16 Speakers, 4 Days, 11 Venues Across Mumbai: What Parul University’s Gyansthan Writers Tour Actually Looked Like From the Inside

Not auditoriums with projectors. The actual rooms where books get edited, news gets filed, ads get briefed, and films get commissioned.

• Mumbai Press Club (3,000 journalist members): CNN News18 News Editor Mayuresh Ganpataye and The Quint Co-Founder Ritu Kapoor
• Jaico Publishing House (80-year publisher): full team – publisher, editor Fei, marketing head Clinton, author Puja Rai
• National Gallery of Modern Art (UNESCO Grade I heritage, built 1911, Gandhi spoke here): IAS Nidhi Chaudhry, Director NGMA Mumbai
• Prithvi Theatre (Shri Prithviraj Kapoor Memorial Trust): actor Makarand Deshpande
• SNDT Women’s University (South Asia’s first and largest women’s university): Vice Chancellor Dr Ujwala Chakradeo
• Indian Merchants’ Chamber (Mahatma Gandhi was a member): Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai, 24 bestselling books, 10,000-book personal library
• Boathouse Media (ad film production): co-founders Devik and Yug Rathod, Rs 7,000 shoots to Rs 75 lakh campaigns
• Crossword Bookstores: author Saurabh Bajaj (IIM Indore)
• Juhu Reads (silent reading community): founder Diya Sen Gupta, inspired by Cubbon Reads
• NMIC and IICT: Academic Director Satish Narayana – storytelling from cave paintings to AR/VR

Students from psychology, journalism, law, English literature, pharmacy, computer science, mass communication, BBA, political science, and criminal psychology. One student from Zimbabwe as part of a law exchange, participants who asked questions, received pushback, and in several sessions were challenged directly by speakers. If you wish to have a fruitful career in journalism, then delay not and enrol into BA Journalism and Mass Communication at Parul University!

Admissions are open for BA English at Parul University!

Shiv Tandan is a very famous lyricist, writer and director. He has received Davis Projects for Peace Award (Clicking Together workshop). Head of Creative Content at MBite (geomapped edtech). Song Part Fire performed by Hitesh Parajpura, released on a Netflix series. Center for Education YouTube channel (40,000+ subscribers). 300+ songs. Dooro Dooro took 3 years to find its audience.

Moved from Singapore to India. Wrote Fistful of Rupees with four actors, no budget. 50-60 shows. Singapore festival with a pay packet. Spoke about collaboration over isolation, his chai pe charcha feedback process (25 friends messaged, 6 show up, read aloud, everyone talks). On relatability: a dangerous word mostly created by MBAs.

Referenced Sahir Ludhianvi‘s Jashne-Ghalib and Ted Lasso. Quoted Bhagat Singh: my thoughts will live on in the winds, this handful of dust is all that fades. Recommended acting workshops for all writers. Currently touring The Chattan, an Indian superhero universe with useless powers (Telescope Tambey can talk to pigeons, which is useless because pigeons are dumb).

Challenged the room: take away at least 6 collaborations from these 4 days. Referenced The Lean Startup by Eric Ries and Ankur Warikoo on book marketing. On inspiration as a river: every culture has a word for it (shareer kasna in Urdu, the genie in Latin, ancestors in Indigenous American traditions). Ideas are impatient. They do not hang around.

If you’re equally passionate about building a career in human behaviour & process, then delay not and enrol into BA Psychology at Parul University.

Vikram Poddar is a Founder, Code Humor Comedy. Clients: HDFC, Nomura, Unilever, Vodafone, Accenture, WPP, PwC, Standard Chartered. Author of Funny Control, India’s only financial humor column (Economic Times, Mint). His major fear is people laughing at his poetry and crying at his comedy.

Taught the Harry Potter exercise: an orphan boy discovers he is really a wizard. Change discovers to believes and the story shifts from discovery to delusion, then to Joker. Used an arranged marriage tweet to show how a single line expands into articles, essays, and op-eds. Argued that WhatsApp messages, LinkedIn comments, PowerPoint presentations, and screenshot culture are all forms of writing. Humor spreads faster than outrage (referenced Richard Dawkins‘s meme definition).

Mind mapping exercise: built a character from the word college, then flipped the character trait to generate a completely different story. Core lesson: characteristics come first, plot comes last.

