It's been a little more than a month at my new college... Xavier Institute of Communications. While there are a few things that I don't like about the college, like their strict implementation of a dress code!! (imagine not being able to wear sleeveless tops, no knee length skirts, no three-fourths even!) I've literally run out of jeans and tops and kurtas by now.. but we trudge on...
Apart from that I'm thoroughly enjoying the course. The kind of amazing insights that we get from our faculty members, coupled with some good competition in class is really a refreshing change from graduation! Just a couple of days back we had this amazing class by Josie Paul, who's currently running an agency in Mumbai, he actually taught us how our everyday images, conversations and scenes become inspirations for advertisements. Some of the greatest ad concepts are actually from the copywriter's real life experiences. That thought set us all thinking and soon the entire class was contributing their observations and it was really amazing to hear some vivid descriptions of things that we've noticed, and have made an impact on us.
There was another amazing faculty member, Vivianne D'Souza, she taught us through a day long workshop more about business etiquette and corporate grooming than we would have learned in years of working. Her workshop certainly put us years ahead of our contemporaries. Amazing insights into why one should wear a particular cut / style of clothing, what colors convey what meaning, how should one handle visiting cards, how should one have a drink in one hand and still use etiquette norms for business conversions and so on... oooh.. i could write a whole blog just on her workshop. What I also loved was how she actually practically taught us to cut with a knife and skewer with a fork! :) no kidding! and i discovered i have a pear body type, a round face and a pink skin tone and hence must ensure to wear dresses / tops / shirts that don't cut me at my hips!! :D
today's session on rural marketing was also quite an eye-opener. I wish our BMS professors could compile a fact file as impressive as the one the faculty member shared with us today. there are 6,27,000 villages in India, 51% of the villagers are literate, 1 in 42 villages has a medical center, 55% of LIC's policies were sold amongst villagers last year, and so on and so forth. Talk about increasing buying power and growing prosperity. Another interesting fact, even though quite a few of them today own a TV, it's not the best mode to advertise because: 1) during the season time there's no time to watch TV, they carry a radio to the fields and listen to it while they work. 2) during off season the electricity supply is diverted to the industries and they have power for only an hour or two in the day!
another of our sessions involved the class observing a group discussion and it felt strange to evaluate a group of your batch-mates to scout for a leader amongst them. Not surprisingly, it was a girl who spoke subtly yet firmly, voiced her opinions clearly, played the role of a mediator, drove the group towards the topic on hand... the qualities that a leader must possess. No amount of jargon could have hit this point so clearly home.
Ahh... enough of hunky dory thoughts I must say. OOOhhh.. i nearly forgot about print production, being taken by our professor Bimal Chaku, it's really amazing to actually learn how the offset printing process actually works and why the plate is prepared in a certain fashion, and all that. :)
Lots more to talk about... the canteen food for one. boy we get just about everything. most of it is good. the chaat unfortunately is not. i miss manju (the head waiter / cook / whatever at sydenham), his bhel used to be the best!! but the aloo paratha here is pretty good. fattening but good! :) he gives one spoonful of butter!! :D
well, so as you can see i have a good reason to call myself a proud XIC student! :D
Cheeers!
Apart from that I'm thoroughly enjoying the course. The kind of amazing insights that we get from our faculty members, coupled with some good competition in class is really a refreshing change from graduation! Just a couple of days back we had this amazing class by Josie Paul, who's currently running an agency in Mumbai, he actually taught us how our everyday images, conversations and scenes become inspirations for advertisements. Some of the greatest ad concepts are actually from the copywriter's real life experiences. That thought set us all thinking and soon the entire class was contributing their observations and it was really amazing to hear some vivid descriptions of things that we've noticed, and have made an impact on us.
There was another amazing faculty member, Vivianne D'Souza, she taught us through a day long workshop more about business etiquette and corporate grooming than we would have learned in years of working. Her workshop certainly put us years ahead of our contemporaries. Amazing insights into why one should wear a particular cut / style of clothing, what colors convey what meaning, how should one handle visiting cards, how should one have a drink in one hand and still use etiquette norms for business conversions and so on... oooh.. i could write a whole blog just on her workshop. What I also loved was how she actually practically taught us to cut with a knife and skewer with a fork! :) no kidding! and i discovered i have a pear body type, a round face and a pink skin tone and hence must ensure to wear dresses / tops / shirts that don't cut me at my hips!! :D
today's session on rural marketing was also quite an eye-opener. I wish our BMS professors could compile a fact file as impressive as the one the faculty member shared with us today. there are 6,27,000 villages in India, 51% of the villagers are literate, 1 in 42 villages has a medical center, 55% of LIC's policies were sold amongst villagers last year, and so on and so forth. Talk about increasing buying power and growing prosperity. Another interesting fact, even though quite a few of them today own a TV, it's not the best mode to advertise because: 1) during the season time there's no time to watch TV, they carry a radio to the fields and listen to it while they work. 2) during off season the electricity supply is diverted to the industries and they have power for only an hour or two in the day!
another of our sessions involved the class observing a group discussion and it felt strange to evaluate a group of your batch-mates to scout for a leader amongst them. Not surprisingly, it was a girl who spoke subtly yet firmly, voiced her opinions clearly, played the role of a mediator, drove the group towards the topic on hand... the qualities that a leader must possess. No amount of jargon could have hit this point so clearly home.
Ahh... enough of hunky dory thoughts I must say. OOOhhh.. i nearly forgot about print production, being taken by our professor Bimal Chaku, it's really amazing to actually learn how the offset printing process actually works and why the plate is prepared in a certain fashion, and all that. :)
Lots more to talk about... the canteen food for one. boy we get just about everything. most of it is good. the chaat unfortunately is not. i miss manju (the head waiter / cook / whatever at sydenham), his bhel used to be the best!! but the aloo paratha here is pretty good. fattening but good! :) he gives one spoonful of butter!! :D
well, so as you can see i have a good reason to call myself a proud XIC student! :D
Cheeers!
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