What it takes to be a PR professional-1

ANKANA CHAKRABORTY

Commits alumna ANKANA CHAKRABORTY (Class of 2009) worked in public relations in Bangalore for two-and-a-half years with leading agencies Corporate Voice Shandwick and Text 100. Here she tells aspiring PR professionals how to make an impression and be a success. In short, she says, learn how to pitch to hitch the scribe.

Public relations as a profession can be both gratifying and downright frustrating. On the one hand, you experience the ecstasy of generating great coverage, while, on the other, you have a bunch of people who do not seem to appreciate it. What’s worse, they crib that the coverage does not include the CEO’s ability to juggle china while singing! At that point you scream in exasperation, “God, why me?”

It doesn't have to be that way. So here are my top tips to make your mark in PR:

KNOW THE PUBLICATIONS INSIDE OUT
Pretty soon you will realise that your life revolves around, and depends on how well you know, the print publications (yes, it is sad that most clients still insist on print). I am sure your morning will begin with “tracking the papers”. Make the most of this. Don’t just flip through the pages, don’t read only Bangalore Mirror. Make extensive notes. Study the columns and supplements that each newspaper or magazine publishes and the content they carry. You can then map that to your client’s requirements.

KNOW YOUR JOURNALIST
Equally important is tracking journalists. If you want to make a successful pitch, you first have to know what excites the journalist, what he or she is writing about. And no short-cuts, please. Any one article by the journalist cannot be the basis of your pitch. Follow the trends the journalist follows. Only then will you be able to make a pitch that the journalist cannot say no to.

KNOW YOUR INDUSTRY
Again we come back to the pitch. And to make it work you have to think of it as the piece without which the puzzle is incomplete. So we have taken care of the publication fit, the journalist fit, and now comes the industry perspective. No journalist is paid to write praises about your client. The pitch will work only if it has an angle that the journalist has not thought about yet. This is where knowing your industry comes in handy. You can have easy access to how the industry has evolved and what is happening right now that will shape it in the future. Figure out where your client can play a role in this and pitch that angle. What matters most to you may be totally irrelevant to a journalist. Remember that it’s what they — not you — think is important that matters in the end.

FOLLOW ETIQUETTE AND PROTOCOL
PR has been rated as the second-most stressful job in India. And there are valid reasons for that. The pressure can get to you easily and in your quest to get more coverage you tend to irritate the hell out of a journalist. Now don’t do that. How many of you have enlisted your phone number with the Do Not Disturb registry? Poor things, they can’t even do that.

So do not call journalists incessantly; do not flood their inbox with press releases. If journalists say they are not interested in a story, they mean it. Reaching out to them again and again will further annoy them and guarantee you’ll be ignored the next time.

What you can and must do is meet them in person. Then again don’t go just because your boss asked you to. Prepare well, make a list of what you want to talk to them about; a “what’s up” kind of preparation is not good enough. Do not get overtly friendly in your very first meeting; it is not natural. Go with an agenda, and don’t pretend that you did not, the journalist can see through that. Remember, it is okay to go with an agenda, just make the agenda solid.

Understand that you cannot control the end product. It is unethical for you to ask, to see, or to proof a copy of the story beforehand, or to dictate what the reporter can and can’t say. Doing so will backfire — trust me.

There is one more thing that irritates a journalist more than all that I just said, and that is bad language skills. No one expects you to write sonnets. But a simple, grammatically correct document can make the journalist’s life a lot simpler. And trust me they will remember you for writing good documents.

DRILL SOME SENSE INTO YOUR CLIENT’S HEAD
Yes, clients are a necessary evil. And most of the time they are more painful than nice. Set the clients’ expectations right. Do not promise the sun, stars, and moon and then fail miserably. Plan, plan, and plan. If plan A fails, you still have 25 possible versions left to salvage the situation.

Be very patient and consistent. Don’t lose hope. PR is a process. You know who hits it big overnight with a story flashing across publications? Criminals, bad politicians, naughty celebrities, terrorists, and natural calamity victims. Do you want to be one of them?

Ankana Sinha is now the brand manager for Pro Nature Organic Foods in Bangalore.

THIS PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION HAS BEEN DOING THE ROUNDS ON FACEBOOK.

