A day in the life of a newspaper

The life of a newspaper employee is not easy. He is the one who never sleeps. Who has the passion and drive to do things right. Reporters, editors and photographers, designers, advertisers are expected to stay in the loop right through the day, and night, and are in constant touch online and over the SMS. 

The reporting bureau across editions meets at 11 a.m. where the stories for the day are discussed and planned. Any story having impact across editions are communicated to the respective bureau. In the news section, the Deputy Editor and Senior Editors hold a meeting with the heads of the bureau at 6 p.m. everyday to assess which stories are important and how they need to be displayed. 

News is then farmed out to different pages and assigned to sub-editors who work under the supervision of chief-subs and assistant editors. The news reports are sub-edited by copy editors who are located at different parts of the country but work online. At all times, we ensure that while the news reports are given the respect they deserve, we don't make it very heavy-handed. 

Somewhere along the way, there is always space for all the news that is fun to read. We cannot get our reports wrong. Once printed, the letters are carved in stone. It cannot be ‘deleted’ from the ticker, as television can do. Fact-checking can be tedious, but is compulsory. The mantra here is: 'When in doubt, find out'.

Page designs are supervised by design desks at every edition of the newspaper. Supporting them is a library with a digitised data base that responds instantly. The newspaper that you read starts coming together physically from about 7 pm. It is done by 11.30 pm, by which time the newspaper that is published the next day is in place and is, in our language, put to bed, or sent for printing.

The life of a newspaper employee is not easy but it's definitely worth it! It's a new challenge everyday. You conquer immense pressure, you fight against time and space, well, literally! Here's a salute to everyone working at newspapers! You are all super cool you folks!

*This is a curated article!

Food tastes best after freedom

After a long and tiring day at college, the students of Sri Chaitanya and Narayana Junior College attack the nearby Food Joints. There are many branches of Sri Chaitanya and Narayana Junior Colleges in and around Hyderabad. For them maybe, bunking is not an option but nothing can keep them from having fun! After scattering like mustard seeds from college, a few groups hang around at the well known food joints to fill their roaring stomachs of hunger.

Alwal area has grown into a popular center these days and there are many places which cater to food needs of students. There is Lake View Chat Bhandar just adjacent Sri Chaitanya, which has been the adda for all ages alive for more than 20 years and it has grown from a small wheel cart to a well equipped shop. ‘The pani puri here is the world best in all of Alwal’ jokes a student who gathered there with her friends.

There is a chain of bakeries and food courts from here starting with Ganesh Bakery which has been around for just the same amount of time and Ganesh food court which is an extension of Ganesh Bakery comprising a wide range of eateries from Pizzas to Burgers to French-fry to even Frankie. ‘But the best part about here is the combos they offer. You get French fries, a coke and a burger for Rs 49/- only’ says the manager of the store. They renovated their store recently to suit the needs of their young and steady customers. They also have a separate Chat Bhandar for themselves. The scattered mustard seeds are seen hanging around here mostly which is like the fixed venue for birthday parties and treats.

Then there is Ice Spice closer to Narayana College which has Chinese, Chat and all kinds of Ice Creams and Milkshakes. There are more a bajji bandi and a pani puri bandi. Last but not the least is Bhatia Bakery which has a bus stop named after it. These colleges themselves have a one-desk size canteen to give their students the break (fast) food. Prabhatha, a first year MPC student of Sri Chaitanya says “we have a canteen, almost a portable one but it definitely is an asset as we get really hungry before lunch itself. We have curry puff, samosa, chocolates and biscuits which hopefully are enough to get us through another study hour.”

These food joints are a boon for students of Sri Chaitanya and Narayana junior college.


Where: Ganesh Food Court, Venkatapuram, Alwal

Must try: meal combo

Pocket wise: Rs 49/- for veg Rs 59/- for non-veg

Food for Fun!

‘Under the tree!’ comes the quick response when you ask the students of  Wesley College, where they like to hang out most. They gather in its shade and munch on the tastiest samosa from the very famous samosa lady. For Rs 6/- these samosas sell like hot cakes. 300-400 samosas are being sold every day for the past 15 to 20 years. 

The lady and her daughter together come in the morning everyday and stay till they are sold out which happens very fast. Garnished with mirchi and onions ‘for free’ it tastes its very best. Apart from the samosa and the ‘wisdom tree’ what’s famous in Wesley College is the Anand Theatre bus stop right outside which is the hangout for all the degree students to just chill out. They come in bikes and go to the bus stop to socialize.  

Adjacent to it are Gyaneshwar Anna’s cigarette stall for the guys and Laxmi Chat Bhandar for the girls. ‘Most of the guys come for a smoke. They hang around and chitchat. I am good friends with a few of them too’ says Gyaneshwar. There is always a stall like this near every college and they make 
profits too. The chai stall is another adda. 

