Churumuri (blog)
Churumuri.com is an Indian blog edited and published by Krishna Prasad, formerly an editor at Outlook magazine and the editor of Karnataka's popular English newspaper Vijay Times until early 2007. . Built on a premise of participatory journalism, interactivity, nostalgia and humour, it amasses frequent web traffic with quirky and often provocative coverage of politics , business, cricket, media, movies and music. Other journalists, many of whom live in or were raised in Mysore, also Contribute to the blog.
Churumuri was started in March of 2006 on the day of Ugadi, or Hindu New Year. It has since grown into a vibrant, sometimes raucous, forum to discuss issues of the Mysore region and beyond. churumuri.com has been occasionally cited in India's mainstream media for its political discussions, and often ranks among the more popular blogs hosted on the WordPress.complatform.
The name
Churumuri.com is named after the Mysore specialty snack churumuri — a tangy street food prepared with puffed rice, grated carrot, roasted peanuts, shredded onion, lemon juice and green chilli peppers, usually served in cones of old newspaper for between Rupees ½ and 5 or less than a U.S. dime. The tagline swalpa sihi, swalpa spicy (Kannada for "a little sweet, a little spicy") is meant to capture the essence of both the snack and the blog.
Notability
Churumuri has earned a mention in the mainstream media a few times since inception. Its campaign to secure governmental recognition for the writer R.K. Narayanin his home town in the centenary year of his birth drew the attention of the historian Ramachandra Guha and later found a mention in The Hindu Sunday Magazine by Narayan's biographer, N. Ram. Eventually the campaign reached the governor of Karnataka, T.N. Chaturvedi.
Churumuri's coverage of the legacy media has sometimes attracted critical attention. An analysisof the apology tendered by the editor-in-chief of The Hindu to an automobile company drew a response from Readers' Editor K. Narayanan to which Churumuri responded as well.
During the high-profile takeover of the Vijaya Karnataka Group by the Times of India Group, the blog saw a significant spike in participation by visitors with rumours, theories and intrigue surrounding the takeover being discussed at length by the readers, many of them journalists using screen-names .
Churumuri's reporting of the internecine war within the Bangalore newspaper Deccan Herald , and the change of stewardshipof The Hindu in Bangalore attracted were popularity inflection points as well. In more recent months, churumuri.com has become a platform of debate for many topics Kannada, Kannadiga and Karnataka.
The blog was linked to during debates about Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist and the squash ball controversy . It was also mentioned in a sample of bloggers' reactions to N. R. Narayana Murthy's remarks about the national anthem. .
Churumuri claimed to be the most visited blog in the world for two days in mid April of 2006 when it was among the first to cover the passing of Dr. Rajkumar and the chaos that followed.
Regular contributors
The blog has run contributions by some well known journalists, including the distinguished Mysore–based photojournalist T.S. Satyan, his brother the photographer T.S. Nagarajan, the author Sunaad Raghuram, the former editor of Samachar (Mysore's first English eveninger, now defunct) Gouri Satya, the corporate manager turned humourist E.R. Ramachandran, the syndicated news photographer Saggere Ramaswamy, the corporate manager Arun S. Padaki, the journalist turned media professor Nikhil Moro, and the journalist turned Intel manager Chetan Krishnaswamy.
Affiliated blogs
Krishna Prasad and his Churumuri band of contributors also operate two subsidiary blogs: A media blog aimed at journalists, journalism students and journalism educators, Sans Serif, and a food blog focused largely on southern Indian vegetarian cuisines, Kosambari.
External links
- Churumuri
- [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/VIJAYKARNATAKA.pdfVisveswara Bhat on Churumuri]
- [http://www.indianembassy.org/US_Media/2004/mar/Software_of_Democracy.htmThomas L. Friedman on Krishna Prasad], [http://www.outlookindia.com/diary.asp?fname=Diary&subsubsecname=Delhi&fodname=20050926&authorname=Vinod+MehtaVinod Mehta on Krishna Prasad]
- Blog campaign for recognition to Malgudi Man
- [http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2006/05/21/stories/2006052100270300.htmRamachandra Guha on Churumuri]
- N. Ram on Churumuri's R K Narayan campaign
- [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Governor_pic.jpgTeam Churumuri with Karnataka Governor T N Chaturvedi]
- Dr Raj Kumar: the passing of a legend - Coverage by Churumuri
