FINAL Story | 75th Episode |

*at 27:00, the starting date of the Constituent Assembly of India is 9th December 1946 instead of mistakingly mentioned as 6th December 1946.
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We have finally reached the summit of our 75 weeklong journey. A journey on the flat and round track- full of anticipation, anguish, appreciation, curiosity and exhaustion, among the innumerable emotions we experienced during the creation of this series.
While resurfacing historical events for the development of Azadinama, we have experienced and witnessed numerous events that would be a part of history as time progresses. The movement of life is not linear but cyclical, while we dived deep back into time during the research behind each episode, we found numerous parallels that we see presently. The intent behind the creation of Azadinama, 75 weeks ago was to shed light upon the various enigmas that we still see in our present times.
We commenced the series on Women’s Day in 2021, we discovered a huge breakthrough of women’s expression and participation as artists in gramophone records. Miss Indubala’s gramophone record broke away from just the stereotypical presence of ‘nautch’ girls as a form of representation of women in this space. As episodes progressed, we found a plethora of individuals from all kinds of walks of life, professions and identities, being a part of the freedom movement. The grooves of these hundreds of vinyl records encapsulated the participation of those who were not merely labelled or functioned as ‘freedom fighters’, but those whose fight was definitely, freedom from the British Raj.
What also needs to be given importance to, is the loophole of censorship that one had to escape, even in those times. It is only free speech and freedom of expression, that gave the producers the space to capture and document history and music in these vinyl records; and also us, the audiences, the opportunity to experience it.
While vinyl records are romanticised and profited from these days as entities of yesteryears, we must understand that with all its glory as a marvellously designed medium of sound production, it is a medium. A medium that not only encapsulates music, but also function as aural stocks and archives of the ocean of information that we can gain from it. Therefore, the commodification of vinyl records, especially of those records that contain so much historical information must be treated as a community-based, public property. Something that society can experience, benefit and learn from. Azadinama, as a project is an attempt to practice this and share our archives to the world bounded with our own storytelling and research.
While looking for sources of history, we often undermine oral histories and cultural and artistic expressions. We shrug them off as inaccurate and factually inept. We must shift away from these outdated ideas of history that often comes off as elitist. If nothing, a focus on people’s personal histories needs to be given importance to. These stories belong to a time that we now consider historic, therefore these stories and narratives will always be helpful in unearthing history.
While this is the last story of the Azadinama series, we are not concluding this chapter of history in the 75th episode, we have just opened a door to endless stories, histories and possibilities through the world of vinyl records. We thank you for your support, patience and curiosity.
Vande Mataram!