Great Going with HT-PACE

My journey with Hindustan Times-PACE started in a very interesting manner. The Head Education for HT-PACE, Mrs Annapoorna Sehgal (In the photograph, rendering a welcome address during the Shiv Khera Talk Show) was on her visit to various schools at Indore on 5 May 2000. It was a historical day and also a historical moment, when we decided to meet at the Choithram School lobby. Quite an unassuming place to have a job interview.
But Mrs Sehgal, myself and the would-be manager for PACE chatted in the lobby in quite an informal manner and within minutes, she declared - You're on. My heart skipped a beat. And here!! I was introduced by her to the Choithram principal as the editor of HT School Times (which was yet to begin at Bhopal and Indore). And this marked the onset of my journey with Hindustan Times -PACE.
Then started my pursuits of relocating to Bhopal from Indore. House-hunt was a major one. But, thanks to all my friends and colleagues, who helped me settle at Bhopal with ease. The most interesting aspect was my first day at HT office, Malviya Nagar, Bhopal. There were just three of us - PACE manager Ms Nirupama Singh, myself and my editorial assistant Kirti Sundram - & to just one computer to give momentum to the entire mission, which was to begin.

The journey of HT School Times (HTST) commenced from 10 July, which will always remain close to my heart. The first issue of HTST rolled out on 10 July. Everybody had worked hard for it. Me and Kirti had run from pillar to post to get interviews, articles and children's articles from various schools.

It was a dream come true. Thanks to Mujeeb Faruqui, who managed to get the picture for the cover story from Carmel Convent School, Bhopal - Goodbye Holidays. Then came the second historical issue with the cover story 'The Red Planet'. The journey went on, so on and so forth.

The first few principals interviews had become history as few renowned principals were interviewed and their path-breaking ventures were highlighted which was quite appreciated among the education community. The leading educationists of Bhopal and Indore were included in an extensive interview. They were Mr N Jha, the then principal Choithram School, Mrs Anuradha Joshi, Principal Bal Bhavan School, Bhopal and Mr B N Trisal, the then principal of a leading school of Bhopal Jawaharlal Nehru School. All these schools are renowned in the entire region for excellent education and overall development opportunities being provided to the children.

My journey with HT School Times was a stage, wherein, I got an excellent opportunity to experiment with whatever I had learnt in my journalistic career and learn new things. This was an evolving journey at HT-PACE as it provided learning grounds to each one of us, who is excelling in the field called LIFE.

HT-PACE, Newspaper in Education Programme of Hindustan Times was quite new to the city of Bhopal as the principals, teachers and students were waking up to the fact, that there was whole new perspective which could be added by providing education opportunities beyond the classroom walls.

We at HT-PACE Bhopal although started quite slow and steady, but in just a year, were providing hundreds of opportuntiies to the children, teachers as well as the principals to look beyond the horizons.
A student as we all know is an outcome of the inputs provided by his immediate family, his friends, his teachers, his school and his neighbourhood.

The PACE team also grew at Bhopal and Indore and we had a full quorum of ten members across both cities. At Bhopal it was Nirupama Singh, myself, Anupama Venkatesh, Mrinal Gadre, Fehmina and Rosilyn. "Log aate gaye aur karvaan banta gaya."
Then came our first event - A painting competition. We had our first conglomeration of about 300 children. The event went off successfully. Then came the first Movie Mania wherein we showed the children movies Mrs Doubtfire and Dunston Checks in.

HT designer Manish Choure designed this advertisement for the Movie Mania, during which about five thousand children from Indore and Bhopal watched the screening of these movies on two consecutive Sundays. The 'Movie Mania' eventually became an annual feature with recurrences and innovations vis-a-vis viewerships and themes were concerned,

We, had organised a painting competition, wherein we had the privilege of inviting a noted cartoonist Pran to adjudge the competition. A unique teachers workshop was organised, wherein we provided an opportunity for the teachers to come out of their mundane routines and do some brain storming for innovative teaching methodologies. Dr Vinay Mishra, a renowned psychologist who had become an inseparable part of HT-PACE de-stressed the teachers through this workshop, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the teachers.

MORAL OF THE YEAR: The learning for the year was organising educative programmes for the children which also had an entertainment value. HT-PACE provided a beautiful platform for the students of Bhopal to showcase their talents. Be it in the field of art or quizzing, we at HT-PACE continuously strove towards providing the best of programmes for the children, teachers and principals.