yocee epaper : june 10 - june 23, 2012
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YOCee ePaper for the fortnight June 10 to 23, 2012TRANSCRIPT
E-NEWSPAPER FOR CHENNAI KIDS June 10 - June 23, 2012
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Fortnightly Electronic edition Website: www.yocee.in
This fortnight Calendar
2
Bond in Chennai Report
6
Summer Fruits Photo Feature 9
By Kavya K G Student Reporter Many people in Chennai gathered at the beaches and Birla planetarium at the early hours of June 6, 2012. They were there to watch the magnificent phenomenon repeat itself for the last time in this century. Those few lucky people caught a glimpse of the Venus transit, that is the Venus moving across the sun.
The Venus transit occurs four times every 243 years, so we get to experi-ence two Venus transits per century and the latest, being the last one for this century.
The photo here shows its view from the Elliott’s beach, where the Tamil Nadu Astronomical Society, Exnora International and Breakthrough Sci-ence Society joined hands to give the science enthusiasts the opportunity to witness this breathtaking event through their programme ‘Observe Venus in Transit ‘ .
These organisations arranged to put up many types of telescopes, big and small, including solar telescopes, that gave an awe-some view of the transit.
The transit of Venus occurs in pat-terns – 2 transits with 8 years interval and then gap of 121 ½ years and another 2 transits with 8 years inter-val and then a gap of 105 ½. The last transit before this occurred on
June 8, 2004. The only other planet tran-sit that can be observed is that of the Mercury, since Venus and Mercury are closest to the
Sun. But, Mercury transits occur more often, that is, 13 times in a century.
According to the handout given at the event, the next Mercury transit will occur in 2016.
For those present at this skywatching programme, it was an opportunity of the life time. Every-one wonder if they would live to see the next Venus tran-
sit, which will be occurring in 2117 and later in 2125, And now, do not miss the Mercury transit that is due to occur in 2016.
The celestial walk of the Venus
People watched the rare astronomical event at Besant Nagar beach. Photos by P.R. Nandhinee
Interested in Astronomy? Here are a few places for you to check out! Birla Planetarium. Phone - 24410025
Tamil Nadu Astronomical Society. Phone: 93828 70662
Page 2 E-PAPER YOCee June 10 - June 23, 2012
A Fortnightly Newsletter from
(www.yocee.in - news website for Chennai’s young people)
Founder - editor Revathi R
Student reporters team for this issue
Adrian Joseph David Kavya K G Nandini P S Smruthi S
Sruti S
Guest contributors P.R. Nandhinee
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This fortnight for you ... Contest How was your vacation? Submit your best vacation picture along with a short essay and win a shaped cushion. Mail your picture and entry to [email protected]. Last date June 12, 2012
Contact Peek-a-boo Patterns at 044-24992365 for more details
Workshop Learn Photography A workshop is organised by DakshinaChitra for children of ages 13 to 16 years on photography. You will learn various techniques of click-ing pictures indoor and outdoor, por-trait photography and about light and shadow.
Date - June 16, 2012 from 10.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.
Fee - Rs. 1000 inclusive of refresh-ment & transport.
You need to bring your own camera.
Contact 98419 77779, 2446 2435 for more details.
Play For children and young adults Perch, a theatre group based in Chennai is hosting a play for children titled ‘Jujubee’ this weekend and next weekend at two venues in Chennai. The play is in Tanglish (Tamil and English mixed)
Dates and venues:
On June 9 and 10, 2012 at 6 p.m. At Goethe Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan, 4, Rutland Gate, 5th Street, Nungambakkam. Phone: 28331314
On June 16 and 17, 2012 at 6 p.m. At Spaces, 1, Elliots Beach Road, Besant Nagar. Phone: 98410 99435
Music competition Muthiah Bhagavathar compositions Harikesanjali Trust is conducting a music competition on kritis of
Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar on June 24, 2012. It will be con-ducted for two different age groups, 13 to 17 and 18 to 25. It will be at Narada Gana Sabha hall, Alwarpet. Last date for registration is June17. For details call 98403 98616 or email to [email protected]
Competition - Read & Write Know the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Foundation, Alwarpet is organising an open book exam cum competition on Mahatma Gandhi The participants will have to read and write in the competition by hav-ing the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi ‘My Experiments with Truth’. Students from classes 6 to 12 can register. Contact the foundation at 332, Ambujammal Street, Alwarpet. Ph: 2499 3839, 99624 79005.
