Girls outnumbered boys, and some of them aspired to be mathematicians and sportswomen when they grew up.
The Mumbai office of DNA turned into a classroom on Friday when the top winners of DNA's Junior Editor contest visited the headquarters. We asked the eager bunch about their experience of creating their very own newspaper.
They said they were delighted to work on their respective newspapers, without help from parents or teachers during their Christmas vacations. Donald Trump, demonetization, and Jayalalithaa dominated the headlines in their squiggly handwriting, accompanied by pictures. The winners shared that they enjoyed working on the Cartoonland, Movies and Sci-Tech pages the most.
Girls outnumbered boys, and some of them aspired to be mathematicians and sportswomen when they grew up. The boys were surprisingly quiet, but Varun Naik of Ryan International School spoke passionately when prompted to speak about his interest for horror writing. "I love nightmares," he exclaimed. "It's like a movie playing in my head." Another student spoke about exploring human emotions through her poems, and yet another took inspiration from nature. All of them seemed concerned about the environment, and spoke spiritedly about bettering their neighbourhoods.
"I thought it'll be a like a factory with big machines," they said, when asked about what they thought a newspaper office looked like.
After grinning for the shutter-bugs, the little stars moved with gaping eyes towards the editorial section of our office. They looked on in fascination as the desk collated content for the next day's edition. "How is so much information collected in one day? Who decides what goes where?" The young ones were brimming with questions and the copy editors on the desk happily answered all their queries.
Their disappointment on not seeing big machines was perhaps diminished when they moved towards the designers. Filled with awe, they looked over the shoulders of designers who swiftly used software tools on work-in-progress pages. Some listened carefully, while the silent ones looked on, trying to absorb as much as possible, as the editorial team went about their day, chugging coffee and skimming copies.
Several returned home with renewed inspiration to become writers and journalists. But it was not just the students that took something back. The entire team at DNA felt refreshed after meeting the young minds. Their fresh perspective on our daily routine, that we often tend to take for granted, made us re-realise how exciting the process of bringing news to a reader's doorstep every morning, day after day, really is!
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Dolly Thakore, Adam Korakiwala and Lubaina Bandukwala")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}