more than a year now. I used to work in social media as a content writer and then I took to blogging because of my love for technology and the web. Since, WATMedia already had a blog which deal with these topic, I took up blogging for it. I became the blog’s Editor last year in March/April.

What are the skills required to be a responsible journalist?
Strong Ethics and clear writing – A journalist owes it to the world to deliver truthful information to their readers. A blogger is no different. You have to take particular care to produce bias-free written material and not be taken in by emotion while writing. If you have a strong emotional connect with the piece you are writing, then you should make it an opinion piece and clearly mark it as such. Besides ethics, the way you explain things to your readers is of paramount importance. If you are writing about technology like a particularly complex mechanism, you have make sure that your audience gets it. People are very busy these days and in all probability they will not like it when things are not clear. Hence, you should pay special attention to your communication skill, both written and vocal. Writing is not about using fancy words buts breaking down fancy concepts into simple understandable language which can be read by all.

What are the various fields in journalism that a student can consider? (For example, positions in blogs, newspapers, magazines, etc.)
Blogging is the easiest way to get into the thick of things. Start blogging about anything that interests even if you do that on a personal blog. If you keep it up, you will slowly get the hang of writing. Then using this experience, you can apply to any blog, newspaper or magazine you like. If you have been writing well and have been getting an increasing amount of readers, chances are that these publications will come to you. What you write about and how you do it is most of the battle. Stick with it and things will happen.

How does one cross the bridge from journalist to editor?
By writing ceaselessly about things that I care about. I established my expertise in a particular segment and since I wrote so much, I was asked to look over all the content that WATBlog generates. Of course, there are additional responsibilities when you become an editor. You are in charge of running the publication from a content perspective and making sure that everything conforms to the publication’s standards and rules. You can only handle that after you get some good writing experience under your belt.

You think active, current blogs are the future of journalism? (perhaps, even replacing newspapers)
I love blogs! Blogs democratize the entire journalism process. I don’t read newspapers anymore because I get more information (in technology) from global blogs. In fact, I think blogs should be given the same recognition as that of established newspapers since they make sure that information is doled out to everyone who wants it. In most cases, bloggers don’t even do it to make money. They do it because they have a compulsive itch to write and inform. Personally, I think newspapers are a dated concept. Everyone is switching to a blog format because blogs are the real analogue to physical newspapers on the web. As technology grows and becomes pervasive, I see no need to go ahead and read newspapers as long you have a smartphone with which youwhich you can access an online blog/publication. Save paper!

How can a fresher land a job in a publication/media agency?
Curiosity and willingness to take risks without thinking too much of the consequences beforehand. I have a degree in Earth Sciences! There is no real need for a background if you have the interest and willingness to do the job at hand. If you are passionate about something and actually go ahead and do something about it, I am sure you will get whatever you want.
Publications want to know how you write. Instead of taking tests and writing samples in the interview, I suggest that you maintain a blog beforehand (like a I said before). Write and develop your style and when you approach any publication/agency, just show your blog to them. If it is good, you will get in. I didn’t do any of this since I had no clue but things worked in my favor. It might not always happen to everyone.

What skills must a student hone if he/she wishes to be a journalist?

• Journalistic ethics
• Humanism
• Simple, clear writing
• The ability to identify a story
• Removal of personal and societal bias
• Being connected to your environment (in this case the sector you are writing about)
• Devour as much good writing as you can
• Just start writing

By Smriti Parikh, SYBMM, Sophia College

We have a right to remain silent. But should we?

Being the largest girls’ college of Mumbai, Sophia College for Women raised their voice against rape and violence against women on the 3^rd of January 2013.

The initiative was started as a means of finding solutions to curb violence and find punitive measures for the same. The first meeting saw more than 200 students huddled up in the canteen extension, listening intently and raising angered opinions. They talked about death penalties and castrations. They said that they had seen enough and now no more. But some said that situations like these cannot be dealt with anger. There is a need to think rationally as to how to cut the roots of the evil.

As more and more girls started coming up with ideas, the Student Body President, Shruti Parmar realized that the initiative has the scope of getting bigger.

