A letter to our Interns (previously known as CAs)

It was last year around the same time when we started our first Campus Ambassador Program.

We would like to thank each and every one of our Campus Ambassador for sharing the TalEx dream along with us. Some of them have come closer to us, building a stronger bond (Ankit Jha, Kiran Chawla, Shashank Tiwary, Priyadarshi Pritam, Ashish Baberwal, Kaushal Singhal and many more.)

However as a part of CA program; we also witnessed the lethargic attitude that came with the word CA. Every company has a CA program these days; and often they don't delegate more work than publicizing their page on facebook. So a Campus Ambassador who has this opportunity to see out of the box and contribute towards brand-building; is confined by a list of trivial orders by the company. As a result; aspiring to become a CA becomes an aspiration for the certificate. We were also hit by this wave, and things didn't work out as efficiently and enthusiastically as they could have.

So this time we will be including the CAs in a proper brand building process. It means that one CA may have to monitor the blog; which implies that he needs to carry that eighteen year old dream as well. If he doesn't have that mindset, he can't write about the values that TalEx shares. We would like our CAs to find more content and gossip from their college and surrounding, so that we can fill up the leisure, city and campus buzz section of the youth diaries. Again in this case the CA needs to have a good sense of humor or an enthusiasm to write, without which he won't be able to deliver the content for the youth magazine. Some of the CAs may work in our operation network across the city. So there are two major changes that are going to take place around TalEx:

1. Activities mentioned under brand-building process will be primary and vigorous facebook publicity will be secondary. 
2. Due to the tainted reputation of the word 'Campus Ambassadors' we will be using the term 'Interns'

Some of the old CAs may continue with us as 'interns' and rest of them can suggest us any of their batchmate or junior who can show us that enthusiasm. we welcome all the new ones applying into our team as well. However, before applying; we would like you to go through at least the last 5 posts on our blog. The interviews will be telephonic.

So the bottom line is, we are improving, and we want you to improve us and to improve with us. If you have that in you, we want you. If you are talented, we are your platform. If you wish to find what your talent is, we give you a chance. It's your time, don't let it go. Join us and find yourself in a world of Creativity and innovation.

Feel free to mail us at talexindia@gmail.com for any queries. Keep checking our blog and website (www.youthdiaries.in)

The YD way!

     Most writers who wish to write for the Youth Diaries ask us; what's our criteria for selecting their article, story or poems. Getting content on YD is not a competition. It's about how much the write-up can grab the reader's attention or engage them or inspire them. From our past experiences following were a few points that affect readers on our magazine:

• Length: We learnt it the hard way; but we realized unless the content is extremely gripping from the first paragraph and it maintains this intriguing character throughout; the write up shouldn't exceed more than 600 words.
• Writing Style: The writing style should be such that it aligns itself with the readers' thought process. It could be inspiring and awe-striking; but towards the end if it makes the reader think about doing or not doing what has been written about, the objective of YD is achieved.  For eg: If anyone wishes to write about his travel to Jain Temples in MP; it should make the readers excited about traveling to the Jain Temples themselves.
• Content: Well; our belief is that the content can be about anything: social issues, entertainment, entrepreneurship, economic, travel, fashion, anything as long as it is able to align itself with the youth's thought process.

      When we started YD; we knew that we have to provide a platform to writers, photographers, and short film-makers. But then a question arose in our mind; 'will all the writing enthusiasts be able to come up with an engaging content'. That's where we realized that we need to mentor the writers also; in terms of generating content which may flow in sync with the Youth's thought process and at the same time the essence of the topic chosen is not lost. Blogging about it is not the best way to mentor; but it surely the best way to reach out to an audience of writers at large. 

What is TalEx (Version 2.0)? :P

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can see a long post with an interrelated diagram of customer pointing to a logo, and logo to a talent sharing platform. That was a very confused undergrad student trying to explain his idea to the world, which he thought was always in an awe for a complex business plan. We are still confused; but today we want to let out a definition which has been integral to each and every one of us at some point of time.

TalEx is a confused eighteen year old Indian's dream. At eighteen years we want to be a rockstar who sings out his miseries, a poet who writes for his love or an artist who wants the world to see more than their rational pursuits. There is one common pursuit in all of them though! They want to be recognized. 


So TalEx is realization of this dream; through a talent sharing platform (www.talexindia.in), youth magazine (www.youthdiaries.in), and merchandise to feel more social in this not so social world. Tal-Ex is Talent Exploration, a voyage which has no boundaries and has most rebellious and revolutionary instincts. 


History:
  TalEx was born; when its core team members realized that their eighteen year old dreams will be better served, if they work together on their dreams. Even though some of us are 22 and 24; we can't get away from our rockstar dreams. At a personal level; we want to write novels, play up on the stage, direct movies, design to our customer's sentiments, and want our crushes to acknowledge us  as someone whom they would be proud of; and love us for our courage. ;)

It's not about just 'Merchandising'

When we target Organizations for merchandise manufacturing; several people ask us how is a talent empowering platform like TalEx and merchandising for youth organizations related. My answer to that is "we are testing the potential of the designers on our TalEx network"; and it's not just a T-shirt with the Organization's name written in the back that we want to produce. We want to create something which the Youth of India can wear in pride as their inclination towards social issues from a pool of a million issue that we have in our country.

So this is what we think: if we create a T-shirt for a 'Woman empowerment NGO' over an infant feticide event; usually they expect us to have their slogan in the front, and the Name of the organization and the event at the back. These are mostly worn by the volunteers and the people who take part in the event; but what after that. Would a normal college or school going guy want to wear that on a normal occasion? and we very well know of its quality.

