Autumn leaves withered away, yet the campus buzzed with activities. Teachers were busy finishing their portions before the exams, CIA and Dissertation deadlines were met while the students gasped to meet up the finishing line. And when all the hub-bub slowed down by the month-end, Christmas and Magnificat celebrations filled the winter air. Oh! What a month!
Lets scroll by and see!
-Director, BGR Campus
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower" _ Albert Camus
A Mental Health Awareness Rally was organized by the students of the Department of Psychology of the Bannerghatta Road Campus to commemorate World Mental Health Day which was celebrated on 10th October, 2022. The second phase of the rally was conducted on 7th November, 2022. Students walked from the BGR Campus to Gottigere and back while shouting slogans, chants and jingles in Kannada, Hindi and English to spread awareness about mental health. Placards with statements regarding the importance of mental health in the lives of individuals were also held up by students during the rally. Flyers detailing warning signs and steps to follow for psychological first aid in all three languages were handed out to citizens on the way while briefing them about mental health. There was also a helpline number in the pamphlet that was verified by the members so that individuals could seek support when required.
Many citizens stopped and asked what the rally was about, allowing us to explain to them the significance of mental health and the importance of seeking help. The rally attracted quite a crowd at the Gottigere bus stand and people stopped to watch and listen to us. Many citizens were interested in the work the students were doing and were willing to listen to the information regarding mental health. Nearing the police station, students were also given police protection to ensure their safety and prevent any obstruction of traffic.
Overall, the event was successful as the students were able to spread their message to the majority of the people on the road and also spoke to quite a few people about psychological first aid. Mental health is a topic which many citizens are unaware of and they appreciated the initiative to spread knowledge about this issue. Providing the citizens with infographics and the helpline number will enable them to seek help when necessary and also share this knowledge with others. While there were some citizens who were reluctant to listen, the volunteers persevered and were successful in reducing the stigma around mental health. The event came to an end at 12:30 PM with the volunteers chanting in the quadrangle of the campus, thus spreading awareness in the college as well.
The session was conducted on 8 November 2022 which began with the facilitator Dr. Amaresha C giving a brief description of qualitative research to the audience. He spoke of the importance of qualitative research and how it can account for certain non-quantifiable variables in social science research.
The first step to analyze qualitative data is to read the transcript multiple times so as to familiarize oneself with the data. The session then progressed with Dr. Amaresha teaching how to import the transcript data onto the QDA Miner Lite software. He then showed how to make and name codes which can be placed under different categories. The facilitator also demonstrated other features of the software including how to see how many codes are under a category in the form of bar graphs and pie charts.
The session came to an end with a Q&A session where students clarified their doubts regarding the software with the facilitator.
On 16 November 2022, the session started with the introduction of Dr. V Tharakeshwar and giving him a warm welcome. Dr. Tharakeshwar started with the description of Subtitling and how it is found everywhere in today’s world especially with the hype in the use of OTT platforms. He also gave a detailed description about the history of subtitling. He also discussed in details about the differences between subtitling and dubbing and how the cost of subtitling and dubbing has come down drastically in the last two decades. He added how subtitle is not so visible on signal platforms but it is common on OTT platforms, thus, removing the barriers of languages. Sir discussed the issues and difficulties in subtitling and also briefed about the solutions to the issues.
The talk session ended with it and the question session began. Students put forward some interesting questions which Sir received happily and gave satisfactory answers clearing all the doubts. The session wrapped up at 12:30 p.m. with a vote of thanks.
Financial Literacy Drive was successfully organized by ECONTAGO- The Economics Association of Christ (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus on 17 and 19 November 2022. The student-led initiative sought to impart financial knowledge to the non-teaching staff of the university. The vision was to help them gain a better comprehension of financial concepts which in turn would assist in proper money management, financial decision making and financial stability. Subjects concerning prerequisites and procedures involved in accessing banking facilities such as opening and operating a bank account, internet banking and UPI transactions., etc. were explained in depth. In addition to that, information regarding various government financial schemes was also given.
‘The ARCH and GARCH Models’ was a guest lecture held on 4 November 2022, by esteemed guest Dr Rajendra N. Parmanik, Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna. The lecture began with an introduction of the guest lecturer followed by the lecture itself. The lecture intrigued the minds of the students belonging to the second and third year of economics honours. Several unconventional topics such as the origins and intuition behind the ARCH and GARCH were covered by the lecturer. The lecture was a great success as witnessed by the extremely positive responses from the students. It successfully helped them in augmenting their knowledge from the syllabus.
A three-day cultural festival, VRITTEE took place from November 8th to November 10th 2022. ECONTAGO-The Economics Association organised the fest for all three years of economics honours, EMP & Liberal Arts and gave them a stage to showcase their talents. The fest consisted of several events that helped test the students in different domains within extracurriculars such as dance, music etc. and challenge them in interesting ways. The events were conducted in several rounds across the three days. The fest was successful as it brought about great spirit in the process of learning within the department and the university.
Alta Vista is a Flagship Annual Inter-Collegiate Inter-Disciplinary Fest organized by the Christ University School of Business and Management Association, Bannerghatta Campus. Alta Vista strives to invoke participation from different institutions and universities across the nation. The fest aims to connect the uncertain elements of the tourism sector and the world and how the participants come out of those situations and create a future for the industry. This fest provides students with a unique platform to obtain practical experience in the tourist business while also promoting the tourism and hospitality industries via these young and innovative minds.
Strategic Management Cluster conducted Panel Discussion for Business Department Students on 25th November 2022. The aim of the discussion was to provide insights to students regarding strategy and tactics. Our first panel, Mr Sujith Sudhakaran spoke about holding back strategy, constraints and tools in utilising strategies with examples of SPAR supermarket. Next, Mr. Shantanu A Maskeri spoke about the importance of involving everyone in plans and tolerance for ambiguity.
Mr. Ranjeev K Babu spoke about his experience in the Indian army and the aim of war, focusing tactics as the bedrock of strategy.
Lastly, Hrithika Nair spoke about types of strategies and Airbnb’s model. The panel discussion was very fruitful as our moderator Dr. Jyothi Kumar had taken up various questions from audience which were answered by the panel. In the end, Ekta Dembla and Aravind Krishna made announcements regarding the upcoming event of the Strategic Management cluster.
