Kanajar's 5 Years on the World Wide Web

The Internet has been one of the ?miracles? of modern technology. This network of computers has spawned a unique field of Information Technology. It's been just 15 years since the World Wide Web (WWW) was born, but already more than 80 million websites have been registered on this web. The community of Kanajar was not to be let down in this competition. And now its been 5 years since Kanajar existed on the web. Following are some of the major milestones of Kanajar on the web:

• Aug 15, 2001: This auspicious commemorative day of Indian Independence as well as mother Mary's Assumption, the community of Kanajar made its entry into the World Wide Web. For the first time, a web page dedicated to Kanajar emerged on Geocities server with the help from Kanajarians residing at Kuwait: www.geocities.com/kanajar. This page provided the details about the parish of Kanajar, as well as the details about the projects that the Kanajar Welfare Association had undertaken back home.

• Mar 2002: Kanajar's own website www.kanajar.com was registered on the World Wide Web. The website name could be expanded as: World Wide Web of Kanajar Community.

• Oct 2002: The new website was formally launched during a gathering of KWAK, by the association's convener Mr. Lawrence Saldanha. During this time, the home page of the website was rendered secular. The materials pertaining to a specific religion was moved to background. Also citations about the other religious places of Kanajar appeared on the home page.

• Feb 11, 2006: On this auspicious day of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, another website for Kanajar www.ĸanaįaronline.com came into existence. News items from Kanajar, interviews of political leaders, articles, etc. are being published on this website.

Following are some of the salient resources that are featured on these websites:

• Details about the Kanajar parish, with history and photographs of parish priests, details about the associations and families.

• Reports with pictures about the cultural/feast celebration events by Kanajarians at home town as well as abroad.

• e-books of the publications from Kanajar, such as souvenirs, parish bulletin, etc.

• Current affair articles, interviews, etc.

• Discussion Forum.

• Email Group.

• Satellite map of Kanajar and surrounding places.

Presently these websites are spruced up due to the active inspiration and blessings from the dynamic parish priest Rev. Fr. Alwyn D'Cunha. Internet is emerging as a powerful medium in modern times. Let us wish that these websites be the bridges to the Kanajarians who are spread across the world and bind them together with unity and love.

(This article is also published in the September 2006 issue of the parish bulletin 'Lourdesachi Zhar')