Why “Cuckoo News”?

Because all the other domain names were taken! Also, we know our coverage of topics is likely to be a little cuckoo. With every publication vying to be the “first” to report on things, we’re gearing up to occupy the niche space of being amongst the “last” to cover something. If we cover it at all. We will surely “break” news sometimes, but probably not often at break-neck speeds. In fact, we should confess upfront that we don’t take ourselves all that seriously. But we take the world—I don’t know if “seriously” is the word—with a sense of awe and esteem and love, and with a grain of salt.

However, I admit, there IS another story behind the name. “Cuckoo News” wasn’t just the “available domain”; it was actively sought out. It comes from my father’s nickname for me, Kuhu, which in Bengali means the Cuckoo bird’s call. Though it was likely meant to evoke the mellifluous lilt of the Cuckoo’s springtime song with which it is associated in Bengali, I was convinced, increasingly, that I was living up to the English language connotations of “cuckoo.” And “news” because that’s my line of work.

Friends and family have conspired to find deeper meanings. “Cuckoos are irreverent,” said Sujan, a fellow journalist and Cuckoo team member. “Cuckoos are clever,” said Anuradha, another journalist friend. “Cuckoos are birds. We’ll take a bird’s eye view of things,” said Koli, my sister and co-creator of Cuckoo News. Everyone agreed that the world itself is a little crazy…a little cuckoo…so “Cuckoo News can be our chirpings on a wacky world,” said Koli.

That’s why Cuckoo News.

—Dola Mitra, Editor