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| Sindhu, Thripunithura Times, Thriupunithura, Ernakulam |
A nascent newspaper with a local flavour. And a housewife at its helm. The paper making its presence felt in the locality within a short time. The story of ‘Thripunithura Times’ is a tale of hitting the bull’s eye with perceptive reporting.
Vishnu Kumar, an employee in a German firm, had long cherished a dream: to start a newspaper of his own. So he took the plunge along with another friend Sukumar. Both together pooled Rs.20 lakhs to start the paper. Vishnu availed leave for one year to stabilize the operation.
The paper saw the light of the day in 2006. Though Vishnu was the Managing Editor initially, he encouraged his wife Sindhu to help him during her spare time. Her mother-in-law, who is an office bearer of an employee organization of BSNL, was a keen supporter of the idea.
So, Siindnu got drawn into the hustle and bustle of producing the daily. Since 2008 she manages all the operations herself, though her husband continues as the editor.
The paper with a print order of 25000, is distributed by the children in housing colonies of Thrippunithura. The Sunday edition is free.
She recalls how initially she had to wait at times for hours to meet her corporate clients. Now things have changed. What makes the paper click? It covers the issues that are close to the hears of the local people.
For example, when there was shortage of drinking water, the paper highlighted the existence of an unused storage tank. Soon, the municipal authorities were forced to utilize it. When there was move to close down the B.Ed College, they wrote about it, thus aborting the move.
Such activism has helped generate goodwill among the reading public.
Courtesy:
Gruhalakshmi, January 2011
Contributed by: Administrator
