Here’s
a riddle… What’s Red and Brown and goes round and round. That would be me, two
years ago, walking in the sun looking for the right institute. Color fades to grey and slow music starts,
as we flashback – Two and some years ago I was a not-so-enthu engineering
student struggling through my second year in said field. I took up engineering
frankly because my Parents said I should. Afraid to be cut out of the will, I
begrudgingly accepted and found myself less-then excited about what I was
doing. Until – music tempo picks up and
color starts to add into scene - I picked up a camera to shoot a video for
my college fest. It was a huge hit; I got accolades, You’re-The-Man thumbs up
signs, got called to the Princi’s office to be praised (He looked as shocked at
what he was doing as I was at receiving the praise) and all the jazz that goes
with finding out that you have a purpose in life.
When
I took a break from engineering to pursue Filmmaking - slow-motion shots of parents and me screaming, crying, lots of walking
out shots with sheets of paper flying in the air – I found out quickly
enough that just pure talent could get you only so far. I needed a formal
education to back me up. Here began - energetic
the heat-is-on music starts- the hunt for the perfect institute.
Now,
it’s important to know that I am not one of those who jumps at the first train
that pulls into the station type of person - tires braking hard sound. I plan, I research, I plot, I wear my
James Bond sunglasses – plagiarized Bond
music in Background - before I zero in on anything. So before I set out of
my house I first visited all the websites and facebook pages of all the known,
and some unknown, institutes that I heard had a filmmaking course.
Step
1 - if the website and facebook page doesn’t dazzle you into staying on it for
more than 5 min you know you got a problem. So my first round of elimination
was based purely on me reading the book by its cover. One institute explicitly
mentioned they didn't offer any placement guarantees, right there on the front
page. Just the thing a person trying to enter into the field wants to hear – Heavy
Sarcasm laugh – I didn't go beyond their About Us page. A couple of
websites looked like tax return pages - pin drop silence with the occasional
mosquito sound breaking in - dull and boring. Some websites had so
much fine print about their course I started feeling quite suspicious about
what they were going to make me sign – Doctor Evil Smile. And finally,
if an institute talking about filmmaking didn’t have any videos on, well that
for me was a deal breaker right there.
Step
2 – Calling. After my first round of elimination was done, I called up the top
5 places on my list to ask them when and who I could talk to regarding my
course inquiry. All of them passed with flying colors here, as very sweet and
helpful receptionist - La La La type
music with lot of beautiful long hair flying in the wind shots - took down
my details and set me up to come meet their respective counselors.
Step
3 – The Meeting. Inst. 1 – Name and Identity hidden for.. well, cause I
can.. I met up with the counsellor at the door. She very formally welcomed
me and asked me to read through the prospectus on the course I would plan to
choose. After spending a good 15 minutes reading the prospectus cover to cover,
I was still unsure how this place could help me. So I asked the
counsellor. Very patiently she asked me to sit, took the prospectus from my
hand and proceeded to read it out to me. Word for word. Now considering that I
think of myself as quite the avid reader and someone who generally understands
what I read I interrupted her to say that I had gone through the course but how
was this institute better then the
next. She cut me off with a look that said, “I'm reading here.” After she
finished I asked her, for the third time, why should I choose you guys. She
gave me a new, oh-your-one-of-those-smart-ones-are-you look and handed back the
prospectus saying this explains it all and if I wanted I could walk around the
institute and see how it 'felt’ different. Well it didn't so I left. 1 down 4
to go.
Since
I'm not one to cut a long story short, catch this space for the second part of
'The One – Hunt for the Right Institute' – credits roll.
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