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“Internships are like girlfriends.
Everyone wants one, but not everyone has one.”

In this age where competitiveness is not just cut-throat but rather murderous, internships play a major role in adding sauce to a student’s profile. While projects and seminars might play the foundation role in adding value to a “zero-experience” profile, internships and part-time experience are the cherry toppings.

Further to that, recently many universities have added compulsory credit points for internships which has pushed the students to a “must-do” relationship with internships. Students look for the industry experience and credit points that come along with the internships and companies look for some cheap (mostly free) labour, even if for a few weeks. And that’s the beginning of the whole process of Unpaid Internships.

As someone from the industry and someone who has employed 20-30 interns over the past 5 years in my firm (all interns were paid for their work), I have seen this rapidly increasing trend of Unpaid Internships by other companies in the community. No matter what the experience of the intern be, I believe that time is of value for every person.

Some companies teach the intern more than they actually expect him to contribute to their working, but how many actually do that? And of such companies, it’s impossible to say that the interns contribute nothing. Every single employer takes in an intern for their own benefit, one way or the other. There’s no charity service.

That’s where the whole evil deadlock of unpaid internship begins. Most students have educational loans. The expenses of going to a new city and staying over for the internship, plus the travel expenses adds to the burden.Continue reading

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Friend – Bro, I need your help with my SOP.

Me – Your what?

Friend – SOP!

Me – Supplier Of Pigs?

Friend – F*** You! Statement of Purpose mahn…

Me – Ah yes, yes. That… Sure

So if you haven’t been living under a rock like me and are much smarter than what I claim to be, you’d definitely know what an SOP is, what it stands for and why is it needed. For the lousy ones like me, answers as follows:

  • SOP stands for Statement of Purpose.
  • It is usually a 2-3 page document about you, submitted during your Masters/Doctoral Application abroad, explaining why the concerned University should accept your application and why you’re the right candidate.

Years before, it was considered a hot-shot deal to be able to study abroad. But not now. The costs have come down, the possibilities of Educational Loans have gone up and it has become one of those “Indian Dreams”. More than just a fad, its the norm now to actually pursue Masters and/or Doctoral study abroad after the basic schooling and graduation has been done in India.

Why you ask?Continue reading

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It’s funny when I come to think of it. I never thought of becoming an entrepreneur until my startup was into it’s fourth month.

I actually never thought of becoming an entrepreneur. Steve Jobs wasn’t someone I idolized, Richard Branson wasn’t an icon I wanted to worship and Larry Page was just another hot-shot name I had heard somewhere.

For the sake of writing, it would be inspiring to say that the entrepreneurship bug bit me when I was 7 and then it never let me go. Bullshit. I can’t even imagine how a kid born in the 1990 era in a middle class Indian family could even think of the term entrepreneur other than the fact that it was difficult to spell it right.

Starting off IZE Creative in 2011 was purely a leap of faith. I knew not what I was doing but I was as carefree as any person could be. Having lived 21 years of my life with my decisions being taken by my parents, it was enriching to finally take a big step on my own. I didn’t care about failure or success. I just wanted to try.Continue reading

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Journalism has been a very responsible job role. The great power of information dissemination and the greater responsibility of sticking to the ethics of sharing the right info, without bias.

 

The ability to tell the story associated with every news, rather than making a boring factual statement, has always been the factor judging the skills of a journalist. The hunger for quality, more than the plea for quantity – that’s how journalism has survived all these years.

 

But no more.

 

In an era where self-publishing has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to the rise of the digital network, sharing opinions and publishing stories has become accessible to the larger audience.

 

As news/content websites struggle and fight to catch the maximum eyeballs, sadly, the focus moves on from quality to one of quantity. And thus, Data Driven Journalism, where the stories are just factual reporting of what has happened and an aggregation of the timeline of activities, starts to enjoy all the limelight.Continue reading

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The Traffic Signal Short Story

Red. Red. An occasional green. Again red.

I was staring at the Traffic Signal I agree. But it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see her. Heaven knows I did! I was just scared that if I watched her for too long I might not take my eyes off.

She came. Travelling a 100 kms, she came. I had an intuition she would. Somewhere deep inside I knew. And she did! Just to meet me.

The Traffic Signal was red. The cars lined up near us. We stood on the footpath, barely meters away from all these confusion. Cars honking, people shouting… It was a complete mess.

But not my day.

She stood right beside me. Looking me square in the eye. And I was again staring at the signal. Red. I knew she was looking. She was even waving her hands as if to snap me out of a dream. Only that she had no idea, she “was” the dream.

That’s exactly what was piercing me inside. I had so wanted to see her. The thing that I so badly wanted to happen for the past 2-3 days was finally happening and I stood there like a fool. Staring at the signal.

Still red.Continue reading