Blast

Week 8: My Final Destination: Back Home :(

They say all good things come to an end and sadly my voyage at the BBC in Leicester had to finish one day!

From starting off in Bristol with very little knowledge about how articles are produced and presented to now having the confidence of producing and article myself. I have always been passionate about the arts and truly love my home town.

However none of this would have been possible without the support and guidance from my mentor Sonia, Dave Harvey and I can't forget the rest of the wonderful team at the BBC such as Rebecca, Tina and the rest of the lovely BBC members.

Pursuing My Dreams

I am definitely going to miss going out to events, looking forward to seeing my work go live on the web and not to forget the wonderful noodle bar next door. For me I feel that this is NOT the end of my journey, because I now have the confidence and drive to pursue my dreams further.

You have seen me Sejal Sharma as the Lois Lane reporter but with the strength of Superman behind me the next time you see me will be on screen. He he he he!

Before I fly away into the sunset I want to finally give the biggest thanks to my family, friends and everyone else who has been following my journey at BBC Leicester. God bless and Love you all! x o x o x o x

Week 7: Stretch!

For my penultimate week I wanted to visit some where different and interesting on my Blast Voyage.

So many people had told me about a new type of Yoga which is growing popular in Leicester so being the inquisitive reporter I am, I visited Bikram Yoga.

I didn't realise that the Yoga classes would be performed in a heated room at 40C and I was sweating even before I took a single photo.

I had herd a lot about the benefits of Yoga but seeing it and speaking to people about it made me realise the real benefits there are.

I wasn't prepared for a workout yet and after finishing my article and sweating off 600 calories I was ready for a nice big lunch.

Sejal at Castle Park Festival

Week 6: Queen of the Castle!

I was back on my feet on Monday as my Blast Reporter journey continued.

This week I got to help the team whilst they were reporting at the Castle Park Festival. Armed with my digital camera I brought together lots of people to take some fun shots.

I also helped to promote BBC Radio Leicester and managed to get my own freebie BBC golf umbrella. It was a good end to the bank holiday weekend!

The next day was really hectic as there were so many pictures to get ready to publish onto the web. Yep it was definitely a square eyes day!

As my journey draws closer to its final destination make sure you visit my site again to see where the next part takes me and what interesting things lie ahead.

Sejal reporting!

Week 5: A Bumpy Week!

This week I was quite ill unfortunately and I had rang in sick at work on Monday.

So I was relaxing in bed watching HEROES! yes for those who don't know what Heroes is all about then I suggest you all to watch it because you don't know what you are missing out on!

On Tuesday I was feeling a bit better but needed rest for another day but nothing cannot stop Louis Lane, I couldn't help myself to go into work to finish off my diary and my profile to upload on my Blast web page!

So pretty much my half day was quite relaxing. Once I had ticked off the two things I had to to do which was uploading my diary and my profile, they were then ready to be published! I was feeling much better and so much more happier!

Pit Stop: Blast On Tour Arrives Into Leicester

It was a good pit stop as the week ended with me going to report on BBC Blast On Tour as it reached Leicester. It was amazing to finally see the Blast On Tour bus which I had heard so much about.

I managed to take loads of pictures and I had then joined in with some of the workshops and mingled with the kids that took part.

It was a real fun day and it was really good to see the contribution Blast on tour was making when I saw the satisfaction on the kids faces!

Being a reporter is never nine to five and just when I thought it had been a long day, it got even longer. Both Sonia and I were at the office until 20:00 on Friday night making sure the article went live.

It wasn't quite the end of the week because I forgot to mention my birthday!

Sejal celebrates her birthday!

Let The Celebrations Begin

No voyage can happen without celebrations and what better reason than to celebrate my 19th birthday.

In grand style I got to party with all my friends on Saturday and with all my family on Sunday.

I'd like to give a big thank you to everyone for making it so special! Love you all. 

Week 4: The Calm Waters of The BBC

I was editing pictures of Summer Sundae and Manjula's Diary.

After three hectic weeks reporting on large events it was a pleasant week for me in the calm waters of the BBC office.

This week I assisted Rebecca to prepare pictures which had been taken from the Summer Sundae weekender in Leicester.

It was a mammoth task as so many photos had been taken. I must have helped publish over 80-90 pictures for the web.

