IIT/IIM syndrome...

Coming from Bokaro, I have been very close to the IIT/IIM aspiration of the country...to an extent that anybody who didn't get through was considered as being useless!
It has been a much discussed question - What makes these IIT or IIM graduates so ..., ..., ....? These attributes are both good and bad.
I have heard people saying that they are very snobbish, think too high of themselves, get too much of attention etc. Except for in the matrimony market, where I too feel they are over valued and their degrees should not be weighed against the respect of a woman; I believe, they deserve to be proud of what they are. The logic is simple. But to understand that, one needs to have sat through the IIT-JEE and the CAT.
I have taken both and therefore, I know that it's sheer intellectual masturbation that one goes through those hours of examination! Your vital cause of existence changes, it's a life changing experience which can put you inside or throw you outside one of those revered campuses. Once you have raised yourself to that level, you ought to be different and better be one! The world looks upto you, not without any reason. Once you join the majestic Indian Institute of Technology/Management, the bar is raised, so you further strive for excellence. And even if you are not the best on campus, life there takes you to a different level altogether. And then the common man cannot question - 'Why do they get paid so highly?'. Because in many cases, the common man will not have the intelligence to understand even that.
Even otherwise, if one bothers to read through some statistics of the enormous number of living beings in India who take these exams, and the amount of time & money that they spend in coaching themselves, you would realise that for most, this dream is larger than life. It's not mere education that happens at these campuses, your ability to live a good life gets shaped. I can confidently say so because I have been close to many such souls. For some, I thought it was madness, for others, it was brilliance! I have seen them withdraw from the rest of the world for more than 2 years sometimes, and the only thing that drives them there is their dream!

Though, many of them, with utter humility say that it's just one amongst others, I refuse to believe so... Professionally, they ought to stand apart by every measure and most of them, that I know, do.

Hence, it pains to see the ramifications of the government regulations in favour of the so-called lower castes. I don't know what to call it..but the country is certainly heading for a conscious suicide by doing so... If the gold is not pure and of good quality, polishing wouldn't ever help. Somebody who has never won a state level game, can't head for the Olympics, right?? If only I could do something more than protesting against it! I can only pray that those who enter those gates by virtue of caste and not of merit, may please realise that they are getting that seat by displacing many deserving candidates and hence they better work really hard towards delivering an equally sound future for the country.

I forgot to mention above that the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore also stands in the same league of pride & prejudice and is internationally one of the best for science graduates who wish to pursue research.

Public Relations

As the name suggests, it is about "maintaining relationships with the publics" because "yeh public hai, sab jaanti hai!" and No one can really afford to let the public let their tongue loose. ;-)
I am a new entrant in this profession. I have been studying this subject since last 1 year and am about to complete the course. As I assume roles in a formal capacity in a PR agency, I thought I'll pen down few things that are on top of my mind.
Since the PR industry is still very nascent in India, there are lots of rumours, speculations, assessments, failures associated with it. It has often been defamed too and the most talked about thing in this business is the love-hate relationship that they have with journalists. I am, at this stage, not equipped enough to pass a judgement on the existing state of affairs. Nevertheless, I am confident enough to put down the way I feel PR should shape up as.

The story starts from one of the most debated questions - "Whether Media really shapes or represents public opinion? Whether it is always ethical and supports truth? Whether it is a benefactor of everyone who reads it?"
If these questions have a discrete and objective answer, only then many myths about the PR world can be dispelled.

The talking point is that PR involves mobilizing public opinion for a certain agenda, to create a buzz around objects/events/ brands/ organisations as advised by the client, sometimes to just tell 'My story' (the client's) and be heard in this overcrowded marketplace'. Media is merely a tool, but undoubtedly a very strong one and in many cases, the only one! How many of us can think of a morning without newspapers? Or an evening without television?
Exactly so, a certain person/organisation would like to reach you and tell their story through these media. To whom exactly do they want to say? How they would say it to you? What they would say? When they would say? Where they would say? - To address these questions, they have a corporate communications department who works in close co-ordination with a PR firm which specialises in this.
So, for all communication that goes wrong, the PR firm is normally held responsible as they are being paid only to do this right. The PR firms ought to maintain good relations with the media, with the client, with all stakeholders of the client (customers, employees, shareholders and others), and with peers in the industry. They must do this and the faster they get good at this, the easier their job becomes.
But what people fail to understand is, there is more to the job! They need to understand the client's business - in & out of it, know the client's personality, know exactly what's up on his mind all the time, know the industry that he operates in, know the place he's based out of, know the competitors as best as is achievable, know everyone else that matter to the client's life. Quite clearly, this is not easy to achieve and the lack of information and channelization of the same is where they stumble sometimes and are heavily criticised. And, the most important attribute of a human being - common sense! is a must-have skill for any PR professional.

