The new season of City of Women makes a natural segue into women’s literature to continue sharing quick nuanced stories about women navigating city life
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There usually never is an explanation behind narrations exchanged between women about seemingly everyday experiences navigating urban life. An instance is just recounted and the humour, quirk, emotion, or seriousness behind it is understood and received with shared laughs and knowing nods. Listening to the podcast, City of Women, is like sitting down with a friend and listening to a story that is unique but also familiar. The podcast released its third season earlier this month with a theme. Bengaluru-based audio producers, creators and hosts of the show, Radhika Viswanathan and Samyuktha Varma, share that the episodes will dive into literature to speak to authors about a moment from their books that explore how women inhabit the cities they live in. Varma shares that in putting the series together, many of the references and instances for the kind of stories the creators wanted to tell — such as the little moments and exchanges, the strategising, internal monologues that exist in women’s minds when they’re preparing to do anything a part of public urban life — were found in literature for women, by women. Speaking to authors was thus a natural segue. Living life the way women want to is a negotiation that doesn’t always happen out loud. The causes for this are so ingrained in society and our own selves that sometimes the strategising is subtle and might feel not unique enough or mundane to share. The podcast brings out these experiences; in some episodes, the speakers have the platform to themselves, sharing in a space free from gaze, policing, maps and constructs. Varma says, “We live in a noisy country. We talk on top of each other. So to just allow somebody to speak feels almost radical. These stories didn’t need us to add anything, what they are about, and the emotion was obvious.”
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Samyuktha Varma and Radhika Viswanathan
Viswanathan and Varma explain that one of the aims of the podcast is to share a 360-degree look at women’s experiences in the city through small yet profound moments and encounters different from the usual news headlines that can be just one version of what it’s like to be a woman in a city. Viswanathan continues, “Often, when we listen to people’s experiences, we tend to analyse them and explain what the experience means or should mean to us or other people. But the experience is meaningful in itself. They are universal but specific and listeners can share in the stories and add them to their own set of experiences.”
Review: Nuances in the subtleties
The episodes are well-crafted whether narrated by the hosts or shared by speakers about their experiences. City of Women is perfect for those who aren’t regular podcast listeners or prefer transcripts to audios — it’s conversational, to the point without missing any nuance and, above all, genuine. From production company Vaaka Media, this season will be a mixed bag of formats; two episodes currently out speak to an author and two former NCC cadets. Insightful and humorous, the series sets the mood for the upcoming episodes.
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