Maclagan Edition 7

Featured Article

OCTOBER

MACLAGAN

2021

EDITION

7

In Conversation With

Kelly Quindlen

Page 2

If Only It Were A Democracy Page 4

Women Of PEC :

Vanya Sharma Page 6

How To : Intern Edition Page 8

The Accidental Brilliance Of A Bad Book

Page 10

In Conversation With

Kelly Quindlen

INTERVIEWED BY ARUSHI AGGARWAL

Kelly is the author of YA novels She Drives Me Crazy and Late to the Party. She is also the author of the self-published novel Her Name in the Sky, which has sold over 25,000 copies through word-of-mouth in the queer community.

AA : What was your inspiration behind ‘She Drives Me Crazy’?

KQ : I just wanted to have a book that gives young LGBTQ people, who don’t see a lot of representation otherwise, a happy romantic comedy to read in the spirit of a lot of the old American 70s and 80s teen films. My underlying aspiration was just to take a popular trope in pop culture and cinema and make it gay.

AA: Yeah, I think it’s nice to see that an entire community which has been underrepresented in both pop-culture and books is receiving media directed towards them in a way that they can enjoy. What does own voices representation mean to you, given that it’s such a focal point of your books?

KQ : Honestly, I wrote those books for the younger version of me who didn’t have access to such stories, so to me, telling these stories means giving a reflection to people who’ve not been able to see themselves in the media they consume.

AA: Irene’s character particularly struck a chord with me since a lot of her character depth comes from trying to reconcile the path her parents wish her to take versus the one she wants.

What did you hope readers would take away from her experiences?

KQ: Irene was a character who sprang to life when I was writing her story and it was so important for me to capture her essence in a way that feels authentic the best I could. It makes me so happy to see that she’s been resonating with so many readers since I think she’s one of my favorite characters that I’ve ever written.

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AA: Regarding your writing process, beyond the first manuscript, how many further edits does EDITION it take before you can say that the book is complete?

KQ: Oh my god, so many. There are so many versions and revisions to where I don’t even worry about the polishing and the grammatical edits of it for six months up to a year of edits. If any aspiring writers are reading this, make sure you are giving yourself enough time to do those revisions because the best writing happens when you are doing those revisions.

AA: Coming to aspiring writers, your first book, “Her Name In The Sky” was self-published as opposed to “She Drives Me Crazy” which was traditionally published. What has been your experience with these two different mediums of publishing?

KQ: Comparing the two would sort of be like comparing apples to oranges - both experiences were vastly different, and I enjoyed the process of the two for their own individual reasons. For anyone trying to pursue publishing, it’s more imperative that you’ve the best story you can achieve with the characters and you’ve done your research about either route of publishing.

AA : This will be very helpful for our readership, thank you! I was stalking your Tumblr as one does and you were part of “Fortunate and Faithful Families” - what has been your experience like in advocating for the rights of LGBTQ youth?

KQ : For me, it’s specifically about the LBTQ youth that have grown up in a faith tradition, which is Catholicism for me, although I think it can apply to a myriad of experiences beyond Christianity where homophobia has done a lot of damage so it’s important for me to show both the youth and their parents that there is a space for queer people in faith communities. Being a queer person and a religious person shouldn’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, I think they go Sh e D hand-in-hand and one experience can enrich the other. y

riv es M e C r a z

AA : I rarely see a lot of discourse on the intersection of your faith with your identity, so this is definitely an interesting perspective.

KQ: And I feel it’s necessary because when I was younger, I felt as if I had to choose between being a “Good Christian girl” and letting myself crush on other girls. It took me a long time to understand that these two things are not opposites - in fact, they are very complementary.

AA: Since we’re coming to the end of the interview, I’d like to leave it on a lighter note, so what was your favorite scene to write in “She Drives Me Crazy”?

KQ: I loved writing the scene between Scottie and Irene on Christmas Eve where they drive around town, get hot chocolate and once they’re back at Irene’s, they have a really tender moment under the Christmas tree. I really loved writing that scene. Oh, and you know what other scene was really fun? When Scottie ends up at Honey-Belle’s home for the sleepover where they are all in the hot tub together and the awkwardness is so palpable.

AA: Leave us with some recommendations of books that you’ve been enjoying lately.

KQ: Oh, of course. I’d recommend “Something to Talk About” by Meryl Wilsner for anyone looking for a fake-dating trope in their fiction. “Home Field Advantage” by Dahlia Adler, which comes out next year and focuses on the lead quarterback and the head cheerleader - definitely a fun read for anyone that’s enjoyed “She Drives Me Crazy”

If Only It Were A

by Kalash Jain

DEMOCRACY

The notion that India, in its current state, is still a democracy, is one that should effectively be thrown out like spoiled milk kept too long in the fridge while no one was watching. The only difference is, we were watching.

We watched as our country transcended from a state when the government feared the media for shedding light on shady corners they didn’t want people to see, to a narrative of the holy government who can do nothing wrong, and any move made by said government, regardless of how demented, is worth worshipping, after all, how can our government be wrong.

