A blog a day (#20)

PODCAST

I have been listening to some interesting podcasts of late and I am happy to say that my son, Sairam, was instrumental in introducing me to this medium.

I had heard of podcasts earlier, but didn't know the wealth of information available there across various platforms. Seems podcasts are springing up by the day.

A podcast is an episodic series of spoken word digital audio files that a user can download to a personal device for easy listening. Streaming applications and podcasting services provide a convenient and integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources and playback devices (from Wikipedia).

Podcast was first mentioned in a 2004 Guardian newspaper article by Ben Hammersley. The “pod” of the podcast is borrowed from Apple’s iPod; the “cast” is taken from the term Radio broadcast. To clarify, however, you can listen to a podcast in any digital media player. (from https://itmunch.com/future-podcasts-2020/)

Well, so I started off on listening to some interesting podcast like Guy Riaz's Ted Radio Hour. Each episode was for about 50-60 minutes and that was convenient since that was the time for me to complete my morning walk. I would plug my earphones on my phone and while listening to the podcast, complete my walk. Beats the boredom of walks.

Then my cousin's son-in-law suggested that I could listen in to a retelling of the classic Tamil novel by Kalki - பொன்னியின் செல்வன் (Ponniyin Selvan). A story retold by Kavita who tells the story in an easy to understand Tamil. The episodes were available thrice a week and there were more than 200 episodes! I enjoyed listening to the retelling of that classic. Reading may give more pleasure to the more literary kind who can understand and read Tamil fast; but given my speed, I preferred the podcast. Currently I am listening to another podcast by the same person - சிவகாமியின் சபதம் (Sivakamiyin Sabatham - again by Kalki). These are classics set in the times of Chola and Pallava empires about a thousand years ago. Not only is the story a classic in Tamil, and Kalki may have written this about 60 years ago, but these hold the attention of readers and listeners even today. Such is the power of a good story, well told.

There are podcasts of Mahabharata which is again well retold in simple English and I have listened to about a 100 episodes of that classic. 

I suppose these podcasts could have been more popular in cities where people usually commute to work and the drive could take between 30 minutes to about 120 minutes! What can one do productively during this time - other than nap? Listen to one's podcast of choice! But during these pandemic times, did the podcast customer base dry up a bit? I don't know anything about this. But I continue to listen to podcasts during my walks - which have resumed after a break of about 4 months!

Those interested in this topic may refer to this for more guidance. Indian Podcasts

HAPPY LISTENING!