PACE Bhopal hosts Shiv Khera Talk Show

SHIV KHERA TALK SHOW

The feather in the cap was the very unique event organised for the intellegentsia, principals and teachers of Bhopal. This event had received an overwhelming response as it witnessed a participation of more than five thousand people of Bhopal. Although the seating capacity of Campion Auditorium was just about twelve hundred but the remaining people were accomodated at the Campion grounds.

Thanks to Unieue Events and its preparedness, as they had installed three screens outside the hall for all the people to view the programme.

The most scary moments of the event were a stampede of sorts was created at the Auditorium gate, as hundreds of people thronged to get inside the hall. Sehgal maam as well as our DGM had been stuck outside the gates, which had been locked to keep the people from barging through the gates. Searching for the keys amidst all that chaos was a herculean task, but we managed to do that get our seniors inside the auditorium - honourably.

Thanks to the Circulation and Sales team Yogendra Chaturvedi, Dhiraj Roman, Nitin Mahajan, Vishal Arora who managed to get Mr Shiv Khera to the auditorium amidst all security through the back doors.

"Hats off guys!!! Congratulations to the entire PACE team for a stunning event. The event was a runaway success" said Sehgal maam. "Thodi tod fod nahi hui, to event kaa mazaa kaise ayega." she reiterated. And these words came in as such an encouragement at that hour, when our energies were at an all time low, after putting in twelve hours of efforts every day - continuously for almost a month".

Working with HT-PACE had been such a beautiful experience, as every endeavour of ours, for which we put in efforts was equally applauded by each and every senior. HT Vice-President (North) Mr Rakesh Sharma was all praises for the HT-PACE team, for each and every initiative. This was the fuel, which was the incentive, which kept us going through and creating waves.

We had literally run from pillar to post to get associates for the event and finally managed to associate with UNICEF and Variety Book House. Thanks to UNICEF State Head Mr Manoucher Assadi, UNICEF Project Officer Ms Ila Varma and Mr Wadhva, the properietor of Variety Book House for association with HT-PACE for the event.

We had promoted the Millennium Development Goals for the UNICEF through the event publicity as well as HT School Times.

We had generated awareness about the MDGs through School Times, as we had spread the word through almost all schools of Bhopal. The children had sent in their views as well as pictures to express their solidarity about the same. A signing banner had also been put up at the venue, which was signed by thousands of people who had gathered at the event. This banner as well as the special issue of HT School Times had later been sent to UN General Assembly by UNICEF.
In lieu of the same, we had to organise a press conference at the Variety Book House, Bhopal and a Book Signing Session by Mr Shiv Khera. Me and Kirti took up the task of inviting the press for the press conference. This gave us an opportunity to meet the editors and bureau chiefs of practically all big newspapers. The Shiv Khera Talk Show led to a trend in PACE across locations of arranging a celebrity to address the teachers of Bhopal. In August 2001, it was an era, when Shiv Khera was not quite a known name among the masses on a city like Bhopal. He was a management guru only at a corporate level.

But it was HT-PACE which undertook this mission of creating awareness about him through extensive press coverage. We published almost ten-twelve articles, about twelve advertisements, stickers, 500 posters across the city, 300 banners across the city.

Interacting with Mr Shiv Khera and his team throughout the event was also a beautiful experience. A grounded person indeed, he was full of wit and interesting incidences throughout his stay. We had invited the school principals for dinner a day before the Talk Show. I still treasure his books "You Can Win" he had autographed and gifted us on this occasion besides the autographed Mug having the inscription "You Can Win" in golden letters.

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GLIMPSES OF THE TALK SHOW

Upcoming Sarod Artiste and nephew of the renowned Sarod artiste Ameen Ali Khan rendered a stupendous prelude to the mega event which won a standing ovation. The performance was overwhelming and was appreciated by each one present on this occasion. Ameen Ali also became synonymous to HT-PACE mega events. Be it Shiv Khera Talk Show or Arindam Chaudhuri Talk Show - the show would not kickstart without his performance. Currently in UK, Ameen is pursuing music carrying ahead the torch of musical glory that his Gharana has earned over generations.

Head, Education Hindustan Times Ms Annapoorna rendering a Welcome address at the show.