Incomplete knowledge then prods the PR guys to in turn, pester the journalists with some prospective piece of news about their clients, which is often not of interest to them or something which is not newsworthy.
The disappointment in PR people furthur leads to disillusionment and they are prompted to cook up cock-and-bull stories, please the journalist in 'not-so-desired' ways, in order to sustain their businesses. They are hence defamed 'spin-doctors', and often bear the brunt of the client's or the journalist's bad moods.

In an ideal scenario, PR firms should be an important and authentic source of information/data/news for the journalists but I guess, we are yet to walk a few more miles before we get close to that utopian situation.

Everyone who comes to know my background, asks me in surprise as to why did I move from IT (a prosperous and a matured industry now in India) to PR (a nascent and less paying industry)! Obvious question, maybe!

Other than communications being my area of interest, I also felt the PR is the thing-to-be in the next decade! The number of players in every industry are increasing manifold, that is what they call as 'me-too' market. Advertising is extremely expensive and not everyone can afford being in the most seen places to make themselves visible. Secondly, not every advertisement leaves an impact on us, in fact very few do. Thirdly, there's an underlying assumption that since the company is talking about itself, they would hide their weaknesses/loopholes. Not that Advertisers would lose out completely, they too have come a long way in making or breaking opinion. Only that PR too is evolving and at a fast pace. But since invisible PR is best PR, the growth is also more felt than seen.

To put it more subtly, PR is basically third party endorsement of what someone is. When the media is found talking about something, in all our conscious minds, we believe it to be true and then coax the media if it is untrue, we never bother to verify the information. So, the PR guys ensure the visibility of truths about their clients in the media by letting them know it in various ways such as a press release, press conference etc.
Basically, PR makes or breaks opinion. A news appearing repeatedly for sometime in any of the media, gradually creeps into our subconscious minds and we tend to remember it. That's exactly what PR aims at achieving without throwing it at your face every now & then, and loading you with information when you don't want it.
We are 'ICONOCLASTS'. We are in the business of 'IMAGE/PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT'. We don't cause devastation, we only work towards the prosparity of all and sundry. The consumer (i.e. you and I) have now become intelligent enough not to fall for explicit marketing gimmicks. But what we still fall for what we believe. 'What we believe' is what PR intends to gradually influence.
I feel, PR enhances the whiter shades of life, it initiates a movement from 'Grey to White' or 'Black to White'. It should ideally present facts in a manner that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages at least to the people to whom the information matters. It is not about hiding truths or spinning stories. It is about telling a tale beautifully in light of facts and analyzes that exist. After all, there's nothing in this world which is impeccably flawless or is the ultimate truth. All depends on how we have fed our systems. So, there's no harm in accepting or at least listening to, if someone has a contrary opinion. PR never forces to change opinion, it only influences to... Accepting/rejecting the opinion is entirely the reader's/viewer's choice.

The larger role for PR professionals would be Communication consulting, an integral player in the spectrum of Mass Communications. We should and would consult people as to how to talk, write, express, emote for communicating what they want to. No one wants to be misunderstood or misconstrued! None of us what to mean things thatwe don't really mean. All of us wish what if we knew what's their on the other person's mind and act accordingly so that our slate is always clean. Doing this is what we specialise in! We are no Gods, we only work on the background facts (history/geography of a case) well enough to justify a truth that we want to say on our client's behalf. Just like lawyers play with logic and laws to determine the fate of wrong do-ers, we present to you truths in the colour that the person presented wants to be in. And believe me, this presentation is backed by a lot of knowledge and creativity. It takes both the left and the right brain to arrive at something which is favorable to somebody and not rude or offensive to anybody else. You might see a different picture of the person. No harm! We just say politely, "Think twice please!"