8. Nirbhaya, again!

In 2012, the entire nation was outraged by the rape and murder of the 23-year old Nirbhaya. After 5 years, the nation is witnessing another outrage, this time caused by a seemingly innocuous, yet utterly insensitive remark of a retired police chief.

Speaking at a ceremony organized to honour women, the gentleman said that he could imagine how beautiful Nirbhaya would have been by seeing the good physique of her mother!

Does this remark not suggest that it was not surprising that Nirbhaya was raped considering how beautiful she was? The rape accused could perhaps have used this argument in defense of his crime, if only he had thought about this!

The gentleman had defended his remark (vide the Hindu of 17th March 2018) that it was  only a compliment and that he was trying to draw the attention of the people about the vulnerability of women, particularly beautiful women.

I wonder how a person who held such a responsible position that too in the police department could have been so unrestrained. Rather than regretting his remark, he is justifying it! If an ordinary person told a girl 'Hi! You are beautiful', he could be arrested for eve-teasing or sexual harassment!

The ex police also had a piece of advice for prospective rape victims. He suggested that the victim surrender so that she could save her life. Perhaps, this is about being pragmatic!

Nirbhaya means being fearless. Some people do not seem to be afraid of embarrassing themselves and others by the things they say.

Elsewhere, Dr. Vijayabhaskar, Tamilnadu's health minister told a woman journalist "Your specs look beautiful. You are looking beautiful."

He has clarified that he said this to divert the attention of the journalists from asking him political questions. What an innovative way to avoid questions from the media! Never mind if this remark could have embarrassed the lady!

Mr. Vijayabhaskar has often been targeted for criticism by the DMK leader Stalin. When Mr. Vijayabhaskar meets Mr.Stalin the next time, he may say "Mr. Stalin! You are looking handsome!" Perhaps, this will make Mr. Stalin so stunned to stop him from criticizing Mr. Vijayabhaskar! 

7. Google Loves Tamil!

When we want to search for information, we go to Google. But, for once, Google came in search of us for giving us information! This happened on 13th March 2018 at Hyatt Regency, Chennai in the form of  'Google for Tamil' event.

Considering that Google had extended asdsense to Tamil sites only on 9th February 2018, this event was launched pretty quick.

Even as I entered the venue, I felt proud and joyous to see the banner 'Google for Tamil.' But it was only the beginning of my excitement. I was astounded by the extensive and exhaustive coverage of topics related to adsense during the event and the thorough preparation by the executives of Google who made presentations on different aspects of content creation and the power of adsense.

I didn't intend to write about the event. Therefore I didn't take notes. Nor did I note down the names of the wonderful people who made the lively and useful presentations. These Google executives had landed Chennai from various places. Some of them didn't know Tamil and had to necessarily speak in English. However one person contributed a lot in Tamil and ensured that even the participants not so well versed in English got the message.

So, what was the seminar about?

The seminar broadly covered 5 areas

1) Fast growth in the number of netizens looking for information in Tamil and the huge demand for Tamil content this rapid growth has been creating.

2) The increasing interest advertisers have been showing for using Tamil sites as a vibrant platform for advertising and the expected increase in advertising income of Tamil sites because of this.

3) Understanding of the adjustments required to make the websites mobile friendly in the background of the increasing use of mobile phones for browsing the net.

4) Best practices for using adsense to the best advantage.

5) Adsesnse policy and the need to be clear about the mistakes and unacceptable practices that might lead to one's adsense account being suspended or terminated.

All the speakers displayed a commendable skill of presentation enriched by their knowledge of the topics they were presenting and a consummate thoroughness of preparation. All of them answered the questions fielded by some of the participants. Their patience in answering the supplementary questions persistently asked by some of the participants is worth applauding.

There was also a panel discussion in which an advertiser, a publisher, a technical expert and a successful youtube channel operator participated. In my opinion, instead of this panel discussion, giving a time slot of 15 minutes to each of these 4 people to answer the questions posed by the participants would have been more beneficial.

Food turned out to be another bonanza. Starting with an elaborate breakfast, there was a continuous flow of food at short intervals in the form of tea/coffee with a lot of snacks during the tea break in the forenoon, a sumptuous lunch in the afternoon that included an endless number of courses and a high tea at the end of the program.

What were my takeaways?

I have realized the huge potential for Tamil content in the net and the tremendous scope for monetisation. Though I have been using adsense for my English blogs for the past few years, I have earned very little adsense revenue. Meeting, in this event, many people with a lot of enthusiasm, amazing talents and stunning achievements, has inspired me to achieve much more. Since I have a lot of interest and enthusiasm for writing (and some flair too!), I have decided to focus on providing content for which there is a huge demand.

I am thankful to Google for extending adsense to Tamil websites and for organizing this exciting and inspiring event.

I am grateful to Indiblogger who extended the invitation to me and enabled me to participate in this event.