The signing banner carrying all the eight Millennium Development Goals, which was later sent to UN.

Mr Shiv Khera reading an excerpt from his acclaimed book "You can Win".

Mr Shiv Khera along with the PACE Team members Ujwala, Kirti Sundram. Rosilyn and Iram Dastagir.

Being an editor of the HT School Times, I was responsible for the entire press publicity required for the events being organised by HT-PACE at Bhopal/Indore. The press coverage that followed throughout the month to generate awareness and create a hype for the event was as under. The then resident editor Mr Askari Zaidi was kind enough to assign a press reporter to cover the press conference, special interview as well as the final Talk Show.

Yes!!! Once again PACE Bhopal team had done it!!! An event par excellence.

PACE BHOPAL ROCKED!!!!

Sky is the limit at HT - Year 2 at PACE

As we stepped into the second year of our existence, both HT School Times and HT-PACE had braced up to face the challenges of reaching out to Bhopal and Indore. The teams all geared up with loads of events and lot of experimentation with the editorial content of HT School Times. Thanks to the freedom given to me by the Head Education Ms Sehgal, sky was the limit. One could just go on writing. The results poured in the form of more and more children subscribers
rolling and the HT-PACE family growing from strength to strength. One of the interesting stories that I remember having done was a special story on the occasion of Children's Day. Myself and Kirti, my counterpart at HT School Times brainstormed, as to what could be done which would be liked by the children and will sensitize them. Then we thought of interviewing the street children and children hawkers, who lived a totally different world. Did these children know about the Children's Day or even for that matter, Jawaharlal Nehru? Speaking to these children was an eye-opener. And the stark reality - Childhood indeed had a galring contrast. Something enough to keep you thinking.
Then there was another piece of article, which is very close to my heart, We were just taking a look at the calendar of important days and we realised that it was the Day for teh Deaf and Dumb. I really had a strong desire of knowing how did the children with hearing inability interact in this world. And then we decided to visit the School for the Deaf and Dumb and chat with the children. It was a heart warming experience for us and also an eye-opener.

MOVIE MANIA

The year started with a Movie Fest across Bhopal and Indore, wherein, we showed four movies in a row on all Sundays to the members, 2001 was a year, when screening of children films was not quite popular as it is today. Children could only watch Kids Special movies on Star Movies at Home. But, we at PACE wanted to give our children an exclusive feel. Have you ever seen an entire theatre with a seating capacity of 1000 kids, entirely filled with children.

Scene I - 7.30 (Outside the theatre) Hordes of school buses start pouring in, with school teachers guiding the kids. You think the kids can run. No they cannot, because the long queues of kids are led by the class monitors and the teachers. Sports/PT teachers blowing the whistle to keep the children glued to their queues. And lo!!! What a hoopla the children create, as they run to grab their seats inside the auditorium. We, at PACE had to ensure that all children were comfortably seated and all schools watching the movie on a particular day were given an exclusive place, so the children or the teachers do not feel neglected.

The scene continued for years, for a whole week, year after years. Number of children grew from a throusand to about fifteen thousand across both the cities.

GLIMPSES

Another big event, that drew a major crowd was a three-day Summer Camp, wherein, we had loads of activities to offer to the kids. There were about five hundred kids, who had attended this summer camp at Hotel Noor-us-Sabah. It was am amazing mix of activities, thoroughly enjoyed by the children. Swimming was a major hit for all of them - some of whom had never seen one. Believe it or not!!! But the pool was filled with children. There were separate timings for the girls as well as the boys, I still remember, the kids were in love with us!!! They wanted us to be a part of the entire fun.

Including the two hour dance sessions.... We rocked!! The St Joseph's Girls gang headed by Arshi Khan had even taught us the steps for the Ketchup Song!!! We had to learn the nuances of everything to know the pulse of the kids. So the Summer Camp was a runaway success, started in the first year and kept gaining a bigger magnitude - year after year.
HT-PACE INTER-CITY QUIZ

Highlights of the year included an Inter-City Quiz between the schools of Bhopal and Indore. The quiz was conducted by Mr Amer and Cadbury's was kind enough to sponsor the same. The quiz had taken almost a month to build up at Bhopal and Indore. Two student nominations had been sent by almost twenty schools each from Bhopal and Indore, who were made to attempt a written preliminary round. The six shortlisted school teams battled it out.

