This story is from September 14, 2018

Panaji lad provides aarti sangraha at your fingertips

Panaji lad provides aarti sangraha at your fingertips
Panaji: This Ganeshotsav, devotees who haven’t memorised the Ganesh aartis need not go looking for a copy of the aarti sangraha — a booklet containing the different devotional songs. A local android developer has given these sacred songs a digital avatar.
The Unexplored Goa app, developed by Prajyot Mainkar and his firm Androcid, offers over 50 aartis that devotees can chant or recite to the popular elephant-headed god from their smartphones.
The app is currently available only for Android users and caters to those who don’t wish to carry a physical book, yet want to have the popular aartis at their fingertips.
Mainkar has another motive. Every year thousands of booklets are printed and distributed across the state and then callously discarded after the festival. This not only results in wastage of paper and money, but also creates tonnes of garbage in the state, Mainkar says while speaking to TOI.
“It allows people to go paperless, and also gives them a better hand-held experience,” the Panaji-based developer said.
Many have memorised the key aartis, which they chant before the idol of Ganpati, while some refer to the traditional booklets.
“Over the years, I have seen many switching from traditional booklets to digital images for reading the aartis and that’s when the idea came, wherein a segment of the users would like to have it in their palms to browse through lyrics with the option to search the aartis,” the young android developer says.

The Goa Unexplored smartphone application was designed for locals and tourists to find services such as electricians, carpenters and even sweetmarts.
Sensing the need to solve the last minute rush that many families go through in search of the aarti sangraha, the team at Androcid quickly developed the new feature for the app, which will make it easier for devotees to remember the aarti verses.
“With over 4,800 active downloads and with this feature, we certainly see people no longer needing to use traditional aarti books,” Mainkar says.
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