Recitation competition Recite the Hanuman Chalisa To commemorate the birthday of Tulasidas, poet and author of Ram Charita Manas Sanjeevini Peetam will conduct a Hanuman Chalisa recital competition for school students on Saturday, July 21, 2012.
Students in the age group of 5-10 years will have to recite the first 20 poems and those in the age group of 11-16 will have to recite the entire Chalisa.
The number of participants is limited and registrations will be accepted on first come first served basis.
For registration and more details, con-tact Sanjeevini Peetam, 16/45, Babu Rajendra Prasad 1st Street, West Mambalam, Phone: 2471 2231, 98406 48205 may be called.
(Continued on page 8)
June 10 - June 23, 2012 E-PAPER YOCee Page 3
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CONCERT IN THE PARK Varshini K, a student of The Hindu Senior Secondary School, adyar performed a Carnatic music concert at the Nageswara Rao park on June 3, 2012. She was accompanied on the violin by T. Kishore and on the mrudangam by Karthik. The concert was held as part of the Concert in the Park series hosted by Sundaram Finance on the first Sunday of every month.
NEWS IN
PICTURES
World Environment Day at Bamboola
Children gathered to celebrate world environment day at Bamboola Play school and activity centre in R.A. Puram on June 5, 2012. The event was led by Shruti Devi, member of Shakespeare Society, Delhi.
Children staged a play, did gardening with organic seeds and craft activities using recycled material.
Exhibition of Seven Wonders Spellbound, an event management company along with the Tamil Nadu Tourism Department hosted an exhibi-tion with the replicas of the seven wonders, Taj Mahal, Leaning tower of Pisa, Statue of Liberty, Christ the Re-deemer, The Great Wall of China, Egyptian Pyramids and the Roman Colosseum. The exhibition was on till Junee 8, 2012
Page 4 E-PAPER YOCee June 10 - June 23, 2012
By Smruthi S Student Reporter
A king who dreams about jalebis, a donkey who sings through the night in the cucumber field, an alien sky monkey that creates a ‘hullaballu’ on Earth. These are characters that can be found in the three books written by the popular children’s author Niveditha Subramaniam.
Ms. Niveditha, who is associated with Tulika, a renowned publishing house, has done a witty series of short stories called the ‘Amazing Miss Shinnies’ and ‘Interval’ in Chandamama. She has also been a part of the anthology – Water Stories.
On 24th May, Niveditha launched her latest picture book- ‘The Sky monkey’s Beard’. With Priyankar Gupta’s whimsical pictures, this is a gently happy story that talks about a group of Sky monkeys who like nothing better than floating on clouds for hours.
Followed by the book launch was an interesting story telling session by Jeeva Ragunath, who was dressed as a character in the story - Grandpa Monkey. Her mere presence tickled all our funny bones. Held at Ashvita, an art gallery and garden cafe on Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai in Mylapore, the book launch was a fun-filled session for all present at the venue.
Below are excerpts of the interview with Niveditha Subramaniam, who opens up and talks to us about her childhood, interests, favourites and more.
Tell us about your child-hood and parentage…
I had pop-ups and Russian picture stories as a child and poured over them in some corner of the house and these images have a way of lingering in your mind and memory and coming back years later! My grandparents, parents and family
also encouraged a love for reading; aside from the books that were bought for me, my brother and I got to visit Higginbothams and Landmark and take our picks.
What was your childhood ambition? When did you actually decide your career?
