Courtesy: Sijil Mirza

Star Chat

Driven by inspiration

TV Anchor Sijil Mirza
Talks to
Naziba Basher

The days I spent at Viqarunessa Noon School and College were the golden days of my life. School life for me was just having fun with friends and life. What I miss the most about school is our constant 'on-campus' hangouts. Since back then we did not get much freedom from home, school used to be our usual 'hang-out spot'.

I used to be in a group of five close friends and we have been together since class one till now. We used to bunk classes together a lot and most of the times it would be our accounting class since our teacher, Anwar Sir, was always very nice to us. Even after he would come into class, we would slip out the back door and go to the canteen where our main attraction would be the chotpoti. I even remember that once, our headmistress, Mrs Hamida Ali (former principal), walked in on us in the canteen and asked us why we were there when there was a class going on. She called our accounting teacher in her office along with us. The teacher was so supportive of us that he actually took the blame and told her that he had asked us to take a break since there was not much going on in class that day. I was so shocked and happy at the same time. He, truly, was a wonderful man.

After finishing school and college in Viqarunnessa, I joined Dhaka University for BBA. Joining Dhaka University was like a dream come true for me since I always wanted to study there when I was younger. Touring around the university area in rickshaws with friends was the best time pass. After classes we would usually go to TSC (Teacher-Student Center), Curzon Hall and more places to just relax and hang out.

I started anchoring around four years ago, pretty much when I had just joined university. Surprisingly, my studies and work never hampered one another. All my teachers and everyone are always so supportive of me and so proud that it makes me want to be even better.

Initially I wanted to be a news presenter, so I dropped my CV in all the TV channels. After I got calls from them, they had told me that they want me to start with anchoring television shows to get rid of camera shyness. When I had been called as an anchor I asked my father if I could, since being a news presenter and being an anchor are completely two different things. My father was always very supportive of me and is actually my reason and inspiration to get involved with the media. He has always had my back, so he asked me to go for it. My mother had a slight problem initially, but she became supportive of me later as well. Even though later on I got offered jobs as a news presenter, I stuck to anchoring because I enjoyed it so much and wanted to explore the area for a while longer. Now, I work with Channel i as a marketing executive and an anchor.

I want to tell all the aspiring young people who may want to pursue a career like mine to make sure you always have a good sense of humour. It is very important while communicating with the audience. And of course, the camera and the audience can cause panic for many, so you just have to forget all that and own the stage and give it your best. And for everything else, just live life to the fullest and everything will fall into place!