I hope the reader notices the use of “who” instead of “that” in reference to our government. It isn’t a mistake, but can’t be claimed deliberately in the worry that these words will be minced just enough to steer away from the sad reality to a notion of anti-nationalism, which is by far the most convenient piece of escapism available in the market right now.

This sad reality is a one-word wonder who uses alliteration and random pauses (his soul gasping as it tries to run away from him) to sugar-coat his propaganda to a point where he graciously offers it to us, wrapped in an orange flower that never opens.

Though I like to call him Our Very Own Elected Autocrat.

An autocrat will do their best to make sure they maintain their power. Our personal one has figured out a way, where he conveniently shifts the burden of any work onto the masses and waits as they so desperately complete the deed in the hope of some insignificant validation from our “leader” who is depending on us. What they don’t realize is that the moment they do so, they’re indirectly (or directly) associating themselves with his success or failure and before they know it, comes election day, and their finger tangoes to the orange lotus, a sense of familiarity which brought nothing butan immoral vendetta against a certain God and a police which forgot to protect their people while they were too busy enjoying the sense of being feared.

You see, the media portrays him as a knight in shining armor, here to save us from our miseries. Yet they forget to mention the miseries and who faces them. What they forget to mention is that the trauma of an anti-secular government can make one tremble with the worry of not making it to tomorrow. The inability to voice our issues, our worries, or fears is not just because we’re afraid of being beaten by bhakts who have covered their shrines with a poster of a Brahmin Santa who laughs funny, but because the most obvious avenue, ie., our media will rat out these individuals, will turn a blind eye to their story, because after all, what is life if not a capitalistic chess game of who gets the higher TRP. Our “transparent” news channels made sure to rejoice in the desi met gala of the Kumbh Mela which gathered countless individuals who forgot the concept of masks, while simultaneously punching down on Eid gatherings by calling them a selfish religious event that risked our entire country. Yet they expect us to not call out this hypocrisy whose roots are clearly buried deeper than the bodies of our youth who saw their identities stripped to their religion while they were asked for their “papers of patriotism”, which make no mistake, was an absolute turd-scented case of racial profiling. The whole CAA-NRC situation showed us that power transcends into a bias-God complex as long as the “majority” deems it ok.

The government has taken the notion of majority and managed to beat this dead horse until it spits out gold until it turns into a fucking unicorn, whose horn triumphs high with the blood of the minority who get lost in between the pandering and the parades marched along the broken roads they forgot to fix, but who cares, as long as the majority votes. And why shouldn’t they vote? After all, what is the government, if not the most profound reminder of pedestals in religion, and why shouldn’t Ram take his rightful throne, about time no?

I hope you laugh at the irony in the use of the word “rightful” as hard as I did, cause as you read this on your screens, ask yourself, what is left of your “rights” if anything? Try to continue smiling still.

Women Of PEC

Vanya Mishra

by Saachi Talwar

How many women transition from graduating as an engineer to winning a national level beauty pageant to finally becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs?

She is one of the most beautiful women in the country, holds the title of Femina Miss India World 2012, and she’s Vanya Mishra. Born in the small city of Jalandhar, Punjab and brought up in the city beautiful - Chandigarh, she had always dreamt of becoming a model. Disregarding the society’s expectations, she chose her own way by putting her ambitions first and pursued her desired career while still a student.

Transitioning to college brought about a lot of changes for Vanya. Her time at our hallowed institute is one of the most cherished periods of her life. Anna’s warm meals managed to entice her, even when her days were jam-packed with modelling commitments.

She astonished the country with her grace and beauty during the glittering ceremony of Miss India World in Mumbai. Her final Q&A round that won her the pageant was "If you were to choose between a thousand poor children to feed or a thousand unemployed people to employ, which one would you chose and why" to which she replied "If I were to choose between these two, honestly I'd feed the children as little children are innocent and cannot help themselves, but I will also like impart them education so

that such a scenario doesn't repeat itself".This answer won the heart of Chairperson of Miss World Organisation, Ms. Julia Morley who was one of the esteemed guests.

She was crowned by Former Miss World Ivian Sarcos of Venezuela. She went on to represent India at the Miss World 2012 event in China in August 2012, finishing at 5th rank,and won the other two; Miss Multimedia and Beauty with a Purpose titles.

A few years down the line, she chose to forego multiple Bollywood and TV offers. Rather, Vanya shifted her efforts to fulfill her entrepreneurial aspirations. Immediately after graduating from PEC in 2014, she established SummerLabel, a fashion discovery portal which is a platform for organising and managing public and private events.

Her long list of achievements include; Hindustan Times’ award for young achievers - HT 30 under 30, Gr8! Women Achievers Award in Mumbai, televised on Colors channel, as well as the Kalpana Chawla Excellence Award. Her story has aroused such awe among Indians that she is regularly invited for inspirational talks to young people as National Youth Ambassador, and has judged various talent shows.

She continued her journey as an entrepreneur till 2017, after which she joined Reliance Jio as a Senior Manager. There, she led and conceptualized 'Jio Main Bhi Miss India' in partnership with Femina Miss India - a successful nationwide digital Campaign where Jio gave a chance to all women without any criteria to give them a chance to fulfill their dreams.