I wanted to be a gymnast, actually! Nadia Comaneci was my biggest inspiration. I guess I actively knew that I wanted to write and draw them when I came to college but I think it has a lot to do with my childhood too
as I told earlier.
Role Model….
Books are my biggest inspira-tion. I love looking at picture books especially. Interactions with people I know well as well as strangers, things that I’ve seen while travelling to a new place or something that I noticed while
walking down a familiar street in-spires me. I think through pictures and sometimes visuals get stored in my mind and sometimes they lead to form part of a story I write.
Which is your favourite book?
Definitely can’t pick one but here are my favourites: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble – William Steig Opa’s Engel – Jutta Bauer His Dark Materials – Phillip Pullman A Series of Unfortunate Events – Lemony Snicket The “Secret” series – Enid Blyton (not to be confused with The Secret Seven)
How does it feel about your book ‘Mayil Will Not Be Quiet’ having had great response?
Great! Because of the encouraging response to the first book, my friend and co-author Sowmya Rajendran (who has published many books with Tulika) and I are going to be working on a sequel.
Tell us about your lastest one – ‘The Sky Monkey’s beard’. What is it all about? What is so special about it, accord-ing to you?
(Continued on page 5)
Picture Perfect Sky Monkeys
June 10 - June 23, 2012 E-PAPER YOCee Page 5
Sky monkeys like nothing better than to float above the clouds for hours… One day, a curious little sky monkey decides that she wants to fly down to earth and see what it’s like and she creates a hullaballoo up in the skies! It’s a whimsical story about how the very first monkey on earth came to be. I think children will like Priyankar Gupta’s expressive and playful illus-trations.
How do you think the response for picture books are among kids and parents today?
I didn’t have any Indian picture books growing up. But, nowadays children have a wide range to choose from. Gauging by the number of parent bloggers who review children’s books and other products for children, and the growing number of sites that are exclusively for children, the response is good.
How do you spin humour into a story?
Humour works best, when it’s inspired by day to day things that happen to you or people that you know. When it’s real, there can be intelligent and original ways of expressing it, otherwise it can often appear contrived or overdone.
What do you think about the influence of books and libraries in today’s kids? Do they have some positive impact on kids? Or today’s kids have long forgotten books and don’t know anything else apart from computer? What do you think?
I read lots of books when I was a child, I also enjoyed video games. I think those who enjoy reading will pick up and read. If reading is encouraged at home and they have a membership at a good library, it helps, of course. And today, there are many more libraries, reading clubs and play centres that play an active role in making reading fun for
children. It doesn’t mean if a child watches TV or surfs on the computer that she won’t pick up a book. Lots of children can do both comfortably.
What are your other interests?
Photography. I studied photojourna-lism and hope to make photo books for children sometime!
Your motivating factor always is your ...
Pictures. As I said before, I think through pictures and sometimes visuals get stored in my mind and sometimes they lead to/form part of a story I write. And my parents, who’ve always been supportive.
Your message for budding authors?
I think there is opportunity everywhere. There are a lot of people who think that writing for children is the easiest thing in the world. But children’s writing is not writing for adults simplified. With such a notion, you can get nowhere. Respect your audience and understand them.
Illustrated by Priyankar Gupta, the book is available in nine languages such as English, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali. The book is available for purchase at major outlets and also from Tulika’s website - www.tulikabooks.com
(Continued from page 4)
Shot at Aminjikarai on June 1, 2012. The sign-boards are placed down for carrying on the Chennai Metro Rail pro-ject. Now, they point the wrong direction. Photo by Adrian Joseph David, Student reporter
JUST A
SHOT
Page 6 E-PAPER YOCee June 10 - June 23, 2012
Well-known Children’s writer Ruskin Bond was in Chennai launching his latest book. He enthralled the children during his humorous interaction with them.
Nandini P S Student Reporter
In Bhubaneshwar, a group of tiny little boys were dancing the hip-hop. A silent spectator who terribly wanted to join them in their dance was Ruskin Bond! The presence of a few teachers and parents deterred him from dancing the hip-hop with them. But what he did was, he put himself as one amongst them in his poem titled ‘The Hip-Hop Nature Boy’!
