Village cooks up a hit
A TAMIL Youtube cooking channel made famous by the participation of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has acquired 10 million subscribers and earned Youtube’s Diamond Play Button.
The Youtube channel, which was launched by residents of the Chinna Veeramangalam village in the Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu, now has a global audience.
Created by cousins V Subramanian, V Murugesan, V Ayyanar, G Tamilselvan and T Muthumanickam, and led by their grandfather M Periyathambi, a former caterer, the channel’s daily subscriber numbers jumped from 10000 to 40 000 after Gandhi appeared on it.
Subramanian, the techie behind the Youtube channel, said: “We began this channel to pass the time when we were not cultivating as basically we are all farmers. As all the men in our village can cook, we thought why not show it to the world?”
He said a quarter of money they earn each month is spent on buying ingredients because, as he put it, “we regularly host feasts in the village”.
Subramanian said the team did “a lot of charity and spend on the needy”.
The Youtube cooking channel is the first in Tamil Nadu to cross the 10 million subscribers mark.
Periyathambi, who is also known as thaatha or grandfather, said: “It is really great that we are getting recognition from as far as the United States of America.
“I think that everyone should believe in their own abilities and this is what you are seeing in our case.
“We popularised our strength and it became a hit. I feel proud because we are being recognised internationally.”