The shortest month of the year was the busiest at Bannerghatta Road campus. Starting from academic to cultural, all Christites here were engaged in a handful of events that kept them busy on their toes. While some of the final year students gave out a sigh of relief after submitting their dissertations, the others are still hastening up to meet their deadlines.
Well, scroll by to know more!
-Director, BGR Campus
“ Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within them the gift of miracles” – Samuel Smiles.
The workshop was held on 16 February 2023. The extensive process of text mining was taught which included text data prepare of corpus, inspection of corpus till the word cloud association.
The real-life examples of 26 text files, twitter #BTSV, green marketing, personal comment analysis, and VC speech were taken and analysed for a better understanding of concepts and software.
We were introduced to a new and advanced software of jmp on which we analysed budget of 2019.
The students were explained the step-by-step analysis using R and R studio.
The Alumni Meet was held in the Mini Auditorium, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) and was conducted by ECONTAGO- The Economics Association on 11 February 2023. The senior faculties of the department along with the Dean were invited to share their thoughts and memories with the alumni. This encouraged the alumni to volunteer and share their experiences with the faculty and with the current batches.
The session began with an introduction to the speakers by the student coordinators, whilst addressing the crowd the speaker turned the session into a workshop. First the speaker told the audience to set aside the chairs to help them understand the importance of organised thinking and coordination. The next activity involved the audience standing in concentric circles to jump on the commands of the speakers to make them understand the importance of synchronicity and listening skills. He also focused on being mindful of the surroundings and being in the environment. The following activity involved the fellow-students understanding the values addition done by different perceptions in group thinking. The session ended with a summary of all the activities done in the workshop and a Thank You note.
The session began with an introduction to the speakers by the student coordinators. Then the speakers took over and they divided the audience into 3 groups and selected a leader respectively and began with a spin-off activity of "Simon says" to understand the importance of coordination, mindfulness and listening skills. The next activity of forming shapes and figures was conducted to help their visualisation of shapes and also initiate team coordination and communication in a constructive time period. Another activity of forming a hurdle which gets sabotaged by fellow competitors was held to understand one's concentration and trust in the organisation and its people.
The session held on 10 February 2023, began with an introduction to the speakers by the student coordinators. Then the speakers took over and started off with activities, first they divided the audience into 3 groups and selected a leader respectively and started off with a spin-off activity of "Simon says" to understand the importance of coordination and mindfulness and listening skills. The next activity of forming shapes and figures to help them visualise the shapes and also make them perform team coordination and communication in a constructive time period. Another activity of forming a market was conducted to understand the consumption patterns of different cultures and how different cultures contribute to society and how they have to coexist with each other to survive and earn a livelihood.
On 8 February 2023, Dr Venkatanarayanan S delivered inspiring words on the significance of the election process and how it is a testament to the strength and resilience of our democracy. He also went on to talk about the political freedom that voting grants us and appreciated the initiative of the newly established Electoral Literacy Club. This was succeeded by a riveting lecture by Chief Guest N Shashikala on voter participation among students specifically. Ms Shashikala provided the students with insights on the impact that young voters have on the election process and the dwindling number of voters from Bangalore. She shed a light on the various objectives of educating students about elections, boosting voter turnout through registrations, improving the gender ratio, fostering inclusiveness, and renewing faith in the electoral process. She patiently explained the registration and voting processes to the audience, stressing the importance of student voting in overcoming urban indifference and participation. Ms. Shashikala ended the speech with some stimulating remarks about the obligations of young voters. The next segment of the event was the unveiling of the logo of the Electoral Literacy Club by the Chief Guest and the faculty members of the Department of Political Science and History. Following this, the objectives, directives and events of the club like panel discussions, mock debates, and mock parliamentary elections were spoken about in detail. This was followed by a trivia round conducted in collaboration with InQuest, the Quiz club, encompassing a multitude of intriguing questions regarding Indian elections that led the audience to not only participate but learn new facts about the country’s rich history of elections and politics.
