HALF THE JOURNEY AT SCMC, PUNE

It is a world that is knitted together in yeses and noes and one is bound to get tangled in the wrong strand at some point or the other

Standing in a group of people you met for the first time.

A new campus.

A different city.

The same you.

If you signed up for a programme of Bachelor in Mass Communication, then does it mean that it’s easy for you to converse in this situation or is there still time to improve your social skills?

The truth remains that no one shall sit you down and make you feel like home, but the atmosphere here is right for you to learn, grow, see the reality and mould yourself for good.

Symbiosis Centre for Media & Communication, SCMC is not wholly comprised of the usual students, dragging their bags along and re-iterating the everyday follies of the education system. Some are enthusiasts of their fields – photography, politics, writing, film making, advertising, journalism and many more. This enthusiasm that reflects off their sweat when they film outdoors in June and rests on the bags under their eyes when they’re up at night writing, editing or simply catching up with world news. This enthusiasm that makes them welcoming towards other people because a mind constantly seeking knowledge and experience is an open mind. Thus, the most repelling factor of the education system, examination time, is not a week long migraine for them for they simply do enough extra home-work throughout the semester to traverse that path with ease. These are the people who are there to make the most of every minute and inspire quality work.

Now all one needs to do is discover what enthuses them and embrace that like a winning lottery ticket.

Like the world that is consumed by appreciators and critics so is SCMC, where one piece of work shall meet different opinions. The key is that if you think yours is reasonable; voice it, amicably in most situations. Accept different perspectives on your work as well. It is a world that is knitted together in yeses and noes and one is bound to get tangled in the wrong strand at some point or the other. Struggle, if at all, but untangle yourself and become a better you. One’s friend circle shall change several times in college but eventually the right people come along the way. Talk to everyone, maybe just a ‘Good Morning!’ Start small and see it grow. Take perspective and spread the knowledge you have, at least take it beyond black and white and test it in the field. It is, after all, the positive connection we make with other human beings that feeds the social part of us and fills the memory jar, labelled ‘College Days’.

I either learnt all this the hard way or just acted upon the advice of those who intersected the two parallel lines – socialising and I. Yet, there is still much to learn and absorb after 3 semesters. Though it is now easier to stand in a group of familiar or unfamiliar faces, in a relatively known campus, in a city that is young and mature and be myself – not all changed but definitely evolved in a good way. 18 months is a good enough time that allows you to look back, reflect and think about how you’ve grown and then eye forward to where you ultimately want to go.         

Article by: Yugika Mital (Batch of 2019)

Photograph by: Anonymous