ALSO READ:

• What it takes to be a PR professional-2
  

• What PR professionals should not do to journalists, and what journalists should not do to PR professionals

• Uncalled-for criticism of the PR community — and my rejoinder

• For PR professionals, life is a pitch

• 10 mistakes and the lessons learned from the PR world

Uncalled-for criticism of the PR community — and my rejoinder

The recent comments of a Mid Day columnist have riled public relations professionals, and justifiably so.

Writing in the Mumbai edition of the newspaper earlier this week, Sheetal Sukhija first refers to the "innovative ways" PR execs use "to feed their version of 'finger-licking-news' to reporters". She then goes on to lambast the PR community for "hoodwinking reporters".

Agreed, it is rare for journalists and PR professionals to be the best of friends, but these verbal volleys in a leading publication appear to be cheap shots aimed at addressing personal issues. That is why I have posted my response on the Mid Day website, calling this article an unwanted, unwarranted, and unprofessional attack on the PR community.

Here is my rejoinder in full:

This is an unwanted, unwarranted, and unprofessional attack on the PR community. Sure, I have met a few unprofessional PR execs in my time as a journalist (almost 25 years with newspapers and media groups in Mumbai, Dubai, and Bangalore). I was never rude to them but I let them know in subtle ways that I wouldn't give them the time of day.

I have also met some PR professionals who are nice people, but, sadly, they didn't seem to understand that journalists and newspapers are not to be used to promote their clients' agenda.

Why would I be interested in giving publicity to something that has no news value? When I was working as a journalist — I am now the professor of journalism at a media college in Bangalore — what I wanted from a PR professional was news. And I am glad to say I have been fortunate to interact with quite a few no-nonsense PR execs who were brilliant at their work. Give me the news point, I would say to them, and leave it to me to do the story. They understood. I reciprocated.

I believe it is important for PR people to remember that journalists are in the best position to decide what is relevant to the story. I also believe that every industry has its share of rogues and incompetents, so we have bad journalists, sloppy journalists, freeloading journalists — but they are a minority.

Journalists and publicists need each other. So they need to work together. That is why this eternal tussle and, sometimes, nasty feuding between the two communities is sad. And unnecessary. And unproductive.

Coming to your column, if you had a professional issue with a particular PR exec, it would have been better to take it up with the person concerned. There was no need to (mis)use your newspaper column to vent your grievance and tarnish the reputation of the entire PR community.

• Also read: What PR professionals should not do to journalists. And just as important, what journalists should not do to PR professionals. (My rejoinder to the Mid Day article has been adapted from my comments in this Reading Room post.)

• Incidentally, I began my career as a journalist with Mid Day in Mumbai in 1981, becoming the News Editor two years later. The super-boss then was Khalid Ansari, the founder of the newspaper. (Ansari later became the managing editor of Dubai's Khaleej Times, and he offered me the position of features editor at the paper. I joined Khaleej Times in October 1988.) As News Editor of Mid Day, I would have spiked Sheetal Sukhija's diatribe against PR professionals. We had different (higher?) standards then.

• "I've been where you are": Read Nimish Dubey's post, which is in the form of an open letter to PR professionals.

• UPDATE (October 26, 2011):  Senior journalist Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, writing in Business Standard, says that, in the middle of two stereotypes, thousands of journalists and PR people quietly do their jobs in getting information and analyses out to readers. Read the sober and sensible opinion piece here: "About PR and journalism".

For PR professionals, life is a pitch

And that's why public relations execs (and journalists) will want to read a New York Times columnist's views on what makes a perfect pitch. According to David Pogue, whose recent column about "pitching" is one of the most popular ever on the PR Daily blog, the first job is getting your message across. Which is not easy because this is a business where "50 pitches a day land in journalists’ in-boxes". So how does yours stand out? Pogue gives us a few pointers while handing out his Perfect Pitch Awards:

In my 10 years at The New York Times, I’ve seen a universe of different PR pitches and met an endless range of PR people. Sometimes it’s clear that they love their jobs and believe in the products they represent. Sometimes, it’s clear that they don’t. Sometimes, it’s clear that they have no idea what they’re doing.

On the other hand, sometimes the pitches are so wonderful, so delightful, you can’t resist. Here are this year’s winners of the Pogue Perfect Pitch award — pitches so clever, so persuasive, I’m going to wind up reviewing both of the products they’re pitching.

