Listen with Irfan

Recorded and Curated by Irfan/

More than fifteen years ago, I travelled extensively across Central Uttar Pradesh in search of the authentic yet gradually vanishing sounds of Nautanki ; the immensely popular folk performance tradition that once captivated large parts of India.

Beyond entertainment, Nautanki shaped public imagination, social consciousness, and collective memory for generations through its music, poetry, storytelling, and performance.

During those journeys, I encountered extraordinary singers, musicians, writers, and performers carrying forward this rich artistic inheritance despite immense hardship and fading patronage. Many of them were struggling simply to survive, even as they preserved a remarkable cultural legacy.

This small audio clip is a humble document from that time ; an echo from a vibrant folk world now standing at the edge of disappearance.

Photo and Cover: Irfan

Ashok Chaudhary sings Gorakh Pandey's Ghazal/Lokrang, Kushinagar, 8 May 2016/Recorded and Curated by Irfan

Vimal Verma an Actor and Director Share his one of the life anecdote/Recorded and Curated by Irfan/27 May 2016/Kolkata/

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Every life carries a few stories that quietly stay with us - moments, encounters, conversations, journeys, surprises, losses, laughter, or revelations that refuse to fade with time.

For this ongoing audio series Aur Sunao Guru, I invite friends, comrades, artists, listeners, and fellow travellers to share one such memorable or deeply impressionable anecdote with me.

I request them to narrate it in a way that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, so the experience unfolds like a lived moment. A duration of around 6 to 7 minutes would be ideal.

What has always fascinated me through these recordings is the unexpected honesty and surprising revelations people often arrive at while remembering. Sometimes a forgotten corner of life suddenly begins to breathe again through voice.

I look forward your feedback after listening to these stories.

Cover: Irfan

Introduction by Dr Bhupen Singh / Recorded and Curated by Irfan/Haldwani, February 2017/

Psychologist Meena Kharkwal offered a deeply insightful lecture and interactive Q&A session exploring the emotional, cultural, and psychological fabric of Uttarakhand’s communities.

Moving beyond textbook psychology, the session touched upon collective memory, migration, identity, traditions, resilience, and the subtle behavioural patterns shaped by mountain life.

Through lived experiences and thoughtful observations, she highlighted how geography, culture, and community practices influence human psychology in profound ways.

The conversation opened a meaningful window into understanding Uttarakhand not merely as a region, but as a living emotional and social landscape.

Cover: Irfan

There are journeys that merely take us from one destination to another, and then there are journeys that quietly transform the way we look at humanity itself.

My years of travelling across the length and breadth of India and abroad as a journalist have never been limited to assignments, deadlines, cameras, or reports.

They have been an ongoing education in human emotions, contradictions, resilience, beauty, and the astonishing plurality of life.Every city, every village, every railway compartment, every tea stall, every backstage corner of a theatre, and every modest household has introduced me to people I had never imagined I would meet. And perhaps that is the greatest gift of travelling with open eyes and receptive ears- the world constantly surprises you. Society reveals itself not merely through headlines or events, but through ordinary individuals carrying extraordinary stories within them.Over time, I realised that my true fascination did not lie only in meeting deadlines or “covering” events.

My heart was increasingly drawn towards people- their obsessions, passions, peculiarities, silences, artistic madness, vulnerabilities, and invisible emotional landscapes. Some people devote their lives to preserving a dying musical tradition.

Some quietly nurture literature in forgotten towns. Some continue creating despite poverty, loneliness, or complete absence of recognition. There are also those whose tenderness, pain, humour, and courage never become visible to the larger world, yet remain unforgettable once encountered.As a documentarian and storyteller, I often feel that my responsibility extends beyond information. Documentation, for me, is not the mechanical act of recording facts. It is an emotional and ethical process of preserving the fragile textures of human existence before they disappear into silence.

Memory is not merely nostalgia; it is continuity. It helps societies remain connected to their emotional, artistic, and moral inheritances.There are countless moments from my journeys that continue to live within me like secret lamps- illuminating my understanding of people and creativity. Many experiences cannot even be fully articulated.

