On our first day at HMMRA, our future seemed so bright!

Anxiously waiting for three days after my interview with the director, I kept opening my mail every now and then…

Beep! A notification!

“Congratulations! You are welcomed to the institute of knowledge with fun and opportunities”, it read. I was overjoyed to be a part of an institute, which not only imparts knowledge in a manner that stays with you for life, but also keeps the students’ needs at its most importance.

Our journey began with the orientation day. All students came dressed in bright smiles and spoke in excited tones. It was a heart-warming experience to meet and make friends with such creative and talented people.

It was the first time when the director of the institute, Mr. Soumyadipta Banerjee addressed us from the stage. What we students loved about him and his speech was that he came across as a warm and friendly personality who promised us that this journey would be full of enriching and fun filled experiences. Today, as I near the end of this course, I can say that he really meant it.

The best package of the evening was a guest talk by Mr. Prahlad Kakkar, the Ad guru of India! He needs no introduction. He was gracious enough, as he came directly from the airport, only to be a part of this evening!

He had an immensely positive aura, while he spread smiles and hope in the hearts of students with a wonderful speech! He said, that it is important for us to have patience and never let anything or anybody change our focus from what we want to achieve. He opined that most success stories aren’t authentic. He stressed on the need to learn from failure stories, instead of success stories, so that we can learn from what went wrong and are thus warned.

Mr. Om Puri, veteran actor and Padma Shri Award recipient, was also one of the guest speakers at the orientation day and he shared his experiences about the industry with the students. His wife Ms. Nandita Puri accompanied him.

This was followed by a session, where students had the opportunity to shoot their questions concerning the field of media, to these distinguished personalities. It was quite astonishing that Ms. Nishi Patel, our peer-mentor and favourite staff member, while co-ordinating the question-answer round, addressed every student by their name, even though she had only met us once! We sensed a feeling of belonging and there was a paradigm shift in our energies, as we felt a personal touch. Ms. Prapti Thakar, shared the stage with her and contributed in making the event a big success!

It was wonderful to hear these stalwarts talk about their experiences and inspire young minds. This was certainly the best way for us to begin this journey, which has been a culmination of some really beautiful memories and exhilarating experiences.