First, a YouTube video made by the employees of a company called CodeWeavers. They have a new program called CrossOver Impersonator that lets you run certain Windows programs on a Mac — without having to own a copy of Windows. 

Pogue then gives us details of this pitch. And, afterwards, moves on to the next award:

The second Pogue Perfect Pitch award goes to Nikon. See, in my blog, I’d written a review of the Canon S95 in the form of a love letter. (“Dear Canon S95, I don’t often write love letters to gadgets. But you — you’re something special. Truth is, I’ve been searching for someone like you for years…”) To my surprise, I received a response “from” the Nikon D80, the first camera I ever really loved in print, a couple of years ago.

If you're a PR professional, read up on these two pitches to get an insight into how some innovative thinking (and writing) can help you get your client into the newspapers. You may also like to read a young PR pro's comments on David Pogue's column: "Perfect PR pitches: New York Times tech columnist picks his favorites".

• Thanks to Commitscion Nilofer D'Souza (Class of 2009) for alerting me to David Pogue's column.

• Also read: "What PR professionals should not do to journalists".

• ADDITIONAL READING: "Don't Just Give the Media a 'Press Release' — Give Them a Story" and many more tips from a PR professional who is writing from a business owner's perspective but whose advice is very relevant to PR practitioners, too. Check out Christopher Lee Nutter's column on Huffington Post here: "The 10 Commandments to Perfect PR for Your Business".

Turning dross (from a press release) into gold (news that readers will want to read)

What happens when a news report based on a press release and using sentences from the press release does not acknowledge the source? And, worse, the reporter actually takes a byline for it?

This was the subject of my Reading Room post yesterday: "Have you heard of 'churnalism'?"

That post was inspired by a press release (I have copied it below) that had a lot of useful information about IJNet, a website for journalists and would-be journalists but, as is the case with most press releases, it was not an interesting read. Nor was it an easy read.

How could I turn it into a news item? Or write about IJNet on The Reading Room? The thought process involved in the rewriting may give you an insight into how the dross from a press release can be turned into gold: news that readers will want to read.

Here is the press release:

International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), is a non-profit, professional organization headquartered in the U.S. ICFJ runs a website, the International Journalists’ Network -- http://ijnet.org/ which offers many resources of interest to young as well as mid-career journalists.

India is fortunate to have had good journalism institutes and outstanding journalists who have helped shape a media that’s largely independent of both government and business. Still, with new challenges like digital media, the definition and skills of journalism continue to evolve. This is where IJNet could help meet a need, helping young and mid-career journalists to continue their professional education by staying in touch with their peers worldwide and tracking new trends.

While you would want to explore this website yourself, we thought we should draw your attention to a few highlights announced on the site:
    *Innovative news projects in digital journalism funded by Google
    *Courses on mobile reporting from cellphones; also courses on development and diversity issues and journalism for social change.
    *Internship programs that enable journalists to work at US media organizations
    *Fellowships in investigative journalism at the University of California and Berkeley School of Journalism
    *Blogs and other competitions on global energy issues
    *Live chats with prize-winning journalists

More recently, the website offered a Census of India photography contest. Sometimes the site also offers travel grants to international seminars of special interest to journalists.

Other features of the website include:
    *Journalism resources and news: Where you can find information on everything from basic reporting to healthcare journalism to new media
    *Community content: Where you can easily upload your own valuable resources to share with the world
    *Specialized blogs written by IJNet editors
    *Discussion groups on hot topics: Where you can sound off on issues that matter to you!

Discussion posts cover topics like “Should news sites be held responsible for user comments?”, “Should journalists help investigate crimes?”, “To what degree should journalists protect privacy?” and the ethics and issues involving Wikileaks. These are issues being debated also in India and our journalists could share their own views and approaches with the rest of the world.

The site also has a bank of articles on multimedia and digital journalism and videos on disaster reporting, maintaining a healthy broadcast voice (for broadcast journalists), and using Google maps in online stories.

As I wrote above, there is a lot of useful information here but the sentence construction, the choice of words — the very structure of the press release — soon had my eyes glazing over. And I began feeling disconnected.

What to do?