BOARD WORKSHOP

HOW TO EXCEL IN BOARD EXAMINATIONS -

The new experiment which we tried this year was a Board Examination Workshop. The entire team sat and brainstormed about the fact that certain students lose marks because of certain mistakes, which could be avoided. We therefore formed a panel of teachers at Indore as well as Bhopal and kept one school as a venue for the same in the respective cities. The panel of teachers included teachers who had already been on the invigilators list and also had an experience of checking board papers for SSC as well as CBSE Boards. The Board Examination Workshop organised in the month of January received an overwhelming response, wherein, we had almost 200 students from Class X and about seventy stduents from Class XII at Bhopal and about three hundred children at Indore. All these children were given handouts of model question papers and mock papers by the teachers of almost all subjects which helped them brush up upon the entire syllabus. The objective of the workshop was to help the children minimise their errors with a view to score higher.

The PACE gang, as we called it comprised Natalia Warren, a perfect Leo with incredible leadership traits, Anupama Venkatesh as the Programme Coordinator, Fehmina Siddiqui and Mrinal Gadre as the School executives and Rosilyn as the cog in the wheel. Me and my counterpart (as I always called her) Kirti Sundram (Yet another Leo!!!) stood by me in all my, rather our endeavours. We had sttruck a beautiful chord. And we freaked out to the hilt, while we worked. We, were a team of unique disposition. All of us were at the peak of our careers and wanted to give it a best shot. So we did not leave a single stone unturned, wherein we could provide quality through our editorial content as well as events.

We, at PACE always had a commitment to the entire children community, teachers, the principals and academicians. We felt, it was our responsibility to provide a platform to the children to showcase their talents. In sync with our philosophy, we organised an Inter-School Debate Competition at Jawaharlal Nehru School, which was presided over by the Arch Bishop of Bhopal Fr Pascal Topno. The children winners from Bhopal competed with the winners from Indore and the winning students represented Madhya Pradesh at the Location finals at New Delhi.

HT-PACE Bhopal kept organising unique activities for everybody and created a niche for itself in the educational fraternity.

Journey with Maharashtra Herald

All equipped with a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, I was all set to enter the BIIIIIIG world of journalism. My dad was visiting Pune for some official work and I therefore handed over my resume to him, to be submitted to a few newspaper offices. He then had met the executive editor of the then Maharashtra Herald Mr Vijay Lele. As if, he was waiting for an opportunity for a correspondent to be appointed for Aurangabad division.

And there I was! I landed up with an appointment letter. The task was big, to be reporting for a full-fledged newspaper daily. But I took up the challenge and with god's grace and the support of my family and mentors, sailed through smoothly.

I was absolutely lost, where to start from. But thanks to the daily newspapers, which guided me with the daily engagements column. I could therefore plan out my day in accordance with the happenings in the city. I started my work with a single column news (the first weeek), a double column news in the second week and the bug had finally bitten me. Third week onwards, it was a whole bunch of news releases. Those were the days of the fountain pen being in full action. So, all news was handwritten. ai had strict instructions that the frequency of the news had to be three times a week. But, there was no stopping, I ended up sending a whole bunch of news items in a week (which surprisingly happened on a day to day basis). I was thoroughly enjoying it. And I was my own master, when I could decide as to what time, I covered the press conference and wht time, I decided to send the whole bunch through courier. There were no emails and mobile smses to update you on an hour to hour basis.

I still remember - the stories I covered during my stint with Maharashtra Herald.

Be it, a mango exhibition or a political leader's rally - I had eventually covered it all. I still remember, the first byline I received on my story on Services Preparatory Institute, Aurangabad. It was quite a thrilling experience to receive a byline. Anybody who's a journalist would definitely agree upon the same.

During my stint with Maharashtra Herald, while covering one of the politician's meet - I happened to meet Syed Rizwannullah (Rizwan, in short). He was the chief reporter for Lokmat Times. I am really thankful to him, for all the guidance and support extended by him throughout my initial journey. It was almost like - he taught me how to walk during my toddler years with journalism. He was the one, who taught me - as to how to pick up a lead from the press conference or any story.

