MADHYA PRADESH: A prison is not a place where you expect to find an assemblage of talents. But in MP’s Narsinghpur Central Jail, the convicts and the undertrials have rediscovered their flair for singing, composing, mimicry et al. And they have an in-house platform, a radio station called Jail Vani, to showcase their skills and also spread awareness on various issues as radio jockeys (RJs).
The story of the jail’s first RJ would tell you how a murder convict turned a corner, courtesy music. Nine years back, Satish Parochi, a 29-year-old home loan finance professional, was convicted in a murder case and awarded the death penalty, which was converted into a life term a year later. When Parochi was shifted from Jabalpur to Narsinghpur prison, he discovered a way to heal himself.
With professional training, he turned a composer-singer. He became the first full-fledged RJ of Jail Vani. Out on parole following Covid-19 guidelines, Satish works at his home and wants to be a professional voiceover artist. He recently uploaded a song ‘Azadi’ on YouTube to salute the unparalleled feat of corona warriors. A Lucknow-based artist, Ahmad Hussain, is in talks with Satish for using his voice for an upcoming app dedicated to voiceover artists.
“Lodged in Jabalpur Central Jail, I thought I’d spend the rest of my life in misery. Music attracted me and soon I rediscovered myself with the support and guidance of jail authorities,” says Satish. “I want to be a professional voiceover artist even after I return to the jail on completion of parole.” With Satish currently being out of jail, seven other inmates, including five convicts and two undertrials, are now running the show. “Each of the seven RJs gets one day each to run the radio station from 2 to 4 pm.
All of them are trained through recordings of radio storyteller Neelesh Mishra and seasoned RJ Sayema,” says Shephali Tiwari, Narsinghpur Central Jail superintendent.
“Every day for two hours, the Jail Vani broadcasts a variety of programmes, ranging from requested and patriotic songs to playing the unforgettable old classics,” says Tiwari. Two of the seven RJs were chosen on the basis of mock cricket matches played between teams of prisoners in the jail.
Another RJ is a good tabla player. And the rape convict has turned out to be a hit RJ in Gondi language. He also mimics top actors in that language. “We started Jail Vani as a makeshift arrangement from a single desk in 2000. It recently transformed into a dedicated one-room radio station fitted with necessary equipment,” explains Tiwari.
“The radio station has not only helped in disseminating information and in facilitating entertainment to the lonely inmates, but has also helped them in keeping a channel of communication open with jail officials. It has also helped the inmates, now trained as RJs, to add new meaning to their life,” said Tiwari. The Jail Vani was started in 2017, inspired by Radio YCP of Yerawada Central Jail (where film actor Sanjay Dutt turned a radio jockey in 2015) and a radio station started in a British jail, which put an end to the growing number of suicides in that jail.
Two-hour broadcast to make inmates aware
Every day, a two-hour daily radio programme is broadcast by Jail Vani which is audible in all 22 barracks of the jail, including the lone isolation cell through sound boxes. The programme has the prison inmates-turned-RJs hosting talk shows involving doctors and jail officials, who make the inmates aware about their rights, besides steps to take care of their health.