Exploring An Unfamiliar Legacy Through a Prize-Winning Podcast

Avani Yaltho, crowned this year's high school victor in NPR's Student Podcast Challenge, grins in a portrait taken in her Houston bedroom, surrounded by her podcasting gear.

Initiating her podcast, Avani captivates with the ethereal notes of a wooden flute, transporting listeners back in time with her opening line.

"My grandmother used to say that mango trees were communally shared," she begins.

She vividly narrates stories from Kerala's villages in southern India, where her forebears grew up, unraveling the vanishing way of life due to India's rapid urbanization and globalization.

The judges were so moved by her work that they picked her entry from almost 2,000 submissions as the top podcast among high school contenders.

Judge B.A. Parker, a celebrated NPR host, lauded Yaltho's podcast for its poignant portrayal of cultural erosion, stating, "She deftly guides these family dialogues while leading the audience through her narrative journey."

Avani describes a vibrant world with homes decked in bright colors and open doors, where children eagerly awaited the mango tree's bounty.

"No ownership, just boundless laughter and sticky hands — simply togetherness," Avani reflects in her recording. "That encapsulates the spirit of Kerala."

Her poetic storytelling, akin to a fable, is intertwined with family conversations, building a narrative tapestry.

Her grandfather, Jacob George, remarks in the podcast, "Travel to most villages now and you'll see only older folks dwelling alone. Younger generations are just absent, pursuing lives elsewhere."

Her mother, Saira George, elaborates, pointing out that they left for "better educational and employment prospects abroad."

Years back, Avani's grandparents were among those venturing out for better lives; they set roots in Texas and raised a family. Their granddaughter, now a senior at Houston's St. Agnes Academy, is deeply aware of the contrasts between her life and her ancestors'.

"It's bewildering that I've never savored fruit straight from a garden," Avani explained during NPR's visit. "Part of me longs to witness that bygone era."

Having traveled to India once, Avani discovered only remnants of her grandmother's home and the mango tree. Her grandfather's former fields have been parceled into dense neighborhood plots.

To enrich her podcast, she attempted to source sounds of playful children from a cousin in Kerala, but received audio rife with urban noise instead. Even capturing bird songs proved elusive.

She recounts her trouble in procuring recordings of birds like the koel, essential to evoke a past she wishes to illustrate.

While much has changed, unexpected comforts persist, embodied by a thriving curry leaf tree growing near their Houston home, thanks to her grandmother's careless scattering of seeds years before.

This flourishing plant brings hopes of a future garden and continues to bridge the old and new for Avani and her family.