Some encounters become deeply personal treasures, impossible to translate entirely into language. They remain within me as guiding lights for an unsuppressable creative impulse that continues to shape my work and my perspective.I have often felt that the world moves too quickly to truly listen. We are surrounded by noise, speed, consumption, and endless distraction. In such a climate, attentive listening itself becomes an act of resistance. To sit with someone, to allow them space to remember, to speak, to sing, to reflect - these are deeply human acts.

Through audio, visuals, conversations, interviews, and archival efforts, I try to preserve not only personalities, but also the emotional atmosphere surrounding them.One such memorable moment came while I was working on a documentary exploring the journey of Marathi theatre. During the course of filming, I met at the home of the accomplished singer Shaila Datar. It was one of those gentle, unplanned encounters that remain etched in memory far beyond the formal purpose of the assignment.

Prachi displayed immense warmth and kindness towards me, she graciously agreed to hum a few lines in her beautifully trained and tender voice.

That small moment may appear insignificant in the larger scheme of things, but for me, it carried the essence of why I continue doing what I do.

It was not merely about recording a voice. It was about preserving an atmosphere, a sensitivity, a fleeting human exchange that otherwise would have vanished into time.

Cover and Text Irfan

Such moments remind me that documentation is not simply technical work- it is an act of emotional preservation. Read more in Memorywala journal.

Manglesh Dabral recites his Poems | 2015/New Delhi/Recorded and Curated by Irfan

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यहाँ आपको मिलती हैं वो दुर्लभ आवाज़ें खुद बोलती, गाती और बहस करती। मनोहर श्याम जोशी, कमलेश्वर, कृष्णा सोबती, बी वी कारंत, शमशेर बहादुर सिंह, बलराज साहनी, अज्ञेय, रसूलन बाई, निर्मल वर्मा, मंगलेश डबराल, राजेंद्र यादव, चंद्रकांत देवताले, भवानी प्रसाद मिश्र, इस्मत चुग़ताई, सत्यदेव दुबे, त्रिलोचन, अमरीश पुरी, इब्राहीम अल्क़ाज़ी, मोहन उप्रेती, गोरख पांडेय, नैना देवी, वीरेन डंगवाल, मन्नू भंडारी, भीष्म साहनी, देवकी नंदन पांडे आदि के अलावा अनगिनत भारतीय और विदेशी समकालीन विचारक, कलाकार, लेखक, कवि और सांस्कृतिक लड़ाके। किताबों पर चर्चा के पॉडकास्ट, संगीत, फिल्म रिव्यू और स्ट्रीट रिकॉर्डिंग्स का एकमात्र पॉडकास्ट मंच। चैनल को फॉलो करने और इस यात्रा के सहयोगी बनने के लिए लिंक कमेंट बॉक्स में है।  

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पीते टाइम मैं कोई रिस्क नहीं लेता   / तारापद राय की बांग्ला कविता का हिंदी अनुवाद / अनुवादक : अनिर्बाण साधू / आवाज़ : इरफ़ान 

Irfan talks to his schooldays friend Ravi. 

Recorded and produced on 8th May 2026

Details to support this Podcast Channel i.e. Listen withIrfan :-

Bank Name: State Bank Of India

Name: SYED MOHD IRFAN

Account No: 00000032188719331

Branch: State Bank of India, Sansadiya Saudh, New Delhi

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RazorPay Support Listen with Irfan by making a contribution: ⁠https://razorpay.me/@memorywala⁠

Cover Photo and Art: Irfan

Irfan talks to his schooldays friend Ravi. 

Recorded and produced on 8th May 2026

Details to support this Podcast Channel i.e. Listen withIrfan :-

Bank Name: State Bank Of India

Name: SYED MOHD IRFAN

Account No: 00000032188719331

Branch: State Bank of India, Sansadiya Saudh, New Delhi

IFSC–SBIN0003702

UPI/Gpay ID irfan.rstv-2@oksbi

PayPal ⁠paypal.me/farah121116⁠

RazorPay Support Listen with Irfan by making a contribution: https://razorpay.me/@memorywala

Cover Photo and Art: Irfan

In conversation with Irfan

Listen an earlier conversation of 2005 here

Radio Feature on World Theatre Day : Listen Here

Cover : Irfan