Always a risk taker, Vanya has entrusted IIM Ahmedabad’s legacy to the cohort with the best education and exposure to management and leadership skills. She aims to pursue a career in the technology and media industry which align with her experience and core interests.

Vanya Mishra has gone from being a vivacious girl with a dream to a conscientious and guileful entrepreneur who steadfastly goes on to bring pride to her alma mater.

HOW TO: INTERN EDITION

By Vrinda Vashisht Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Batch of 2022 Edited by Piyush Gulati For this edition, we chronicle the internship journey of Vrinda Vashisht, who pursued an international internship at Imperial College London, as a research intern.

While the idea of a research intern immediately leads one to think about core fields of study, I pursued a research internship in a non-core field of Strategy and Entrepreneurship. My motivation for this internship was the idea of a research internship itself. I have never heard of any senior pursuing research in non-core subjects. Usually, people in PEC go for research in core fields of engineering. I used to discuss the process and methodology of a research internship and did not quite understand why people aren't trying to find similar research opportunities in non-core fields. This interest in research, coupled with my interest in learning about business and entrepreneurship was the main driver for me pursuing this research. In PEC, a lot of students prepare for noncore internships in fields of business, corporate finance, investment banking, analytics, etc. which come under the umbrella of finance and business. Hence, a research internship in these fields is very dynamic and can give students the capacity to get deep knowledge about these fields. It does not restrict them to follow a certain role as an intern when they work for a corporate firm.

The preparation for this type of internship usually requires some prerequisites.

The student should have a decent CGPA and an all-rounder performance in the college when it comes to co-curricular activities, such as social work or events.

"Don't forget to ask for a recommendation letter from your mentor"

The student should also have done relevant projects in the field of interest.

Chances of getting selected increase if the student has a letter of recommendation which is signed by an institution/ person working in the same field that the student wants to apply to. The main process involves cold-emailing the institutions after carefully analyzing the research interests that you want to pursue. Since the work is research-intensive, students need to think diligently about the research they are interested in. My preference was Business schools in the United Kingdom. I applied to London Business School, LSE, and Imperial College London.

After sending out the emails which is slightly cumbersome, I got an offer from Imperial College London. The internship was a wonderful experience and a huge addition to my learning curve. While I was not able to visit the campus and pursue my internship in London, due to the covid guidelines and restrictions on travel, the work-from-home process was also enjoyable. My work was project-based and there was no headache of time zone differences. I worked on multiple projects which included my mentor's ongoing research in Digital economics. As a student from an engineering background, it was important for me to undergo research training and get acquainted with various concepts of industrial organization, business, digital economics, etc. My mentor was very cooperative and guided me throughout this first phase of the internship. After this, I worked on his ongoing research. Case studies are a staple in business schools and are the best way one can learn about various business challenges and learn to apply theoretical frameworks in a beneficial manner. Two straight months of working on HBR cases made me proficient in business case analysis and problem-solving. Overall, this was a huge learning opportunity for me and I wouldn't trade it with any other corporate internship.

Don't forget to ask for a recommendation letter from your mentor, as it will be useful for you while applying for jobs. Wishing people all the best for their internship!

The Accidental Brilliance Of A Bad Book

By Atulya Mani Tripathi

A story that feels dragged out, but it makes you turn page after page. A story that is a bad aping of The Hunger Games. A story so generic, that it has destroyed the YA dystopian genre from the inside, in a way that the field will be dead in a decade.

Think of a marketable YA dystopian. Ignore the craft, just look at the profit.

Let’s start with your protagonist. Bland yet appreciable, their only personality trait is being somewhat strong-willed, because anything more complex would stop the (young) audience from projecting themselves onto the character. Physique? Delicate and attractive (but they think they are ugly, obviously), yet somehow strong enough to hold themselves against much superior combatants. The perfect mask for your target audience, the (understandably) insecure teens.

So they love your protagonist, how about the social construct? Make the government put them into Harry Potter-esque houses, based on a single personality trait. Your average teen is happy to be defined by “Pisces, Ravenclaw, Erudite”.

You need them to agree with the protagonist they’re already in love with.

Let’s make them go from the ‘blandest’ faction (Abnegation) to the ‘coolest’ faction (Dauntless). If the teen isn’t attracted to the faction playing Capture The Flag, that you’ve barely seen working, that are practically teenagers on a budget, that teen was never your audience. Your protagonists love interest is a little older, attractive, and brooding. What else do you need?

Your villain? The pretentious, intelligent, with a minimalist aesthetic, headed by a woman (for some reason). The only one brave special enough to fight the power? The protagonist, of course. Throw in some fanservice, action, skin, somehow shut it all together like an overfilled briefcase, and you’ve got a bare bones world, delicately crafted for maximum marketability.

What happens next? You realise (a little too late) that you’ve exposed yourself, and every other YA dystopian writer, because even though you’ve ripped off older (and much better) books of the same genre, your creation is the essence of everything there was, and everything there will ever be. You will have a front row seat as the entire genre crumbles, under the weight of your hollow, pathetic, absolutely (and accidentally) phenomenal books.

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