Budding scribes fight for Times tag

KOLKATA: A meeting of minds, a test and a fun-filled interaction greeted every one present on November 16 at The Pride Hotel in Rajarhat for the Times NIE Newsmakers’ Meet.
Held in association with The Pride Hotel Kolkata and Titas, student reporters from schools belonging to the Times NIE family turned up in large numbers at the hotel’s banquet hall to battle it out for the coveted post of Times NIE Star Correspondents for the session 2012-2013.
The budding journalists had to first sit for a written test to evaluate their general awareness, creativity and writing skills. Of the fifteen shortlisted students who will face the NIE editorial team, only five will get selected as star correspondents.
With the test over, the young adults enjoyed a lively interaction with celebrities like Sidhu, lead singer of Bangla band Cactus, magician Maneka Sorcar and actress Ritabhari Chakraborty. The students bombarded them with questions ranging from their childhood, their career, their source of inspiration to how they handled all the ups and downs in their lives. Sidhu obliged them by humming a few lines of Hemant Kumar’s ‘yaad kiya dil ne kahan ho tum’.
The five outgoing star correspondents – Souma Sekhar of Birla High School, Nehal Binani of Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Sparshika Chhaperia of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Urvi Khaitan of Modern High School for Girls and Akash Adya of South City International School – received trophies and certificates from the celebrities.