I needed to study the website first in order to think of something interesting to replace that turgid intro, so I clicked on the link provided in the press release. Voila! I found my news peg right there on the website: a reference to "churnalism". And this is what I came up with for an opener in the post I published yesterday:

Sometimes newspapers base a news report on a press release. Nothing wrong with that when the newspaper makes the source clear to readers by including this line (or a variant) at the appropriate place in the report: "...according to a company press release."

But what happens when a news report based on a press release and using sentences from the press release does not acknowledge the source? And, worse, the reporter actually takes a byline for it? (This happened to me once — a press release I sent out to Bangalore newspapers on behalf of Commits was reproduced almost verbatim in The Hindu with the reporter attaching her name at the end.)

That is called "churnalism". Also known as "cut-and-paste journalism".

It's only in the fifth paragraph of my post that I introduced IJNet.

But I believe that Poynter is also an excellent website for journalism resources, so keeping my student audience in mind, I included this line at the end of that fifth paragraph:

Along with Poynter, IJNet is the go-to site for anyone serious about a career in journalism.

Then, having introduced "churnalism", I returned to it. I explained the term by quoting an example from IJNet and then concluded the post by expounding on the lessons to be learnt from this particular episode of "churnalism".

At the end, since I was writing a blog post and not a full-fledged news item, I attributed the "source" of this press release. (Let me make it clear here that Commitscion Shruti Upadhyay only forwarded it to me.)

I would like to believe that what I have written (read the post in its entirety here) is more interesting to read than the press release.

Also, if a PR professional had sent the press release to me with the intention of getting some publicity for IJNet, he or she would have no reason to quibble.

Now this is what I call a win-win situation. Do you agree?

Have you heard of "churnalism"?

Sometimes newspapers base a news report on a press release. Nothing wrong with that when the newspaper makes the source clear to readers by including this line (or a variant) at the appropriate place in the report: "...according to a company press release."

But what happens when a news report based on a press release and using sentences from the press release does not acknowledge the source? And, worse, the reporter actually takes a byline for it? (This happened to me once — a press release I sent out to Bangalore newspapers on behalf of Commits was reproduced almost verbatim in The Hindu with the reporter attaching her name at the end.)

That is called "churnalism". Also known as "cut-and-paste journalism".

Or, if you prefer a more refined phrase, you engage in "churnalism" when you rework news articles from press releases.

I first came across this term on the International Journalists' Network, or IJNet. The website offers a slew of resources for journalists, both newcomers and veterans, including tips on reporting and editing, and news of scholarships and job opportunities. Along with Poynter, IJNet is the go-to site for anyone serious about a career in journalism.

Now, back to "churnalism". In a recent post on IJNet, Dana Liebelson has profiled the website that exposes cases of "churnalism". Liebelson followed up by contacting a reporter whose story in The Guardian on a supermarket chain "had 1,479 characters overlapping with the press release".

Liebelson writes:

The circumstances under which she says it was written will sound familiar to many staff reporters.

“It was a company announcement, it was new and unexpected so we wrote a straight news story like everyone else,” [Julia] Kollewe told IJNet via email. “Also bear in mind that it was a Sunday for Monday story so there were fewer opportunities for original reporting. There was one reporter (me) who wrote everything that day. You can rest assured that not all stories are like that.”

So what are the lessons to be learnt from this particular episode of "churnalism"? One, do not pass off a press release as your own work. Two, there will be work pressure tempting you to pass off a press release as your own work — figure out how you are going to deal with it. It may not be easy but it's not that difficult, either.

• Thank you, Shruti Upadhyay (Class of 2005), account manager with Edelman India, for the IJNet tip-off.
• Also read: Turning dross (from a press release) into gold (news that readers will want to read)

What PR professionals should not do to journalists

And just as important, what journalists should not do to PR professionals.

But first, a little background. Earlier this week, Commitscion Samarpita Samaddar (Class of 2010), who is the public relations officer of IFA (India Foundation for the Arts), had an unpleasant encounter with a journalist in Bangalore. Samarpita later wrote on Facebook about the tantrums this journalist had apparently thrown because of "a DVD that cannot be copied due to copyright issues". Another Commitscion, Saroj Joseph (Class of 2006), who is the PR manager for Lush, also wrote about her experience with some journalists "who do not hear you out and just bang the phone and you are left staring at the phone".