An interesting part of the week was editing Manjula's diary. Manjula has been living in the UK and recently she went back to India to see the changes that have taken place since the partition.

Leicester Caribbean Carnival

Week 3: The Journey Stops!

Having travelled to the Caribbean and India I had to take a few days back at BBC to put together my reports for the website.

As a photo mad journalist I had managed to take hundreds of pictures which were all good!

I have learnt that this is the true skill in being a good journalist, i.e. going through so much info and presenting it.

After three long days in front of the computer trying to figure out the software and managing to get square eyes I was finally done.

My two treasure articles were ready to be published. It was the best feeling ever!

Sejal: At one with nature!

Week Two: Double Action!

My journey continued in the second week with me preparing not only for one feature but two features in one weekend!

So that was something to definitely look ahead to (I am trying to act confident).

For Saturday I had to prepare to report at the Leicester Caribbean Carnival, and on Sunday it was the Leicester Ratha Yatra (Hindu Carnival of Chariots).

I knew it was going to be very challenging as they were Leicester's two big events of the summer.

So, being the budding reporter that I am, I started making phone calls and also wrote the questions I wanted to ask.

After a few meetings and more support from Sonia (my mentor) and Dave Harvey, I was ready and set for the weekend. But was the journey going to be smooth sailing?

Herdle White

A Journey to the Ends of the World!

It was not quite a journey to the Caribbean as unfortunately there weren't any palm trees or white sand or the deep blue sea, but I was definitely excited about having a taste of the Caribbean in my home town!

It was Saturday 04 August and the day started off far too early (yawn yawn) I reached the studio at 09:00 to meet Herdle White (a BBC Leicester presenter).

I had been asked to start the day helping Hurdle in the BBC car!

I felt so privileged working with such a talented radio presenter. His job was to report for the Radio side and my job was to report for the website.

One of the things I had prepared to do was to interview Mark Morrisson (famous RnB artist from Leicester) at the carnival.

I had spent time researching about him and had put together some tough questions for him!

However I was very disappointed when I found out in the morning that he wasn't going to be attending the carnival! Oh well, he got himself out of a tough interview and missed his chance to get interviewed by me.

It was 10:00 and Hurdle and I were ready and set to hit the crowds and meet the performers and procession participants.

Sejal and Karishma

I wandered off and started taking pictures of people rehearsing, preparing food at the stalls, creating and assembling the floats and pictures of all the action!

The best bit of the morning was calling on all the participants to pose in group photo's, as they were so excited to be performing and photographed by the BBC they certainly made it fun and loud.

As I had the journalistic skills to compose the group photos by bringing the people together it attracted other photographers to take the opportunity to take photos too. My BBC skills were definitely put to good use.

The atmosphere was amazing and buzzing with reggae music! It was extremely hot but I could see that people were really having a good time.

As the procession left from the Park, I travelled through the sea of people to find what they had to say about this year's carnival.

OMG guess who I bumped into whilst I was on my travels at the Carnival? It was Karishma Singapuri (last years Leicester BBC Blast Reporter).

The day seemed to pass by very quickly and before I knew it the time was 18:00 but the day was not going to end just yet.

I got home with my feet killing me and feeling really hot and tired but I still had energy to go through the pictures and interviews!

The 50 foot chariot

The Voyage Continues

Just as I thought I had almost recovered from a full day and was getting into deep sleep the alarm clock went off and it was 08:00 Sunday morning and yet another Carnival Day!

My journey continued from the Caribbean to Orissa in India where the Carnival of Chariots originates from.

Reporting in a similar manner I arrived at Leicester City Centre early so I could take pictures of the Chariot being decorated and the procession coming together.

Although it was a Hindu festival it was so nice to see people of so many different faiths come together.

Although there was lots of singing and dancing there was also a warm, friendly and spiritual feel to the carnival and it was certainly a different experience for me. It was certainly a privilege to be reporting there.

It was yet another long hot day full of lots of nice food from the stalls and lots of yummy ice cream for me.

I had gathered lots of material (treasure of pictures for the BBC Website) but I knew what this would mean for me on Monday!

Make sure to log in next week to find out more about what I have been up to in my journey… till then Ciao!