After the fun and informative trivia round, Dr Anagha Babu took the stage to give the vote of thanks and expressed gratitude towards Father Biju KC, Dr. Jyothi Kumar, the University Dean, the Chief Guest N Shashikala and the Department HOD, Dr. Venkatanarayanan S. She acknowledged the support of the members of AGORA and the team of the Electoral Literacy Club for thesmooth functioning of the event. The event concluded with everyone raising for the national anthem.
The second day of Alumni Talks was held on 13th February, 2023 from 2.30 to 3.30. The activity started off by our speaker, Purvi Tanwani, an alumna of Christ University. She is the co-founder and director of Anahat for Change Foundation. She was very passionate about menstrual hygiene. After a lot of observation, she realised that the level of hygiene at each area in each part of India is different.
So, she started sustainable menstrual pads that can be home grown. This was only done in West Bengal initially. An important risk that was undergone by the NGO was to provide sustainable pads at low-cost without compromising its quality. They also had to plan the logistics and the cost of the raw materials used. She advices the younger generation to start to plan at a young age, develop a plan for customer engagement, formulate a plan for financing, establish a team and familiarize new board members with the company. She also states that getting feedback is an important part of promoting the product. She began to ask feedback of 20 people for her product. When pitching for investments, one must always be transparent about where the invested amount will be used. All the students must learn to pitch so that it will be helpful to them in the future. The activity ended with Q & A session.
The event was an eleven-day extravaganza that includes competitions, performances, and various other activities. The event includes competitions across literary, art, and stage verticals. The literary events include debates, extempore, poetry writing, and other such activities. The art events include painting, sketching, and other artistic activities. The stage events include singing, dancing, and drama performances. The participants compete in their respective categories, and the judges decide the winner based on various parameters.
The Winners and the Frist Runners Up would be selected for Inblooms’23 which is scheduled to happen in CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Central Campus in the Month of April 2023.
The CHRIST BGR Student Welfare Office and its volunteers were highly appreciated for coordinating the entire event at the Bannerghatta Road campus.
The session was organised by CCHS on 6 February 2023 for all the teaching faculties and staff. Around 80 people attended the session. It started at 11.30 am with a welcome speech by Ms Sonia Joseph. The resource person of the event Dr Narasimhaiah explained about Cancer and Cure. He explained how nature and the mind are related to cancer cure citing different examples. He also explained about early diagnosis and the different types and stages of treatment. It was an interactive session with participants clearing their doubts on the topic.
The Guest Lecture begun at 11:30am. Mr. Adarsh Jha was the speaker for the day. He started with technical advancements in the travel industry were he spoke about usage of API in online travel portal were he extended the lecture to API usage in the supply side and demand side and he also spoke about OTA. The guest lecture ended by 12:45pm.
On 9th Feb,2023, the students of 6BBAHC along with Dr Roy Mathew as the faculty in charge visited Stovekraft Ltd., a leading manufacturer of home appliances in Bangalore, India. The aim of the visit was to provide the students with an opportunity to learn about the operation and production process of home appliances, the quality control measures taken by the company, and to gain an insight into the working of a real-life industry.
The Inauguration ceremony of 'Outreach' took place at Christ University Bannerghatta Road Campus on 14th February 2023, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
It started off with an introduction of Outreach and a welcome address for the Head of the Department, Dr. Rashmi Rai; Faculty coordinator, Dr. Sathish P and Program Coordinator, Dr. John Paul Raj. This was followed by a stunning dance performance displayed by the University’s official classical dance team ‘Natyavrikasha’. Following this, lighting of the lamp was performed thus igniting the beginning of the event and continuing with the flow planned for the day. The introduction of Outreach was given by the Head of Department for the School of Business and Management Department Dr. Rashmi Rai. In her inspirational speech ma’am stated the mission and vision of Outreach and how the team looked to establish itself amongst its peers and how they would benefit by being a part of this newly established club.
After introducing the Overall head for the academic year 2022-2023, the heads and sub-heads for the following committees were also revealed. The four committees were:Events, Community Management, Operations, and Media. This then led to the official logo reveal of Outreach followed by a band performance displayed by our in-house Band team ‘Nazariya’.
Further, the events that would be conducted by Outreach during the current semester were displayed and discussed.
