in-between-sound-and-silence

After the deliberations that unfolded on this space, I finally met Anil Srivatsa, the COO of Meow 104.8. He wanted to talk Radio and I was more than eager to listen what he had to say. My reservations about the channel that I have listed in my earlier posts included the a) the name b) the approach towards the listeners and c) the bigger idea behind this Radio Station. How is this different from the other players populating the Indian radioscape?

Anil talked me through the idea behind the radio station and the plans, in the immediate future, about its execution. The future imagination of this radio station and what it intends to do is very impressive. A well thought out-articulate plan. Instead of completely writing off this radio station as just another instance of sonic-pollution in the Indian airwaves, I am ready to give it time and engage with it beyond the superficial, flickering of the frequency on the dial, moment.

After almost a month, I found the lost notebook. As it was with losing it, I found it without any hope, agenda, or intent. I happened to be in the same market place for reasons, which seem completely beyond comprehension and articulation to me. I will avoid those details. However, finding myself in the same market place again, i decided to take my chances and approached the shop rather reluctantly. The counter was not very crowded and in other circumstances I would have pushed my way around, however, this time around, I patiently awaited my turn. I reckon even the shopkeeper figured out that my presence was not going to ring any bells in his cash register so he also took his time. When finally I had his attention, I mumbled, ‘a few weeks back, I had left a notebook, hard bound, like a diary. You still have it?’ I was all set to hear a response in negative and walk out. Yet another missed moment. But to my surprise, the shopkeeper clearly remembered the notebook and the person I have to thank, yet again, is Sub. Inspector Ramesh. He is the person who was/is an important contact in Govindpuri and helped me with my legal. I will be posting about that case at length later.

However, to the matter of my found, lost notebook.

In the last few days, I have received a number of comments on my post, Meow: Cat's calling.

To begin with, I humbly acknowledge one of the main point made by all those who commented, that I haven't listened to Meow enough. I accept I haven't Meowed enough. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't.

However, to all those who wrote rather frantically, I just a have a few things to state. I am quoting at length the response I had sent to Anil and I promptly got another mail from him to take the discussions and collaborations further. I am looking forward to it to learn more than a few things from him. In retrospect, it seems like the reactions to my post and my response to his comments were in the moment but hopefully, we will get beyond towards fruitful understanding (and maybe innovations) of the radio scene in India.

This said, to the others who commented on my post:

Nitish, what makes you think I am old? and how will getting in touch with my 'younger self' appreciate the show better if I do not like it at the first instance? I take your point of giving the show more chance. I will do that. You categorically mentioned that the women who call are absolutely comfortable with the name Meow. Of the few times I have heard the show, there have been at least two women who have stated their displeasure or discomfort with the name. And if these are the details you are going by, do you know any idea about the number of women who don't call up because they are uncomfortable with the name?

To dear Anil and Saurabhi, why should I not take myself seriously? I will and do not take life seriously. I allow its moments of eccentricities, the journeys into the unknown, the unexpected moments and emotions it throws at my face, every now and then. But pray, why should I not take myself seriously? And where is it stated that taking yourself seriously implies not being young enough, lacking a sense of humor or being wrapped in the self-righteous wrap that I am supposed to be in. Does having an opinion means that I take myself too seriously?

And lastly, as I stated earlier, I completely acknowledge the fact that I haven't listened to Meow enough but if it ticked me off in the first go, why should I give it another chance? Isn't this the empowerment of the consumer which the diversity of choices endows? Isn't this the main concern of all the radio (tv, etc) channels in the country, to get that flicker of attention and sustain it? If I have the power to manipulate the controls and shift from one channel to another because something ticked me off, I will. This the empowered customer for me. Don't tell me I am old or boring, try and concentrate the energies on getting that flicker of attention and more importantly, sustaining it.

My detailed response to Anil follows. I hope Anil you won't mind as it was supposed to be a response to your comment on my blog, which anyway is in the public domain.

I recently finished After Dark. The latest in the offering from Haruki Murakami. Before I write about the book, I want to reflect on reading the book or more precisely, reading Murakami's book. I was introduced to Murakami in 2003 by a visiting friend who made an almost absolute statement of 'not being friends with someone who hasn't read The hard boiled wonder land and the end of the world and seen Chungking Express'. Maybe the friend was talking about another friend. My memory fails me at the moment but since then I have been hooked to Murakami and Wong Kar-Wai. However, the intensity I feel for Murakami lacks for the latter.

I still haven't figured a way out to upload a file so for the moment, I render the document as a gif image and upload it.

On sound: