Radio, a tool to save culture

BRAINSTORMING: Radioidli aims at uniting the community that is divided into numerous sub sects.

ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos
be a Citizen Journalist. Log on to m.ibnlive.com NOW!

Related Stories

Top Headlines

Top Videos

Most Popular

• HC bars security forces from leaving Shopian 

• Dehradun cops accused of killing man to win medals 

• Second nursing student alleges Andhra MLA raped her 

• CPI-M may decide feuding Kerala leaders' fate 

• CM helpless, admits Maoists extort Rs 300 cr annually 

• Bandh call by Hindu outfit gets mixed response in Mysore 

• Time for Mamata to walk the Budget talk 

• Mamata's Budget Express | Mamata Exclusive | Rail Budget  

• Top bosses fly high as AI struggles to survive 

• 10 years of Kargil, heroes recall the war | Pay Tribute 

• Time for Mamata to walk the Budget talk 

• Watch: Lalu determined to derail Mamata express 

• Praful Patel rules out lay-offs in Air India 

• Top bosses fly high as AI struggles to survive 

• Air India top brass warns employees against strike 

• Watch: Lalu determined to derail Mamata express 

• I have done everything for all the states: Mamata 

• Watch: Aam aadmi rates Rail Budget 2009 

• Cabinet split over order legalising homosexuality  

• For Delhi Daredevils fans it's football in off season 

• Time for Mamata to walk the Budget talk 

• CM helpless, admits Maoists extort Rs 300 cr annually 

• Sarah Palin to step down as Alaska governor: Report  

• HC bars security forces from leaving Shopian 

• Los Angeles officials brace for Jackson memorial 

• North Korea fires two more missiles again 

• 10 years of Kargil, heroes recall the war 

• Fans overlook Michael Jackson's dark side 

• Dehradun cops accused of killing man to win medals 

• CPI-M may decide feuding Kerala leaders' fate 

Photogallery

Find us on Facebook | Join IBNLive community

Stay ahead with G-Talk Buddy | Click now!

Mumbai: It is a busy morning in the middle of the week and yet seats quickly fill up at a meeting in Matunga’s famous Idli House.

Along with breakfast, a whole host of ideas are chewed on for this man's brainchild- an Internet audioblog-cum-community radio.

With approximately 1-lakh members all belonging to the Saraswat community, the membership has only doubled and strengthened

“The community was started because a lot of our community is abroad. The further away you are, the more you want to belong to your roots,” says founder, Radioidli.blogspot.com, Nagesh Pai.

Radioidli aims at uniting the community that is divided into numerous sub sects, mostly by dialect.

Contributors showcase the best of their community so interviews, bhajan requests, and songs are all part of the fare.

Contributors including Lokabhiram, an anonymous regular and pithy commentary on social norms in the Mangalorean dialect, or Aparna who sings Konkani bhajans often attain instant fame within the community.

“It has helped me showcase my talent. Today a number of people are aware of my singing talent,” says Aparna.

When the site was launched in January this year, it had just 15 hits from within the group itself.

Today the site reaches out to more than 4000 Konkani speaking Saraswats, some as far away as the United Kingdom and America.

However, Pai has bigger ambitions. He wants to create a model for other communities to follow.

So technology is slowly creating a homogenised world, but Pai and his friends are using the same technology to keep their cultural identity alive and well.