A couple' of good ideas!

When Bengaluru-based couple Shekhar Vijayan and his wife Nisha recently experienced a personal loss of a child, they chose to channel their misery into empathy.

The trauma also helped them gauge the need for a forum, which enables open conversations and discussions through unfiltered posts. And, that’s how Penmythoughts, a free online forum transpired.

The platform enables youngsters and adults from across the world to post some of their deepest and  darkest experiences through both anonymous and authored posts. In a candid chat, they tell us more...

“The intent was to build a community of free thinkers, which will have writers across all genres and all age groups writing on any topic which ticks. Yes, the forum will cover topics which may not really find itself to be categorically placed as black or white. We leave it to the discretion of the writer and reader,” shares Shekhar. Asserting how they are at a nascent stage in the business, Nisha adds, “Its too early to comment on how well we would do. Or we’d actually make a connect, if at all.

The focus is to give people an opportunity to speak their mind. But, while we encourage open and deeper topics, we wish to build a healthy balance so that even kids can contribute. For example - On children going to play schools. There is a parent, who wrote  about enjoying the simple pleasures of life. Now that we are plagued with so much of competition, children have forgotten about climbing trees, enjoying their summer vacations and eating freshly plucked mangoes under the shady trees. We’re literally packaging them off to survive in a degraded concrete jungle!”

Barely a month old, the initiative is garnering interest on social media, nevertheless. “The responses have been quite overwhelming. Without over 20+subscribers already, its been an upward graph. We are getting queries from homemakers who otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to contribute elsewhere. We plan to evolve as we go along and will also branch into flash fiction. Lots of people want to contribute, we’re as thrilled as our well wishers  are,” elucidates Shekhar.