The Competition is intense but if you love what you do, you can be the best in the business: Chirayato Banerjee

Here is the full interview with Mr. Chirayato Banerjee, Judge, West Bengal Judicial Service:

1. Why did you decide to choose law as your profession? Also, you are a part of the first batch of this university, how difficult or different things were in a newly established university?

To be honest, there was not much of a plan behind opting for law as a career. It came naturally and I jumped into the boat. So far, it has been a decision which has served me well and I do not regret it. Being the first batch, things were of course quite different or difficult as you have framed it. Uncertainty in each and every sphere along with the challenge of doing every thing from scratch was indeed a different kind of emotion.

2. How was life back then in Cuttack? Tell us about some of the things that you loved the most about this city during your 5 year stay here.

I hope Cuttack is same as it was back in 2014 when we left. From 2009 till 2014, we witnessed the metamorphosis of the city. From a being a hitherto unknown university, to an esteemed site of education in the state of Odisha, NLUO had changed the face of this place to a large extent. The best part about Cuttack was its simple lifestyle and its proximity to nature. At the Naraj campus, the walk to barrage has to be the one to remember.

3. When and how did you realise that you wanted to get into the Judicial services? Take us through your preparation strategy for the same.

Again, like my decision to study law, sitting for judiciary was not a well planned decision. I had just quit a job in Mumbai and then in New Delhi and was looking for something different. This thing struck me and instead of sitting idle for days, I utilised them for studying the subjects which I thought I knew after my 5 years of law school. But, once I got down with the books, I realised if this needs to be done, it has to be much more than those 5 years. To this date I can vouch for the fact, that those 4-6 months which I studied for the WBJS mains, has been my most grueling period of study so far.

4. How does the usual day look like in the life of a civil judge? The readers are curious to know how judiciary is as a profession.

It is usually not very drab neither it is very interesting. The chambers aren’t very chic and suave as one would expect at law firms or private litigation chambers. However, the daily experience at the courtroom is quite an enriching one. Going through the various aspects of civil suits and petitions is invariably the best part of this profession.

5. We’ve found that you used to do extensive Sports Content Writing for popular websites like Sportskeeda. We’ve quite a few students doing or aspiring to do the same. What would your suggestions be for them? Also, how did you strike a balance between content writing and your academics?

It is part of my passion towards football as a sport and I started freelancing for such websites during my third year of college. Getting a grip on the language and making it lucid to appeal to the masses is indeed a trick that one needs to learn if s/he wants to make it big in this industry. The competition is intense but if you love what you do, you can be the best in the business.

6. You were the Secretary of the Cultural committee of the University back then. How was your experience with the committee? The current cultural committee recently successfully organised our National Cultural fest ‘Kairaan 2019’ and NLUO hosted some popular DJs like Ritviz and MojoJojo. How happy are you with the progress and what are your suggestions to the committee?

This takes me back to your question of being the first batch and the difficulties faced during the same. When I was the secretary, organising such fests would be difficult as permission from the authority would be a hard thing to come and getting sponsorship or funding for hosting things on a big scale was even harder. Nevertheless, it did not deter us from giving ourselves a freshers’ party with in-house DJ and emcee. From those days, to now, the committee has grown in leaps and bounds. It is heartening to see that the recognition of our institute is bringing names from far and wide and creating an euphoric atmosphere at fests.

7. Finally, tell us something that you specifically loved about NLUO and still miss when you remember the good old days.

It would definitely be the hostel days and the carefree spirit which was instilled within us in spite of being the first batch. Somehow we always knew or believed that things would always fall in place and it did. I definitely miss how we all were back in college instead of missing anything about the college per se. Hostel days are one of the golden periods of one’s life and one should not miss out on the fun and frolic of this period.