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Article about Natrinai is published in *THE HINDU - 07May2017*

Article about Natrinai is published in
*THE HINDU - 07May2017*

*A radio service without a studio? It’s Natrinai*

S. Anukeerthana tries to stifle a giggle as she reads out her signature line delivering ‘Oru Nimida Yosanai’ (One-minute Thought) for the day on a loop for the photographer as her much older co-presenters look on. The sixth standard student of Montfort School, Kattur is a celebrity of sorts among the listeners of the ‘Natrinai Audio Gallery’, an audio service that is quietly ruling the airwaves. It’s radio, but without the studio.

Named after the classical Tamil epic of 400 poems that is a part of the Sangam-era literary anthology of ‘Ettuthokai’, Natrinai started out as an experimental news bulletin on May 23, 2015 in Tiruchi. It completed 500 episodes in September 2016, and with a zero-holiday schedule, is fast heading towards its 700th recording.

“I was all alone at home, reading the newspaper, when I started wondering how many people actually take the time to go through entire articles anymore,” says Nattrinai founder Gnanapriyan*. 

The senior pre-press engineer decided to create a short bulletin of four or five lead headlines of the day with a brief summary of each, recorded himself reading it out on his mobile phone, and dispatched it to 10 of his friends through WhatsApp.

The enthusiastic response to that first audio news digest spurred Gnanapriyan to produce a bulletin every day. “I would avoid crime and negative news. Slowly I started selecting five headlines each related to state, national, world, business, sports and entertainment news,” he recalls. 

But the schedule of recording, done after Gnanapriyan’s midnight office shift, was hard to keep up. “It was difficult balancing both, so I decided to shut it down by August 2015,” says Gnanapriyan.

*A second coming*

Though a little dejected by the impending closure of Natrinai, Gnanapriyan responded to a call for volunteers by Jagajothi Readers’ Circle to help to create a bank of audio learning materials for visually challenged students in Tiruchi. 

And to his surprise, Gnanapriyan found that there were many fans of Natrinai in the 200-member group, who had been getting the digest on their phones from friends. 

“The visually challenged listeners said they enjoyed Natrinai bulletins because they could be played at their convenience, and they could stay informed about current affairs. I realised that Natrinai’s closing may affect far more people than I had imagined,” says Gnanapriyan. “Natrinai is alive today primarily because of our visually challenged friends.”

Deciding to stay on air, Gnanapriyan added other sections to the bulletin service, done by a motley crew of volunteers, which includes his daughters Anukeerthana and Subiksharathna. A daily general knowledge quiz, readings from literary works, the one-minute thought and storytelling segments form some of the offerings. 

When the number of listeners started swelling to over 1,000, it became difficult to sustain the WhatsApp group messaging model. “So we shifted to a website (www.natrinai.org),” says Gnanapriyan. “We have retained our WhatsApp number (8220999799), but our archived recordings can be found only on our website.”

*A growing circle*

“Natrinai introduced me to many Tamil radio enthusiasts, many of whom later became part of our core team of presenters and programmers,” says Gnanapriyan. “All of us have full-time jobs, but we always manage to put in the hours needed for Natrinai.”

Among the earlier volunteers is S.S. Manian, a civil engineer based in Pudukottai. “I got in touch with Gnanapriyan through the programme ‘Ullathai Solvom’ (We’ll Tell It Like It Is). We started talking about how to develop Natrinai, and became close friends.”

Today, Manian is an integral part of the 27-member production team and is in charge of uploading the various sections that comprise the bulletin (finalised first by Gnanapriyan), on to the website.

“We were originally approached by the Karaikkal-based online FM station Nesa Ganam for our recordings. Since we already were thinking of diversifying into online FM ourselves, we decided to give it a trial run through Nesa Ganam,” says Manian.

Natrinai’s programmes were broadcast by Nesa Ganam from 9am to 10am daily. Now the group has developed an Android app (available for free download on Google Play Store) to run their own online radio service through the website, which went on air on February 10.

The service runs from 6am to 9am and is re-telecast from 6pm to 9pm that day. Archive recordings of Natrinai programmes may be heard after 9pm. 

M. Karupaiah of Gandharvakottai is in charge of the daily quiz show ‘Podhu Arivu Kuviyal’ (General Knowledge Bank). The Social Sciences teacher from Gandharvakottai, who is visually challenged, spends around 3 hours everyday researching questions on various topics and verifying the answers. He then types his work out on a Braille typewriter and also records the audio version on his mobile phone. 

“I find this section to be of use to those attempting competitive exams, so the Braille manuscript can be stored in the District Central Library’s database for differently-abled members,” says Karupaiah. 

Erode-based music teacher S. Senthilkumar enjoys preparing a short listing of important events in history for Natrinai. “I have to keep the information concise, otherwise it becomes boring for listeners. Even though I am a music teacher, it was Natrinai that gave me an opportunity to turn into a history buff,” he says.

Dr. P. Sami, associate professor of Chemistry at the V.H.N.S.N. College, Virudhunagar, contributes to the motivational section ‘Naalum Oru Vidhai’ (A Seed Every Day’). “From a service for the visually challenged, Natrinai has become a platform for everyone,” says Dr. Sami. “I know of schools in small towns that use Natrinai’s digests over the public announcement system every morning. It’s amazing, considering that we are not advertising at all.”

*Online, onward*

“We may lose our listeners’ support if we become commercial,” says Gnanapriyan. “If we have people from Malaysia, Qatar, Italy, United States, Oman and so on, getting in touch with us today, it’s because we seem to be giving them a product that is devoid of advertising,” he adds. Natrinai has around 1,000 regular visitors, but the actual number of listeners may be higher says Gnanapriyan, since there are so many niche groups of people that access it through messaging forwards. Some 500 downloads of the Natrinai FM app have been recorded.

Rather than talk about their Wi-Fi bills or scheduling headaches, Natrinai’s presenters say their biggest challenge is in finding a silent room for their recordings. “Since we are all managing with our mobile phones, and working from home, getting a soundproof studio is out of the question for now,” says Gnanapriyan. 

The nascent Natrinai Trust (administered by Gnanapriyan’s wife Gnanalakshmi), is being used to raise funds for worthy causes. “Recently we were able to collect Rs. 20,000 from an appeal on our website to help visually challenged people get software training in Tiruchi,” says Gnanapriyan.  

There’s a long check-list of potential subjects to be added to the programming. “We have had requests for information on parenting, legal and health issues, which we will be looking at this year,” says Manian.

“Natrinai has helped Tamilians to come closer. No matter where we live, there are many commonalities in our culture and language. Tamil is the most common denominator for our unity,” says Gnanapriyan. 

* Name changed on request.

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