Hunting around Chennai

When it was Puja Holidays -a long one week holiday - we thought the kids could be actively engaged online.

Who are the 'we'?

YOCee and Bambaram. Two independent outfits that cater to the city and its kids in completely different forms and ways.

Why online?

We knew the kids would anyway be online playing, chatting, 'facebook'ing and 'hangout'ing on Google Plus. So why not some Googling and learning?

That worked well. We launched ACID9 - Around Chennai in (9) Days, a Treasure Hunt completely online.

The experience was wonderful at our side when 76 teams (of two kids each) signed up for the Hunt. And what about the participants' version? To find this out, we had the finale face-to-face.

We had invited all the teams that signed up, participated, cracked or tried the daily clues and treasures. We got to know from them how much they enjoyed hunting online every day.

Many parents revealed that they had joined the hunt with their kids.

Yeah, we wanted and expected that!

The top 5 Hunters felt proud holding up their cups and sure they would remain in their showcases for ever!

Do you know what the question the kids, moms and dads asked alike was, when we signed off?

"When and what will be the next online fun?"

Who said the Internet is generally banned for kids in a south Indian city like Chennai?

Quizzing becomes a new weekend activity!

Of late. we see a lot of quiz for school kids.

Chennai is, of course, the quizzing capital as many would observe. But these quizzes are All India level quizzes and winning at Chennai region means another round of quizzing for these kids.

It was TCS IT WIZ last month. The team from SBOA won the regional finals and Bala Vidya Mandir team was the runner up.

It was then time for the Madras Quiz. Murugappa Madras Quotient was launched in a big way this year. Though it was for school students, an adult - a teacher or a parent- was also included in the finals. The team from PSBB Nungambakkam lifted the trophy. Vidya Mandir was the runners up.

Then came the Limca Book of Records quiz. The same team from Bala Vidya Mandir which was runners up in the TCS IT WIZ quiz was the winners of this quiz. And Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram team was the runners up.

Now there will be the Young World Quiz in October / November. The India Quizzing League's Republic Day quiz in January.

So how do these teams prepare for the quizzes? Or they just keep track of what is happening around them?

If you were part of any quizzing team, would you like to share a few tips for those starters?
Mail them to editor@yocee.in. Will be a nice gesture and we will publish them on YOCee.

Madras - Chennai - children

Madras is Chennai to the younger generation.
Especially to those who are born after 1996.
Yes, that is when the official name of the city was changed to Chennai.

It has been on the records as Madras in English and Chennai in Tamil even before the official change of name. But now Madras is Chennai, though many in the city and many who are abroad still refer to it as Madras.

But then a celebration for the city reminds us of the old and new, history and geography of this city that has multiple faces.
One face of it is too conservative to accept the Western culture.
But the other face is very open to changes and modernisation.
Yet another face is exploring anything new within the parameters of tradition, culture and a little beyond them.

Yes, it is a fascinating city like many other cities in India.
And when it is August, it is time to celebrate every aspect of this city.

What is there for children? Hey, many things. Many firsts and many grand events, contests.
Just look at the array of events for the young people!
Happy Madras Day! Want to call is Chennai Day? Be it, but celebrate your own city!

Reporters ready for the year!

It is again time for the young student reporters of YOCee to get ready for one full year of reporting.

It is fun, but serious. Nothing frivolous gets into their writing and reporting.
After all they are trained to be official reporters of YOCee.

This year, we grew bigger as the city grows bigger. There are kids from the greater Chennai, that is as far as from the Mahindra World City close to Chenglepet who are enthu about writing.
The bright eyed young people listened to what is reporting and how to go about picking up story ideas. But it is always the Reporter ID card that gets the maximum vote in the whole process.

After listening to the stories of the writers of the past years, the new crowd of cub reporters are ready for finding their story ideas.

Keep logged on to your YOCee, you will find stories and stories and ...

Pick up learning resources

It is time to learn new things. Traditionally the Vijayadasami day sets the kids and the not-so-kids to a new beginning.

And for those who wished a resource guide to learning various things in Chennai, YOCee's Chennai Kids Directory is already out and available in the market, a very few copies though as of now.

The Hindu Metro Plus has put it out for the public again.

Read Anusha Parthasarathy's piece here.

On Expresso, the Chennai supplement of The New Indian Express

Chennai Kids Directory - Now on sale!

March has been a busy month.
In schools, it was exams that kept the students and teachers busy.

In companies and banks, it was annual accounts closing time.
And at YOCee, it was a collection and verification of data for Chennai Kids Directory.

A project that began in February went on till the last day of March.

The entire experience was a new and educative. While some were quick to understand what a directory, some needed a more elaboration to make them comfortable to share their contact addresses and numbers. I mean the providers of hobby classes and after school activity centres.

Once everything is collected and verified, the data looked amazing. It ran to 100 pages. The final product is now on sale.

The directory is humbly priced at Rs. 20, though the information in the directory is invaluable.
You can contact YOCee for buying, gifting and bulk orders.