The journey had become more and more interesting by now. I am also grateful to Mr Vijay Lele, who had given me the liberty to report, whatevere I deemed important. It is indeed creditable for any newspaper daily to trust the instincts of a fresh journalist. The Maharashtra Herald published every bit of news that I sumbitted. With my news items spanning every aspect of reporting, the Maharashtra Herald had started publishing the diary for every division/district. The trend of Aurangabad Diary or Aurangabad Notes started in the Maharashtra Herald, which dedicated almost a quarter page for the news sent by me.

Then came the big news of plague scare in Aurangabad district. I poured in my heart and sould into the reporting of first four plague cases in the government hospital. Dauntlessly, I treaded the paths, which even the seasoned journos fear to tread. And I also got rewarded for my efforts - I got my very first front page coverage.

This was followed by many more bylines.
I was in close touch with the Health Department on a day to day basis and thanks to the Deputy Director of Health, who was always present for a comment.

Then the entire nation was shaken by the devastating earthquake in Latur and Osmanabad districts, which brought forth hordes of issues. Help poured from all parts of the world and the country. Thanks to our integrity, the citizens of India stood by the victims, helping them start life afresh. It also gave all journalists, an

opportunity to showcase the pace of the rehabilitation. I covered the earthquake in its various hues.

One aspect, which I really enjoyed covering was the detailed

study of the rehabilitation process, underway at Latur and Osmanabad districts.

One more interesting scoop, which I covered was the discovery of the coins of Barid Shahi Dynasty. Myself and Rizwan had reoprted this story on the same day. The most importznt aspect was that BBC and other newspapers/media had taken a followup of the same, days later. The very fact of being the first one to report - brings a joy - unparalleled - the fire of which keeps the journalist going.

The other feature, which won accolades and were duly applauded by my seniors were a story on the night soil carriers. It was indeed ironical that even as we are in the 21st century, night soil carriers still existed in Aurangabad cantonment. I wonder, whether, there is any improvement has improved or remains status quo.

I also did a story on the development plan of Aurangabad as well as the various aspects of cave deterioration findings of Ajanta Caves.

So, this was my innings at Maharashtra Herald. Quite a leaning experience for me, which helped me look at all facets of journalism in such a short duration. Thanks to my seniors at Maharashtra Herald who helped me grow into an individual I am today. It was time to step into a new arena of day to day reporting on a regular desk as a reporter. And then I joined Lokmat Times as a Staff Reporter.

Journey with Lokmat Times

I started my innings under the guidance of the Resident Editor Mr Bhattacharya and Executive Editor Mr Alok Verma. Although the innings was very small, but managed to do a couple of interesting stories during my stint with them.

I had been assigned the Cultural and Defence Beats by the editor and I was covering evrything that took place under the purview. I also did a couple of stories like a detailed story of the Weekly Haat, which had a long history to itself, from the Nizam days. I also did a feature on the Christian community before the Christmas, on the various Christian communities which had settled in Aurangabad more than a century back. The details of studying all details of the community was fun as well as knowing the efforts that went into preparing for the festivities.

Besides I covered the regular stories for the Cantonment Board as well as the Deputy Director for Health Services.

I barely stayed for two and half months with Lokmat Times and had to leave for Indore, as my father was moving to Indore for good. And there I was at Indore, exploring the opportunities in the field of English journalism. Thank God for the amazing opportunity, wherin I started off as the reporter-cum-sub-editor.

Journey with Free Press

My journey with Free Press began in the year 1996 September. I started to function as the Sub-Editor-cum-Reporter. I still remember my first day, when I was assigned the district desk, under the leadership of K K Jha, a senior sub-editor. He was the one, who taught me the nuances of writing a district news copy.
The journey commenced with one or two DC news being done at the end of the day. But week after week, things improved immensely. Devendra Tarkas, the district desk coordinator, who shortlisted the news stories for the day and decided, what treatment to be meted to each. And eventually, after a year, I was handling the District News Page for Free Press single handedly, as K K Jha had moved on and had been given additional responsibility of Nation and Front Page.
Thanks to the inputs by the then Resident Editor Mr SR Singh, I mastered the art of news writing and handling the news stories (Sometimes with no head or tail and a lost identity). And District pages became my forte. Then came Mr Kalpesh Yagnik as the Resident Editor. It was a learning experience under his leadership, who put the entire reporting as well as editorial team on their toes. And out came everybody's flair for writing special stories.
And I got an opportunity to write on various topics like a day with Sumitra Mahajan, Book exhibition etc.