Against the above mentioned, imagine this: A design on a T-shirt with a strong social message or interpretation, and it projects a fashion statement by the customer himself/herself (of what he believes in). It has a leading NGO's name printed at the back (not too flashy obviously, quite subtle). Won't that simply build a sense of pride in the mind of the customers towards Indian organizations which are fighting towards a cause he supports (for eg. PETA merchandises are not just worn by the volunteers)? Won't these T-shirts be bought by the volunteers of these NGOs themselves for most of their events? Won't it create a better relationship between the NGO and the customer? Won't it represent youth being part of a larger picture of social issues? These are the questions that TalEx India would want to answer! :)

Oh yes regarding the quality! Do you really believe only a Rs. 600 T-shirt can last for more than a year? We have come across various vendors, and we have seen cheap material and we have seen high quality material. And we can confidently say that a mediocre to a high quality T-shirt can easily be sold in the bracket of Rs. 200- Rs. 400. :)

T-shirt design courtesy: Prem 

Using the TalEx resources

When we first started off with collecting photographs on our TalEx India fanpage and site; we thought we would provide a platform to the photographers through exhibitions and competitions. However, due to constraints on budget just like any other start-up; starting from zero rupees we thought that it may not be feasible. So time went on, and we practically didn't realize much on what to do with these digital photographs of low resolution apart from providing them visibility through our social media marketing.

Then in January we launched The Youth Diaries (www.youthdiaries.in), keeping in mind the interest of the writers. Today, it has acquired a prominent platform among other youth magazines in India; and as a serendipity we found how we can leverage the talent of the photographers on our network. It is our perception that a photograph's art is better understood by the viewer, if he has something to with which he can relate to. It's through the articles written in vibrant genres that we publish the most relevant photograph along with it. From what we expect and hope; is that the readers may a better perception and attachment to the story or article through the photographs that we publish side by side each write-up.

Thanks to all the photographers in our network, and thanks for tagging us through hundreds of photographs of different genre; we never fall short of a photograph for a write-up no matter which genre it may belong to. This is precisely, what we meant by organizing User Generated Content on web.  \m/

Photograph Credits: Ashik M Patel (page link)

Understanding the Enthu

Often we keep thinking; 'there are so many companies coming up who sell apparels, posters etc.' and 'for the youth'. What is it that will set us aside as more youth-like. We found an answer to it, however we are yet to analyse it's strength. The core value of 'by the youth and for the youth' is that there should be someone to understand a client's perspective one-on-one 'for the youth'; and then design the product or service accordingly 'by the youth'. To a lot extent, we feel that while this model is employed with large corporate and organization; there is a scope for this at student level also towards their personal desires.

The points to ponder upon are:

• An interactive system where an individual client, can explain his perspective and mindset.
• A designer from our network, who can understand his client's perspective and visualize the end product on behalf of his/her client.
• Proper time management towards designing, depending on the order size. for example, if the request is for one poster, the time spent on designing it should not exceed one hour. (giving value to the time donated by the maturing designers).
• Reasonable quotation for the end product.

It is this culture that we currently follow at TalEx India. People who have been appointed as new designers towards poster and T-shirt marketing, have a skills further beyond tools of photoshop; and they place themselves under the purview of 'for the youth and by the youth'. 

Following is the resultant poster of understanding the sentiments of the football team of IIT Hyderabad.

The Need of the Hour - Indian Education System

Today, isn’t getting a decent bachelor’s degree something that every parent and student frets about? True! Indian education system has succumbed to policies which makes the degree system most important. In fact thousands and millions of under-privileged youth clear their higher education just to get into government jobs.

Moreover; are the teachers in India confident and ready to handle the upcoming generations, who are increasingly educating themselves with sources available through information technology rather than the former central source which used to be the teacher. In a future where a student may potentially possess more knowledge than a teacher, the Indian education system may have to answer the following questions:

• Are they supposed to teach the syllabus prescribed?
• Are they supposed to impart skills into a student necessary for him to enter a market?
• Should the teachers adapt interactive methods to educate their class, and update their own knowledge?

A student is seen as a key consumer whose satisfaction is used as a benchmark to assess the quality and excellence in an education system. However the universities in India are quite limited in the following aspects:

• Their knowledge base and exposure are inadequate and not up to date.
• Analytical and experimental skills are quite limited.
• Diffident in practical application of their knowledge.

When everything is judges on the basis of a three hours examination, why would a student care for analysing what’s been taught? The disregard towards overall development of the person, ultimately leads to a society where everyone is concerned only about himself/herself.

We live in a hypocritical system which gives the students an impression of being listened to, but finally it is only an eye wash; be it the case of assigning syllabus or celebrating/organizing various festivals of ‘national interest’. Does the system really care how the students want extra-curricular or co-curricular activities to be incorporated in their college curriculum? A framework developed by Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry claims the following skills to be essential for an employee:

• Communication skills
• Team work skills
• Problem-Solving skills
• Initiative and enterprising skills
• planning and organizing skills
• self-management skills
• learning skills
• technology skills

So shall we conclude that the current Indian education system requires sustainable vision, and a shift from ‘formal’ to ‘informal’ education system? What’s the need of the hour?

References: Mukesh Modi, Lecturer in English, D.M. Patel Arts and S.S.Patel Commerce College, At & Post: Ode. (dist. Anand)- Gujarat: the present education system and youth aspirations; Indian Journal of Youth Affairs.