Three layers in every piece of writing: the character, the writer, the person. The Naruto framework for creative growth: ninjutsu (environment), genjutsu (relationships), taijutsu (relentless practice). His Ramayana as an Investment Banker bit came from corporate insider knowledge. In 2009, only about 60 comedians existed in India. He wrote a farmer-Raju water crisis journalism example connecting AI data centres to groundwater. On AI: use it as editor not author, ask it what makes your writing obviously not human. 19 months of cancelled shows. Father in hospital. Lost his voice. Came back each time. On speaking of cringe: it comes from trying to be someone you are not. Punching down: never felt the need, finds humor in situations and contradictions (smoking joke about passive smokers). Substack and the TLDR moment. A COVID-era mentor’s death: there was no next time. Recommended Mohabbatein and Satoru Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen) as character references.

Karina Pandya has written multiple books. Daily 5 AM routine (2-3 hours). Career path: banking (Chennai), junior psychologist, sub-editor, social media, SEO, advertising, then independent author in 2011. Honest: a book rarely pays the bills.

Conducted a writing exercise: Why do I write? A student said: Writing changed me. Another said: Writing is forgiving, unlike speaking or dancing, you can rewrite and erase.

Was bad at English in school, won a poetry competition, everything changed. Next book coming in 2 months: short stories on emptiness, anxiety, quiet inner spaces. Also publishing a poetry collection.

Final statement: when you put pen to paper, anything can happen. So delay not and move your writing career by pursuing MA in English Literature from Parul University!

Jaico Publishing House is an 80-year old publisher. Blind submission (every manuscript gets read).

Editorial: developmental feedback, line editing (track changes, red lines that terrified author Puja Rai), typesetting (no female typesetters, students should explore it), proofreading (2.5 weeks for 240 pages, do not add material at this stage), cover design, 6-8 months total.

Marketing: AIDA framework, 7 exposures before someone buys, running books at run clubs, sales books at sales conferences.

Puja Rai: five-star hotel vs motel analogy, knows colleagues with 1,000 copies at home. Publisher on aisle managers: the most important person in the bookstore. Editor on Yudhishthira: introduced the character for readers who would not know the name.

IAS Nidhi Chaudhary, previously RBI and CAG. She wrote her very first poem in Rajasthan Patrika at 10.

UPSC: caesarean 2 April, exam 23 April. Sister is IGP Ahmedabad. All 3 siblings cleared first attempt, Hindi medium, no coaching. She even likes to paint at NGMA.

Hailing from rural Rajasthan (child marriage common), she was the second girl in college history to contest student union election, won, and her father was transferred 10 years. To balance work-life, she does not eat after sunset to save time. She uses audiobooks to be in touch with latest news and updates.

A student from Zimbabwe was in the room. A KBC finalist from computer science asked about general knowledge and she reverted all of them with full conviction and they all were inspired at all the levels.

On criticism she said: I cry a lot, I eat a lot. Wrote about sex education in college, article pinned on every notice board. Pain is inevitable for writers.

Referenced JK Rowling‘s rejections and KFC founder’s success in his 70s. On timelessness: Hampi, destroyed 1565, mostly forgotten. For being a writer, there is no clock. UPSC advice to students: limit to 2-3 serious attempts.

Mayuresh Ganpataye from Mumbai Press Club spoke on many levels.

Starting from career: Star Maza (ABP Majha), Times Now, NewsX, Aajtak, Mirror Now, TV9 Bharatvarsh, CNN News18. Also All India Radio as well.

He has completed his studies from marathi medium throughout. Besides that hardship, he completed a higher-ranked journalism institute, and wrote 10 students wrote pieces.

On standing out, he said: read local papers (Marathi for Mumbai civic/police sources), write even for TV, meet 3 new sources weekly. Does not scream on screen.

Covered a boy’s water well death, then clown festival within 1 hour. Broke down in front of wife after stories. First to interview Prabhakar, legal team clearance before airing.

Inspired by watching Barkha Dutt covering Kargil and Rajdeep Sardesai. Bachelor’s is floor, master’s not needed for newsrooms. News lives in contradiction.

Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai is the author of 24 bestselling books. 10,000-book personal library. 1,000+ lectures. Founder, world’s first PG programme in leadership science (University of Mumbai). Advisory to Indian Army, Tata Group, Reliance, and RBI.

