ExPRESS: A Founder's Note

For the avid followers of Express, a constant irk and question has been posed throughout our journey, The About Us column which basically contains nothing. Some of you know me, and a few others are well aware of the ExPRESS members, but I've faced numerous questions which demanded the story behind our formation. So in case you're expecting some abstract melancholic prose piece, or a scathing pamphlet on societal stereotypes, like our usual self, Stop reading it abruptly, it's a very personal essay written exclusively on the occasion of our first birthday to thank all the members and expressionists who have helped us grow into what we are today.

Back in a lousy May afternoon, a very hot one in fact, I was having a conversation with a very close friend of mine over the futility of our respective lives! The results were just around the corner, and we basically had nothing to do, other than toiling again for the entrance exams coming up shortly; (some of you can relate I know). So in this conversation we were talking about another organisation which we were leading, something which we had left, and had eventually fallen apart!

My enthusiasm towards an unbiased and unrestricted voice for the college-goers had been a very long dream, and this was one of the sole reasons for me resigning from the aforementioned enterprise. I had my personal opinions which clearly clashed with the founder's, eventually leading to us parting, but that's actually not the point! So looking back to this memorable afternoon, I came up with my idea of forming a venture which would bank its ideals on socio-political activism, literary inputs and of course, other sidekicks which is pretty much common to everyone. Oh, we were T.T.I.S colleagues, and although its pretty naive to speak ill of your former organisation which I'm clearly not (so please don't misinterpret), we were a bit exasperated at the kind of stories promoted through that forum, and we genuinely felt our creativity being curtailed through such censoring! This conversation went late into the night, and I gathered those initial lot of enthusiastic members who had their respective expertise in their fields, who would eventually help us during those initial few days.

Rohit, Jashomoti, Akash and Sunidhi, you're not forgotten and you will never be! A month into the process, with some careless articles, irregular working hours, and an unattractive blogspot, our inexperience and amateurish perspectives were clearly coming into foreplay, plus the results were out and we had to cater to some serious career introspection (keeping aside, settling down in a different atmosphere away from home in a different city). By the end of June, we had stopped functioning, sincerely due to my exasperation, and depression. July went, August rained, and September was dying, another conversation, late into the night, and we were quite intrigued (read Ecstatic) at the kind of responses we had been getting from our old neglected baby! People wanted us to get back, many strangers pinged us every now and then, and most importantly it was a constant process. The buzz was already created, what mattered most was finding the right lot to ensure this won't fall down like some of those "unfinished projects". As a founder, that job falls completely on you, and trust me the pressure is really hectic, we re-started with an article through our facebook page, a controversial piece regarding Shahrukh Khan's harassment by the RSS leaders and voilà, it generated quite a buzz! Interacting with a few people got us a few more enthusiastic writers, who had been longing for an opportunity for quite some time, and most importantly believed in our approach to make things right. The person I am looking at right now, is Sohini, our PR head, someone whose enthusiasm and skills got us many good writers, among which some became our core team members in a very short while. Shreya Basak, and Swagato Basak, this deadly duo, falls under this list, both are good authors- Swagato has an amazing hand at photography and Shreya is a very efficient leader- their inclusion and participation has helped ExPRESS grow in more number of ways I can think of, and honestly, these are two colleagues everyone would like to work with! Their dedication, cooperation and efficiency are all top-notch!

Anyway, we re-started with a few teams from various colleges, namely Asutosh, Shri Shikshayatan, Loreto, Jaipuria, Presidency and St.Xavier's. Some of these teams were indeed very disappointing, but here I've to mention three people from the English honours department of Loreto, Manjima Sarkar, Barsha Bhattacharya, Debopriya Samanta, for those who do not know them, I can guarantee you something, 10 years down the line, these people will grow into the best of dance and movie aficionados, social critics of our times, and that's something I can place my money on blindly. You people have always been dear to us, and will always stay that way, please do not let go of this undying love for us, and we sincerely hope to make it worth it! Also Medha Bhattacharya, a very talented music geek and an engineer hailing from B.P.Podder engineering college has been one of our most regular and important contributors right from the start.

Manjima, Debopriya and Barsha from the left

Initially, Asutosh was indeed a very disappointing venture other than Sohini and Aritra Chatterjee , who is probably the best writer we've got on-board, Hands down! A fashionista and literary geek to its core, this man's diction stands out among the best in this city, and at times have made this founder wonder at his decision to write for an organisation which clearly didn't deserve him at that point of time. It's this passion, and the belief in one's work that will help you grow, and this is something that I have mentioned throughout.

Sayantan Datta, our Ex-Editor-in-chief

Sayantan Datta, our ex editor-in-chief deserves all the credit for bringing in Aritra to our organisation, and keeping that apart, this queer expressionist's advises and guidance has shaped many of us into what we are today, including mine! He has been among the most swift and natural authors I've ever been close to, and ExPRESS owes a lot to this man hailing from Presidency University! Talking about Presidency University, I have to mention a couple of my very favourite people, Gargi and Ahona, two very talented feminists, with a grasp over the language which can easily range from a very melancholic personal tale to a political satire! Anurag Sengupta, a budding chef from IHM Pusa, New Delhi, one of our oldest writers and followers is the other guy who has never at any point disappointed us. His articles about tourism, food, and especially social analysis have been one of the best in our armada!

Our Fantastic Four

Most of our intern pool belong to St.Xavier's and the funny remark that we associate in this context, is that we sometimes consider changing our name to Express "THE XAVIER'S WALA MAGAZINE". Anyway coming to that later, I have to thank Priyadarshini Mukherjee and Anuska Gupta who have been a part of our family ever since the budding stages, and the former especially has helped me on numerous occasions when it came to PR suggestions, something which is actually not my strongest point! When it comes to the best in our list, I push forward two of our authors, one being Aritra and the other Navamita Chandra and Oh boy, does she write well! Our current editor-in-chief has inspired a lot of us at the helm to change our methods and approach towards our craft, and we can barely thank her enough for that!
When it comes to inadequate gratitudes expressed, Ankit Agarwal is the man who came in and changed our organisation for the better in those vital technical points! He is the tech-genius along with Aditya Vyas, the business-artist and the man with the implementations, and this guy really means serious business (NO, NOT TRADE AND COMMERCE ALWAYS).

Jaismita Alexander is the Co-founder of this organisation, and she is the one whom we call the mother of this baby, her endless toil and efforts towards this organisation has been unrivalled.

Priyankur Sengupta, our other Management Head deserves a special mention in this regard for his cool and calm way of handling things when everything else falls apart!

The Intern team, comprising of Eva, Hifza, , Utsa, Sucharita, Debadrit, Jayita, Amrita, Anumita, Jyotishko, Pritha, Priyanka, Ketan, Shaoni, Rupkatha, Anushua, and Meghna who is going to join us an editor very soon, you ALL have been very special to us, and your efficiency is something we adore. Thank you for putting up with us, and believing in us, and it's genuinely through your participation that we might be the face of Indian Journalism someday. It's you who complete us, and it's through your expressions that ExPRESS receives a voice!

And our dear beloved followers and readers, thank you for putting up with us even on those numerous occasions when we failed you, and thank you for sticking with us through our highs and lows! I implore you to send us your feedbacks about our ways of functioning, as it is you and only you who can help us flourish into something we have not yet achieved. Thank you for all the love and the well wishes, YOU are the foundation on which we are based upon! On the occasion of our first birthday, we dedicate it to the interns and you!

Signing off and apologising for this boring piece of expression!

The Founder's Note

Anubhav Chakraborty.

Organisations we would like to thank :