Now, in my time as a journalist (almost 25 years with newspapers and media groups in Mumbai, Dubai, and Bangalore), I have met a few unprofessional PR execs. I may not have been rude to them but I let them know in subtle ways that I wouldn't give them the time of day.

I have also met some PR professionals who are nice people, but, sadly, they don't seem to understand that journalists and newspapers are not to be used to promote their clients' agenda.

Why would I be interested in giving publicity to something that has no news value? When I was working as a journalist, what I wanted from a PR professional was news. And I am glad to say I have been fortunate to interact with quite a few no-nonsense PR execs who were brilliant at their work. Give me the news point, I would say to them, and leave it to me to do the story. They understood. I reciprocated.

Back to Samarpita's grouse. I told her that I agree with her 100%: The journalist she is referring to had no business making a fuss about "a DVD that cannot be copied due to copyright issues" if it was NOT RELEVANT to the story. However, it is important to remember that journalists are in the best position to decide what is relevant to the story. Also, every industry has its share of rogues and incompetents. So there are bad journalists, there are sloppy journalists, there are freeloading journalists — but I believe they are a minority.

And this was my advice to Saroj: "I am not sure you should expect any journalist (unless he or she knows you well) to have the time to speak with you on the phone. When I used to get calls from PR professionals when I was busy, I would tell them to send me a fax (this was in the pre-email era) or, later, send me an email. If I found the event/press release newsworthy, I would follow up by assigning a reporter to check it out."

This brings me to the main point of this post: The eternal tussle and, sometimes, nasty feuding between journalists and publicists. Which is sad. Because we need each other. So we need to work together.

Here's what might help us to understand each other. First, a list of PR no-nos. And, second, a list of things journalists should not do to publicists.

CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT

Both lists have been put together by consumer advocate and journalist Christopher Elliott. (I am obliged to Commitscion Jalaja Ramanunni, Class of 2009, for sending me the links.)

Elliott's lists make so much sense, and what he has to say is so important, that I am reproducing below both lists in full. Not only will journalists and PR professionals benefit from studying them but aspiring media professionals will also be able to learn how to modify their behaviour when they enter the industry.

TOP 10 PR NO-NOS

BY CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT

10. Asking me for an exact air date or publication date on a story. Although it is your right to know when a story is going to appear (and I will gladly tell you) I often don’t know the precise date until just before publication.

9. Sending me an unsolicited press kit. Come on. Do you have any idea how many trees you’re killing?

8. Asking what my “angle” is. I often don’t know until I’m done with my reporting. Rest assured, you will know what the story is about when I’m running my fact-check with you.

7. Calling to find out if your client is in the story. I don’t know until the story is published. Often, neither does my editor.

6. Requesting a letter of assignment. I wouldn’t ask for information and then not write about it. What kind of travel writer do you think I am? ;-)

5. Mailing me something “embargoed” or asking me to sign a nondisclosure statement. I’m a journalist — I get paid to break news, not keep your clients’ secrets.

4. Sending me an e-mail that begins, “Dear {USER_FIRSTNAME}”. Look, if you’re gonna spam me, at least learn how to use the software.

3. Pitching me for an outlet I haven’t written for in years. Everything I write is online. Take a few minutes and read up. I’ll love you for it.

2. Calling my editor when you’re not happy with a story. I’ll find out, and when I do, we’ll both be unhappy.

1. Following up with a phone call to “see if I got the press release.” Honestly, they should expel people from PRSA for doing this.

• To read Elliott's post in its entirety, go here.

10 THINGS I'D NEVER DO TO A PUBLICIST

BY CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT

 10. Misrepresent my story. I’ll always tell you what my story is about (but please remember, I have editors who reserve the right to change my angle).

9. Hang up on you. If you call me — no matter how persistent you are — I won’t hang up on you. Ever.

8. Ask you to write the story for me. That includes pilfering wording and original thoughts from a press release.

7. Lecture, lecture, lecture. Who cares what I think, anyway? It’s what’s in the story that’s important.

6. Take anything you say (or do) personally. You’re a pro, and sometimes a client asks you to do things. I understand.

5. Ask for a freebie. There is a special place in hell reserved for journalists who abuse their position to get free stuff. I’m not too keen on going there.

4. Complain to your client or boss about you. You have enough to worry about already. The only reason I would go over your head is if you stop responding to my e-mails, calls or singing telegrams.

