Blogging local and niche

We should have done this before. But we have done it now.
Blogging on the key events in our neighbourhoods, in our patch!

My column has been blogged for many years now ( since 2006 - www.vincentsjottings.blogspot.com). There have been some positives in doing this - off and on, people researching on themes that I touch on make contact.

On Anglo-Indians and Mount Road, Community Newspapers and Civic Polls.

But at our newspapers we have not exploited the simple, elegant features that a Blog offers journalists and independent writers and photographers.

In early February, we at KutcheriBuzz ( the web site for Carnatic music and classical dance) launched a blog to cover the annual Natyanjali Dance Fest from Chidambaram.

With contributions from Revathi R. and Mohan Das Vadakkara, we flipped between reportage, audios, videos and pictures through 6 days that week. The modest effort paid with a nice tally of page views.

The effort and the feedback encouraged us.

Since last week, we have been managing two blogs.

For KutcheriBuzz, a weeklong coverage of Bangalore's Sri Ramanavami Music Fests ( www.ramanavamimusic.blogspot.in).

And a fortnight long coverage of Mylapore's biggest festival - the Panguni or more commonly known the arabathumoovar celebration ( www.mylaporepangunifest.blogspot.in).

And what a roller-coaster this has been.

Here is a comment from one visitor -

I am Ambika from St.Mary's Road. I am currently living in Muscat. I used to be one in the crowd for adhikara nandi, ther and arubattu-moovar processions...Felt I would be missing them . . .But the blog has done a good job of posting the photos..Really appreciate it.

Sitting inside a temple or an auditorium, in Chidambaram, Seshadripuram or Mylapore and relaying live words, pictures and audios provides for a different kind of reportage. Immediate, breezy and personalised.

Neither TV nor newspapers can provide that effect. Radio can.

We would like lots more readers to join us when we blog next. One-way traffic does not make great communication. Give us your ideas anyway - let them be local!

Women councillors of Chennai and their men

You call your local Ward councillor on the phone. A male voice answers. The man refuses to hand over the phone to his wife, the councillor.

"You can talk to me, its alright," he insists.

You take the call.

So why do parties choose to select the wives of local area politicians when it comes to giving tickets and respecting the reservation policy for women in our local bodies like our Corporation Council?

Is the situation so bad that these parties do not have women who have taken part in rallies and agitations or addressed local issues, women who could better qualify for this job?

I was looking for answers at a discussion held at the American Center last fortnight. The United States celebrates Women's History Month each March and among the events was this discussion on 'Women and Politics'.

The panel included former state minister in the DMK, Dr. Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Bader Sayeed, senior advocate and former AIADMK MLA, Lalitha Kumaramangalam, senior member of the BJP and Dr. Wendy Singer, Fulbright Nehru senior researcher.

It was a refreshing experience because all the women were, outspoken, warm and had some character.

This was a 'limited' public event and hence the candid nature of their conversation - they could not have said many things in a public space, much less in their own political space.

The discussion touched on how being in political families helped an aspirant, how party cadres treated and respected women in their midst, what it took to be in and survive electoral politics and how women leaders and colleagues treated each other.

For someone who has followed grassroot politics and electoral systems closely since the time we started our neighbourhood newspapers, much of what was said was not new.

But when I did ask the question that is at the top of this column, there were a few unconvincing replies from the panel.

"Perhaps parties think wives of their local leaders are winnable."

"These women will also be party members, so there is no harm selecting them."

"It's a start, at least a woman has found a space, she will do better as she learns down the line."

Some women ward councillors have got down to business with experience. Some have turned corrupt. Others have remained mum or played puppets.

If the ward community can work alongside, if the women are given skills training, then our neighbourhoods would stand to gain.

Save Mount Road heritage

Eight-hour-long power cuts. Rising summer temperatures that cross 37 degrees. And views that power from atomic plants can help make life easy for you.

Factors to win your argument if you are against the anti-nuke plant community in the coastal town of Kudankulam in south Tamil Nadu.

And the arguments are convincing if you are a businessman or factory owner.

But the pros and cons are not lost on young people as we interact with them on the side of a conference at the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, outside Tirunelveli town. And this is heartening.

So what role have youth played in the anti-Kudankulam agitation in the villages that fringe the Russian-built 2000 watt atomic power plant which has got into working gear now?

Idinthakarai, the focal point of the agitation is a 90-minute taxi ride from Tirunelveli, done faster on a Sunday. Youths are streaming into the thatched space adjoining the Lady of Lourdes church. This is the 216th day of the campaign and the youths of the district's Catholic Church have decided to revisit their role and contribution to this process.

"We sowed the seed but the women took over and now the elders want us to be active," says Pravin. He and his colleagues wear black Tees with Tamil legends that oppose the atomic plant.

Here, many youths with better skills get jobs in the Persian Gulf; others take to the traditional fishing which is also doing good. The young men tell me that when they have time they get involved in the anti-nuke campaign.

That Sunday, as the sun rises small groups of youths from Chennai, Kanyakumari and elsewhere stream in to show solidarity.

A deacon of this church, in his 20s chats with me after Sunday Catechism class. "I have no problems being part of this struggle but we are restrained."

The church is an integral part of the lives of over 75 coastal fishing villages and the interplay is strong and a given.

Back in Madras, the first set of buildings on Mount Road to be demolished to make way for Metro Rail project face the bulldozers. These were once an integral part of my life; of many other lives when Madras had one showpiece road and one highway.

Store owners are also disturbed with displacement and traffic regulation.

Mount Road is heritage. And I wonder how seniors with memories and youths with cameras, videos and voices can campaign to make the powers respect this heritage.