He’s eight months old, gurgles, and doesn’t even have teeth. What he
does
have, however, is his own domain name and website: www.ekansh.com. Meet
Ekansh -- India’s first dotcom kid.
It was a naming-ceremony with a difference. Network Solutions played
Pandit,
advising Avinash Raghava what to name his baby. Unusual? Yes, but, for
Avinash, a net freak, it was the perfect gift for his son.
He, along
with
his wife, had planned a millennium baby only to miss the deadline by
twelve days. "I even did a search on sites like pitara and jnjindia," he
says, "before I finally found an appropriate and unusual name at
indiaparenting. There were a couple of options, but I first confirmed
whether or not the domain name was available, before deciding on the
name
Ekansh."
The name means ‘a tiny unit’ and Avinash loved it more because
of
the starting letter ‘e’. That, after all, was in keeping with the
e-buzz
generated by the Internet.
So, as most people would wonder, what prompted this father -- a knowledge
management professional at Trisoft Design, Delhi -- to create the site?
He
blames it on a lack of information about a baby’s growth in its
formative
years. "I couldn’t find any site that traced the growth of the baby. So
I
decided to put down all those minute changes here," he explains. That
and
the fact that the net remains a vehicle for instant fame and
celebrity-dom.
Avinash accepts it. "It was the perfect way to make my baby famous even
before he grew up." He also hopes that this might actually make it
easier
for Ekansh to get admission into a high brow Delhi School known for its
arduous admission procedure.
While it’s a definite first for Ekansh, Raghava has done this sort of
this
before, a wedding site for him and his wife no less. It was only after a
foreigner started stalking his wife online, sending her love letters,
that
hubby dearest decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
With Ekansh, however, there have been no problems. The feedback has been
very positive so far, with almost a hundred odd visitors logging in
daily.
"It is all through word of mouth," says Avinash. "The most interesting
mail
we got was from another girl called Ekansh, who wrote to us complaining
that
we have taken away her name."
The feedback varies. Some coo over the
photographs, others lap up the easy-to read account of Ekansh’s monthly
growth pattern, still others shower the child with blessings and a host
of
suggestions. The father laughs when he says, "There is a five year old
boy
who actually logs on regularly to give me advice on what we should feed
Ekansh, and how we should take care of him. I find that very touching."
Needless to say, the entire process has been very exciting. All this
after
the palpitations when the domain name was not confirmed even after
Ekansh’s
cards with the URL were printed out; or the hours spent with friends in
putting up the virtual labour of love. "Everybody has contributed. My
boss
loaned me the digital camera, a friend designed it, others offered their
ideas and suggestions."
He rounds off, "It’s a good way of blowing one’s own trumpet. And it
sure
beats repeating the same thing again and again to friends who want to
know
more about the baby, and how’s he doing!"
Fathers around the country would nod in complete agreement.
