Third term begins...

Wow! It's unbelievable. Only 3 more months for the course to finish. Time really does fly - even when you're away from home and longing to go back. Third term began today. We started the day with the science elective. The woman - Vijaya Swaminath is awesome. She's a scientist as well as a science writer. She's wonderfully organised and is simply brilliant. She expects a lot of work from us. We'll be giving in weekly assignments. Thankfully, she does not believe in exams. Am I glad or what? Ok, following the science class, we had the covering deprivation test which went off ok....nothing too good or bad about it. After that, we began our BBC training with Amanda Harper (or 'Harps' as she's called in BBC). I quite liked her actually. She's a perfectionist and I really like that 'coz I don't believe that there's any other way to do it! She has a decent sense of humour too. We were handed over our BBC goodies-a folder, keychain, bookmark, a pen and her visiting card. Today being the first class, it was more or less an introduction and 'getting to know one another' session. By the way, I have finally managed to hand in my Art and Culture assignment (applause)! I'm not really happy with what I wrote 'coz it was done under the pressure of juggling too many things. Next on agenda is - viewing the covering deprivation documentary footage and logging in shots. Apart from that, the next few weeks are going to be pretty relaxed because Harps doesn't usually teach beyond 5p.m. Believe me, that's a relief! I sent a long mail to Ruchi. She's moved out of the hostel 'coz of her internship in Gurgaon. Oh, the good news - Bhau has got a call from MDI-Gurgaon and Toni has got a call from IIFT-Delhi. Isn't that too cool? I hope both of them get through and then Ruch and I also work in Delhi! It'll be awesome to be back together again! It's my favourite dream at the moment!
Okie dokie..ciao then!
-M:)

Phew!

Well, so we managed the radio documentary. We managed to show them one finished product-the media coverage angle-the one for which I did the script and narration...and Rob loved my script!!! I was on cloud#9. He appreciated loads of stuff on it and know what the high point was? He didn't take out a single mistake! That's very very unlike Rob. He's very fair and straightforward about our work-says the positive and negative things on the face. So we were basically thrilled and me more so, 'coz I wrote the script and did the narration! I had an attachment with the feature. Will get it burnt on to a cd on monday. Rob has left for Chicago. We'll all miss him. It was a blast working for him. Nishat Sir got a 5kg cake for us after the radio programme. We had a small party. Rob and his wife- Lori, cut the cake. Oh ya, forgot to mention that I got an A+ - that's first class with distinction for my radio journalism course. I was thrilled till I discovered that most people had got that and it's really not that big a deal! Well, there's a covering deprivation test on monday and I am just about to go to Meenakshi's to do combined studies. We also start BBC training with Amanda Harper from monday which means that third term begins. I also have to submit that stupid art and culture assignment on monday-there's no escaping it. Another thing happening on monday is the start of my science elective followed by business and photojournalism through the week! Then there's work to be done on the dissertation...is this life or what? Anyhow, that's about it for now...I shall make a move to Meenakshi's place now. Goodnight. Ciao!
-M:)

Grrrrrrrr...

I am soooooooooooooooooooo irritated! We have to have to have to finish the radio documentary..there are too many hurdles...we have only 2 machines with the software and 5 teams working...and a deadline of one day. It's crazy. How do they expect us to give in a polished product at the end of it? We just need time to edit man. We've been working days as well as nights...but it's just not possible for 3 teams to work on one machine! The time slots are too short. I am doing the media coverage of the tsunami disaster - basically the sensitivity (or the lack of it) of the media towards tsunami victims. Another angle also being covered by our group is the early warning system. They are excellent topics but we need the damn time to edit. Most of it is done. But there's still work left and it's unlikely that the other teams will give us machines now. God help! Just need like an hour on the machine. The presentation is at 2:00p.m. I am irritated especially since Rob has very high expectations of us and I know that we can meet them if onle we get some time on the machine. Grrrrrrr.....
-M:(

Can I gloat a bit?

Hellllllllllooooooo....:)
Guess what? Our radio feature on the INPUT film screening has been adjudged the best! There were 5 teams and each had to create a five-minute radio feature on the film screening that took place in our college from 7th to 9th January.I was the narrator for our feature. Our story came out superb! Rob Quicke said that if he had to broadcast it, there isn't a thing that he'll change about it.He said my voice is crisp and clear!:) Please allow me to gloat a bit..can't help it right now! He also said,"I wouldn't be too happy right now if I were in your team"..when we asked, "Why?" he said- "'Coz my teacher would have very high expectations from me then!" Wow...that's flattering but scary too. I hope we live up to his expectations. He's gonna take our features to Chicago and broadcast them from his radio station. It's so cool. The radio workshop is awesome. I love it and I really respect Rob. He's an amazing teacher. Right now we're working on the tsunami feature. We are making a thirty minute radio documentary on the tsunami and it's aftermath. It's going to be submitted to a competition in the State of Illinois and we'll be competing against all American Universities. This will also be the first ever student produced Indian radio documentary! So, we're basically creating radio history here! Ok, I gotta go and work on the tsunami feature. Ciao.
-M:)

Chennai Blues...

Well well well...I don't believe it..the holiday is already over and I am back in Chennai. What a pain. I had such a ball of a time in Delhi. I didn't want to come back at all. The weather was so cool-not all that cold! I like the new house at Najafgarh. It's great except that I wish I could get a crane to move it to some place in south Delhi. I shopped lots and met up with Ruchi, Toni and Ankur. Couldn't meet Rish though:( New year's was ok...a little low key as compared to other years and understandably so. We spent the night at Kash aunty's place. I really hope 2005 will be a better year and a nightmare of this magnitude would never repeat itself. I visited the Marina beach yesterday. You can still see the signs of devastation. It's been 8 days and the sand is still damp. All the barricades are broken. The coastline has come closer and sand has been scooped out in many places. Marina, which is usually abuzz with activity-hawkers, friends, families...was quite the opposite yesterday. All you could hear were the sounds of the sea. I went there to record the sounds of the beach for a radio journalism assignment and returned with the sounds of the winds and the waves...nothing else. It was quite a depressing sight because I have seen Marina at other happier times and it's not at all like this. Anyhow, gotta get to my art and culture assignment now. Ciao!
-M.