My Favourite Podcasts

From the world of blogs I stumbled on the world of podcasts again very serendipitously. It was while surfing the net that I came upon the world of BBC podcasts. I don’t know whether it is generally known but BBC website has a wonderful podcast section where they offer literally hundreds of podcasts of their programmes. My favourite is of course the “In Our Time” podcast. Mervyn Bragg has been examining intellectual issues for years in this programme. The format is very simple. The host invites three experts on the field to discuss with him over about three quarters of an hour, one topic, which could be literally anything. I have heard a discussion of the “The Scream”, the masonry astronomic instruments of Raja Jai Singh and the rise and fall of the Aztecs. It comes on air every Thursday on Radio 4, but I always download the podcast on a Friday and listen to it very attentively over the weekend. It has opened my eyes to many subjects and ideas and I am an unabashed fan. Bragg also writes a newsletter which is also very informative in a chatty sort of way. I wish I had the knack of making difficult subjects so accessible to everybody!
There are many other podcasts in BBC catering to all tastes. I also like to hear the natural history podcasts, though, David Attenborough’s podcast has, alas, been removed. There is another wonderful series on air now, called the “History of the World in 100 objects.” This discusses the history off a region or a country with reference to an object from the place, now preserved in the British Museum. Having looted the world for centuries, they have a large selection to choose from, but must admit that they have at least preserved these beautiful objects from neglect, destruction and crazy religious idiots in the third world countries.
The world of podcasts has now led me to the world of vodcasts (video podcasts) which are sometimes even more beguiling. I have heard lectures delivered at the Harvard Medical School, the MIT and Oxford University. I sat through the entire course on French architecture at the Stanford University and came away enlightened. The Ted lectures are of course very well known. They are an inexhaustible source of ideas that can change your way of thinking.
Another of my favourite podcasts is the Santiniketan podcast. This is run by a Santanu Maitra , an alumni of Vishwa Bharati. He puts together an hour long podcast, usually about 5-6 times a month. This consists of songs, collected by him from the bauls of Santiniketan, various friends, famous Calcutta singers and many others. He has a proud lineage: He is the grandson of Kalimohan Ghosh and the nephew of Santideb and Sagarmoy Ghosh. Each podcast has a theme, and these songs only act as breaks in interviews, readings and often podcasts from other sites. It is obviously a labour of love and I have never missed an episode. He was silent for almost three months in the beginning of this year, and I feared the worst, but fortunately he is back with a bang and is posting too fast for me to catch up with him I have several downloaded episodes that I have yet to hear.
The more I delve in the world of cyberspace, the more pearls I find. I am seriously in danger of becoming another net junkie. But believe me, I love it!!
I am giving the websites to the In Our Time and Santiniketan podcasts, in case any of you want to check it out.
http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=53006
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/in-our-time/

Comments

Unknown said…
Thank you. I have already listened to a few.This attempt made by a few versatile and innovative persons have really made a change in lot of our lives.
I suppose that the mode of delivery differentiates podcasting from other means of accessing media files over the Internet, such as direct download, or streamed webcasting

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