Cow Dust Time for BBC Radio 3

Cow Dust Time  was an "Between The Ears" programme for BBC Radio 3 that I worked on with producer Clare Jenkins just before Christmas and was transmitted on 14th January 2012.  

Dust rises from the hooves of cattle returning to a village at sunset. Smoke from open fires wreathes in ribbons across the fields. As the evening shadows begin to lengthen, people, animals and birds all return to their homes to rest. This time of day is known in India as "godhuli bela", or "cowdust time". It is the sacred time when Lord Krishna brought his own cattle safely home. In paintings, he is often seen meeting his beloved Radha in the evening, as peacocks call, bright green parakeets chatter loudly in the neem trees, temple bells and muezzins call people of different faiths to prayer. There are many devotional songs and poems devoted to this twilight hour. It is seen throughout India as an auspicious time for engagements, weddings, even business ventures. But it's also the time when mothers call their children home, to avoid evil spirits. And when those same children are told not to whistle, for fear of inviting evil in. In this hypnotic sound tapestry - recorded in Gujarat, the Kumaon hills and Madhya Pradesh - we hear cows and other animals being brought back to their village, the loud clamour of birds, the eerie noise of crickets. "It is that fantastic time of day," says writer and academic Rajendrasingh Jadeja, "when the cowdust raised transforms the scene from stark, sharp light to a fantasy world." That fantasy world has been captured in art, music and literature. Painter and art critic Amit Ambalal, poets Jayant Parmar and Mahek Tankarvi, and musician Sugna Shah, are among those who talk about the religious and cultural significance of twilight. We also hear the poetry, prayers, lullabies and ragas depicting this magical time "when the earth does yoga".

We were able to interweave the atmospheric sounds of the cows coming back home with conversations and descriptions of this special time of the day as well as poetry & music written for cow dust time. It was an really enjoyable programme to work on.   Clare wrote.....  

“Some years ago, we bought a reproduction of a painting of Krishna, Radha (his beloved) and the cows from the Prince of Wales Museum in Bombay. It’s called Cowdust Time, and on the back it tells the story of this time, when cowherds bring their cattle back home and the dust they raise blends with the smoke of the cooking fires to create a smoky effect in the villages. It’s a particularly lovely time of day.  It’s also seen as a particularly auspicious time, good for engagements, marriages and business deals. And a good time for reflection, prayer and meditation. Various people talked about how – at the same time that people are going to the temple or mosque to pray – birds like parakeets all flock back to their trees, and their loud chattering is like another form of prayer of thanksgiving to God,” she adds. “And one writer and academic, Dr Rajendrasinh Jadeja, likened it to a time when the earth does yoga.”

The programme has been well received and here are some comments that have come in...

What a lovely programme! We were both entranced by it. Thank you so much.

Seductive and richly other.  It drew me in. Lovely. Beautifully put together

Really lovely programme. We listened to it in the dark, sitting on an Indian rug, and it was like a meditation.

It was wonderful. I do not overstate when I say there were tears in our eyes, I can't remember when I saw my husband so visibly moved.

I've just listened to it and found it both beautiful and enlightening, and a wonderful counterbalance to the way I was feeling today. I've made some notes from it towards what might become a poem - not difficult, of course, because the programme is pretty much a poem in itself

I'm writing to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed the Between the Ears feature 'Cowdust Time'.  I always make a point of tuning in to Between The Ears because of the eclectic content.  While I'm listening, I'm usually doing something else - tonight I was preparing tomorrow's dinner - but, I stopped chopping carrots and just listened.  A really beautiful programme - congratulations!

The Bishop and The Prisoner for BBC Radio 4

I have enjoyed working on this series of three half-hour programmes with Rosie Dawson for BBC Radio 4.  It was an excellent series that really got behind the issues and talked to real people both victims and criminals on how the system fails so many people.

In the three-part series, he talks to prison staff, politicians and inmates, who share their ideas about effective punishment both within prison and in Community Payback schemes. In an article in the Liverpool Echo he wrote...

“In The Forgiveness Project (piloted in High Down prison) a woman who was repeatedly raped, and who was only saved from death because her attacker’s knife broke, said forgiveness is fluid, which I thought was a fascinating phrase.
“She said ‘Sometimes I can forgive, sometimes I can’t forgive, sometimes I have to will myself to forgive’.

and we hear from some inmates about how sex offenders are probably the only group of offenders that cannot be re-habilitated and forgiven.

Bishop James put himself in the shoes of a prisoner being admitted to Liverpool Prison: 

“This included the clanging of the gates, the shutting of the cell door, measuring out the cell (12 paces by nine) and listening to the noise of the prison. Although I’ve been going into prisons for years it gave me a deeper experience of what it was like. And it is punishment.”

In this second programme, the Bishop visits training schemes which offer inmates a chance to gain new skills and may even guarantee them a job. The shoe manufacturer Timpsons has training workshops in Liverpool and Forest Bank; High Down is home to the infamous Clink restaurant where prisoners cook and serve Michelin-style food to members of the public.

In the final programme, James Jones meets ex-offenders taking part in a variety of probation initiatives in Merseyside designed to cut re-offending and "pay back" the community for crimes committed. Three men on the Persistent Priority Offender scheme commend the programme for providing the supervision they found lacking on earlier probation orders. In a moving interview a mentor with the service, Lynsey, says probation saved her from prison, crime and alcoholism and her children from life in care. There are some incredibly moving stories across the three programmes in this seriesand I can thoroughly recommend listening to the series. Bishop James proved to be an excellent and caring interviewer too.


 Listen to programme 1 on iPlayer

 Listen to programme 2 on iPlayer

 Listen to programme 3 on iPlayer

"I am done with the Freemium Model" says Tyler Nichols

Tyler goes onto say....

"I am done with “free”. I have come to the realization that most people who want something for free will never, ever think of paying you, no matter how valuable they find your service. I found this cold hard fact out over this Christmas holiday with my free Letter From Santa site. The site uses a freemium model allowing people to create personalized printable santa letters for their children for free. In addition to the free version, I also offered a paid version that includes a higher resolution letter, a personalized envelope and door hanger for a nominal cost."

He goes on to explain that free customers where higher maintenance than the paying customers with free customers not reading the FAQ and then going on to mark his thank you letter as spam.

So let me get this straight, you just used my service to make something for your kid for free and then you nail me with a spam complaint?

Even though they had agreed in the privacy policy to the occasional email. Where as the paying customers didn't spam his letter and only 20 of them asked for help.

You can read his full post here and all the comments people have made. 

My only comment is that the whole point of the fermium model is that there has to be enough income from the paying customers to pay for the free service and still make a profit. So the business model has to meet this criteria or it isn't a viable business. Maybe he shouldn't have offered support to the free customers? Would that have made the difference?