The event began with the emcees highlighting the importance of heritage week in terms of diversity, a peaceful society and an enriched history. Then, they proceeded to highlight the potential of Jashan-e-Ithihas becoming a flagship event for agora in odd semesters. After a brief summary of all the events that took place during the heritage week, the first cultural performance of the afternoon began- cultural dance by Ms. Sakshi.
After the breathtaking performance, we were given a brief introduction about Dr Gopal Guru, which was followed by a lecture by him on the topic of heritage and its importance. During the lecture, sir covered various topics such as the importance of heritage and its ability to satisfy the aesthetic and worldly needs of all without discrimination.
He also talked in detail about the plurality of heritage and how it is never individual or nation based but human in nature. He
explained how ghats are an important part of our heritage as, historically they were one of the most productive areas as they were the venues of group discussions and debates over the centuries. He also threw light upon how our heritage was said to be under threat during the british rule. Moving ahead he highlighted folk dances and the multiple manifestations of heritage.
He told us how heritage by definition is plural and diverse and thus when we look at it through prejudieced vision, we narrow its meaning and end up ignoring other symbols of heritage that coexist with the ones we focus on. With this sir marked the end of the speech and was given a token of appreciation by the head of the department of political science and history, Dr venkatnarayanan. Proceeding this, we had Rupam Shukla presenting to us the tale from the battle field of Kurukshetra in the for of ‘krishna ki chetavni’ by Ramdhari. Following that we had Manush Shah performing a poetry from Gujrati literature about a tiger and a 14 year old girl who faces the tiger dauntlessly in the agner of losing her beloved cattle. After that there was a heartstopping performance by the Banjaras to energise the audience. The end to the cultural performances were marked by the western musical performance by Safar.
After this the event moved to the next phase - the award ceremony. A brief introduction of all the compition was given and the winners of Tameer and Tell-a-tale were announced respectively.
After this, the event was guided towards the end by the vote of thanks given by the faculty cordinator of Agora, Dr Malvika Menon who extended her heartfelt gratitude towards everyone. After giving a special mention to Dr. Anna Varghese, the Agora team and the management, Ma’am handed back the stage to the emcees who signed off after expressing their gratitude and happiness towards the success of the event.
The valedictory of Colossus 2022 took place in the main auditorium of Christ University, Bannerghatta Road campus, with students of BBA H, BBA FIB, and BBA TTM seated in the audience along with the participants of Colossus 2022.
The ceremony began with the address of the dean, Dr. Jyothi Kumar, and a small presentation by the chief guest, Mr. Kevin Saboo.
Further, the results of Colossus 2022 were announced by the event heads, and the winners were presented with trophies by the dean and the chief guest. As the week-long festival came to a close, the CUSBMA team provided an audio-visual experience of Colossus with an after movie. Ayush Dawar, student representative of CUSMBA, briefed the crowd further on Casedilla and Alta Vista. Concluding the valedictory ceremony, Achyuth Rotti , student representative of Christ University School of Business and Management Association, delivered the vote of thanks, after which all the students dispersed from the venue.
On 26 November 2022, the event started with the opening remarks by the emcee Ananya (3LIB) followed by a short introduction to the topic by the moderator of the day, Dr Venkat Narayanan, head of the department of political science and history , CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Bannerghatta road campus.
The topic for the debate was "Is Right to Religion relevant in modern India?" Riyan Burgohain ( 3EPH ), and Sanchita Agarwal ( 1POLH) were in favour of the motion on the other hand Parth Mathur and Ananya Athaiya ( 3LIB) were against the motion. Arguments like the exact definition of religion and faith , relevance of article 25 and freedom of conscience along with how generosity shown by the majority to minority is of bare minimum value and few examples of legislative and judicial consideration were put forward by Riyan. Further Ananya mentioned how religion is portrayed as a fanatic political club and focused on the hijab and ayodhya case to support her argument . The aspect of how the majority portrays their faith as most viable which leads to communal riots and violent actions was also taken into consideration by her. The aspect of securalism , equal aspect to all religions , importance of article 29 and how Hindu Raj is a myth and how the voice of minorities is an essential element were put forward by Sanchita Parth argued about distinction between conscience and religion , along with
constituent assembly debates, the inward association with religion and how the modern state has moved on aspect of spirituality while right to freedom of religion is more about spirituality less than religiosity.
Valuable insights were put forward by the moderator in between the arguments.Post the discussion the participants welcomed questions from the audience. The event came to an end with Dr Anna Varghese , faculty co-ordinator, Agora Department of Political Science & History where in she touched upon the correlation between religion and faith , its relevance in modern India and appreciated the participants for their valuable insights.
On 12 November 2022, the session formally began at 9:30am with the speakers introducing themselves. The attendees were given valuable insights on the process on consulting recruitment. Alongside they were also acquainted with the types on consulting firms, roles and the speakers experience in their current job. The discussion further went on into the process of understanding cases and approaches to solve them. After the discussion was over, each speaker assisted and mentored a group of students in solving a case and guesstimate. The session was formally adjourned at 11:30 am
The Design Lab of The Department of Media Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus, conducted a workshop on Designing Magazines, Newsletters and Brochures on 10th and 12th of November, 2022 at 1:45pm and 11:45am respectively.
Beginning from analyzing an illustration which dealt with human understanding being varied, the conception of Visual Communication was introduced. With this aspects of contrast, balance, emphasis, proportion, hierarchy, repetition, rhythm, pattern, white space and movement were connected towards being influencers in making effective designs as a means of communication.
Exploring the first step of ideation a couple of design softwares, their uses and reasons for it being powerful in the industry were discussed. Websites add to inspiration of creative content were shown for more productivity. Uses of fonts and Typefaces based on psychology were demonstrated.
Creation of feasible workstation and uses of tools were demonstrated. Color modes and the formation of primary and secondary colors were shown. Paragraph formatting, text wrapping and interactivity were focused to be major aspects of informative designing. Finally analyzing layouts and recognising aspects that could have been better and layouts that are apt were disused among the attendees making the workshop interactive and fruitful.
