A cyber 'chayakkada' to talk politics

KOTTAYAM: Tea shops used to be a place where people discussed politics vociferously till some time back, forcing some owners to put up boards banning it outright.With the passage of time intensity of such discussions began to fade away as people found it hard to find to relax on a wooden bench for a cup of tea, let alone a debate.
A bunch of college students from Marian College, Kuttikkanam, are now trying to revive the culture of political arguments, through a website echayakkada.com, which mimics the mood of the small eatery, where tea used to be measured in metres and oily snacks lured people from behind the glass shelves.
The cyber tea shop launched two months back has interviews with candidates and several articles that analyse constituencies all written by the students who manage the site.
"This is a socio-political website with a civic sense," said Sher in P Shaji, a Communicative English student of the college.
The idea was mooted by Ajesh P Joseph, who teaches in the social work department. "I was handling an open course where students from various departments were present including web developers and creative writers. The website was launched by this collective," he said.
"We thought election season would be the best time to launch such a website. We plan to make it a commercial venture and start generating revenue," he said.
Besides Sherin, Afin Albert, a student of Communicative English and Nithin Mohan and Tom Joseph of BCA are currently running the site.
The students are also planning to bring senior political leaders in each district to a popular tea shop there and hold discussions with local citizens "It would not be an aggressive event like in news channels. We will hold it in a relaxed and peaceful manner and then upload the video in our website," he said.