A proverbial media student fits this stereotype in any layman’s head- colourful clothes with a 70’s hint to it, big over-sized sun glasses and the trademark ‘jholla’. Whether the first two are there or not the last one is a must. What is a media student without that big ‘jholla’ strung across his or her shoulder? For all the stereotypes that we live with, this is by far the most constant. It’s almost like a requirement now- media student must have large hippie ‘jholla’!

But being a true blue media student and a proud owner of one too many ‘jhollas’ myself I come here not to justify it but to tell the outside world how important that bag really is. It’s not just a bag that stands for an image, it’s so much more. Why you ask? Well I am just about to tell you about the components of a media student’s bag…so that soon you will not just think of it as ‘a bag’ but as…well you’ll still think of it as a bag but you’ll at least know more about it!

To start with our bags are just like your bags albeit with a whole lot more in them because as media students we carry our world in them ‘coz you never know when the ‘big idea’ strikes. Yes that’s what we all live for…that one big idea that will change our lives and the lives of those around us. A flash of creativity sparked with just the right amount of realism and quirkiness to work in the big bad world out there that we all want to conquer! But this article isn’t about that big idea so I’ll leave this discussion for another time. As for now let’s just concentrate on the trademark bag.

Okay so components of the bag- papers! Yes we are a serious bunch. We always have papers and books ready to pen down the wonderful knowledgeable thoughts that are dispensed in our classrooms! Also because most classes end up being places for doodling. Here may I add that doodling in our world IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME! That’s creativity at its best. Who knows what masterpieces could get created as a consequence of those doodles. I mean art was never really appreciated during its time so we are assuming that like all those artists we too are just ahead of our time!

Now since we have mentioned the importance of doodling in a media students life, the next component is related to it in a way. Colours! We believe that black and white is wonderful for an autumn collection but in our lives, colours are an important aspect. You never know when you might just need them so we’re always prepared!

A camera- here we are assuming that most people might not have the patience to lug around their giant SLR’s primarily because of their size and also because… well they’re expensive you know! So relying on a good phone with a good camera, we are big time clickers! Our bags always have our phones which double up as entertainment during class and cameras when the sky is just the perfect shade of blue and capturing it with a camera is the next best thing to actually flying!

By this time you must be wondering that we live extremely different lives from you but let’s just try and correct you on that. Another constant in the media student’s bag would be some form of food. Especially when you live crazy lives and crazy hours which mean skipping most regular meals, most our sustenance comes from our bags- a bar of chocolate, some chips and sometimes when things are really bad…even some gum will do. May I add here that the reason for these crazy hours is not ‘coz we study that much or are busy creating masterpieces, it’s just because we’re out having too much fun. As for the latter, we’re busy doing that in class (remember afore mentioned doodles?).

So by the end of this article, if you’re still reading that is, is that our bags are no different from your bags. They might be a little bigger, a little more colourful but they’re all the same. We have all those unwanted but ever so important things that any average twenty something year old would have. The only difference is that well our bags have attained a cult status and so you’re reading about them!