Aditya Muralidhar is just fifteen and has given his Class Ten exams.
He lives in Besant Nagar and attends a school in Adyar.
He has many interests. They include computers, graphics, gaming and reading books.
Aditya has a long summer holiday before him and he is looking for a summer occupation. And he is serious.
Last week's 'Jottings' has attracted a stream of e-mails from young people in school or those who are about to move out.
I had written on summer jobs for senior school children and the idea triggered different thoughts in different people.
And Aditya was one of them.
Some people thought I was about to start a Summer Job Placement Agency because I had asked them for CVs! I never knew many people would take my word so seriously. Thank god we did not have dozens of people besieging our office managers!
But the stream of queries has encouraged me to make this open invitation to all our wonderful managers, store owners, IT company executives and local entrepreneurs.
It would be a nice gesture on their part if they came forward to offer small, short-term assignments to talented young people in the neighbourhood who could enjoy this summer, a great assignment and some pocket money.
It took me some time to wonder what I could offer a young kid who would push me for an assignment at our newspapers.
Then the ideas began to tumble.
If there was a young person who was good at Adobe Photoshop, we could ask him/her to help design a few of our adverts and then hang around on the weekend to learn how we design our newspapers.
Or if there was someone who was good at photography, we could ask him/her to tag along with my colleagues, Dhanasekhar, Saravanan and Rajesh, learn the tricks of the profession and shoot some pictures for our stories and earn a byline.
Or if there was someone who wanted to go into marketing, then I could put them on to our senior marketing persons, Sebastian, Chrystal Easdon and Narayani Ravikumar, to follow-up on the calls they made and service our clients.
Clearly, similar assignments can be made out by businesses in Adyar, Mylapore, Velachery, K. K. Nagar . . . wherever. Companies and stores can come forward with small assignments for our young people.If they do send us their needs, we are willing to put them out in our community newspapers and hope young people will respond.
I am sure a small IT firm in Adyar can make use of young Aditya's skills and enterprise.
Give him a call folks. If he signs up, I'll be rewarded with an ice cream for summer.
That is my deal with Aditya!
March 17, 2006
Hi, young friends!
This is a personal note to all our young friends in schools.
Girls and boys who will be completing their eleventh and twelveth standard exams.This is just a suggestion.
As the summer holidays unfold before us, here is an opportunity to look out for a summer job or a holiday assignment.
I can tell you that the fruits of this labour will be immense.
There are two jobs I undertook which remain in my memories. Because they were experiences that stood me in good stead.
The first was when I was in class nine I guess.
My dad used to work for a pharmaceutical company and it engaged casual labour in the godowns. I cannot recall how this came to be but on one fine morning in mid- April, I found myself sitting with packers, and working alongside them, packing Phensydyl, a hugely popular drug, into small boxes. The job was not all that exciting but exploring the products and the operations was.
And when the wages were paid every Saturday before lunch time, I was thrilled with the feel of currency notes.
I wasn't a spender and had my dad showed me how to open a bank account and run it, I would have had a good balance for college!
The second experience was richer.T hat was a training on the job at a rag of a weekly newspaper. That May made my future I guess.
I learnt so much here. From composing and printing to reporting and writing features and submitting articles as a freelancer.
Internships are a sham. Summer jobs are exciting.
You don't have to go too far out of your neighbourhood to get one. If you love what your dad does, ask him to find a slot for you - even if it means working on the shop floor of Sundaram Clayton or tagging along with the sales executives of Sundaram Finance. If you aren't comfortable with the idea of having your dad watch you from the far end, ask him to talk to his friend for an opening.
If you do not have encouraging help from the family, just walk over to a chartered accountants firm or a small software company or to the local bookstore or to the busy restaurant, and offer your services.
You will not be disappointed if you try hard.The summer holiday lessons will stand you in good stead at IIM, IIT or at your first professional job.
Do I have a job for you? Sure we do! Mail me your CV.
Girls and boys who will be completing their eleventh and twelveth standard exams.This is just a suggestion.
As the summer holidays unfold before us, here is an opportunity to look out for a summer job or a holiday assignment.
I can tell you that the fruits of this labour will be immense.
There are two jobs I undertook which remain in my memories. Because they were experiences that stood me in good stead.
The first was when I was in class nine I guess.
My dad used to work for a pharmaceutical company and it engaged casual labour in the godowns. I cannot recall how this came to be but on one fine morning in mid- April, I found myself sitting with packers, and working alongside them, packing Phensydyl, a hugely popular drug, into small boxes. The job was not all that exciting but exploring the products and the operations was.
And when the wages were paid every Saturday before lunch time, I was thrilled with the feel of currency notes.
