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Mediabyte |
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The "Pitara" Of Fun
Publication: Chip
Date: October, 2000
The average of the Internet user is definitely reducing. So why not a site dedicated to children of all ages?
Pitara means a basket, a treasure trove, and so www.pitara.com seeks to be never-ending treasure-hunt for kids. It is not one of the latest but certainly one of the better site for children and teenagers. So what makes www.pitara.com so differnt? The Gurgaon based company which owns this site believes that education is not an end in itself, rather there's a higher goal of helping children and teenagers become intelligent human beings sensitive to the immediate surroundings.
The main sections have been divided in such a way that they offer the right blend of learning,information and, ofcourse,fun. Pitara has been split up into six main sections: Talespin, News, Games, Magazine, Activities and Discover. There is even a section on Parenting. (Maybe children can look up this last section to learn what to expect from their parenrs!) The main sections such as News and Discover are neatly lined in the extreme left column of the site. The extreme right column is devoted to tid-bits such as Your Page and Contests. The rest of the home page contains a brief summary of any major topic that is covered in the main sections.
Let's start with the Talespin section. As the name suggests, this section contains stories, folktales, poems and books. There are original Indian stories on how children see the world in different colours. These stories draw inspiration from the every day life of children, so the children might easily associate with them. At the same time the stories try to inspire and motivate children along a certain value path. And don't be surprised if you find some of grandma's best stories among these folktales. Actually you may even find one that even your grandma wouldn't have told you such as 'when the earth and sky were married'. This section even has poems that go away from stereotypical westernised 'Twinkle,Twinkle....'. The illustrations and caricatures add a visual appeal to the poems. Well-known literary associations and people have contributed to this section.
The News section lets children tune into the latest trends in the world. You may be thinking that this is another one of those sections carrying informations about happenings in India and abroad. Wrong! The team of Pitara picks an interesting mix of news and facts from the ocean of daily news. The news is especially tailored for children and is written in a manner so that kids would easily understand without having to look up the dictionary. And if you are eager to delve deeper into the story, there's the in-depth analysis part, where things are explained in simple English.
The really interesting part of the site is the Discover section. Here, you get information on interesting facts, figures and discoveries which would really interest a teenager or child. This section covers topics such as the solar system and planet earth, latest discoveries happening around the world and other amazing facts. The promoter of this site also plan to add another part to this already rich section, called The Lab, which could include practical experiments that can be easily done by a child and other do-it-yourself material.
And if you are a parent who is concerened about your child's awareness, then you can go through the Parenting section. If you are a first time parent and don't know how to go about the difficult task of parenting, then you should find the Baby and You sub-section useful. It contains a mammoth 140-page document which covers almost all aspects of parenting from pregnancy, childbirth, feeding your baby, to solving the common problems of first time parents. For parents who are still undecided about what to name their baby, the Baby Names sub-section may prove to be of help. It has a huge list of names with a searchable index. You can search by the starting letter of the name, or the starting sound and if that isn't enough you can also search by meaning. So go ahead and find out if it's Rohit, Priya, Pooja, Vishal that's good or would Anil, Sunil, Jyoti be better.
All said and done, Pitara appeares to be a complete guide on parenting, with loads of information, news and new facts that would be of interest to children. Your child can definitely grow with www.pitara.com.
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