Mumbai to Toronto: a giant leap of faith
Quitting a job I enjoyed to moving continents to pursue a passion I loved, it’s been life-changing to say the least!
Early on in life, several imbalanced chemical equations and mismatched LHS and RHS in trigonometry gave me immense clarity. I wanted to write. I wanted to take up humanities and see where the five years (high school and graduation) took me. As long as it was far from engineering, finance, medicine, and all things science and maths, I was going to be happy.
And happy I was as I graduated from the University of Mumbai with a Bachelor’s in Mass Media and landed an internship at Hindustan Times. It was an unpaid internship, with a catch.
They still paid me their regular freelancer’s rate for every published article of mine. It was a great motivator. I was dabbling across beats – tech, food, city, travel, and college fests. A few months into the internship, when they offered me a job, I had already found the job I wanted to do all my life – journalism.
Life in the newsroom
Life went on, bylines kept piling up, and I was fortunate enough to be in the news house during the historic 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the country.
It was a mood, to say the least. The newsroom taught me lessons of life that probably no textbook could teach. It taught me to observe life through a storytelling lens at all times, it chiseled my brain to be more present at any hour of time, and most of all, to be alert.
And as most great things come to an end, my stint in the newsroom came to a curtain call 3.5 years after I joined. I wanted to study once again.
The 4Ws and H of studying abroad
What?
In 2017, more than ever, I knew exactly what I wanted to pursue: writing yet again. Journalism was second nature to me, and I felt it was about time to expand the horizons to digital as well as corporate communication.
Since courses in digital media were sparse and digital writing in general was in its germination stages in India, I looked outside the geographical box.
Why Canada?
Studying abroad is not a decision one makes overnight. I saw several of my friends go abroad, as well as a cousin, who is a scientist, and had spent several months in Canada – he couldn’t stop gushing about the prospects in Canada.
“It’s safe, and with the kind of global population you see there, you will feel you’re a part of a global village while being not so far away from home emotionally,” he said.
Personally, I wanted to see the world, be a global citizen, and do all this, while being back in the classroom.
Where?
The most crucial groundwork in studying abroad is the selection of the course.
Of course, finances are a big part of any major decision-making process, and once my mind was set on Canada, I started checking the costs involved across cities as well as the various kinds of courses.
My findings rooted in facts showcased Toronto as slightly easier on the pocket, as compared to Vancouver. While Montreal posed a linguistic problem as fluency in French is unofficially mandatory for survival in the province of Quebec.
After I had zeroed in on the city, I was on the Mission Course Hunter.
Since the newsroom had taught me quite a bit of writing on the job, I gathered that a PG Diploma would be a boost to my existing knowledge.
Recommended Reading: PG Diploma in Canada – Top Courses and Colleges
Amidst several courses, I zeroed in on Lifestyle Journalism at Centennial and Professional Writing and Communications at Humber College.
While the former was an extension of my job, Humber College’s course seemed more challenging with a plethora of newer avenues and subjects. It also came with a promise of opening doors to newer careers in writing. I was chuffed.
Looking back, I have absolutely no regrets.
With some of the most experienced and earnest faculty, the Professional Writing and Communications course at Humber College has been a blessing in more ways than I can count.
When?
I had decided in 2016 November that I’d move abroad to study, but decided to sign up for the Fall intake since I needed to give myself time to process the process *grins*, and ensure a smooth transition.
In my experience, the Fall intake was also weather-wise more compatible. Since it gives time for students to warm up to the biting cold.
How?
I didn’t trust myself completely, and hence, signed up with IDP, a leading overseas education consultancy, which guided me through the application and visa process. I am eternally grateful to them for taking care of the arduous process and being patient with my queries.
Recommended Reading: Independent Admission Consultants vs Overseas Education Counselors: Pros and Cons
My fees were self-funded, while my family helped with the additional GIC funding, but understanding the whole bank paperwork and running to the bank multiple times for sure was tedious.
Life after Humber:
I was fortunate enough to have a Co-Op component in my course, which gave the initial boost to my work life right after college.
I landed an internship with the Toronto International Festival of Authors, the oldest literary festival in Canada. It was a marketing communication role, which involved coming up with campaign ideas to promote the festival.
The three-month internship soon turned into a job offer, and the next several months were spent networking with some of the most-loved authors in Canada including Margaret Atwood and Emma Donoghue.
My work stint in Canada was a deep dive into writing of a different kind: fiction and the world of publishing. It was nine months of pure bliss sniffing paperbacks, admiring cover art, and being involved in organizing one of the premium literary events in North America.
Truly, dream-come-true.
While I was living a dream, in the peak of winter 2018, in December, two months after the festival, the festival committee shut shop for a four-month break. Since work didn’t commence on the next edition until April.
Moving Back to India
It was a decisive time for me, and I had my heart set on one thing: I wanted to continue working in writing. While December-February is said to be difficult for employment opportunities, I faced it first-hand, and as March marched in, I had made up my mind of returning home, armed with more skills and in a couple of months, I had already landed a job with Tweak India, as the lifestyle editor.
It was my maiden gig in digital media, with the independence to write the kind of stories I wanted. It seemed like my time in Canada came full circle with no hard feelings at all.
Personally, I strongly believe that everything, every place has its time and Canada happened to me when I needed it to happen, and it gave me more than I wished for, and I only look back with utmost fondness.
Back home, at my new job, I found myself banking on a lot of skills and lessons I had learned back in Toronto, and each day filled me with more gratitude for the decision I had made to return to the classroom to pursue what I was passionate about.
Currently, I am a sports marketer with Sportz Interactive, a digital solutions agency for sports leagues, broadcasters, and teams. I have worked on the maiden season of Gujarat Titans, the champions of IPL 2022, and it’s been such a melting pot of various kinds of communications, and much of it, I owe it to Humber College and the year I spent in Canada.
My two cents for aspiring applicants:
Keep your mind and options open, and be patient yet flexible.
It always helps to not be fixated on the idea of a PR when you decide to go abroad to study. There are doors that you don’t know exist, there are windows of opportunity which you don’t know yet about.
It’s always useful to network with your faculty members, classmates, flatmates, and even the barista at the neighborhood Starbucks. You never know who may have a crucial lead for you. Be ready to struggle but also pick your struggles and battles. Be open to changes, and be armed with the thickest winter coats, because God knows, you’ll need them the most for a whole quarter of a year.
But most of all, it’s of utmost importance that you keep an open mind, and embrace the cultural hotspot that is Canada. Embrace the newness and the new pastures will hug you back, tighter than you’ll expect.