A Walk worth writing home about: The first Madras Reporter’s Beat
Madras. Chennai. Call it whatever, it’s a great city. A great city that has crap social institutions. I’ve complained and whined, I’ve beaten my chest and berated my luck, but Madras is not going to get good writers, much less good journalists and good newspapers that way. So, in classic C fashion, here’s what I will do. Crowd source the kind of news/reportage/journalism I want.
And, crowd-please. Here’s the idea. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. We all meet, one Sunday, at a Location, and proceed towards a Destination, capturing everything that catches our fancy. Yes, rather like the Chennai PhotoWalk, true. Except, this time, you bring not a camera, but paper, pen, writing pad, voice recorder and/or other tools of a writer. Oh, please, bring a camera too. Or just bring yourself.
On Sunday, the 10th of April, we will all meet at the Luz Signal (near the Sangeetha restaurant), and proceed in a stochastic and haphazard manner towards TT K Road/Sivaswami Road. Along the way you, and I, will meet people, talk to those we meet and keep a keen eye out for all kinds of things. At the end of the walk, we will talk for a few minutes about the things we saw, and coffee/breakfast/brunch later, disperse.
Yes, rather like the Chennai PhotoWalk, true. But unlike the Chennai PhotoWalk, your job does not end when the walk does. Instead, you go home and, festering thoughts and burning righteousness adequately stoked, you will sit down and write about whatever you think is worth writing about from the walk. It can be reportage, it can be opinion, it can be a long-form piece, it can be funny, it can be serious, it can be scathing, it can, in short, be anything you want it to be. It needs to be consistent within the parameters you set for yourself and your story.
Do not worry about style, form, length, character, tone of voice. Just give me a piece you’d love to read.
I (and perhaps one other person) will then collate these stories, edit them (minimally, and brutally honestly) and structure them into a paper we’d love to spend a Sunday with. A month of Sundays with.
All of this, then, will be published as an entirely online newspaper; due credit given, of course.
The idea is that Madras will get a publication that it sorely needs. If this sounds good, comment away.
So, for our first Reporter’s Beat, meet me at 7 AM on Sunday the 10th of April 2011, at Luz Signal, Mylapore.
About
Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan is a copywriter, photographer and goofball from Chennai. He is also an archaeologist, historian and a city lover. He is currently a documentary film-maker and desk-monkey for a film production house.
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March 29th, 2011 - 17:40
and thus “Chennai Writer’s Walk” was born…
March 29th, 2011 - 17:41
hey, this is a cool idea…
March 29th, 2011 - 17:43
Supercoolness.
I likes and will be part of it if in town (not sure if I will be yet).
March 29th, 2011 - 17:54
Hey, good thought.. Will catch you there..
March 29th, 2011 - 18:43
next time am in madras, will be there
March 29th, 2011 - 20:02
is it a coincidence that I just watched the freedom writers? Let’s see if you get a brilliant idea the next time I watch a brilliant movie. if that be the case, we got to explore if we’r twins born 2 years apart..
March 29th, 2011 - 22:02
Sounds like a great idea
I sure do hope to join the walk….
March 29th, 2011 - 23:04
What a great idea! If only you would do this sometime during the Summer Holidays, visitors to Chennai would join too. Do you think it would be possible?
March 30th, 2011 - 16:59
How about tweeting along the way and then stitch it to make a story ?
March 30th, 2011 - 17:32
One super walk if you are a crazy literary misfit with random words swimming around in your head all the time, hopefully being spewed out in regular intervals. I hope this is not a walk that lasts more than 2 hours, as I have a Japanese class at 9.30. Thanks to my buddy Dheepikaa for bringing me here, and hope she comes along. See you there!
March 30th, 2011 - 18:02
“A great city that has crap social institutions… Madras is not going to get good writers, much less good journalists and good newspapers that way.”
Vociferously disagree. You are either blind or have not looked at the right places. I’ll come just to debate this with you.
March 31st, 2011 - 07:31
I am there in spirit my love. I loved what you showed me of Chennai and haven’t ever forgotten!
So please count me in and expect a piece from me too
Great going CC
April 4th, 2011 - 11:17
Does it mean, that there’d be a different photowalk for the month?
April 4th, 2011 - 11:41
Great idea. Do send folks like me (who cannot participate in this event) the links to the stories.
Thanks and good luck.
April 4th, 2011 - 12:36
Great idea. I’ll try to be there.
April 4th, 2011 - 13:24
thats a swell idea … hope i could make it
April 4th, 2011 - 13:59
Superb idea!! Hope to make it there!!
April 4th, 2011 - 18:10
Great idea! Best of luck!
April 4th, 2011 - 18:48
fresh! I’ll be there. thanks for not giving an agenda on what to write..this will turn out to be interesting.
April 5th, 2011 - 19:39
Very cool idea. Will try my best to be there.
voice recorder, paper, camera, etc with me. best of luck.
April 6th, 2011 - 13:07
Brilliant! i shall catch ya de nex tym cuz ma lyf does no chime 2 way does as o now!
April 7th, 2011 - 18:45
Good one Mr Selective Amnesia. Would watch this space to see what Chennai looks like from your lenses. Hav a good one
April 7th, 2011 - 21:08
great idea! Maybe we can have our own Chennai Timeout magazine-like.
April 8th, 2011 - 02:43
Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan,
I did not refer to camera’s when I mentioned ‘lenses’. I was referring to your views, perspectives. Good initiative. Keep us posted
April 10th, 2011 - 23:05
Chandra,
If you ever need a space – a meeting room – to get some people together, and hash out this “Sunday paper” our office (The Startup Centre) in Egmore in Alsa Mall, would be quite happy to host. I did do a few crazy things like going around fixing potholes in the city (http://potholes.pbwiki.com), so know what you mean. Brings about a rather different perspective from the bottoms up. There might even be a few guys there who can help build some tools for you over time to make this easier.
Ping me if required.
Vijay
@vijayanands
April 13th, 2011 - 18:44
Chandrachoodan,
Great idea! I would like to see the outcome, which I am sure you will post here.
Look forward to it.
John
June 15th, 2011 - 14:05
Would love to do a walk like this in Goa. If you’re ever headed this way, let me know and we’ll organise one!