City Lights

Look who's talking

Mohona Paul, Class XII student of MB Girls' School, loves listening to the radio. Less for the music of her choice and more for the anchor's voice she would love to emulate. Sikandar Sultan is a 44-year-old businessman who makes pouches for a living. But with his good people-skills, the ex-Don Bosco Park Circus student wouldn?t mind taking up MC-ing, full-time. Pranaadhika Sinha, on a sabbatical from academics after finishing school, has just founded an NGO. She knows she needs to deliver her lines well in order to get her message across to diverse groups of people. Last week saw Aditi, Sikandar and Pranaadhika, and many others like them, hitting a Townsend Road address with much apprehension and hope to attend a workshop on the art of anchoring. "With events, shows and just about any launch becoming an anchor or MC-driven affair, there is a dire need for good anchors in the city who would be able to hold their ground and keep the audience focussed," explains Rehan Waris, event manager, who organised the workshop (picture above by Pradip Sanyal). The four-day affair was aimed at training and motivating people interested in pursuing a career in anchoring and jockeying. Day One began with the students interviewing each other. Next up were Just-a-Minute (JAM) sessions on topics ranging from literature and art to child sexual abuse,Fahrenheit 9/11 to teenage love affairs, fashion to journalism. Also on the agenda was a session on voiceover, TV anchoring and microphone mechanics by Sutapa Biswas, guest faculty at Loreto College. In another session, a Half-a Minute (HAM) competition tuned into participants talking each other out on fun topics like ?I woke up in the morning to find myself with a bottle of beer??. Propped up by the success of his maiden effort along the same lines earlier this year, Waris was confident his workshop would click this time, too. ?Most people thought this course might help them improve their communication skills while giving presentations as well,? he says. If the excitement among the participants was anything to go by, the workshop had definitely broken their shells of shyness and stage fright. "The mere thought of walking up and talking to a crowd would give me the creeps. Rehan's sessions have changed all that," beams 27-year-old Mohana Kanjilal, who has taken up writing for a living. For Zameer Vaswani, a La Martiniere for Boys student who just wants to speak well, the workshop took him a step forward in sharpening his oratory skills. ?Though I want to take up science in college, public speaking is a sphere I think can help me all the time,? he says, oozing confidence. Soumya Srivastava, a singer who performs on TV, gave the workshop a try to boost her stage skills. ?At the ice-breaking session, I had thrown up my hands in despair when my turn came to speak at the microphone?But I am sure I have improved over three days,? she smiles. Rajrupa Ghosh