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Water Stories and More

This was written originally for my column in The HIndu's Sunday Magazine, Peace in a Pod, to be carried on July 22, 2018. However, the publication declined to carry this saying that it highlighted the work of a rival newspaper. While I can understand (though still disagree) with this policy, I do want to talk about podcasts that I think the Indian audience might find interesting, so decided to place it here instead...for those who might be interested.

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There’s no longer any doubt, this is the moment for digital audio on demand. Over the past couple of years, the mainstream media industry in India has begun looking seriously at audio content that both complements and extends its offering, whether in news, features or all the genres in between. Several legacy media outlets have had the weekly, fortnightly or occasional podcast available on their web site, but there has been little systematic investment in the audio component, with distinct resources or planning. But that seems to be changing, and one of the signals of that change is a new suite of podcasts from the Indian Express.

Express Audio is available on the Indian Express mobile app as well as on their web site, and the group is very cautiously also making some of the podcasts available on other platforms, including iTunes. The suite includes eight regular podcasts, including the weekday news roundup 3 Things, five weekly shows, and two fortnightly shows. They represent a fairly wide range in terms of focus and style, ranging from the popular sit-down conversation to slice-of-life with ambience, to documentary. 

In February this year, the group quietly launched 3 Things, initially hosted by the audio team’s Ameya Nagarajan and currently by Neha Matthews. The 15 to18-minute show, which drops at 6:30 every weekday morning, has Matthews bringing in Express journalists to talk about three big stories of the day. It’s a good way to keep up with the news and get a bit of background in the process. While one might argue over the choice of stories, what’s refreshing about the program is the way in which it balances explanation with analysis, downplaying opinion except in the odd segment dealing with sports or culture. For instance, we have Shruti Dhapola explaining the significance of the Net Neutrality decision (Episode 76) or Kaunain Sheriff on the complications of simultaneous elections (Episode 75), helping those of us who may sort-of-know but not-really-know what the story is. Matthews does a good job of asking the kinds of questions that ferret out just enough but not too much detail, the balance that’s so important when listening while battling noisy traffic! According to the show’s producers, the attempt is also to help news consumers “connect the dots” in today’s extremely complex news landscape, picking stories that allow us to zoom out and understand the broader political, social and economic context.

After gaining a level of comfort with the podcast format for a good four months, the group then launched seven shows that all rolled out between mid-June and the first week of July. “Water Stories”, hosted by one of the core members of the team, Ameya Nagarajan, is a show for this season, with three episodes available at the time of writing and six more in the pipeline.  New episodes launch every Tuesday and the podcast is now available for download on iTunes. The lead-in to the curtain raiser describes the series as an attempt to “understand the different ways India relates to water, from myth and legend to economics and agriculture”. The first full episode (which the site actually counts as the second), titled “Singing in the rain”, trains a cultural lens on the topic, and has some delightful interviews with an anthropologist, a historian and a water scientist. Nagarajan continues in episode two to explore the science and art of weather forecasting, unearthing for the listener the story of a hobbyist, Pradeep John, whose rain record keeping has made him a cult figure in Tamil Nadu. And of course, no discussion of water in India can ignore the monsoon, a phenomenon that structures cultural practice, agricultural planning and economic activity. So naturally, this episode and likely others in the series chase the monsoon (with apologies to Alexander Frater, whose book is part inspiration) across India and its intimate connections with the lives and livelihoods of people of the subcontinent. The podcast draws on a variety of sonic inputs, from voice to music to ambient sound, its opening a very evocative mix of echoing raindrops and steady rain. Nagarajan is an enthusiastic and lively narrator, but on occasion she tends to rush through explanations that merit a little more time. 

As with 3 Things, the audio quality on Water Stories too is a tad patchy, with call-in interviews tending to sound a bit unclear at times. But despite the technical imperfections, the narrative keeps one interested and looking forward to the next episode. And if water is not your thing, you can check out the other podcasts in the IE bouquet—on food, literature, politics, and more. 


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