It was during this phase that the sub-editor handling the Kidsfare, the children's supplement of Free Press moved on, creating a slot. Having a knack to gel with children, Mr Singh assigned me the responsibility of Aunty Tee Dee (The editor of Kidsfare) from then on, in addition to the District News Page. Handling Kidsfare was a challenge in itself, as it involved visiting schools, interacting with children, parents and principals, with a view to publish the School Profile.

This was my first experience of this kind, but quite an interesting one. Although coordinating with the pagemakers Pawar ji and TP Emmanuel was tight rope walk. Are you listening folks!!! Just joking.

But being a part of Kidsfare provided an opportunity to interact with some really enthusiastic children from senior classes - names of some I still remember Nitin Nakra from SICA School, Namit Khungar from Daly College, Anirban Mukhopadhyay and Anamika Nandedkar from AECS Kendriya Vidyalaya. These bunch of kids (Who were then in classes 6-9) were an enthusiastic lot, who did not miss a single Saturday, when they were present at our office with the schiool report, an interview or an article on some topic. Or win a prize for a contest.

Aunt y Tee Dee, as the name suggests had been coined by the first editor of Kidsfare Tripta Dhingra. The name became a major hit among children as they started identifying the Kidsfare as a medium of interaction with Aunty Tee Dee. On Saturdays, Free Press circulation increased by a thousand - Kind courtesy - the Kidsfare. It has become a rage among the kids of Indore and there were hordes of children flocking the Free Press office to collect the prizes for the contests or even submit their entries. The SMS concept was redundant then and mailbox was the only option.
The most favourite among the children was the editorial as well as the Continue the Story Competition, in which the children had to add an episode of the ongoing story. It was fun, but when none of the children wrote - it was better. And there it goes.... My writing skills came to the fore. I even tried my hands at writing - anything that I lay my hands upon. Writing an editorial every week or the message from Aunty Tee Dee was a challenge in itself. As that was the most crucial aspect of Kidsfare.

But Ujwala had become a pro at it!!! Come hail, rain or storm!!! The editorials were ready on any given topic. Some days I just fell short of a subject.

Then I brainstormed and came upon an idea. I though of dealing with values. Be it Honesty, Perseverence, Compassion, Modesty - I wrote upon each and suggesting the children, as to how could they imbibe these values in their day to day functioning.

This was quite appreciated by the children as well as their parents.

The Free Press also organised an Kidsfare Annual Painting Competition around January 26. I had the opportunity of organising it twice. It was a mega event for Kidsfare, in which about 5000 children participated. Children from all over Indore and surrounding areas thronged to the Free Press premises to participate in the competition, which was runaway success among kids.

One of the major assignements covered during my Free Press tenures was an interaction with Sqn Leader Rakesh Sharma. It was indeed a lifetime opportunity.

Another lifetime experiment with Kidsfare was the Millennium Issue, as all other newspapers had done it. I too tried my hand at it and came out with a 32 page Millennium Special. It was an issue for keeps as it covered everything from medicine, science, space, to sports and education etc.

Life at Free Press was quite a happening one, with all the basic learning that took place in all these four years. The resident editor, who had taken charge in the last year of my functioning Mr PNV Nair of Deccan Chronicle fame also gave each one a free hand to experiment and write, whatever we lay our hands on. It was an amazing experience, as this provided us an opportunity to bloom to our fullest. Be it Kidsfare or the District Page, I gave everything a shot.

I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to my seniors and colleagues for their immense contribution towards molding me into a person, I am today. I have indeed been honoured to have worked with them - Mr Deepak Shinde, Shuchita Mathur, KK Jha, Bini Mathew, Shilpa Shaligram (now with ICICI Prudential), SV Sriram (Now Chief Sub-Editor with The Hindu), Rahul Singh (Now with Times Now TV Channel) and others who made this journey worthwhile.

But all good things have to come to an end and this era too led me to greener pastures at Hindustan Times, PACE, Bhopal. Rest is history.

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.