By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Santhali might be the language of over 40 lakh people in four states, but it has rarely received the promotion or attention it deserves. And Shikha Mandi, a 24-year-old Radio Jockey (RJ) is planning to do something towards the same by hosting the first Radio show in the Santhali language.
“I wish to see Santhali culture grow more,” says Mandi, who is fluent in four languages: Hindi, English, Bengali and most importantly Santhali. Mandi, an RJ with ‘Radio Milan 90.4’, was born in Belpahari village of Jhargram village of West Bengal. Speaking with TwoCircles.net, Mandi said, “Santhali as always been my first language. I learnt Bengali when I moved to Kolkata from my village,” adding the fact that her parents sent her to Kolkata at the age of three for studies.
After schooling, Mandi joined a polytechnic institute hoping to achieve her parents’ dream. Soon she finished her studies, and started preparing for an exam of apprenticeship. But this was the moment when her career took a different turn. On her exam day, Mandi chose to instead appear for her interview for the position of RJ at ‘Radio Milan’ and has not looked back since. Shikha appeared for the interview, took specific training, gave a voice test and finally took charge on December 11, 2017.
The radio show in Santhali, which was the idea of the Radio channel, was started with a slot of one hour. But seeing it gain popularity, now it broadcasts for two hours every day from 4 pm to 6 pm. Now the channel is considering adding one more hour. Milan Chakraborty, the editor at Radio Milan, told Hindustan Times, “We guessed there was an audience for the language but the response has been much greater than we expected. We are now looking at devoting three hours to Santhali daily.”
Shikha’s typical day starts with mulling over the idea or theme over which the show might be based. “That is my daily routine. But it often happens that I get a new and better idea from my editor or producer when I reach the office, so we start work around that,” said Mandi.
Now that Shikha has gained the trust of her bosses, she has been given the sole responsibility to work on the show. “Once we settle on an idea, I have to research for it,” she said.
Citing the lack of resources and materials on Santhali, Shikha said, “Sometimes it is the internet, sometimes it is via books. There is no particular source from where I get information for the show. I search and select the theme, materials, special mentions, and songs everything in Santhali,” she added.
“I finish the script by 3 pm so that we start the broadcast by 4 pm,” said Mandi adding that with time, she has gained the confidence that she does not have to rehearse the script anymore. “It is the seat inside the studio on which I sit every day. Often, we didn’t get enough time to prepare the script, but that seat kept me speaking. Things come into my mind as I speak,” she added.
“My parents did not like it at first. They sent me to Kolkata for studies, but I came back to Jhargram leaving my examination,” added Shikha, who lives with her maternal grandparent in the Jhargram district. “But they are now convinced seeing the progress of my show and the language Santhali.”
Mandi’s show is getting popularity slowly. According to her radio station, about 40,000 people tune into her show every day. “The number is not big, but bigger than we expected,” said Shikha.
She further said, “The channel has very little reach beyond Jhargram. Many of my friends at Kolkata ask me about how they can listen to the show? Hopefully, soon there are going to be some arrangements regarding that.”
The theme of her show is based on many things. Mandi talks about Santhali culture, festival, state culture, life, gender and social issues, religion, and even lighter issues like friendship, love and breakups, but everything strictly in Santhali.
“I know many people listen to our show, but it makes me a little sad that they don’t tell me their response of what I have been doing,” said Shikha.
Her memorable day at the work was very recently when she talked about a rape case in her show. “There was a rape case just a few days back. I couldn’t go there, but I wanted to run the show based on that. I did it and all I can tell you that I was kept talking and crying at the same time on the live show,” tells Mandi.
Talking about the future, Mandi said, “I haven’t thought about that. I just want to keep doing this here in Jhargram which is my favourite place. Thinking about the future brings me fear.”
“If life has other plans for me, I will watch that later,” said Shikha Mandi who also wishes to refine her Santhali which currently has a slight Bengali ‘touch’ in it.