It’s a Bloody Madhouse!!!

Yea trust me that is what it is a freaking madhouse. That is how I sum up the experience I’ve had while doing Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) from Mumbai University. When I joined the course I thought it’s going to be like a very graveyard kind of atmosphere, everyone serious and all but I was wrong.

It’s a Masters degree after all so I wasn’t wrong in assuming that the professors, seniors and the batch mates are all gonna be serious and very uptight. It’s not just the people doing Masters in Public Relations (MAPR), everyone in the department of communication and journalism is mad in their own unique way. There are professors who’re mad about assignments, there’re some who’re going mad doing their research but they’re all mad.

Coming to the students, like every other college or university or course Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) has a mixed bag of students. There’re some students who’re mad about studies and think because they’re very sincere and studious they’re the only normal creatures but dude breaking news even you’re mad. Then there’re some who’re just plain crazy like me and call the studious ones mad and think that they’re normal. Anyone who doesn’t have even a pinch of madness in him/her shouldn’t come here because dude you’ll go Maddddddddd. For the alumni and the current batch this madness is what gets them going. So, the madness isn’t a bane but a boon here in the department. On a serious note, even though we’re mad you can’t take away the fact that we’re an intellectual and creative lot.

One day when someone asked me about whether I’m happy to be where I’m, I looked at him and said,” Are you mad, of course I’m happy. I’m finally with my kind.”

A piece of advice for all those who’re thinking about joining the department,” Come here only if you’re mad or ever were because we don’t want anyone to blame us saying that we drove him/her mad.”

What is it standing on???

Legs?? Nah!!! It’s standing on its pillars dumbass. Confused? Well that’s what my Civics professor told me when he asked me about the Indian Democracy. So yeah moving on from the kind of stuff I got to hear from my school teachers, every institution or concept is able to stand or work because of certain important aspects or people or other supporting concepts and they can be called the “Pillars” of it. Just like any other course or university Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) also has certain principles or pillars on which it’s standing.

Well the other day during one of the chai sessions with friends and our HOD and another professor, God knows from where but the topic of what are the pillars of Masters in Public Relations (MAPR). Everyone were at their flattering best and told the Profs that they’re the pillars, amused as they were by the response of their students they did notice that I didn’t say anything. On the other hand I was hoping that after hearing flattering words from others they wouldn’t notice my silence, but they did, damn wish the discussion had taken place in the classroom where I could’ve hidden behind the voices of the other batch mates. So, the HOD fixed his eyes at me and asked,” You don’t agree with your friends or you don’t have an opinion on the topic at all?”

Woah!!! Did he just say I don’t have an opinion? Of course I have an opinion, I’m a PR guy I’ve an opinion on everything and anything. So with a very serious and straight face I said,” Sir, I do have an opinion but it’s just that I did not want to voice my opinion because that would’ve made it very clear that I don’t completely agree with what my friends have said. I don’t agree with them that each professor is one pillar of Masters in Public Relations (MAPR). For me the faculty is one of the pillars, the seniors definitely are the second pillar because they hand over their legacy to the juniors and tell them how to conduct themselves over the duration of the course and the trend continues.” I looked at the professor and he smiled and said,” Dude, work on it a little more and then maybe you’ll be able to completely work your PR magic on me.”

Damn!!! One day Mr.HOD, one day…..

Nothing is Perfect!!!

Is it nothing’s perfect or nobody is perfect??? Who cares? At least I don’t, it doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in the old adage about perfection. I agree that it’s like next to impossible to be perfect for anyone or anything and the same goes for Masters in Public Relations (MAPR), the course I’m in currently.

When I told my friends that I’m gonna do my Masters from Mumbai University, Kalina all of them went like,” Dude!!! Mumbai University seriously?” I don’t blame them for reacting the way they did because it’s no secret that the government universities have got some bad press in recent years.  Bad press usually doesn’t mean the institution is like a devil’s den. For me going to the Kalina Campus of Mumbai University everyday for my Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) course is the best thing I do in the whole day. The discussions with the professors and batch mates on topics ranging from politics to movies is something I look forward to and not to forget the pranks we friends we pull on each other. But it’s not a bed full of roses that I can assure you.