I wasn't a spender and had my dad showed me how to open a bank account and run it, I would have had a good balance for college!
The second experience was richer.T hat was a training on the job at a rag of a weekly newspaper. That May made my future I guess.
I learnt so much here. From composing and printing to reporting and writing features and submitting articles as a freelancer.
Internships are a sham. Summer jobs are exciting.
You don't have to go too far out of your neighbourhood to get one. If you love what your dad does, ask him to find a slot for you - even if it means working on the shop floor of Sundaram Clayton or tagging along with the sales executives of Sundaram Finance. If you aren't comfortable with the idea of having your dad watch you from the far end, ask him to talk to his friend for an opening.
If you do not have encouraging help from the family, just walk over to a chartered accountants firm or a small software company or to the local bookstore or to the busy restaurant, and offer your services.
You will not be disappointed if you try hard.The summer holiday lessons will stand you in good stead at IIM, IIT or at your first professional job.
Do I have a job for you? Sure we do! Mail me your CV.
March 11, 2006
Neighbourhood Party
With elections round the corner, there is a rather ambitious idea I'd like to share.
And if all of us chip in, at the right time and at the proper place, we may go on to create some sort of history.
Even if you have been just picking up the bits and pieces of the political developments here, you may be aware of the moves that our kazhagams are making.
There is talk of a grand alliance. There is chatter about grouping the As and the Bs and the Cs.
That is, if your party was in limbo for this long, you can still resurrect it and try for a seat in the grand alliance. Or if your party split three ways a decade ago, your splinter may still get a seat in the alliance. Or, if yours is a letter-head party, you could get lucky.
Which is why this grand idea is gathering steam in my disturbed sleep.
How about a neighbourhood party?
Surely, if it can be put together as a potential force, one kazhagam or the other isn't going to slam the door on us.
The grand alliance is disturbing the sleep of many others too.Let us look at the numbers and how they can work.
Take the Mylapore constituency. The kazhagams have their numbers. And yet, they cannot better the numbers we can have. But only if we can get them together.
Now, all you cynics may wonder what a neighbourhood party can do for you in your constituency?
Let me throw back the question differently. Are you even aware of the man who is now your MLA and spoken to him?
Bet half of you do not even know his name. And yet, there is so much we can do if we have the numbers.
At least one kazhagam is willing to look at a party which can win a seat squarely and help make the numbers if the match goes to the wire. This then is the time to stand up and be counted. To show the kazhagams that we must be taken seriously.
That we also matter.Utopian the idea may sound but could we have an independent candidate for this neighbourhood? If we support this idea, then we do not even have to go to the kazhagams for a seat.
We have our man or woman.But can we bank on you?
That you will ensure your name is on the voters list, that you are aware where your polling booth is and that you will be there in the morning in May, to cast the vote. If you do just that, this is a bigger victory than the one a neighbourhood party can dream of.
And if all of us chip in, at the right time and at the proper place, we may go on to create some sort of history.
Even if you have been just picking up the bits and pieces of the political developments here, you may be aware of the moves that our kazhagams are making.
There is talk of a grand alliance. There is chatter about grouping the As and the Bs and the Cs.
That is, if your party was in limbo for this long, you can still resurrect it and try for a seat in the grand alliance. Or if your party split three ways a decade ago, your splinter may still get a seat in the alliance. Or, if yours is a letter-head party, you could get lucky.
Which is why this grand idea is gathering steam in my disturbed sleep.
How about a neighbourhood party?
Surely, if it can be put together as a potential force, one kazhagam or the other isn't going to slam the door on us.
The grand alliance is disturbing the sleep of many others too.Let us look at the numbers and how they can work.
Take the Mylapore constituency. The kazhagams have their numbers. And yet, they cannot better the numbers we can have. But only if we can get them together.
Now, all you cynics may wonder what a neighbourhood party can do for you in your constituency?
Let me throw back the question differently. Are you even aware of the man who is now your MLA and spoken to him?
Bet half of you do not even know his name. And yet, there is so much we can do if we have the numbers.
At least one kazhagam is willing to look at a party which can win a seat squarely and help make the numbers if the match goes to the wire. This then is the time to stand up and be counted. To show the kazhagams that we must be taken seriously.
That we also matter.Utopian the idea may sound but could we have an independent candidate for this neighbourhood? If we support this idea, then we do not even have to go to the kazhagams for a seat.
We have our man or woman.But can we bank on you?
That you will ensure your name is on the voters list, that you are aware where your polling booth is and that you will be there in the morning in May, to cast the vote. If you do just that, this is a bigger victory than the one a neighbourhood party can dream of.
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