The session began with a formal introduction of the activity and welcoming the participants. Dr.Rajani Ramdas begn the session on Developing case studies in teaching. The importance of case discussion in class will help the students to understand the concepts in way that is more practical. The approach of solving the case and further discussion on a particular problem would give a better way of understanding of domain particular. She discussed about the publication opportunities of case study in various Scopus-indexed Journals. The participants also discussed the methods of preparing the case and publishing the case study.
As part of Service learning initiative, Mr. Dipankar Ray, Mr. Rupam Shukla, Ms. Ahana Bannerjee, Ms. G Swathi, Ms. Mahek Khan and Ms. Varnikha Shekar, students of 2nd year BA Journalism (Hons), Department of Media Studies, CHRIST (Deemed To Be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus, organized a Digital Literary Session on Understanding MS- Excel on 28th November, 2022, at 1:20 pm, in association with LabourNet at the YES Skill Development Center, Bommasandra Industrial Area, Bangalore.
21 trainee students from Kerala were part of this session. Mr. Tushar Bhatnagar, AI Research Scientist joined the students on an online interaction. Pointing out the importance of skill enhancement in the digital sphere to understanding the special feature and feasibility of using MS- Excel in workspace all the aspects were demonstrated. Further to make the learning more fruitful, creative videos were created on the same in tutorial format. This content created would be used for the current batch as well as the upcoming batch of students along with questionnaires that could be used to test their understanding.
Overall this one on one interactive session made both the teaching and learning process experiential and informative.
On 19 November 2022, the session commenced with the speaker discussing the coverage of insurance. He talked about the two types of coverage of insurance- indemnity, and beneficiary- and discussed their usage. He also discussed critical illnesses in detail. He also touched upon various types of insurance policies covering seniority, maternity, etc. for the individual as well as for the family. He addressed a few queries from the audience at the end of the session related to career prospects in the health insurance industry and the information asymmetry which arises due to health insurance.
On 18 November 2022, a Plantation Drive was conducted as a Service Learning initiative on behalf of the Department of Media Studies, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus, Bengaluru, in association with FSL India. With Dr. Parashurama Kamath as the faculty coordinator, the plantation drive was an initiative towards environmental conservation, biodiversity and spreading awareness about the need for more trees around us. The event started from 1:30 pm and went on till 3:30 pm. Students from Christ, along with the students of Government Higher Primary School and teachers coordinated to plant 10 saplings around the school’s playground area. Students of the school also dug the soil, planted the sapling and watered the plants. They were shown a movie on the need of conserving our environmental resources and how it will benefit the future generations.
The Bee movie was screened as a part of the CIA for the course “Ecological Discourses and Practices”, followed by a discussion and presentation on its pertinent themes and ideas by Adithi M Kashyap, Ananya K and Jairaj Singh Sihra. The first half of the movie was screened on 21.11.22. It was further continued on 23.11.22. After the screening, Adithi, Jairaj and Ananya initiated a critical discussion on the movie with a presentation in class. The significant ideas and relevant themes of capitalism, ecology and postcolonialism were primarily focused in the discussion.
The event held on 7 November started with the speaker began the talk by asking the students to explain global warming and share experiences from their hometowns. Then, he proceeded to talk about Kerala and the environmental crisis that is currently underway in the state due to the lack of sustainable living. He also spoke in depth about Bangalore and how the city is contributing to climate change by using glass in its infrastructure. He also highlighted how the city's water system is designed without considering its negative environmental impact. Towards the end of the session, the speaker stressed the need to be aware of the condition of one’s immediate surroundings and develop ways to make it more sustainable.
The event of 28 November 2022 was a major engagement for the FIFA fans and this was the right time to implement this move. We got a lot of football enthusiasts, their predictions and a battle of juggling. He ping pong balls stalls were set for non football enthusiast as NICHE stalls tried to cover everything for everyone. This was a major club event and had a positive response from all the participants.
The activity took place at Christ University BGR campus on 26th November 2022, between 8:30 AM and 10:15 AM.
The guest speaker was Ms. Jaya Satvika K., Associate at Bain & Company. She has completed her B.Sc. from Christ University, Bangalore and MBA from IIM Trichy. She has worked as sales and analytics intern at Sesa Care Private Limited, marketing associate and head of marketing at AcceleratePlus.
Ms. Satvika began the session by highlighting the need for guesstimates to be an important tool in the current interview landscape to assess candidates’ ability to approach a problem in real life. She went on to add how the guesstimate concept is not just a tool, but also something business consultants will be encountering in their day-to-day jobs related to different streams of business management-marketing, finance, logistics, data science etc.
Ms. Satvika, for our ease of understanding, classified guesstimates based on case nature and approaches. Guesstimates were classified based on case nature as-market sizing, profitability, and standalone. She explained each type using frameworks specific to them for solving the guesstimates. Based on approach, she discussed three types-household, population, and structural. She also explained with examples how there are two ways to approach the guesstimates- top-down vs bottom-up and supply-side vs demand side.
Through examples, she elucidated how we should solve guesstimates in an interview-reiterating and clarifying the question with the interviewer and asking preliminary questions to understand the context. She also reminded us that guesstimates are not about the right answers but the right approach. Hence, she focused on explaining us the structure we needed to follow-assumptions, hypothesizing, applying framework, and finally doing adjustments and giving ourselves a sense check regarding the numbers we arrived at. She gave us tips on keeping the interviewer engaged with clearly explaining them how we approach the solutions, even stating the obvious assumptions.
As the last part of her guest lecture, Ms. Satvika talked about the screening and selection process for business consultancy jobs and materials/resources for our students to prepare for challenging guesstimate interviews. An engaging question-and-answer session followed, when our students interacted with the guest regarding the selection and interview process and her experience at Bain & Company during. Ms. Satvika earnestly shared her thoughts during this session.
Mr. Sathwik is a Christ alumini and started off with his experiences in Christ. He explained how he took part in various fests and won prizes which is an inspiration for all of us. He told us about several festing experiences which were fun and engaging.
He then moved on to the idea of how he decided to start homely fit by describing his own experience of being overweight and then becoming a fit person with the help of managing macros and implementing the idea of healthy food at the same time. He mentioned the challenges faced by him during his set-up and especially mentioned about the phases in Goa where their team worked for 22 hours a day.
He mentioned various pointers like personal mental and physical health, the two sets of friends, the concept of liquid cash and various other aspects to be kept in mind while starting any career in our lives.
