Newspaper matters !!

Hi, am Debarati Mukherjee, pass-out of EJ 2008-09 batch. My first job was with Deutsche Welle in Bonn, Germany. Presently am working with Idyllic Software as a Communications Specialist. Am passionate about journalism and freelance with many news media along with my full time job. Debarati is President of Pune Sub Chapter of IIMC Alumni Association.

“If you can dream it you can do it”- Walt Disney

It all basically started as a dream. When I was in Class Eighth I had a dream that I was interviewing the ace cricket skipper Saurav Ganguly in his residence. Being an ardent devotee of Saurav, I still could never imagine what powerful effect it had on me! It was from that day onwards, I started aiming to be a journalist. My love for journalism slowly and steadily made me take up media writing as a serious subject. From class Nine onwards, I joined journalism as a Tiger reporter with India’s best children’s newspaper The Telegraph In Schools (TTIS). With TTIS, I eventually got a chance to explore my dreams and fantasies one by one- from interviewing my idol Saurav Ganguly to Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Dravid to Aishwarya Rai and many more such celebrities who were idols of many teenagers like me.

As I kept growing up, the passion to join journalism full time grasped me. From children’s newspaper I gradually moved to main newspapers, contributed as a freelancer and started aiming to become a real journalist one day! With this dream and zest I filled in my form to get my career kick started with an IIMC diploma. When I filled in the form I never knew what I should study. All I knew was it was a very competitive exam and only 80 seats were there for thousands students appearing! I was never a very bright student in academics, somehow managed all my life with a presentable academic record.

Like most of you, I too wondered how to study, what to study and how to excel in this game! One of my college professors told me, “Remember newspaper is the best book for a journalism student.” Believe me or not, her words became my Bible! I regularly made it a point to track newspapers for 6 months; although I only had 3 months left for the exam to happen. From day one, I made a notebook and regularly penned down all the major events of the day datewise, took a note of the regular political developments, made a separate name list of all the ministers heading different departments of the states as well as center. You can say in simple words, I made my own Manorama year book with all the details.

Finally, before the day of the written test I was able to have all facts of the last six months ready with me. Because I used to read the newspaper, make notes out of it everyday, I never had to memorise anything, be it details or even names! It just automatically happened. On the examination day, I still remember, my father was stunned to see that all other applicants were busy studying outside the Calcutta University main hall while I kept chatting with him.

Honestly, I never had a chance to see the last few years IIMC entrance test papers because I was not aware that an alumni association portal was there who were kind enough to offer previous years paper. I got an access to this Pandora’s Box only before the interview, so in bold words I will suggest all of you to take the newspaper seriously and make it your holy grail!

All the best!!