A presentation on the mentor-mentee system was given by the Community Management team which is going to be the major highlight of the club besides entailing the opportunities and areas of expertise students can explore by being a part of Outreach. A Q&A session was taken up to answer the queries of the students that might have arisen in the due course of the event.
As a conclusion to the Inauguration Ceremony, a speech was given by Dr. Sathish Faculty Coordinator for Outreach, wherein he mentioned about the opportunities and perks that would be capitalised by the potential candidates applying for the program.
The emcees then rolled out a google form for the students who were aiming to apply for the following designations. Mentor – Third year students only and Mentee – First- and Second-year students.
This was followed by the vote of thanks by the emcees to finally conclude the inauguration.
On 21 February 2023 the workshop on 'Linkedin Networking' focussed on how to have a broad overview of LinkedIn networking.. The resource person Mr. Abhijeet Mutha, Investment Banking Associate of Ambit Private Limited highlighted how to do well-sorted research about desired rile and company. The participants have to send Personalized Messages always and be specific to grow connections. He also insisted on maintaining a cover letter and guided the participants on Improvising interaction through LinkedIn Posts.
MESTA, the Media Studies Association of The Department of Media Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus, conducted a Session on Media and Gender on February 24, 2023 at the Seminar Hall. Dr Pradeep Thomas, Assistant Professor, Department of Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Science, MAHE (Bengaluru Campus) was the resource person for the same. Dr Indumathi S was the faculty coordinator for the event.
The session began with Dr Thomas giving his valuable insights upon crucial and relevant topics such as the difference between sex and gender, representation of femininities and representation of bodies. He also touched upon the combination of incongruent genes. He explained how gender and sex are not pure categories, but instead are fluid concepts. The session also involved an extensive conversation between Dr Thomas and the audience on how people often flinch from ‘saying it out loud’ and the social factors that contribute to the same. Towards the end of the session, 3 images: The Birth of Venus, A Prestige Cookware advertisement, and a political cartoon featuring Serena Williams were critically analyzed and deconstructed on the lines of gender representation. Lastly, two videos depicting issues relating to gender representation were shown to the audience. The session concluded with a vote of thanks.
The lecture was highly informative and empowered students to enhance their media literacy on gender issues. The participants gained a new outlook on the concept of gender and left the event better informed, and with a greater understanding of gender and its dynamics with the media.
The speakers of the event held on 2 February 2023 were Nishti Baindur and Tanvi Desaii, Technical writers of AVEVA. The technical writing session covered the basics of technical writing, including the types of documents and tools used, the difference between technical writing and technical content writing, and industries that contain technical writing. The speakers introduced AVEVA's Technical Writing Foundation Program, which provides training and hands-on projects with experienced mentors, and shared their personal experiences with the program. The session ended with Q&A on the speakers’ expertise and the placement process.
The book discussion was initiated and hosted by the Department of Liberal Arts, Christ (Deemed to be University), BGR Campus for the first year students of BA Liberal Arts. The students and faculty were grateful and honoured to have Mr Gurjit Singh, former Indian Ambassador.
The book discussion on, “The Harambee Factor” was organised by Dr. Prerana Srimaal, Head of the Department of Liberal Arts, Christ (Deemed to be University), BGR Campus. The session enlightened the students on the reality of Afro-Indian diplomatic relationships, and the speaker carried on the discussion smoothly and remarkably well.
On 10 February 2023, MESTA, the media studies association of the Department of Media Studies at CHRIST (Deemed to be) University, organized its annual flagship event, Stuart Hall Memorial. Ms. Nithya Mandyam, a renowned journalist who has worked under the Government of Karnataka as a media spokesperson graced the event with her august presence as the Guest Speaker. The main event’s theme mainly focused on the Protection of Migrant Rights in SAARC nations and Stuart Hall’s ideals on it, and was inaugurated by a welcome address from Dr. Parashuram Kamath, the Head of the Department of Media Studies. This was followed by an address from Dr. Ajay Kumar, the faculty coordinator of MESTA, who talked about his interpretation of the notion of migration and its related outcomes.