He also gave the insights about his new ideas of start-ups. Those were:-
Plusone – Dating application
Retail Real Estate – buying, selling, and renting apartments
Cbay – Selling concept simplified for college students.
He was also ready to offer job to the people among the crowd through the criteria of elevator pitch. He was very engaging and described all the start-up ideas in a way that were very much relatable to college students.
On 22 November 2022, the event began with the opening remarks and instructions by the emcee, Manush Shah of 3EMP, and the introduction of the chief guest, Dr Gopal Guru noting his credentials and accomplishments. The stage was then taken over by Dr Gopal Guru who began a riveting lecture on reservations and affirmative action bringing the constitution of India into context. Though the discussion was centered on reservations, it traveled various spheres of the society like the economical and sociological factors of the issue. The esteemed scholar went on to talk about the importance of reservations and how it affects the quality of life in society. He talked about the fragility of human relationships and how enmity between different sections of the society takes the form of social boycott and in some states builds a concrete wall of untouchability. The perils of the present asymmetrical society and the fact that untouchability has been structured into our social consciousness due to long run effects of the caste system was also brought into the oration. On a positive note, Dr Guru mentioned how torchbearers like Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Savitribai Phule and other revolutionists serve as a benchmark for fighting against the archaic system and how we can embody those roles. The floor was then opened to the participants for a question and answer round which led to an insightful discussion on the source of untouchability,class and caste, the tangential relationship between closed economy and the weaker sections of the society and the role of the constitution in their protection.
After the enlightening discussion, Dr Malavika Menon proceeded to give the vote of thanks and acknowledge the support of Father Biju KC, the university dean, Dr. Jyothi Kumar and the department head, Dr. Venkat Narayan. She expressed gratitude to the Chief Guest for walking us through the trajectory of a highly debated topic and unpacking the idea of discrimination.
The media studies department of CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta campus, conducted a guest lecture on the 12th of November about Journalism in retrospect: Impact, accuracy, and credibility. The speaker for the session was Mr. Mohit Rao, an independent journalist, who obtained his Post-Graduate Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. He was previously working with The Hindu and continued to do so for almost eight years before switching to his current job. Mr. Rao started the session with a discussion on media bias in different media houses and how it is more of an individual preference rather than a collective thing. He also shed some light on how there is bias in everything and at some point, everyone is biased as you cannot truly support your stance without being partially biased toward it. As an example, he talked about how bias can be seen at the grassroots level, from why a journalist picked a story to why was it reported the way it was.
Then he went on to talk about how a story is written with reference to the narrative structure. The session was very interactive as the entire class of 3 journalism honors participated with enthusiasm and asked multiple questions which led to a very fruitful discussion. The lecture came to end with Mr. Rao showing a video from the movie “Godfather” and asking the students to interpret it in their own words which was followed by a vote of thanks by Anwesha Bannerjee of 3 Journalism Honors.
Conducted on Saturday, 5 November 2022, the aim of the event was to empower the citizens of Bangalore with basic knowledge of mental health and provide them with resources to seek help. The first phase of the rally was executed in Lalbagh Botanical Gardens at 7 AM. The park was populated with morning walkers and families, with individuals ranging from adolescents to senior citizens at this hour. The core committee of the psychology association volunteered to take up the responsibility of spreading awareness by speaking to individuals about mental health and handing out infographics with relevant resources. The infographics contained a variety of information, including warning signs of mental illnesses, facts and statistics of common mental illnesses and steps for performing psychological first aid. There was also a helpline number that was verified by the members and added to the pamphlet so that individuals could seek support and guidance when required. The core team was divided into groups of three and covered the various areas of Lalbagh to maximise outreach.
Overall, the event was a great success and was well- received by the majority of the people at Lalbagh. Many remarked that starting conversations around mental health is the need of the hour and appreciated the initiative taken by the students. Having been directed to the appropriate resources to deal with their mental health concerns, many individuals mentioned that they could now take steps to improve their well-being. While some were reluctant to listen to the volunteers or accept the pamphlets, with patience and prudence, the members of the association were successful in explaining the importance of mental health and reducing the stigma around it. The event was brought to a close around 8:30 AM.
The activity took place at CHRIST BGR campus on 24th November 2022, between 8:30 AM and 10:00 AM. The guest speaker was Mr. Suhas VS, Senior Program Manager at Amazon. His association with Amazon spans seven years. A bachelor’s degree holder in Hospitality Management, he has worked with the very prominent Yum! Brands. He has completed his post-graduation in operations under the sponsorship and scholarship provided by YUM! Brands. He is from the pioneer batch of YUM RGM MBA group. He has held various positions such as field training manager, delivery
station manager, site lead and territory manager before becoming senior program manager for delivery partner experience for Amazon Flex program.
The guest lecture began with Mr. Suhas giving us an outline of the guest lecture. Initially, he explained to us how the evolution happened from first generation commerce of using supermarkets to the 2nd generation of E-commerce and the prevalent 3rd generation of Q-commerce. He differentiated them based on the service mode, product availability, last mile delivery modes, storage facilities for their operations, customer base being catered to, and the changed priority from discounts to time.
Mr. Suhas went on to give us an overview on the flow of SCM and talked about critical influencing factors such as FIFO, nearest fulfilment centre, cost efficient lane or path (road/rail/air), shortest lane/path (time and distance), capacity available in the lane, and cut-off time. He explained us how fulfilment centres maximize efficiency. He explained us with a map of a typical fulfilment centre with inbound and outbound docks and the layout of specific areas dedicated to staging, storage, packaging, and shipping, how different innovations help save time and enact product delivery as per the schedule.
A major part of the guest lecture focused on last mile operation planning. The first part of this topic focused on factors for delivery hub identification. He gave a clear view on the use of centroid generation for a pin code based on order density for improving serviceability. This was followed by educating us the role of connectivity to the delivery hub and space required for the delivery hub. The second part of this topic focused on key elements involved in last mile capacity planning-man (sorting operations at station and package delivery on road), machine (coneyors, trolleys and IT assets such as scanners, printers, and laptops), and technology (sorting, routing, and reverse logistics).
The discussion was interspersed with his tips for getting internships related to SCM. He also highlighted various areas of improvements in the existing SCM of Q-commerce that could serve as valuable inputs for our students, especially for their master’s dissertations. The question-and-answer session post-lecture drew some exciting discussions with various insights from Mr. Suhas for our students to ponder further.
