To Northpoint, with Love!

How do you think you can learn to play Cricket?

There are 2 ways, one is you read a book on cricket and the other is you actually get on to the field and play cricket.
In the same way there are 2 ways of learning, one is where you read theory from books, never mind that theory hardly ever applies to practical life and the other where you learn by doing things. And that's what Northpoint stands for, 'Learning by Doing'.
And obviously since Northpoint is associated with Lintas India, one of the best in the industry.... it definitely has to be a great experience.

So, this is how my journey at Northpoint started.

On May 27th ’05, I entered the gates of Northpoint for the first time. A sense of pride filled up in me when I saw the spectacular architecture. For a few seconds I stood awestruck wondering if this was my institution or one of the luxury hotels by Taj. But the feeling subsided as time passed by and we were introduced to our course.

PGPAMC Batch One

All the 30 of us looked at each other with inhibitions & eagerness, but for a new bonding.
The enthusiasm, excitement, anxiety, doubts, the so called 1st impressions gave their way off once all of us introduced ourselves to each other.
After acquainting ourselves with everyone it took us good 4 hours to explore the massive architecture which had 2 blocks; executive & the students block. Obviously, the students block was the place where we had to spend the forthcoming days.

My Northpoint has everything which no other institution would ever have.
The lobby where we watched TV, the gym where the boys build muscles & the girls toned their body, the squash court where we had our matches, the tennis court, the swimming pool & Jacuzzi, the gardens, ‘Gossip’ where we filled our tummies with the delicacies, ‘Discuss’ where we got involved in small discussions with the lecturers & 'Discover' where we tried to discover the ways we could learn more & more, the library where we got almost all the bookish Gyaan we could ask for, the admin block where we charged our laptops & surfed net.

We were fortunate enough to have been taught by all the biggies in the industry. People who have seen advertising, felt advertising & done advertising, came all the way to Northpoint to share with us everything they could. No jargons, no books... only live case studies is what we came across.

The 360 degree communication, the ATL & BTL activities were words unheard to me, but when I finished my course I crossed the finish line of advertising. Only because Northpoint is a part of Lintas, we were exposed to Lintas IMAG i.e. Integrated Marketing Action Group. In the 2 months of our IMAG stint, we got an opportunity to experience outdoor, rural, in film, healthcare advertising, the event management bit, the designing bit & public relations. I mean which other course would actually allow you to work with an agency of a stature as big as Lintas. But, honestly the amount I learnt there is phenomenal. No other course or no other institute could make a course as interesting as PGPAMC.

And now let me introduce to you Countryside Inn, our home in Lonavala. The beautiful inn which is located in the isolated parts of Lonavala, an 8 km drive from Northpoint.
The nice, clean rooms, the small pool, the garden, the swings, the shade, the different kinds of experimental cuisines, the morning breakfast, the late night projects, celebrating birthdays at midnight by throwing people in the pool, celebrating every small festival with the whole gang. It was fun to live there.

Today when I sit & think, I realize that these 18 months have passed like 18 minutes. Every day, every minute & every single second whether we sulked or laughed, it taught us new things. But as they say that life moves on, I also moved ahead & today I am placed as a copywriter in Linterland, the rural marketing wing of Lintas IMAG.

If Northpoint wouldn't have been there, I wouldn't have been where I am today.

Apeksha ‘appy’