I was introduced to Rasika through a singer friend, Ketaki Vaze. Ketaki and Rasika knew each other from the time Ketaki was in Munich, and Ketaki introduced Rasika to our channel, Vaachan Ranjan. Rasika is an artist. She paints, she sketches, and she makes many things out of craft. She is also a brilliant reader. She emotes so well that one gets involved while listening to all her stories. I got to know later that Ketaki and Rasika are a part of the Natyavaachan group, and they meet online on weekends to do readings of famous Marathi plays. It's no wonder both Ketaki and Rasika are such brilliant narrators, and it shows in every story that they both narrate on our channel, Vaachan Ranjan!
When Rasika approached me to write something for the Diwali magazine of Maharashtra Mandal Munich, I was thrilled. She very specifically told me to write on a topic that is very close to my heart. She didn't give me any chance to while away time thinking about the topics to write about. She asked me to write about how Vaachan Ranjan came into existence and how it has been running for the past two and a half years, with the help and support of all my reader and writer friends, who do it for free, without expecting anything in return.
When I sat down to write about it, I realized that it is indeed not easy to put all those emotions into words. Sometimes, I get frustrated and tired and want to discontinue uploading Marathi stories on the channel. Our subscriber base is just 304. I wonder if anyone really takes the time to visit our channel and listen to the wonderful stories there. My son often jokes about the fan base. He watches some stupid videos on YouTube and that person has a million subscribers. We do put a lot of time and effort into the channel, but there has been no growth in the recent past. Who has time nowadays? The thought of closing this channel has crossed my mind many times. In the recent past, my life has been quite busy with a new job and other household responsibilities; doing most of the things single-handedly; doing follow-up with the writers and the narrators; converting the mp3 audio file into a video file; uploading it on the channel; scheduling its release; and queuing the stories for at least the next two months. Phew! It's not easy. It's hard work, and I'm not even sure if this effort is reaching people or appealing to people. But then if I don't do it, who else will do it? I love my mother-tongue, Marathi and am proud of it. At least for that love, I should continue to make stories and upload on the channel.
All these emotions about my channel are brought to life in the Diwali magazine of Maharashtra Mandal Munich, and I can't thank the entire team behind this for their brilliant efforts.
Please have a look at the creativity of people here and do read the different articles published in the magazine. It feels so proud!
https://mmmunich.com/mmm-diwali-ank/
Thank you, MMM, for giving us writers a platform to express our thoughts and feelings. I wish you many more of these wonderful years of Diwali magazines and wish you all a very happy Diwali!
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