3. Be rude. Politeness is what separates us from the animals. I’ll endeavor to be a gentleman, always.

2. Ask you to do my reporting. Last time I checked, that was my job.

1. Ignore you. If I get a personal e-mail, I promise to respond to it as quickly as possible. If I get a call, I’ll try to return it expeditiously. (This doesn’t apply to mass-mailings or calls to “follow up” on a press release.)

• To read Elliott's post in its entirety, go here.

What do journalists have to say about these two lists? What are the thoughts of PR professionals when they read these 20 points? And what do media students have to say?

*

ARCHITA NADGOUDA

"I RELATE TOTALLY
TO THIS POST"

Commitscion ARCHITA NADGOUDA (Class of 2011), who works with the PR firm Edelman in Bangalore, posted this comment on my Facebook link: Sir, I relate totally to this post. In my three months at work I've experienced all that you've mentioned. I know that anything with news value gets picked easily by the journos (even without us being pushy about it). But they too have to understand that they need us as much as we need them and not act pricey when we call them (I know of journos who have published wrong information just because they didn't want to hear us out completely. Doing this repeatedly will only reflect badly on their newspaper!).

I think the bickering will end only if both parties learn to respect each other and develop a better understanding of each other's profession.

P.S. This post was really informative. I'll share it on my wall for my colleagues. Thanks. :)

*

SINDHU PAWAR

"EVERY PR PROFESSIONAL
SHOULD READ THIS"

Commitscion SINDHU PAWAR (Class of 2011), who works with the PR firm Nucleus in Bangalore, posted this comment on my Facebook link: Thanks for sharing this, Sir. I completely agree with it. As a PR person, I would like to say that every PR professional has to read this, understand the implications, and make clients understand them as well. And then, come up with better strategies and ideas; think about what it is that is newsworthy instead of bugging journalists every time regarding something that is not "sellable" or newsworthy.

Even I am going to share this on my wall. Once again, thank you Sir :)

When "lobbying" becomes "fixing", it is no longer PR

NANDITA LAKSHMANAN, SUBROTO BAGCHI

So says Nandita Lakshmanan, founder of the Bangalore-based The PRactice, in an interview with Subroto Bagchi in Forbes India (February 11).

In the wake of the Niira Radia spectrum scam tapes controversy, Bagchi asks Lakshmanan, who has managed the Infosys account for ten years now, to tell him where the line must be drawn between PR and deal-fixing. The answer is enlightening:

When lobbying becomes ‘fixing’, it ceases to be in the domain of public relations. Many PR firms do cross the line; they hire former bureaucrats in the telecom or the retail sector — people who know the ‘right people’, who know how the ‘system’ works. PR can secure meetings with ministries, advise the client what to say, follow up, but there is a line. In India, as in many parts of the world, that fine line between influencing, advocacy and deal making is often trespassed.

Lakshmanan also explains why business must know about PR:

Every company should treat public relations seriously. A conscious corporation puts its reputation among its stakeholders above all else. It may not necessarily be the most visible in the media, nor [does] its recall need to be high in the larger community. Ironically, I have come across many successful companies, with greater market-share, stronger balance sheet than their competition, but they feel weak in public relations because their competitors are more visible in the media. Good PR need not mean constant, high visibility in the media.

And when Bagchi tells her that people think PR is all about managing the media, Lakshmanan's response will give all those thinking of a career in public relations an insight into that PR is really all about:

Media engagement is critical, but it is merely one aspect of PR and it must be used judiciously. PR can enhance your relationship with the financial community, help become a part of the local community, highlight issues to help change policy or behaviour. It can assist in managing and enhancing employee relations, pre-empting and preparing for crises and therefore mitigating their impact on your business.

PR cannot completely subvert a negative impact — if you’ve done something wrong, you have to suffer the consequences like in any relationship. And remember, a relationship is two-ways. You build it irrespective of whether times ahead are going to be good or bad. Sometimes, you need a relationship particularly when times are bad.

Read the interview in its entirety here: "The thin line in public relations".

• THE COMMITS CONNECTION: Nandita Lakshmanan has taught PR at Commits, and Commitscion Shane Jacob (Class of 2005) is a top executive with The PRactice. The agency has also taken many interns from Commits over the years.
• Photo courtesy: Forbes India