Passion and Profession

“What made you choose anchoring as a profession?”

This question has been tossed at me on various occasions by youngsters and elders. Each time I am asked this; I take a moment to pause and ask myself if I chose it or it chose me. 

The reasons are many. For one; I was pursuing my masters in media and communication focused on a career in Public Relations. Secondly; I never thought that hosting non-television events as a compere existed as a profession. But it so happened that my dream of a PR job was shattered by the college I chose. They refused to tutor me in the specialisation I opted for in spite of doing well academically after the first year ( I topped, but yeah didn’t matter) The excuse they had was that not many in the batch wanted the specialisation and they dint find it viable to spend time or money on it. I was given an option to choose between print media or broadcast. I didn’t want both.

I didn’t go to college for a few days. I wanted to make up my mind on what to do. That is when I was asked by a friend to host a talent hunt in a few colleges for a corporate brand. I was familiar with anchoring and voiceovers in school and college; just went ahead without giving it much thought. Ten days passed; the event got done with successfully and I received my first cheque. But the bonus was another offer to host for few more brands. 

I was happy; why not! I enjoyed hosting and it paid money! 

However, I made one last attempt to check with college about specialisation in corporate communication. After all that is what I had enrolled for. 

But no. My dream, time and money didn’t mean a thing to them. 

So Yes! I QUIT. 

Quit college, quit my masters programme hoping I enrol myself in a better college next year. The plan was to just live life one day at a time until then and host events whenever they came my way. 

But the admission next year never happened. I never went back to academics. Instead I continued hosting shows which kept me happy. 

But the irony of it all that is that I chose to not specialise and get my masters degree in broadcast which the college had coaxed me to and today I work as a successful broadcaster with Star Sports Network! 

So yeah; who chose who I don’t really know.

Madhu Mailankody is a sports presenter at Star Sports Network and professional MC