Begumpet being the center of the city is not scarce of places to eat. They have CCD’s in Begumpet and Sindhi Colony, Paradise restaurant and other eat out joints in and around Begumpet. ‘The college canteen is only for the faculty. We feed on the samosa’ joke MBA students John Druva, Tej Kumar and Ruben. ‘We share the CSIT College canteen which has sandwiches, puffs, fried rice and soft drinks. We come fasting in the morning and feed mostly on the canteen food.’  

And they add ‘We mostly spend our time playing cricket and also with the faculty being very friendly, they encourage friendly interactions with our juniors which makes college a great place to be.’ We just come to college to hang out with friends. Larger than life attitude of Wesley College students is what makes them apart from the normal crowd. This fun congregation always look forward to more fun!

Where: Samosa lady’s Jhola, near Wesley College Gate, Begumpet

Must try: Samosa


Pocket wise: Rs 6/-

Tis' the season of fests!

                     
                     The stage of Infocus film fest hosted annually by the mass communication 
                                               department of Loyola Academy at Old Alwal.


St Francis Degree College (Arthashastra), St Mary's Degree College (Prerna), Bhavan's Vivekananda College (Bhavanotsav), Villa Marie Degree and Junior College (Villa Festa), Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology (Nirvana), Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (Carpediem) and JB Institute of Engineering and Technology (Inxs).

The fever of campus fests is catching up. more and more colleges want to be in the limelight with one or the other events. students are challenging other colleges to participate and see who's better. Recently off beat concerts are also being held in colleges. the recent examples being St. Fracis and Wesley College, Begumpet which not only encouraged students to participate but also gave away exciting prizes. 


Loyola College again is hosting a national level student film festival - In focus. The department of mass communication has been planning this events for months and wants to set it apart from the rest! ' we have been conducting this fest for 3 years now and hope to do in in future as well. this is an amzing opportunity as well as a challenge to give a platform to fame for students to show and say ' hum kisi se kum nahi'

A Foodies' Paradise

Students chilling with their lecturer at The Coffee Cup at Sainikpuri

Nostalgia hits you the moment you enter Bhavan’s Vivekananda College in Sainikpuri. Groups of students laughing and chatting, spread all over the college during their lunch hour. The open campus has a lot of places to hang out- the basket ball ground, stairs, MBA backstage and most importantly the canteen. The aroma of food fills the canteen as students enter in flocks to savour a low budget sumptuous meal on a wide range and variety of food from Chinese to North Indian to South Indian to even sandwiches and Frankie.
Priced at Rs 20/- the Frankie is the tastiest of all. Come here with growling stomach and you get paisa vasool food. Taking me through a tour of their food territories are Sophia, Neha, Vikram, Venkatesh,Jagdish, Sagar, Sanjay and Abhay. They tell me the USP of their college is good parking lots, spacious and green campus, basket ball ground and gym. The students are mostly foreigners, North Indians and people of other states. The group of friends gaily say – there’s food for all! There are many places to hang out around Bhavan’s. There is FAB which is a short form of Fifth Avenue Bakery, Daily bread another bakery destination, Baskin Robins Ice cream outlet and a row of bakeries and stores on the Sainikpuri road. There is a scoops ice cream outlet just outside Bhavan’s run by Ms.Shilpa who says ‘we have a wide variety of icecream options like Vanilla, Strawberry, Jamaican choco fudge, Honey, Anjeer, Badam, choco roco and others. Students mostly opt for Belgium Dark Chocolate. We have a seating arrangement where they can hang around, chat and have fun.’ Gokul grocery store is another one stop destination for all things food for Bhavanites. ‘Coffee cup near Sainikpuri X roads is my favourite place. It has excellent food, good music, a collection of books and a guitar to play! The best part is you can even go there alone, grab one of their yummy drinks and sit there for hour’s together.’ says Purnima. Sravan of Coffee cup says ‘ we have ample space to fit a battalion and this place is apt for college students as well as people all ages. During cricket matches, it is filled with people and we have an exclusive way of celebrating birthdays of our customers on demand.’


Where: Coffee cup, Sainikpuri, A S Rao Nagar, Behind BP Petrol Bunk, Above Canara Bank. Must try: pasta, sandwiches, hot and cold coffee, mohito and many more Pocket wise: Rs 60/- to 300/-

Adios amigos!

It's the end of another academic year and the start of the farewell season. Farewell parties where juniors perform or organize a get together has become old fashioned. Youngsters these days are thinking out of the box to give their beloved seniors a memorable send off! They are coming up with unique ways to share and express your love — Be it Facebook posts, YouTube videos, the Gen-X believes in speaking out loud!

These seniors who ragged them, helped them with notes and assignments,  gave them survival tips, helped them in organizing college tests, competitions, etc. Are more than just strangers who live in the college along with them. They’ve become very good friends. To break the ritual, new trends are being created. To bid the journey through college goodbye in a different style.

Sravani, a Mass Comm student says “When you first enter college, you know nobody. But as time passes, you share many endeavors and adventures that you become a family. Three years pass in a daze. The day you leave all you can see is how familiar these strangers become to you. Our last day of college, was so much fun, so emotional and memorable. We closed the doors of our soundproof lab and danced our guts out to ear throbbing music. Our juniors organized it for us and we were thrilled!”