This was the tiny little story, with which Mr. Ruskin Bond introduced his new book at Landmark, Nungambakkam, Chennai, on the evening of 8 June, 2012. His latest book titled ‘The Hip-Hop Nature Boy and Other Poems’ was launched on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Landmark and Penguin Books India.
The illustrated book holds within its covers, old and new poems on everything right from nature, love, friends to school, and books. The audience consisting of three different generations, waited with enthusiasm for Ruskin Bond’s arrival.
On his arrival he was greeted with applause and namaskarams. His witty lines and ready smile put everyone immediately at ease. “Well, I thought there was going to be a cake to cut. But where is it?” he smiled and the kids joined him, which later broke into a laughter.
He then unveiled his new book to and read out some of the poems in it to the eager audience. The kids were extremely delighted with one of the poems which goes like "If a tortoise could run And losses be won, And
bullies be buttered on toast; If a song brought a shower And a gun grew a flower, This world would be nicer than most!” He went on to read ‘The Hip-Hop Nature Boy’ and then sat down to a shower of questions by the little kids and the older ones as well.
“What are the two most essential things that a person must have to
become a writer?” one asked, to which he promptly replied “Pen and paper!” Then a young boy wanted to know where Ruskin got his ideas from to which he replied that most of his ideas came from observing the world and the people around him, and sometimes, even from his dreams!
The next questioner wanted to know Ruskin’s opinion about sharing his last name with the fictional James Bond. Interestingly Ruskin did have an uncle named James Bond! “But he was not a secret detective. He was just a dentist!” he said. He even wrote an epitaph for him which read “Stranger, approach this spot with gravity. James Bond is filling his last cavity!”
He then talked about Uncle Ken who apparently was his real Uncle! “My poor uncles always got included in one or the other of
my stories,” he said.
One amongst the audience wanted to know when he would write a mystery
Bond with children
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June 10 - June 23, 2012 E-PAPER YOCee Page 7
or a crime story. “I already wrote one a long time ago. But the problem was, the readers found out who the culprit was in the Third Chapter itself!” he said.
Bond had an important tip for young writers. “Maintain a journal and write down every character and everything that you see or hear each day. It will help you later with your stories,” he said to the young faces which were filled with rapt attention.
After this interesting session, Ruskin Bond cut the cake along with a whole lot of children alongside him. He personally signed each child’s copy of “The Hip-Hop Nature Boy and other Poems” much to the delight of the children present.
Adrian Joseph David writes:
I had been to Landmark, Nungambakkam on June 8, 2012 to witness the arrival of children's author and poet, Ruskin Bond in Chennai. It was an event to commemorate the silver jubilee of Landmark book store and Penguin Publishers. I reached there at 5.30 p.m. an hour before the program hoping to catch the first seat but to my surprise, almost all the seats were occupied by people eagerly waiting to see the good old man.
A senior woman in the audience men-tioned that she used to read his books when she was young and now her kids have started reading his books too.
Bond also said that anyone can be a writer regardless of the background of his/her profession.
Another senior citizen said that Ruskin Bond is an upstart to James Bond which was also written by renowned children's author, Ian Fleming.
There was no age limit for his fans as there were people from their 6's to 60's. It was a memorable evening with the author.
If you haven't read his stories or poems, I must recommend to fetch a copy and start reading as it involves fun, solitude, kindness and the beauty and glory of nature.
Photos by:
Nandini P S Adrian Joseph David
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Page 8 E-PAPER YOCee June 10 - June 23, 2012
Arts Exhibition Painting contest for kids The annual exhibition of the arts and paintings done by students of Usha Arts & Paintings will be held on June 16 & 17 from 5 p.m to 8 p.m in Asiad Colony Park, Anna Nagar, near Tirumangalam. There will also be an on-the-spot painting competition for all children who visit the exhibition on the two days. Open to all. Usha arts is at Syndicate Bank Colony, Anna Nagar Western Extension.
