A year gone by. Still your memory lives on.

Today it is 1 year since you left this world, leaving a void in the lives of all those that were
lucky to know you either in person or online. Your memory lives on in our minds.

Miss you Robin (RTech).

Some more details on the MAD contest.

Googled a bit for details on the MAD contest which Divya won and came across a page on the
online edition of The Hindu newspaper.

With all due credit to The Hindu and its Staff Reporter (the author of this piece), I give below
the article in full. The article can also be accessed online at this linky.
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Children get to meet their TV icon
- Staff Reporter

— Photo: Thulasi Kakkat

YOUNG AT HEART: Rob, host of Pogo’s Music and Dance show, in Kochi on Saturday.

KOCHI: Few people have the knack of coercing hyperactive kids into silence. Out in Kochi
on Saturday, Rob – the popular host of Pogo channel’s award-winning show Music, Art and Dance (MAD), threatened to sing when the decibel level of kids who had crowded around
him became too much.

He reminded them of how bad he was at singing and lo, there seemed to be a semblance of
order at the venue. All through the event, the corner of the room was abuzz with the chirpy sound of the kids. A sizeable crowd comprising kids and parents gathered at the interaction
Rob had with kids at the Reliance Trends showroom in Oberon Mall here.

They crowded to catch a close glimpse of their TV icon. The kids brought along paintings,
origami craft work (there was even a frog made of paper) and other curios that they had
done at home. Rob took a look at them and appreciated their skill. He promised to sign autographs after the event drew to a close.

This was under the Design the MAD Way Contest, wherein the kids collected scraps and
props that littered their home or school and used ingenious ways to create curios.

Earlier, the suspense whether Rob would in fact come grew intense as he failed to turn up
even 15 minutes after the scheduled time. The kids then began shouting out ‘Rooobbb, we
want Rob…’ and in a couple of minutes he appeared, wearing a pure-white cap & eye-catching attire. Having viewed his regular TV shows, the kids were quite at ease when asked how to paint, make crafts from paper, and also sculptures from plaster of paris. Their parents too were quite enthused on seeing their kids’ icon cheer the kids up.

The programme MAD has won many awards for being a popular show for kids.

Congratulations Divya - on winning the "Design the MAD way" contest.

Apparently, there is a show called MAD (Music, Art and Dance) on Pogo channel (kids would
know about this kiddy channel) and the guy (Rob) that hosts it was at Cochin yesterday for a promotional event.

The event was at the Oberon, the newest mall in Cochin & Reliance Trends was sponsoring
this event, where you could meet Rob and even participate in a design contest, with prizes
for the kids that have the best 6 entries. If you had done a purchase worth Rs2o00 at the
mall, they would give you the coupon making you eligible for the event.

My sister's neighbour had a coupon for the event and thus Divya participated in the event,
she being a regular Pogo watcher, like most kids. And you know what, her entry won the
First prize which included among other things a MAD set, something which she had always
wanted to have.

I am sure Divya would have had trouble sleeping yesterday night, what with getting to see
Bob, winning the 1st prize and to top it, she is on TV (Amrita news channel, JaiHind channel)
and in the newspapers (The Indian Express). Now, that surely is something.

BTW, her entry was a vegetable man - created from various vegetables. Seems like Bob was
pretty impressed with her creation. She has snaps of the same - will update this post with
the snaps later.

Way to go, girl. I am really proud of you.

How about leading by example, Chief Minister ?

The other day I came across an article in the newspaper about the CM of Tamilnadu
getting all sad & pained about how today most Tamil parents were not giving their kids
Tamil names.

I am neither for or against naming kinds the Tamil way or Kerala way or whatever. I would think that it should be the prerogative of the parents to decide the names of their kids, with
the only caveat being that it should not be something really dumb or something that will
make them the butt of jokes all through their lives.

For example, the previous weekend I was looking up my name on the railway chart and
came across someone named 'Alpha'. If this person had siblings, I am sure they would
have been named Beta, Gamma and so on...

But the first thought that came to mind on reading the CM's exhortation was how could he
ask people to do something which he himself did not do ? I mean, one of his sons is named
Stalin, which is not even an Indian name, forget being a Tamil name.

I think politicians just can't help shooting their mouth off.

When a private walk in the park gets to the public domain.

It's a nice Saturday morning and you decide to hit the nearby park for a walk with your
family, to spend some time in the midst of nature. Unknown to you, there is a newspaper
photo-journalist in the vicinity who thinks your family walk in the park makes a good
picture to go with his article about the parks in the city.

Thus you end up in the pages of the newspaper and since you don't subscribe to the said newspaper you are not even aware of you and your family gracing the pages of the daily.
Till, your kid is asked about it by her friend's parent. Kind of what happened in the case
of my friend.

This picture came in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper (Chennai edition) of 23-Nov-2008.



The guy in the pic is a colleague and friend for more than a decade. A few of my friends who
visit this blog would also be able to recognise him, having worked with him. He had gone to
the Theosophical society campus in Chennai for a walk one weekend with his family when
they were snapped by a journo and ended up in the newspaper.

He was pretty excited about being featured in the newspaper, but could not get his hands
on a copy of the paper, since he did not subscribe to it. While I usually buy the DC, I did not
have this particular day's paper. Anyway, with the internet around, why would sourcing the paper be difficult ? Went to their online site and got the picture from their archives and sent
it to him.

What was that old quote again about every person in the world getting his / her 15 minutes
of fame ?

The image that stays on long after the guns fell silent.

It is close to 2 weeks now since the audacious terrorist attack at Mumbai (previously known
as Bombay). Many innocent lives were lost in the attack, leaving many families in mourning.
And I am not talking about the 9 terrorists who died. They anyway had come prepared to die. And they deserved to die.

For the life of me, I have never understood what these guys gain by killing innocent people.
How does it further their cause ? Does it not actually make people stand up against them and
the cause they espouse ?

One of the images that will remain in my memory for a long time to come is the picture of
little Moshe crying. His Jewish parents were killed in the attack and being a parent myself,
it feels so heart-rending every time I am reminded of the innocent kid who lost his parents
for no fault of his.



I see the crying kid and it reminds me of my son. Even imagining how my son would feel in similar circumstances is painful for me. My heart goes out to the kid and I hope he is not in
any way scarred by the violence he saw at so young an age.

I hope and pray that he has caring relatives to bring him up well, in the absence of his parents.
May God bless him.