“Our college management is usually against farewell parties but when we were asked to make a farewell documentary, we were more than happy.   ‘Senior Sayonara’ is a dedication with a difference, for our seniors . It isn’t exactly a documentary its a film that depicts their memories, right from the beginning. It was a priceless feeling when a few seniors would come up to us and tell us that the documentary touched their hearts.” says E.A. Abhishek, a student of Loyola Academy, Old Alwal. He along with his friends Nitin Lawrence, Kedar Patwary, Omar Roy, Sanya Quadri, Keerthana Muralidhar, Ranjana Singh Rathore, Srivanth Kumar, Harshit Joseph and Srivanth Kumar, shot the film and made it a huge success.

An engineering third year student, Anshul says, “ Our seniors inspire us. They show us how to be responsible and show us how to get things done. When you first enter college, clueless of whatever is happening around, they guide you. To top it all they provide you with healthy competition that will make you better. We are planning to organize a surprise party for our seniors and show them how special they are for us.”

“College is nearing its end. Another year just flew by. We made hundreds of memories. It's now the end of the roller coaster ride. It all comes back as deja-vu. And if someday in life, somebody from the crowd just pops up and gives you a hug, you just know it will be one of these guys. We become their part time siblings in their journey through college and its feels wonderful that they give you special attention. We haven’t left yet and there are messages, dedications and love showering from juniors all over Facebook. They created a separate group online that tells you how much they’ll miss you. It feels great.” Johnson Nishant, a B Com final year student says.

Colleges have traditional themes. The St Frances college had a Halloween themed party. Some have prom themed parties, some have an awards night, So this farewell season what other way would be better to say Adios Amigos than say it ‘hatke.’

Building the virtual bridge

Meeting them at a popular food joint with music screaming out aloud, this bunch of youngsters was bubbling with energy. All of them below 30 years age stood out from the normal crowd not only for who they are but for what they do with a passion to bring a change in the education system.

Abhilash, Bhanu, Apeksha, Sahitya and Srikar are a part of the &beyond team. It is a six month old Hyderabad based socio-academic student portal with over 10,000 of their kind already registered. They call themselves a smart ecosystem that bridges the gap between students, colleges, alumni, institutes and also companies offering placements.

"&beyond is a one stop solution for all things 'student.' We aim to make communication and collaboration very much easier for students. While getting relevant information is almost impossible for them, we take the burden upon us to sort it and customize it the way they want it." says Abhilash Bandi, co-founder of &beyond.

Abhilash, Bhanu and Srujan, founders of &beyond are 2007 alumni and also childhood friends. Srujan Gottemukkala is from IIT- Madras while the other two are from the Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology.

"A common friend's brother applied for his engineering supplementary exam at JNTU. He paid the fees but the authorities failed to record it later, and he had to repeat his whole year. That's when we were discussing that there is a pressing need for a smart and organized channel for students where all their needs are addressed." says Bhanu Prakash Kantala, co-founder &beyond.

After conducting a survey of about 52 colleges across AP and gathering feedback from hundreds of students, the outcome shocked them. They laid the foundation stone for their cause early in 2012 and did a lot of ground work. In June 2012, they tentatively rolled out their beta at  a Computer Society of India event. They have been running in beta mode till now but a plan to release the main product soon is in process. Also, they have expanded the web services to Karnataka and Tamilnadu apart from AP.

&beyond is a platform for students to vent out and reach out to other students so that they are informed and also entertained. There are academics, fun and connect options. They provide a virtual replication of the college notice board and information about projects, college directory, mentors, lecturers, scholarships, notifications, exam dates, results, career path, education clubs and more. In fun option, students can upload photos and challenge others like ‘who can eat more ice creams in one minute.’ Show off is where you can flaunt a newly bought watch or phone. Filmy-meter where you can rate newly released films moreover throw ends at films. The connect option helps students reach out to other students, lecturers, mentors, company executives and alumni.

“We conduct different events all through the year. Currently, the dope awards are going on where the natural talents of students are recognized and a democratic voting system helps them win prizes. The six categories are Book worm, Best student, Mr and Ms Looker, Mr and Miss Show off and Nautanki Baaz that is open till June 30." add Apeksha Badagavi, Operations lead, &beyond and Srikar Chepuri, Marketing head.

While Abhilash did his masters from Bond University in Australia, Apeksha, Bhanu, Sahitya and 
Srikar are software professionals. They all are also founders and volunteers of Helping hands society. They have been mentored by Satyam CEO, IIM alumni and Serial entrepreneurs.

“We aim to reach a stage where &beyond becomes a commodity for every student across India. We are rolling out city by city. But, we have locally customized features. We have our own team of technicians. Our motto is 'you don't have to reach &beyond. &beyond fits into your lifestyle.” They all say collectively.

By Uma Pranathi Narayan

Published in DC during its 75 year anniversary celebrations