A workshop on Brand Building was conducted on 7 February 2023 by the Design Lab under the Department of Media Studies Association, CHRIST (Deemed to Be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus. Muskan Dakuda, an alumnus of the university was invited to interact with the students and enlighten them on the various aspects of Branding. The session was held from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM in the Mini Auditorium of the campus and was attended by Journalism honours students as well as Economics, Media Studies and Political Science (EMP) students.
The Department of Media Studies, Bannerghatta Campus, organised a session on ‘Understanding Gender: Concepts and Concerns’ with Dr. Abhiruchi Ranjan, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Political Science in CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus. The participants of the lecture were students from the second year Journalism Honours.
In an engaging session with the students, Dr. Ranjan started the session by talking about gender stereotypes hidden in our everyday language. This was followed by a discussion on the representation of trans people in sports. She later talks about the physiological differences in the different sexes and later brings up Anne Fausto-Sterling’s seminal work ‘The Five Sexes’ which was very enlightening. In the second hour of the session a lot of myths around gender were broken. We talked about the fluidity of gender in South Asian cultures like Sufi culture, Sikh culture, Buddhist culture, Bengali culture, etc. Finally, she concluded the session with the importance of dealing with Gender Dysphoria more sensitively. The session gave the students valuable insights and answers to their questions.
The workshop held on 9 February 2023, Explored the various types of photographs. It focussed n Understanding lighting in relation with exposure and Demonstrated the working of the camera. The resource person was Mr. Chetan Bhalla, Lab Assistant of CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus.
The Design Lab, MESTA: Media Studies Association, Department of Media Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus conducted a workshop titled ‘Creating Effective Presentation’ taking the aspects of visual communication forward. The workshop was held by a student from 4JOUH, Ms. Surabhi S. Beginning with sharing her design experiences, an introduction to design principles via an open source software called Canva was discussed and demonstrated. Unique aspects such as the implementation of Rule of Thirds in designing based on anticipating what the views might first be interested to see was explored. Certain new features of the software were talked about. Paragraph formatting and text orientations based on visual were shown. With successfully implementing the peer learning model of Design Lab, Ms. Surabhi S opened up for questions before concluding the sessions making the workshop indeed interactive and fun filled.
he Press Club and Writers’ Lab of MESTA (Media Studies Association) of CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus conducted a workshop on Political and Economic Reporting on 2 February, 2022. The workshop was held in room 701 and was open to students from all departments. Mr. Shekhar B, Foreign Correspondent - South India of Pravasi Indians was the resource person. Ms Nidhi Premkumar of 4 EMP and Ms Snigdha Chatterjee of 4 JOUH organised the event under the guidance of the faculty coordinator, Dr. Indumathi S.
Mr Shekhar shared his own experiences as a journalist with the audience. He recollected working relentlessly on several harrowing occasions such as the death of actor Rajkumar, the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and polio outbreaks. He explained that journalism is a profession which "needs a tough heart, vigil and courage". Journalists may find it difficult to maintain a work-family balance. He then moved on to economic reporting and emphasised the importance of internal sources in big corporations to eke out front-page worthy news. The session proved to be useful for aspiring journalists and helped them visualise the actual life of a journalist. The profession of journalism has its privileges but there is always the other side to the coin
MESTA: Media Studies Association, Department of Media Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus conducted a Radio Scripting workshop on 2nd February, 2023 for the students of the university who are looking forward to being Radio Enthusiasts in the future.
The guest speaker who was being invited to take over the session was one of the most successful Radio Executive of All India Radio, Bengaluru - Mrs. Concepta Fernandes who really gave us a detailed briefing about how the total industry of the Radio works to provide the interested students with the insight focusing exclusively on scripting and presenting for radio programs. During the course of the workshop, the guest speaker talked about how with time the entities of radio have changed and how it's working to get back its importance in competition with other forms of media. The speaker Mrs. Concepta Fernandes also showed how the radio is evolving day by day and also gave the students about what are the future prospects and opportunities in the industry of Radio. At the end of the program, the participants presented their own scripts and got feedback on their work they presented and also it was followed by a set of round of questions which were being put forward by the students, and all the questions were widely answered by the speaker and overall the feedback that came after the workshop was commendable and thus, for this utmost success we are thankful to our department, the faculties and all the volunteers who stood behind the success of this event