Coaching Prepare for KVPY Now prepare for the prestigious Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojna Scholarship Examination conducted by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for the students of Classes 11 and 12. Nehru Children’s Cultural Association commences the preparation programme on June 16 and continue till November 18. The classes will be held on all Saturdays (from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sundays (from 8 a.m. to 12 noon) at P.S. Higher Secondary School, 215, Ramakrishna Math Road, Mylapore. Students will be taken to University of Madras, IIT-Madras and Anna University for attending lecture demonstrations. Contact M.R. Sugumaran. Phone: 8144416484, 2445 3014.
(Continued from page 2)
This fortnight ...
The twins M. Anandhan and M. Aravindan, both students of Sindhi Model School, Kilpauk have won laurels in swimming in the recently concluded State-level swimming meet.
While Anandan won the first prize in 50 meters freestyle and third prize in 100 meters freestyle events,
Aravindan won third prize in 50 meters butterfly event.
The swimming meet was conducted by the Tamil Nadu State Aquatic association in Velachery from June 1 to 3, 2012.
Twin Stokes
M. Anandan M. Aravindan
Heritage Fest, contests Global Organization for Divinity India Trust is organising an inter-school and inter-college heritage fest ‘Samskruti’ on July 21, 22 and on July 28, 29.
The contests are for children studying in classes 6 to 8 include pot painting, dress designing, drawing, handmade gifts, greeting card making and villu paatu.
For students of classes 9 to 12, the contests will be held in skit, group dance, temple treasures, traditional treasures, quiz and T-shirt painting;
for college students photography, short film making, cookery, quiz and poster designing.
Prizes for the best school team and college team will be awarded. Registrations close on July 10.
For details, contact at 98845 94869 or at 99404 49082 or at 98941 84802.
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June 10 - June 23, 2012 E-PAPER YOCee Page 9
Read news online at
www.yocee.in Updated daily
Photos by Smruthi S, Student Reporter
When the mercury levels shot up, Smruthi went around to capture these cool pictures!
It is hot and dry. Yet, there are so many varieties of fruits that substitute the artificial ice-creams.
For those who complain about the power cuts and sticky weather, these fruits should bring some respite.
>> More pictures on www.yocee.in
Delicious mangoes Sweet Jackfruit
Ice-apples a.k.a Nungu Colourful grapes
Copyright@2012. Owned & published by R. Revathi for YOCee from 15, Karpagam Garden I Main Road, Adyar, Chennai - 20. www.yocee.in. Editor: R. Revathi
Page 10 E-PAPER YOCee June 10 - June 23, 2012
Your city. Your Photos
♦ Love to take pic-tures when you go around Chennai?
♦ Want to publish them here?
♦ Mail the pictures with captions to:
By Sruti S Student Reporter
Title : Vector
Author : Robin Cook
Publisher : Pan Books
Price : Rs. 195
One of Robin Cook’s best sellers, the story revolves around a New York Cab driver, a disgruntled Russian immigrant ready to lash out at his
adoptive nation which he be-lieves has denied his Ameri-
can dream.
As a former technician in Soviet Un-ion he knows how to cause havoc in his new home.But before he executes his masterpiece of vengeance, he experiments it on select targets.
The sudden & mysterious deaths of a rug dealer Jason Paparis & an obese Afro-american woman Connie due to respiratory disease leaves The foren-sic pathologist Dr. Jack Stapleton puzzled.
When an unexpected coincidence suggests Jack that these seemingly unrelated deaths are actually connected murders, his colleagues and superiors remain skeptical.
Meanwhile he is taking himself deeper into the deadly danger. Can he reach the heart of the puzzle before Davydov and his associates unleash into the streets of New York the ultimate terror?
A modern bio weapon?
An excellent book of fiction dealing with bioterrorism. The author’s best selling book after Coma, Mind Bend, Fever & Invasion.
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