Corporate Chanakya record-breaking debut. Crossword Bookstores award. Visits 20+ countries annually. Writing 7 more books simultaneously.

Father wrote 13 books in Malayalam. Mother read 5 newspapers daily. Joke in Indian Express at age 10, Rs 100 cheque from Times of India. Mumbai Mirror column 4.5 years, every Monday, 500 words.

Same content in 6 formats (newspaper, magazine, LinkedIn, research paper, book, film script). Butter-dosa analogy.

On speaking of Writer’s Block: stop thinking, just write. First book’s job: exist. Comma vs full stop. Writer buddy (gym partner). Wife as accountability partner.

On reading: Rumi is world’s number one bestselling poet. Three modes: glancing, detail, summary.

On imitation: Sachin Tendulkar comparison (study technique, do not try to become him). Research: Google is starting point not research, information obesity from AI, 5% of yourself in output, 45 Arthashastra versions studied plus Kerala teacher.

6,000 sutras, sees 100+ books in Chanakya. On confidence: Himalayas charge you, human power structures diminish. One man army is not an army.

Dr Ujwala Chakradeo from SNDT: first and largest women’s university in South Asia. VC since 2021. PhD from VNIT. 11 PhDs guided. Most influential women in Indian education 2024.

Father drove her to a medical college in Kolhapur. She said: if you force me I will go somewhere else. Married at 22, MTech evening classes, spent 37 years at one institution and left pensionable government job for lower salary.

Realised at VC felicitation: always an educator of women, not just architecture. College 500, organisation 5,000, SNDT 1 lakh across India.

She quoted: Burnout is conflict between what you do and what you want, not the work itself. 300-word blog about a Varanasi ghat posted that morning.

5 breaths meditation: after years of practice, still fails to count 5 breaths without mind wandering. On speaking of feminism: Indian feminism differs from Western waves, family is deeply evolved structure, individualism from frustration concerns her.

What calls you? What makes you internally happy?

Boathouse Media – Rs 7,000 shoots (2017) to Rs 75 lakh+ campaigns. Clients: Parachute (15+ campaigns), HDFC Bank, Aditya Birla Capital, Racold. Racold ad: uncle with two blowtorches during COVID, character Heater Hit. 9-question brand brief. Content-to-media ratio 1:5 (some 1:10). HDFC Bank pencil box story: orange = competing bank’s colour, shoot stopped. Budget-backward writing (Rs 10L = 1 location, Rs 75L = multiple cities). Every film must look 5X its cost. Growth: Year 1 Rs 1-2L → Year 8 Rs 75L.

Shrishti Behli was a part of 35+ films commissioned (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu) and a co-founder of production house. 40+ films, 15 series. VP Producers Guild and International Emmy Awards. All choices are half chance.

On speaking of working at Netflix: she looked for underserved emotional territory. OTT vs theatre: emotion takes people to cinemas, not spectacle.

Phantom Films (Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl, Madhu Mantena), Masaan (Neeraj Ghaywan), Queen would be direct-to-digital today.

On celebrity, she spoke people likes to watch controversial film. OTT history = honest version of who you are. Pirated Got every morning (not available in India then). Gujarati cinema: under-highlighted, not underdeveloped. Dunki theatre numbers. Reed Hastings story. Tumbbad rerelease 30 crores context. The Pivot podcast recommended.

Favourite film: one I have not made yet. If a film does not communicate, that is a failure of communication, not timing. But if you wish to master filmmaking then delay not and enrol into BSC in Film & Production from Parul University!

Amit Rai is a very famous writer & director, as hailing from Ulhasnagar, he used to do 5-hour daily commute. He has taught maths, science, then commerce 4 years (one of his student topped district 89-90%). Marathi plays, NSD entrance, guide redirected to Pune, and that’s when he did his Master’s Degree. A Tea boy could tell from across set whether flowerpot was in frame (if I can see the lens, the lens can see me). Kung Fu Panda: secret scroll is a mirror. Kishore Kumar: no formal training, sang by listening. Akshay Kumar cycled through traffic, 280 crew late, he was on time. Son named Vimal after Bimal Roy (Devdas, Bandini, Do Bigha Zamin, Madhumati). Salil Chaudhary‘s music, and working as assistant under Gulzar. His wife waited for him to clear first, cleared herself in next attempt. Earth on tulsi leaf: mother told daughter to give earth to sadhu so sanskar of giving stays alive. Clapper boy from 13 years ago now directing Gullak Season 4. Stories found me, I did not write them. I am not a self-made man, I was made by everyone I ever watched carefully.

