MAIDEN MEET-UP: Journeying from a WhatApp group to a meeting of minds
What started as a small WhatsApp group some 7 years ago, Wordcomm, today graduated to its first physical Meet-Up in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Baby steps, but a sample of the same spirit of helping one another, seen and experienced in the Wordcomm, was much in evidence at the get-together with nine members at a quiet Bengaluru Cafe in the most happening Indiranagar.
Well, they were slightly but sweetly chaotic conversations, but sure turned into meaningful discussions on this, that, and everything under the sun – and with successful entrepreneurs in the midst, made the meeting of minds even more interesting and fruitful.
The Meet-Up brought together media professionals across career stages, highlighting their fresh ideas, drive, and commitment. It balanced professional networking with informal conversations. The fluid structure encouraged genuine exchange, avoiding the echo chamber effect of more formal events, said Barkha Kumari, a journalist with an English Daily in Bengaluru.
But for me, @65, I found new energy in me, surrounded as I was with passionate, energetic youngsters with drive in everything they are doing.
If Barkha, a terrific feature editor bringing out one of the most readable Weekend pages in an English paper of the city, spoke about her passionate journey, (and her resolve to stay for few years at her current position and paper), Shravan Krishnamurthy took us through his unconventional schooling (home schooled in the most crucial of the education stage – from 8th class to plus 2) and still made it to the best of educational institutions— St Stephens College in Delhi University.
Each of the eight members who graced the First Wordcomm Meet-Up (Bengaluru) is an achiever, now onto greater things in life. Neha Mohanty, Pallavi Priyadarshini are two dynamic owners of Public Relations firms – generating jobs and business — and it was a pleasure to listen to their journey so far. Yes, Anjana Parikh too started with Journalism with the Times of India, and after a few years shifted to Public Relations, and is happy with the transformation, like Pallavi is. Must also thank Anjana for introducing us to a veteran IT professional, Shivani Jain, who gave us the perspectives of an outsider. If she got bored with the “media shoptalk of ours,” she did a great job hiding it with a pleasant smiling face. She chipped in with her tidbits from her experience with Siemens for the past two and a half decades.
Kavita Singh, another senior media professional, dabbles in Public Relations and journalism and wonderfully balances both media activities. Like Bijay Singh, who is perhaps the most ideal example of an ‘Allrounder’ in media, he is associated with a string of publications where he writes regularly, edits a news magazine, and runs an advertising agency.
And one commonality among all the nine attendees today — none of the members are originally from Karnataka or Bengaluru, but have made the Garden City their home.
Perhaps amongst all the members at the Meet-Up, I am the most junior resident of Bengaluru, but now beginning to like the city and all that it has to offer.
And in this Bengaluru journey of mine, I must thank Bijay Singh for guiding me with this and that, about the city and the stories, the anecdotes and antics of ‘newsmakers’ that he educates me with every now and then.
“It is a good start, one that I hope would lead to better interaction and professional bonding amongst us in the future,” he said just before buzzing off into the night in his Uber.