The CHRIST University Alumni Foundation in collaboration with CHRIST (Deemed to be University) conducted a Medical camp for the students, staff and faculty of Christ University Bannerghatta Road Campus. The inauguration was at 9.00 am by the Alumni president Mr Jugunu Oberoi and the Dean of the campus Dr Jyothi Kumar. The Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital team was there for Cardiac health screening including ECG and ECHO with doctor consultation. Basic health check-ups including diabetes. Eye check-ups and PFT . around 250 units of blood was donated by students and staff. The doctors made all the people present, aware of the process they were going to be following during the camp. All students, staff and faculty members were very enthusiastic about the camp. All the people present in the camp benefited from it . A lot of people were able to get their health check-ups at no cost . Students were enthusiastic about it and were willing to volunteer for future health camps.
The event was held on 10 November 2022. The speaker talked at length about the digital methods beginning with the activity of doing a Google search. That itself was proven to be biased in terms of geographical location, geopolitical concerns, regionalization etc. The speaker demonstrated these aspects and talked about the pros and cons of the digital method in Humanities.
MESTA, the student association of the Department of Media Studies at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus, conducted an Industry-Academia Interface guest lecture on 'Reclaiming the Radio' on 8 November 2022. The event was conducted by the first-year students of EMP (Economics, Media Studies, and Political Science) for the students of the Department and was facilitated by Mr. Narasimha Swamy. The event, which was meant to inculcate fundamental and technical skills regarding the whole audio communication, was coordinated by the Head of the Department, Dr. Parushurama Kamath. Having been in the All India Radio (AIR) for over 30 years in the production field, Mr. Swamy's experience provided valuable insight into the role of radio in society, content creation, ethics in radio broadcasting as well as academic and professional opportunities for students. The event came to an end with a video interview of the guest in the Media Lab of the University by Nayab Javed Sheikh, a student of 1EMP. The guest also assured students of a field visit to his Radio Station in the near future.
The Nagara cities club is envisioned as a club that provides a forum for students to explore and understand cities. In line with criterion 5.3.3 (Student progression— cultural events) of NAAC, the inauguration ceremony is one of the cultural events organised for student engagement and progression. As a cultural event that had a lecture and a student led exhibition, it was aimed at promoting participatory learning (as students designed exhibit stalls and displayed them). The lecture touched upon aspects of urbanisation, inclusion, sustainability, and more.
The inaugural began at 1:30 pm on 24 November, 2022 at the mini auditorium. After the welcome speech delivered by Aryan Gulati (1MACES), the speaker—Dr. Sarbani Sharma—took over the podium to officially inaugurate the club. In her lecture, Dr. Sharma talked about how it is impossible to understand cities in totality. Now-a-days, urbanisation is happening on a planetary level, with hardly any continent on Earth that does not have a city. Urbanisations are often defined through predominant imaginations, experiences and stereotypes. She called these aspects “bourgeois” and stated that a deconstruction of these experiences and imaginations are necessary to understand cities. Cities are often perceived to be spaces with no cultural and historical value. However, religious spaces in cities become a representation of its cultural relevance and of the existence of community spaces.
According to Dr. Sharma, these communities are much more “cohesive” than those in rural areas. In addition to this, she also encouraged the participants to try and explore cities through perspectives from “far away” or the margins, like those of Swiggy deliverers, newspaper deliverers, Asha workers, gardeners, cleaners, etc, as they are the ones who actually run the much-celebrated IT sector of Bangalore by providing backend support through the “informal” economy.
Dr. Sharma also spoke about the importance of methods like “smell walking exercises” to explore cities as they help us understand cities through different perspectives. She took an example and explained how Koramangala smells different in the morning and at a point later in time. This would assist in understanding the city and its lived realities through smell and not just through what its residents say or based on what we know. She also asked the participants and the club members to concentrate not just on what was lost through urbanisation, but also on what is generated and what has evolved from it.
Following the talk, there was a question and answer session, post which Dr. Nivea Thomas K delivered the vote of thanks. After the lecture, the guest speaker, the students and the faculty visited the exhibition put up by Nagara members in the quadrangle, highlighting different aspects of Bangalore and city life in general. Students made exhibits featuring ruins and empty spaces, paper towns, a quiz on Bangalore’s history and other aspects of the city.
The Media Studies Association (MESTA), from The Department of Media Studies, on 16 November, hosted The National Press Day 2022, with the theme “Media Under Trial”. The event began with the address of Mesta Co-ordinator Dr. Ajay Kumar who encouraged the students to work towards strengthening the fourth pillar of democracy, the Press.
The Mock Press Conference was designed in such a way that students were assigned portfolios of eminent Journalists, acting as Panelists who were questioned by other students who participated as reporters.The onset of the competition was marked by panelists giving their opening remarks and issuing a joint Press Release. This was followed by reporters questioning the panelists on topics ranging from bias in their reportage to working as a tool for the government. The competition also witnessed some fierce questions being asked by the audience to the panelists.
Towards the conclusion of the morning session, The Chief Guest Mr. DP Satish addressed the students and informed them about various aspects of the Press. He also delineated the importance of unbiased and appropriate reporting. He was honored with a token of appreciation which was handed over by Dr. Parashuram Kamath, Head of the Department of Media Studies, and Dr. Indumathi S.Subsequently, the afternoon session conducted in the Main Auditorium witnessed Mr Kappan addressing the students of Media Studies, citing his experiences in the field of journalism. Mr Rasheed Kappan currently works as a Civic Affairs editor at Deccan Herald and specializes in several areas, namely, content design, cartooning and playback theater.
Mr Kappan's lecture touched on the effects of new media on journalism inturn highlighting the aspect of “Trail”. A Q&A session with the students added to the element of interactiveness making the talk more fruitful. The day concluded with acknowledging all the winners and active participants. Dr. Ajay Kumar, MESTA Faculty Coordinator, Dr. Parashurama Kamath, HOD, Media Studies accompanied by Mr. Kappan gave away trophies, certificates and gift vouchers.