Makarand said – Prithvi Theatre: non-profit under Shri Prithviraj Kapoor Memorial Trust. Kala desh ki seva mein (art as national service). Barood: theatre needs a strong pulse. Naatak ka matlab hi hai bhavnaon ka tanaav (without emotional conflict, no real theatre). Do not rush to complete a play. Observe life, study other art forms, let collaboration shape characters.

Satish Narayana serving as an Academic Director at IICT. Bharat Pavilion (Gulshan Mahal): Shruti (oral), Kriti (written), Drishti (visual). NMIC: Lumiere Brothers, Watson’s Hotel, Dadasaheb Phalke, Raja Harishchandra, IICT: motion capture labs, green screen, Dolby, 4K, AR/VR. AI as opportunity expanding creative possibilities.

Saurabh Bajaj is an author at Crossword, completed studies from IIM Indore. Physicist aspiration to marketer to author. At 45, the question paper of your life gets leaked. Shift from achievement to contribution. Find a buyer before you write the book. Build audience first. Security is the biggest barrier to growth.

Diya Sen Gupta is the proud founder of Juhu Reads, as inspired by Cubbon Reads. Weekly silent reading sessions. Screen-free space. Great writers begin as committed readers. Reading together is silent, but never lonely. Books connect strangers without a single conversation.

Ritu Kapoor said What value do I bring that AI cannot? Hold on to your voice, do not start writing like AI. If art stops being created freely, AI’s database stops growing. Journalism risks homogenisation through search-driven content.

Head here to read more on Jaico Publishing House

• After Shiv Tandon: the session felt raw and real. It showed that writing is not glamorous, it is hard work from deep inside.
• After Vikram Poddar: learning about mind maps, humor, and experimenting across formats inspired us to push boundaries.
• After Karina Pandya: her journey encouraged us to embrace opportunities and accept rejection as a learning step.
• After Jaico: it helped us understand the real effort beyond just writing. Patience in traditional publishing gave us practical perspective.
• After IAS Nidhi Chaudhry: her thoughts on mistakes, self-doubt, and authenticity encouraged us to start without waiting for perfection.
• After Mayuresh at MPC: experience, research, and ethical responsibility shape a journalist’s career.
• After Boathouse Media: a real-world masterclass bridging creativity with business strategy.
• After Shrishti Behl: emotional connection matters more than timing trends.
• After Amit Rai: less a lecture on filmmaking, more a reflection on life and rediscovering authentic self.
• After Makarand Deshpande: theatre is not performance, it is a living, breathing experience.
• After Dr Chakradeo at SNDT: the value of women’s education, balance in feminism, clarity and purpose in life choices.

Explore 2026 Placements of Parul University

The Gyansthan Writers Tour is one of 146 Practical Learning Tours across 19 cities and 280 companies. Academic calendar events included in programme fees.

• Engineering students: IIT Hyderabad, DRDO, Microsoft, Google, L&T, Reliance
• Liberal arts and journalism: Mumbai Press Club, Jaico, NGMA, Prithvi Theatre, Netflix India, SNDT, Boathouse Media
• Agriculture: PAU, ICAR-CIPHET, Verka Dairy, Punjab Remote Sensing Centre
• Medicine: Cipla, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Sahyadri, Aditya Birla Memorial
• Law: Gujarat High Court, Gujarat Vidhan Sabha, GSLSA, GNLU

Parul University: NAAC A++ (CGPA 3.55). 2,200+ recruiters. 3,500+ placements. 60 LPA highest (Microsoft). 120+ international partnerships. Rs 58.31 crore government-funded research. 7 Stanford-Elsevier top 2 percent faculty, and incubated 254 PIERC startups.

The Writers Tour adds what numbers cannot: the development of observation, voice, critical thinking, and professional identity.

Read more on Parul University Practical Exposure: 19 Cities, 280 Companies