Stop, Yocee, Proceed!

Indulge, the Friday supplement of the New Indian Express has featured YOCee in the Webscout column today. That took me back by at least 5 years and to Bombay.
I still remember the day on which the first issue of the scribble magazine, Kids Magic was launched at the CanHeritage building in Bombay.

I still remember every moment of each page of the magazine getting ready at the hands of the kids on our dining table.

Many of these kids are now in colleges doing engineering, medicine . . .

And I still remember the day I took the sheets of the first issue for binding, to a bookshop opposite IIT Powai.

Of course I cannot forget the day when the kids first saw their effort as a magazine.

It happened in 2003.

After I moved out of Bombay and landed in Madras in the year 2004, it was just 'evening gatherings' with a few kids in the neighbourhood where we lived then.

We didn't have a big community like the one in Bombay, where 72 families lived in an apartment complex. I still don't live in such a colony. But getting the kids across to have their own space for news, events, happenings that interest them is all fun I would say.

A simple blog on what the kids in Chennai can do in their leisure was the first one to come online. It was hosted by me and I collected the info and posted.

But I wanted that kids should share news and info on a common platform.

So a website, I thought, could be the best place for it.

I didn't feel like leaving the effort I took to host the blog and the thought process that went into the making of such a website. I went on to create that space for kids - online!

That is YOCee.

Kids came together to contribute to the colour and design of the website. A friend, a veteran journalist and publisher proposed the name YOC. The kids added two 'e's to make it sound the way YOC has to be pronounced.

It took three months to get a shape for the website and the D-Day came on Nov. 14, 2006.

There were hiccups, time constraint, revenue issues, personal reasons that could have stopped me from continuing to host YOCee.

But today when I look back and the work of the small team of two hands directing. gathering and keeping the website update, I feel happy.

Narayana Tirtha Aradhana at Tirupoonthuruthi

Poonthuruthi - the place where Lord Siva is worshiped as Pushpavaneswarar, has been on the cultural map of Tamil Nadu since the time of nayanmaars. Tirugnanasambandar, one of the Saiva Naalvar, had visited the temple and written verses on the Lord here.
A little bit about the place - 'thuruthi' in Tamil is referred to a place situated between two rivers. Legend goes like Indra created a garden between the river Cauvery and its tributory Kudamurutti and worshipped Siva at this place.
Apart from the God, a sage who attained 'jeeva samadhi' at this place is also being worshiped by the locals. The Carnatic music fretenity pays homage to this saint Narayana Tirtha, who composed the beatiful verses of Sri Krishna Leela Tarangini. The saint's aradhana and a full day homageon Sri Krishna Janmashtami is held at the brindavanam.

Read my report on this year's aradhana for Kutcheribuzz.

This year the aradhana was celebrated from March 2 to 4. On the last day, my son Prasanna played a few tarangams on chitravina accompanied by Manikudi Chandrasekahar on the mridangam and Hidenori (Japan) on the kanjira. Prasanna is the disciple of 'Chitravina' Narasimhan and 'Chitravina' Ganesh.
Here is a video clip of one song from Prasanna's concert.

Remains of a bus shelter in Besant Nagar

The bus shelter close to the Varasiddhi Vinayakar temple and the Canara Bank, Besant Nagar branch does not exist anymore.

Of course, the Besant Nagar bus terminus is just 50 metres away. The buses need not stop here.

But while removing the shelter, the MTC or Corporation left the remains of iron rods, abruptly cut, at leasr 5 inches above the ground.

The remains three pillars of the bus shelter pose danger to the pedestrians, espcially during night. This particular stretch is not well lit too.

There is a bank branch and a ATM outlet closeby. People walk to the temple in the evenings.

I told a traffic police personnel who passed by and showed this to him.
And posting on this blog. Hope these are removed soon.