Like everything in the world the course (Masters in Public Relations) also has certain things it can work on and improve on. For me personally, it would be the assignments we get, it’s not that I’ve issues with the whole concept of assignments but it’s just that there are times when every professor shoves assignments down our throat at the same time that we sometimes are scared that we might choke and die. Assignments are good but to do three- four assignments at the same time is a bit too much and it also affects the quality of work we are able to put in them. It’s like you try to think on three different lines at the same time and end up creating a chaos in your head. So, personally if the timing of the assignments is taken care of then the kind of output we students give will have a drastic improvement and will also help us enjoy that rush the deadlines give even more.

Dude how can people be the USP??? I say Why not???

It always happens that whenever you undertake a new venture or start doing something new, people go on a questioning rampage. The same thing happened with me when I decided to join Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) offered by Mumbai University in their Kalina Campus. I managed to answer some questions but there were some questions for which I had no answer like,”What is the USP of the course you’re joining?”

People surely are unreasonable sometimes, I mean I hadn’t even joined the course and people had already started asking me stuff about the course as if I had designed it.  Even though the interfering or to be subtle inquisitive nature of the people did get on my nerves, I should still be thankful to them for putting those questions in my head. After I quit my job and joined Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) , I had certain parameters in my mind based on which I was going to decide whether it was worth leaving my job. To be honest in the first couple of weeks I did doubt my decision but as time passed and I gelled with my classmates and professors whatever doubts I had vanished.

The answers that I didn’t have in the beginning came rushing to me as time passed. I wanted to meet all those people who questioned me and my decision so that I could go all guns blazing on them with the answers that I’d found. As luck would have it, I met this friend of mine on a weekend for coffee and during the discussion I somehow took the conversation towards my course. She fell for the bait and popped the question again and asked me,” So, dude it’s been six months into your Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) now do you know what’s the USP of it?”  And I went in my head like,” Hell yeahh!! Witch.” So I told her that for me the USP is the people I’ve come across. “Dude, how can people be the USP???” I’m like here she goes again. So I say why not? I mean USP doesn’t necessarily mean things even people can be the USP of a company or a course. At least for me the people I’ve met in the university are the USP of the course. The professors are one hell of a bunch of intellects. The batch mates and seniors are a varied group of people from different parts of the country and fun to be with. Interacting with them and hanging out with them brought out the fun loving guy in me, the guy who got lost somewhere in his struggle to figure out what he wanted from life. So for me the people I’ve met are certainly the USP of the course.

What??? Why??? Are you sure??? Have you thought about the future???

Woah!!! Take it easy mom, that’s all I could say to my mom for the first two minutes after she got all hyper because I’d just dropped a bomb on her saying that I don’t want to be a Chartered Accountant(CA). It was very natural on her part to react the way she did, for a parent the kid’s future is like the most important thing in life and when they find out that their kid doesn’t wanna pursue a course in which he/she has already invested 2-3 years of his/her life it makes their blood-pressure go on a roller coaster ride. That phase somehow passed and came the time when I again thought that I’m gonna drop a bomb on my mom once again by telling her that I’m quitting my job to pursue Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) offered by Mumbai University, Kalina Campus.

To my surprise this time, she didn’t get all hyper and paranoid. Was she alright? Should I take her to the doctor? These were the kind of thoughts that ran through my mind when she was saying something to me very calmly which I obviously didn’t hear because I was in a shock myself.  “Hitesh!!! Say something, I’m asking you something,” she screamed and I heaved a sigh of relief because she was fine, she just screamed at me Yayyyyyy!!!!  The only thing she asked me was whether I knew what this Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) thing is going to give me, whether I knew where it’ll take me two years down the line.

For the first time in my lifetime I had an answer to one of her questions about my future, in fact even she was amused that for the first time in my 22years of existence I had an answer about the future. So what did I tell her??? I made her sit down on the couch looked her in the eyes and not trying to be too dramatic told her “Ma, I want to quit my job and do Masters in Public Relations (MAPR) because this degree will help me get rid of the tag of a field switcher. This degree will give me the finishing touches I need to excel in Public Relations and two years down the line it will put me on my path to success, it will give me that edge I need to edge out the competition, to reach that position where I won’t be just another guy working in the industry but I’ll be one of the bigwigs, one of the frigging thought leaders of the Indian PR industry.”

“I hope you are not doing that PR thing of yours on me to just convince me and you’re not going all melodramatic on me just to tell me after a few months that you’re bored of the course and want to do something else. Believe you me if I hear anything of that sort you’ll have to book a block for yourself on the footpath,” she said in her typical fashion. Man!!! she certainly knows how to bring me back to reality.