Why PR is not a buzz word for Journalists...

This is the runners-up entry in the blog writing contest. Written by Archana Sharda in her inimitable style.






...it is as a growing industry though! 'People come and people go'..does it not sound rhetoric and rhapsodical, very cliche, very mundane...but it remains a hard core fact and today the practice seems rampant across any kind of an industry big and small.

So this is no news to our industry as well, but what is imperative for a PR agency is to atleast try not to let their employees go..atleast not very easily...

So that is what the organisation I represent, or rather the brand name of the organisation that represents me and so many like me (yes you call them like minded people) thought of creating an ambience for 100 plus member team . An initiative to bring together a team 'BLUE' spread and scattered geographically to 9 locations.

At outskirts of Mumbai, 'Tale Gaon' - an apt setting for a movie like Jaanbaaz or a song like Jati hoon main....jaldi hai kya...a big farm house kind of a place - picturesque, countryside feel and look...rugged and adventerous setting... with lovely tall and elegant horses cantering on a green landscape like birds flying free on an unlimited blue horizon. Ok..a bad comparison but truly not a bad experience at all even if we had to stay in dormitories and sleep in bunker beds near the stinking stables. I was reminded of my hostel days as the washrooms were common with no doors and latches, just plastic drapes and mutual trust :)Japalouppe organised a coporate training with horses and dogs for the very first time in India and must say a decent job done.

What do we have to learn from animals esp. a PR agency like us who are treated as dogs or any other stray animal not allowed in media houses (cheers my media friends..no offense meant, bura na mano...new year hai). I would say there are analogies that can be made, the experiental learning as we call it (did I tell you I am in talks with a prospective hard on negotiation client in corporate training space). Horses and Dogs are social animals that can be tamed for domestic purposes, have so many other traits that resemble or have a bearing to human beings like they are sensitive and they reciprocate emotions.

There were many small little sessions and learning through games with the animals that the organisers had arranged, but what was really interesting (atleast to me) was watching the horses or should I say observing them with a analytical bent of mind. Rohan, a multifaceted personality, a 28 year old master trainer, told us all how life of horses change when they meet young horses (freshers), how a stallion boast about his masculanity and tries to woo the female horses, how the face of politics changes when the group of old horses are introduced to the young mares, how the male horses protect few female horses for themselves. It was a delight to see ' butterscotch' a young (was it a filly or a colt - don't seem to remember!) horse trying to make friends and get pally with his senior mates.

The dog training session was lot of fun as well, I liked playing a narrator to my 'all girls team' who spoofed 'Kajrare kajrare tere kaare kaare nayana.....playing mumbaiya taporees and guess who played Aishwarya...our 4 month old pup ' Cheese' who was dressed up like a female dog (bitches are only used for bad human females these days). The exercise was to get few dancing moves right...

I can go on an on...but what remains as an important question is why is this blog written - to tell you all that there's a lot new stuff happening in PR industry and thought I will keep you informed and updated

Cheers

Till we meet again - Au Revoir!