Nelada Nambike, a podcast, is posted every Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. on Eedina YouTube channel.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Street vendor Sarojamma from Bengaluru has a bedridden son she has to tend to. Asked of her belief in God, she takes to singing extempore in Telugu, angry at God as to why he did this to her, lamenting what sin did she commit, and questioning why good people get punished. Interestingly, she questions and is angry, but doesn’t reject God.
Her interview is part of a new podcast series, titled Nelada Nambike, that explores the diversity of everyday practice and beliefs of common people in faith and religion, helmed by academic Janaki Nair, journalist C. G. Manjula and activist Anupama Hegde.
The podcast is posted every Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. and is hosted by Eedina YouTube channel. The first episode featuring Sarojamma was aired on January 15.
The same team had spearheaded the ‘Alphabet’ series, giving readers insight into the rich legacy of diversity of the State, under the Bahutva Karnataka banner in 2024, to mark the golden jubilee of the State being named Karnataka.
“The series is an exploration of the diversity of everyday practice of faith and its place in the culture of our state. We do not interpret these testimonials as such. We only speak to common people asking them of their faith and its practice. We hope this will also record the changing styles of faith, belief and piety,” Prof. Nair said.
The trio has already recorded nearly 30 episodes, mostly speaking to common people from all faiths and genders in the Old Mysuru region, and intend to speak to people in other regions of the State as well.
Prof. Nair said that from the 30 episodes they have recorded, they have observed that almost none source their faith to a scripture or a holy book. In many cases, faith is deeply experienced, acts as a source of solace, helps people to come to terms with their reality and their expectations from life, she said.
“There is no doubt that there has been a great increase and proliferation of styles of worship and the influences have been many, and mostly external factors like media, commercialisation, like in the instance of the Varamahalakshmi festival or even mimicking neighbours. As an urban historian, it has also come to me that the preferred use of common or public space is for some form of worship, rather than leisure, play, recreation as in parks or a maidan. It seems to be a South Asian preference,” Prof. Nair observed, hoping that this series will also record these changes both between generations and in one’s own lifetime.
Published – January 20, 2025 02:05 pm IST
