Indian Noir Podcast [Review]

In an ancient society with complex social and cultural problems, noir genre has more than a natural place in Indian story telling. This podcast would perfectly prove my point. 

Indian Noir Podcast is a semi-anthology audio drama with currently two sets of stories: His Night Begins and Fear. His Night Begins is a disturbing avenge story of a hit man, set in the midst of a sex-trafficking industry. While Fear is heavier on the horror side, the story of an Indian demon and a tale involving a tired software engineer and his inevitable fight with his past.

  

Episodes on each story are fairly short, most of it are only under 10 minutes and the longest are barely 20 minutes. The episode release is scheduled weekly, but in the beginning, earlier episodes for different stories was a little bit dispersed. Therefore, for new listeners that want to catch up, I highly recommend a custom playlist for a better listening experience. 

Indian Noir is one man show, with the creator Nikesh Murali multi-tasking as the main narrator, as well as voicing every other characters on the story. And dear lord...he is impeccable. He is the scornful man, laden with guilt and devoid of hope, and a couple minutes later, he is the 14 year old girl chained and trapped, he is the hitman's mistress, he is the ex-wife, the corrupt police, the crook, the mad priest.

There to be said, Indian Noir is really not an easy story to listen. I binged the entire His Story Begins in one day, and oh how I wish I didn't do it, I need hours of cat videos therapy after that. It is dark, gritty, and the depiction of violence and abuse can be something that is not all people could handle. For me personally, as a woman living in a country that has similar socio-cultural issue, it is a really tough story to listen. 

Still, I have to say that it is an amazing experience. 

It is hard not to get sucked into this podcast when you have someone like Nikesh Murali as your storyteller. He proves that sometimes you don't really need a high-tech sound engineering to be an immersive podcast.


Note:

• Indian Noir Podcast could be found in their official website, Apple Podcast, Audioboom, and your usual buddy podcatcher.
• Caution for: boy this be a lot... rape, kidnapping, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, sexual assault, sexual violence, non-sexual violence, hotdamnsomany violence, very strong language, sexual contents, drugging, incest, torture, hostage situation, presence of weapons, guns and explosions, alcoholism, drugs addiction, depression, divorce, religion issue, corrupt police, stressful situations, adulthood crisis, suicidal thoughts, blood, body horror

For Sanity's Sake

looking at the wrong side?

It's been two years since I suffered from Reader's Block. And even though it usually is just something that people merely mentioned to their friend, apparently it brought me to another issues I (finally) have to face as an adult.

I've tried so hard to fight the wall, it's tiring, and useless, and just pushed me away farther. 

So, as long as reader’s block is still haunting me, I decided to move to two things that seemed to have the same capability to kill boredom: films and podcast.

Why podcast? well, for me, it has the same element of brain nutrition and entertainment, and better yet, it’s free.

Like most people, I got into podcast by jumping into the Serial trend in 2014. After it’s over, thinking probably podcasts are more than Trekkie geeks constantly giggling and screaming, I looked into another. Seeking some recommendation from known sites like The Guardian or Wired, or by randomly browsing in my podcatcher.

I got into some usual classics like TED Talks, 99% Invisible, No Such Thing As A Fish, Myths & Legends, etc. ..and then I plunged into the audio drama, and my whole world is never be the same again. I’m officially hooked and drown into it, starting from less than 5 podcasts, now my subscription list got more than 50 podcasts in it, and will definitely increased.

Like a fruit salad, podcast is light but highly nutritious. Only with less than an hour of time, I could listen the tragic history of Marilyn Monroe, complete discussion about Atlantis, or even a debate between a wizard and a talking badger. And while listening, I could still doing numerous other stuffs, whether it’s cleaning my dumpy room, doing exercise, or waiting the incoming bus. Short is, I could get busy without all the hassle.

And that is basically means the world to me...

Suffering from reader’s block not just making me unable to read, but also removing the only known escape door from life. My mind couldn’t wander around and get lost and making alternative scenarios, I have to face life. And sadly, apparently, I’m still not prepared to do that. And the space between imagination escapade and life are filled with depression, social anxiety, panic attacks…name your monster.

So, unable to hide yet unable to not face life, but not wanting to go into self-pity and depression, where do I go? Podcast.

I could build another scenarios in my head while still doing things needed to be done. Probably that’s why audio drama and documentary works better for me, rather than conversational podcasts like No Such Thing As A Fish, Tested, or The Nerdist.

It’s a therapy. I could still function well as a human being, but rather than facing the monsters alone, my path are accompanied with the world of podcast. And any good psychiatrist would tell you, the ability to normally functioned in small daily routine is one of the dot that separates depression and 'just bad mood'.

Cheeky as it is, but podcast really saves my sanity. I don’t have to go down into that dark, depressing rabbit hole, but I could choose whatever hole I’m gladly jump into.