Their next step was to come up with a draft resolution and send it to the Justice Verma Commission. An executive board was set up and a five member body deliberated over options and came up with pointers that were genuine and applicable in the real scenario. These pointers were then sent to law students of other colleges who scanned for legal conflicts and helped and supported us in the cause. On the 14^th of January, the five girls proudly submitted their resolution to the Justice Verma Commission.

But the story wasn’t over yet. The college had decided to make this a permanent cause; not to ever submerge themselves into silence. Hence, multiple meetings were held in different classrooms with more and more people joining the force. Soon enough, there was a need to bring innovation and newness in the meetings.

On 28^th of January, the leaders of different colleges congregated and decided to set up a grievance cell for college going girls as the first step. A meeting with Gamdevi police was set up and 10 girls from the college were asked to talk to him and suggest ways of improvement.

However, the enthusiasts and activists are still not satisfied. Breaking the culture of silence became a culture in itself in Sophia’s. Students roamed around wearing badges and holding placards. Even teachers felt the need to join their league.

As of today, the Student Body President says that there is a need for this movement to stay active forever. Not to come into action when another incident happens, not when one of us is affected, but now. And till this problem has been completely wiped off from the face of this society, we cannot afford to let it go into dormancy.

With hundreds of ideas still pouring in from students, Breaking the Culture of Silence has seen a tremendous participation and it hopes to see more in the coming years.

To join this cause and come up with new ideas please send an email to smritiparikh@gmail.com

Hey all you movie buffs! The entries for the 3rd Dada Saheb Film Festival are now open. Please pay heed to the details below and apply as soon you can. 😀

Dada Saheb Phalke Film Competition, 2013

Submission Deadline: 15 March 13
Categories: Feature Films | Short Films | Documentaries | Animations | Ad Films | Music Videos | Mobile Videos
Submission Details: www.educationexpo.tv/awards/awards.asp

Introduction

Ankita Shreeram

My Name is: Ankita Shreeram
BMM College: K.C. College
BMM Specialisation: Journalism (Batch of 2010)
Currently Working at: CNBC Awaaz

Ankita’s Take
Does being a BMMite give you an edge over others in the field of media?
Yes, it does because in all probability you already have quite a few media internships under your belt. In addition, projects that involve practical work such as designing magazines and advertisements lend you at least a beginner’s level proficiency in software used in the media industry.

Do the subjects in BMM help you know the reality of the job? Is there any place for theory in the creative world?
Most of the subjects in the first couple of years are intended towards building a theoretic foundation and they don’t help further your knowledge of the professional world that much. But the subjects in the third year definitely do, as they are better oriented towards your area of specialisation. There is always place for theory as they are references you dip into.

BMM or BMM from a particular college? Does it make a difference?
BMM from a particular college, I’d say. Jai Hind, K.C. and Xavier’s share most of the faculty and they tend to be the best in the field. Other colleges like SIES, Wilson and Sophia College also offer good professors and courses.

Internships during colleges – are they relevant in the long run?
Internships are possibly the most relevant aspect of the BMM course. Of course, they need to be executed with integrity, towards an intention to learn and build contacts rather than just attain a certificate at the end of it all. Internships can fructify into job offers many a times and the experience is certainly invaluable.

Work Experience or Higher Studies? What’s your pick? Why?
Media is not an education-intensive field. Good media professionals are carved out of rigorous on-field experience rather than perfect grades in their exams. That said, a post-graduation is essential for better compensation in the long run. I would only recommend a year-long course in an institute that offers good exposure to industry professionals and an impressive placement record. Alternatively, the same pinnacle of success and monetary compensation can be reached with work experience alone if the right job shifts are made at strategic points in one’s career.

Tips for BMMBoxers
BMM is… a practical course full of variety and scope for experimentation.
Your favourite subjects in BMM: Organizational behaviour, Indian regional journalism, Creative writing, Journalism and public opinion, Reporting, Editing

5 Must-Follow Tips for BMMites:

1. Don’t rely on the classroom alone for knowledge and learning
2. Be outgoing, grab opportunities, and speak to as many people as you can
3. Focus on letting your creative juices inspire your projects and don’t worry about grades
4. Stay updated with what’s happening around you and do read a couple of newspapers daily
5. Ask as many questions as you can. This is a course designed for inquiry and challenge, not blind acceptance of outdated facts

Current BMM students can connect with you on:
Twitter @AnkitaShreeram
http://ankitashreeram.blogspot.com