The workshop began at 9:30 AM, with the faculty in-charge Dr Yogesh introducing the facilitator to the students. Dr Gopukumar Kumarpillai then commenced the workshop, by presenting a theoretical background for neuropsychological assessments. The students were introduced to neuropsychological pathology. The topics covered were on Orientation towards the theoretical basis of neuropsychological assessments and Practical demonstration of certain important neuropsychological assessments
The session hosted on Career in Securities Market on 10th November 2022 aimed at providing insights on the stock market and the various job roles this field offers.
Mr. Nikhil Shinde- the guest speaker, is the Senior AGM at the National Institute of Securities Market(NISM), an educational initiative of SEBI. Topics under the secondary market of capital market were covered wherein elaborative discussions on the mechanisms, Construction, depositories and numerous more took place.
The session was extremely fruitful for the students as topics under Indian Financial Services were discussed right from the basics and many misconceptions & stereotypes were cleared by our guest lecturer.
Niche - the marketing club organized an orientation for Markeverse 2022-23 on Google Meet at 12:05 Noon (13/11/2022) to introduce entrants to the notion of MUN X Business Festing.The participants were briefed on the event's rules and procedures.
The various expected formats for documents to be submitted over the course of the event were demonstrated. The schedule for the successive rounds of the events was explained. The scoring criteria for the events were revealed. The session concluded with a question and answer session to resolve the participants' various concerns.
A brief description of the club (14/11/2022), its activities and the general rules of MUN was given and the event began.
The ceremony marked the end of the 3 day fest- Markeverse and the top three positions of the fest were announced
As a part of the Service Learning Initiative, the students of the Department of Media Studies- CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus conducted a Menstrual Hygiene Awareness Drive called Periods+ve at Sri Vivekananda Education Society, JP Nagar 6th Phase, Bangalore. The event was conducted in collaboration with Astha Shatki,an NGO based in Bangalore and was guided by Dr. Megha Talikoti, Dr. Lekhana, Dr. Mahesh Pradeep and Dr. Madakari Nayaka from BGS Global Institute of Medical Sciences.
Students from grades 6-11 were given the opportunity to engage in a healthy conversation about puberty and other bodily changes that they may experience. Female students under the guidance of Dr. Megha Talikoti and Dr. Lekhana Dayanand were taken through the world of menstrual cycle and everything that happens before, after and during. They were shown how to use a sanitary napkin through a physical demonstration and were also told about the right ways to dispose them. They talked about helpful yoga postures such as the butterfly or the cobra pose that might help them during their cramps. The male students under the guidance of Dr. Mahesh Pradeep and Dr. Madakari Nayaka Y N were informed about the hormones and changes in their bodies. The male students were also informed about menstruation and this helped to normalize and remove the taboo from the topic. All the four doctors also engaged in a Q&A session with the students where they burst myths, talked about when to consult a doctor along with the importance of nutrition for their growing bodies
Prav – the Mental Health Awareness Week began with promotional activities held on 9th and 10th November 2022 in the Quadrangle during the lunch hour on the respective days. The events were organised by the students of 1 PSYH A, 3 PSYH A and 5 PSYH A, with the overall coordination and facilitation done by the Psychology Association.
The Flash Mob was the initial event which kick-started the festivities of Prav. The graceful dance moves and synchronized movements performed by the dancers left the audience awe-struck. The dancers used a strikingly contrasting theme of red and black which was not only eye- catching but also bold. The coordination and their high-energy steps left a memorable impact on the audience. The combination of catchy tunes and groovy moves was successful in attracting the attention of students from around the campus. Upon asking a few members of the audience regarding their favourite part of the performance, ‘the hook steps for the songs’ and ‘the amazing coordination’ were some of their answers. The enthusiastic audience showed their support by cheering and hooting for the dancers. The unfurling of the banner with the golden-lettered Prav added to the grandeur of the performance and marked the commemoration of the exciting week.
There were several events held across the two days by setting up stalls in the quadrangle. The events are summarised below:A Moody Canvas was an event based on colour psychology organised by volunteers from MACS. It is based on the idea that colours can elicit some emotions in people and that each feeling can be associated to a certain colour. Participants who visited the stall were asked to pick a colour on how they were feeling by looking at a chart displaying the emotions associated with each colour. They were then asked to paint their representation of that feeling using only that one colour on a blank canvas with pencil-drawn squares. They were given the option to use brushes or their hands to paint. This event was a crowd favourite and attracted quite a few people on both the days of the event. They creatively expressed themselves through this medium. Participants reported that the experience of painting was cathartic and many visited the stall more than once.
The Collective Tree of Strength was an event based on the idea of resilience. Every individual may have their root source of motivation and support of strength that helps them persevere hurdles in life just as a tree receives its essential nutrients from the soil through its roots. Therefore as a part of the event, the participants were given pieces of paper that were shaped as leaves to write upon the factors or motivators that helped them gain strength to overcome their ups and downs in life, which were then collectively used to create a beautiful tree. The event took a little time to attract the crowd on the first day of promotions but on seeing a few writing down their strengths, it followed many more came forward and participated. This even led to them running out of paper as it began to attract a lot of crowd and thus, it had a greater success rate. The members also mentioned how the teachers were also fascinated by the event. On the second day it took little more time for the people to come and participate due to the singing events that were taking part in the quadrangle which were already keeping them occupied. They created a second tree and there was so much participation. Overall, the junior volunteers also contributed to the success of the event that was praised by many.
"What's the Word?' was a stall that had a simple game conducted in pairs. The rules were straightforward and easy to understand. One person was given a set of cards with psychology-related words, including basic terms in psychology like memory, therapy, and efficacy. These cards also had a few pop-culture references and names of movies, shows, etc. related to psychology. The participants had to explain the word/show/movie name to their partner without using the keywords mentioned underneath the given term. Each person was given one minute to try and guess as many words as possible. Over 30 pairs participated, and many people returned with their friends to play again. The three volunteers at this stall explained the game to all of them with the same enthusiasm. At the end of each round, scores were recorded on a leaderboard. Overall, people seemed very intrigued by the concept. They tried their best to explain these simple concepts to their friends, and perhaps they even learnt something from it.
