JOIN US3 podcasts on Bengaluru you should listen to
Whether you are an old-timer from Bengaluru or you’ve made it home recently, there is always something to discover about this beautiful city. Metrolife has curated three podcasts to help you do just that — know Bengaluru better. These are available on all major platforms.
Bangalore In Stories
Popcorn came to India in the 1950s, thanks to a couple who started a new life in Bengaluru after escaping the Holocaust and Siberian labour camps. A Russian woman would dance with a snake wrapped around her neck in the pubs of Bengaluru in the 70s. In the early 90s, city’s Millennium became the first Asian heavy metal band to be featured on MTV. “I want these stories to bring a factor of delight and serendipity,” says 28-year-old Prateek Jose about his podcast ‘Bangalore In Stories’, produced by PodMacha Studios. Six episodes old, it captures the moments that have shaped the culture of the city, and it is built on archival information and personal interviews. Up next, you can learn about the German botanist behind the tree-lined avenues and Lalbagh garden in the city. “I may also explore the story of Begum Mahal, a bungalow in Ulsoor that was razed. It used to be a safe space for transgenders and people with different sexualities,” he informs.
City of Women
This podcast by Vaaka Media will make you want to call up your girlfriends immediately. A listener wrote this on Twitter and we can’t agree more. One season old, it follows the lives of women in Bengaluru as they try to find economic freedom but also do simple things like make excuses, bunk classes, go to movies, walk down the road and laugh out loud. Hosted by Radhika Viswanathan and Samyuktha Varma, each episode is a fun ride featuring multiple interviews but it’s also a commentary on the many hoops women have to jump to be themselves and how they do it spectacularly anyway. The second season of ‘City of Women’ will drop in a month or two and it may feature stories on women in sports, tales of loneliness and ennui, how they tackle booty calls, and what it’s like to be at a protest side, the team shares. If you have a story or theme you would like them to feature, drop a mail at team@vaaka.in.
Kannada Gothilla Podcast
If you want to move on from Kannada gothilla (that’s, I don’t know Kannada) and speak and live like a local in Bengaluru, then this podcast may help. In 10 to 15 minutes every episode, it teaches situational Kannada, you know, things like, how to give directions to a food delivery agent, how to haggle with autorickshaw drivers, how to score extra chillies from a grocery store and how to seek help from a traffic cop. Episodes on how to talk about India’s great run at the Olympics or how parents can talk to schoolteachers are in the works. “One listener has started speaking in Kannada and he finally feels he is living like a Bengalurean,” shares Aakash Athawasya. He has been living in the city for 22 years but he still can’t converse in Kannada. That’s why he conceptualised this podcast in May of this year with his Kannadiga friend Arvind Krishna.