Greetings to everyone!
“Dreams are not what you have when you sleep; dreams are those that don’t let you sleep” – these words of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India, have been inspiring young minds for the last one decade. And perhaps, I, too, was inspired by these magic words when I started the journey with Greatandhra.com this day in 2002. Marking my objective, I gave it the caption – “Changing the World.”
Many mocked my thoughts but I believed in my conviction and followed my pursuit. The journey took a turn in 2004 when we started posting the content aggressively. The portal rose to a new height in 2006 when we started Telugu version. Running a media avenue always has its share of challenges because it deals with truth and becomes a bridge between powerful institutions like cinema, politics and common man.
Nevertheless, an unwritten protocol exists between a media entity and the subject in focus. When someone approached us expressing their disagreement with due justification, anything published on them was removed with immediate effect. And there were a few who believed in muscle power and threats were their methods to oppose and suppress. It has only strengthened my conviction and broadened my vision. And I changed the caption of the portal – “Dare to Write.”
Year 2011 has brought in a revolution in technology; and to catch up with the changing reading habits of the technology-driven generations, we introduced the mobile aps for our portal to make it more user-friendly. And this year, we achieved another milestone when we launched the print edition of Greatandhra in a tabloid format.
Going back, when Greatandhra was set up in 2002, it was the first and unique website with exclusive hourly updates on cinema, politics and other issues. It was the first of its kind experiment which the other websites could not even think about. And we are proud to say that Greatandhra.com was a trendsetter for all the websites which took inspiration from us and started implementing it.
I am proud and glad to say that Greatandhra.com was the most popular website of its kind not only in Andhra Pradesh but also in the entire nation. Today, there are nearly 300 websites and almost all of them are just the followers of Greatandhra.com. Right from film reviews to analysis and blogs, our website has a path of its own which has been tread by many in later years.
Venkat Arikatla, Chief Editor