The face painting and the henna stall were filled with enthusiastic students from all the departments and years at 12:40 pm. There were 4 henna artists and 4 face painters who were enthusiastic student volunteers from years one to three in the psychology department. While some students displayed their desired designs to the artists on their phones, others who did not have a specific idea in mind were given beautiful creative suggestions by the volunteer artists and asked to choose an accompanying colour palette. Approximately 100 students got their faces painted and/or got henna. Each design took around 3-4 minutes, depending on the design preference. One of the happy participants said it was a delightful experience, because of the festive mood of the surrounding environment. They were enjoying the music in the background while getting their face painted on. Another participant said hey came in with no idea but the volunteer was so kind to provide different options and suggest an array of design interests. They also mentioned that they were really happy with how the resulting painting came out and how much they appreciated the artists.
Musical Pictionary was a light-hearted game for promotions. When played in pairs/groups, students chose to have one person draw on a whiteboard or act out a piece of music from popular culture. Within a predetermined window, their partner had an opportunity to correctly identify the music being expressed through drawings or movements. This activity gave participants a buoyant break and allowed them to connect and enjoy the moment. Musical pictionary can be used with a variety of populations and exercises cognitive skills and memory, as well as communication and social skills. Many participants left the stall with happy faces and left very positive comments on the activity. Hence the activity was a huge success.
Head’s Up by the CAPS Assessment Wing had a twist on the classic game, wherein a pair of participants had to choose from chits containing various emotions and guess the word using actions or situational examples. Emotions ranging from sonder, grief and loathing to cheerfulness, optimism and curiosity were present and visitors had to act out the word for their partner to guess. With a time- limit of 1.5 minutes, they had to guess at least 6 emotions to receive a chocolate which led to an amusing last couple of minutes. Students and faculty had a great time alike, as they put their acting and guessing abilities at test. The stall was a crowd-puller, as it saw 55+ visitors from various departments. It received positive feedback as well, with participants sharing that they had an enjoyable time.
Music for mental health was one of the most thoughtful events conducted on 10th November, 2022. Whilst all other stalls and events headed by Prav volunteers worked alongside, this particular event happened in the quadrangle the entire lunch hour. Five different performances were followed one after the other. The audience was attracted to the area by some awesome beatboxing, followed by the main event. There was a short rap performed by four volunteers which gave a good kickstart to the event. That was followed by a solo singing performance which gathered more audience. That was followed by a guitar and singing performance. The final two activities were a group performance and a solo rap to wrap up the event. Overall it was a unique experience as music from multiple genres was chosen and performed brilliantly. With other stalls also working alongside, it kept the audience engaged and was a fun experience.
Overall, the various promotional events created an atmosphere of festivity and fervour in the campus. The different stalls attracted large numbers of students. Most of the activities were based on psychology and mental health and hence, fostered an environment of awareness and empowerment amongst Christites. The events also succeeded in encouraging students to participate in the main events being held from 14th to 18th November 2022, with many students expressing that they were eager and enthusiastic to take part in the rest of the events.
On 26 November 2022, the Department of Media Studies, CHRIST Bannerghatta Campus, organized an Industry-Academia Interface Guest Lecture on ‘Changing Media Landscape and Ethical Challenges.’ Invited as the guest was Mr. Sreejan Balachandran, news director of a Malayalam digital news portal, The Fourth who has a cumulative experience of 22 years in reporting and editing. The participants of the lecture were students from third-year journalism honours.
In a crisp one hour session, Mr Balachandran recalled anecdotes to the participants about the everyday ethical challenges faced by a news organisation. The lecture was followed by an interactive question and answer round where students asked questions about prominent stories he’s done, and the ethical considerations in those stories. Mr. Balachandran’s extensive experience gave valuable insights into the working of the media industry.
The event, conducted in the seminar hall on the 15th of November 2022, began with the keynote speech by Dr Chaitanya Pradeep on the topic ‘role of public policy in nation building, significance and scope’. The guest speaker discussed satyagraha and Mahatma Gandhi strikes which included the milk strike in Uttar Pradesh Further the discussion took place about the act of self-defence by fine leaders of our country. Mr. Naman Vankdari Mahajan also addressed students’ questions related to this part of the topic and listened to the views and perspective of the students.
The second portion of the event was a discussion on the differences between politicians, administrators, and bureaucrats. Students also gave opinions on vision and goals (like sustainable development) of our country and its importance. He also mentioned that India ranks in top 10 in SDGs. The students conversed on problems in sectors like National security, defense, lack of education, health and hygiene, corruption, caste system that exists in our nation
The last portion of the event included a question asked by the speaker that was regarding the differences between growth and reform. He further stressed this point by highlighting the meaning of democracy and its importance in the present situation of our country.
The guest lecturer (Mr Naman Vankdari also answered several questions put forward by students who were enraptured by the topic of discussion. After this a token of gift was presented to the guest by the heads and the event ended with the Vote of Thanks by the emcees.
On 5 November 2022, the speaker touched upon the roles, responsibilities and functioning of a health economist and the skills required in the role. She also shared her personal experiences in her academic and professional journey in Christ and NUI Galaway. The beneficiaries were informed about the career prospects of health economics in the public and private sector in India and abroad. They were also told about the opportunities of internships and further study in institutions in US, UK, Germany etc. She suggested various ways to build a CV and the requisite skills for the role of a health economist through internships, paper presentations etc. The session was engaging and catered to the queries of the beneficiaries relating to health economics.
The Research Scholars Forum under the research club, Tafteesh, conducted the monthly session on 26- November-2022 at the Mini Auditorium, Christ University (BGR campus), between 10. 30 AM TO 12.30 PM. The teaching faculty, the PG students, and the Ph.D. scholars from the Department were part of the program. The program was formally initiated with a welcome note by Ms. Abarna, MA student at the Department of English and Cultural Studies. She welcomed the gathering and invited the first presenter Ms. Namitha Nandan to have her presentation. The presentation took place. Then the presenter interacted with the gathering, sharing thoughts on travel narratives.
The stage was then handed over to Swetha Mary Kuriaen and Vaishna Raj, to present their research paper. They shared an outline of their research, followed by an interactive session with the audience. The program ended with the formal Vote of Thanks by Abarna.
The activity took place at Christ University BGR campus on 24th November 2022, between 9:00 AM and 12:30 PM.
