A Day in the 'Jungle'!

Hello All,

We are nearing the end of the semester and with only 3 weeks to go, everyone must be stressing about assignments. I hope the week off helps us get through them all. So with my second blog I thought why not give you all an insight into my ‘typical’ day at Prime Focus (PF) and the kind of work I did.

My day would start off with trying to find myself a ‘rickshaw’ (the common-man’s form of transport in India, also referred to as a ‘rick’ in Mumbai). One problem, my office was located in a ‘jungle’ within a place called Aarey Colony, and rick drivers would often refuse to go that way (though they aren’t technically allowed to say no but they still do). Initially I would have to make several attempts to get a rick but towards the end of my time in Mumbai, I believe I had mastered the skill of getting a rick, as one attempt was enough J. I have added a picture I had taken during one of my many trips through the 'jungle'.

I had mentioned in my previous blog that my start times were quite late compared to normal start times here in Perth. However, I forgot to add that the travel time made up for that. I would spend hours in traffic on a daily basis as non-peak hour traffic in Mumbai is equivalent to peak hour traffic in Perth. So you can only imagine the traffic in Mumbai. This also leads to time factors in Mumbai and the reason why it’s most perfectly fine to be late to meetings in most cases.

So once I would get to the office I would read newspapers and get my daily dose of what’s happening until my supervisor got to the office. Also, there would be staff from the office café around the office space just incase anyone needed anything. Tea and coffee would be offered several times a day which I initially used to refuse however, two cups of tea slowly became a part of my daily life thanks to PF.

My supervisor would give me specific tasks and I would begin work on them. He would guide me through everything that was required and helped me with anything I didn’t understand. I mostly worked on writing about the work PF has done which would often be in alien language for me. ‘Cloud computing’ and ‘CLEAR technology’ were terms I had never heard, let alone understand. So before I started writing anything I was required to understand the concept myself so I could write about it in a way in which the ‘layman’ would understand. At my time at PF I wrote write-ups for the website, a speech background for the CEO, interview answers on behalf of the CEO for a story in the Economic Times, several award nominations and an advertising proposal.

Lunch time would be anytime between 1 and 5pm (yes lunch could be fairly late). Mostly, we would go for lunch as a group to the office café. This was by far one of the best times for me as everyone from the corporate office would come together and share their experiences which allowed me to make some valuable contacts within the industry. Also, I learnt about how the industry works and the role of PR within different organisations from everyone’s personal experiences. These ‘talks’ were not possible during work time as everyone would be busy with their own meetings/deadlines/etc., however lunch time provided for a breather for everyone. A note to all wanting to do PR work in the future: these casual conversations prove to be some of the most valuable.

My day would finish at around 6pm but there were days when I was at the office till 10pm, as deadlines had to be met even if it meant working till late. I understood the importance of deadlines through this placement, as missing a deadline could mean missing out on a valuable award or story in a magazine or newspaper. Waiting for a rick in the jungle in the dark is by far the scariest things I have ever done so I would often try to get a lift out with someone from the office.

So that’s it, a day in the ‘jungle’ was somewhat like this!!

Good luck to all with the reports J

Srinali Kinariwala

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