The guest speaker was Ms. Neeti Thakur, Global digital Strategist at Thoughtworks. After completing her MBA from ISME, Bangalore, Ms. Thakur went on to have a rich experience in the field of marketing by serving various positions such as digital marketing consultant at MediaJackers, digital account manager at iProspect, campaign manager at Tenovia, senior media analyst at Target, category lead-analytics at Roundel before starting her current position at Thoughtworks in November 2021.
The guest lecture began with Ms. Thakur asking our opinions on social media analytics and its associated concepts such as impressions, social listening, pay-per-click etc. It progressed to a discussion on the three pillars of any organization’s social media presence-planning, strategy, and measurement. She explained how planning involves understanding the products, its demographics, brand awareness and the associated financial numbers.
On developing a clear strategy, Ms. Thakur gave her inputs on aspects such as defining the goals, identifying target audience, choosing appropriate social media platforms and choosing effective content types. Next, the discussion focused on measuring the social media presence using social media analytics tools. She took a live example using Google Analytics platform to elaborate on various parameters utilised in understanding the different metrics used by these platforms to get real time insights on the performance of a campaign or the entire online presence of an organization.
Ms. Thakur elaborated on various concepts that are involved in social media analytics such as search engine optimization (how keywords and negative keywords work), using a keyword planner for websites, and other concepts such as bounce rate, pages per session, average session duration to name a view. Her extensive coverage of aspects listed in the social media analytics platforms gave us a detailed perspective on the usage of such platforms. She also explained how google advertisements works and in fact, did a live demo with the students on the usage of analytics platform such as Awario and Sprout Social.
The entire session was in the form of discussion and live demonstration on the usage and scope of social medial analytics. The question-and-answer session proved extremely helpful for our students to gain more valuable thoughts on this dynamic field.
Mr. Prashanth K. provided practical insights into the world of trading with special emphasis on real-world applications. It was a well-rounded lecture that involved suggestions for further reading and provided the students with key theories that stands as the pillar for technical understanding of the stock market. Concepts like EMA (Exponential Moving Average) and Elliot waves were deeply scrutinized to provide exposure towards advanced strategies for reading charts.
The Entrepreneurship Cell at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Road Campus, hosted the 6th edition of our flagship event: The Speaker's Conclave. It was conducted on 3rd November, 2022.
The Speakers Conclave is a platform where eminent personalities from a range of professions and industries attend the event to discuss their lives and share their stories. We aim to help students by facilitating a productive interaction with imminent dignitaries whom the students admire.
We were very proud to host 6 dignitaries from various fields. Mr. Sudhanshu Mani (Chief Engineer, Vande Bharat Train) started off The Speakers Conclave with the first speech of the day and won over the crowd with his witty and poetic presentation. Following him, we had Mr. Atharva Puranik (Co- Founder, Padhle.in, and YouTuber), who explained to the audience what true education meant to him and how his startup works to make education more accessible and inclusive. Then came, Mr. Vaibhav Sisinty (Founder & CEO of Growth School), who instilled a new energy into the crowd and helped the students understand how they can “growth hack” their careers.
Further in the afternoon, we hosted Mr. Nithin Kamath (Founder & CEO of Zerodha) for a Q&A session where we asked him the most popular questions from the audience and understood his perspective about the Indian financial markets and their future from a global perspective. Following Mr Kamath, we had a brief presentation from one of our own alumni, Mr. Rohit Agarwala (founder - Barely Opinionated), who helped us understand the important and pivotal role of personal branding. For our last speaker of the day, we had Mr. Kaivalya Vohra (Founder & CTO at Zepto), who inspired everyone with his stories about making deliveries himself and dropping out of Stanford University to be an entrepreneur. His stories about raising money at such an early age was inspiring to everyone present.
Throughout the day, the audience was kept enthralled by a multitude of captivating performances by our in-house teams: Riwayat, Laasya, and Silent Scream. We wrapped up the conclave with a mesmerizing performance by the band Mehram that got the entire crowd grooving and left them transfixed.
This was yet another success in the series of events conducted by the Entrepreneurship Cell of Bannerghatta Road Campus. The event turned out to be a true learning experience for everyone who attended and organized it.
On 7th November 2022, the Department of Media Studies, BGR Campus conducted a workshop on Sports Journalism at Media Lab from 1:30-3:30pm. The resource person was an alumnus of the department, Kaustubh Pandey who is also a renowned writer in the field of sports journalism. Mr Kaustubh is the Editor-in-Chief at Get Italian Football News and has been featured on various esteemed sports platforms such as BBC Sport, Manchester Evening News, Manchester United, FootballItalia and more. He is also currently leading football development at a new social media platform, Pixstory.
The workshop included students studying sports journalism along with a few others who have a keen interest in the field of sports journalism. This two-hour workshop was a great opportunity for students to understand the world of sports and how that fits into journalism. Mr Kautubh spoke of his journey, what the dos and dont’s of journalism today are and more importantly, he spoke about and reiterated the importance of carving a niche and making one's own brands. He stressed the imperativeness of finding out what one’s niche is and how that helps in creating a space for individuals in a field that is so competitive.
The session ended with a conversation about the current status of the Sports Industry, required skills for Sports journalists, and the changing nature of technology and sports. He also provided feedback to the students on their blogs and newsletters that were created as part of their sports journalism curriculum.
The Writers’ Lab of MESTA, the Media Studies Association of the Department of Media Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bannerghatta Campus conducted its first workshop of the academic year on November 15, 2022 on the topic of News Report Writing: Structure and
Format. The workshop was facilitated by the Student Representatives of Writers’ Lab, Nidhi Premkumar of 3EMP and Snigdha Chatterjee of 3JOUH, and co-ordinated by Dr Indumathi S, the faculty coordinator of the Lab.
The workshop was open to all and aimed at orienting students, specifically the first year students of the Media Studies Department on the process of formulating a report. The basics of newspaper report writing was touched upon, followed by an introduction to the inverted pyramid style of report writing. Students were also made aware of basic vocabulary and linguistic structure to be maintained while drafting the report. The facilitators also elaborated on the expected format of report writing while covering events conducted by the University by providing sample reports of previous events. The workshop was concluded by assigning a task of writing a report of the event itself to the participating students. The facilitators checked the reports and gave their suggestions on the same to the participants. The participants were also asked to fill in a feedback form to help the organisers conduct more relevant events in the future.