yatrigan kripya dhyaan de! | sonic identity #2
what is a personality you find the most familiar? if you closed your eyes, could you put a voice to that personality?
4 decades ago, through the Central Railways(now, Indian Railways), that voice made its first announcement!
“yatrigan kripya dhyaan de… gaadi number 1… 2… 0…”
do you know her name?
no AI here! just the voice of a regular person who sounds like someone we know!
1982. one among hundreds of candidates for the post of announcer for the central railways, little did the young sarla chaudhary know that her voice would embody the entire identity for train travel in #india! although that is exactly what happened!
joining for the post as a temporary employee with a voice so endearing and familiar, her voice was a hit with the travellers from day one! in the following years, sarla travelled to nearly EVERY station in the country, recording announcements in multiple languages, and multiple interchangeable sound bites in each of these stations.
while the responsibility of the announcements was handed over to the Train Management System in the years to come, the voice remained the same: sarla chaudhary’s. 4 decades from then, she may not be working as an announcer for the railways any more, but her voice continues to remain the identity for train travel for generations of travellers.
a sonicidentity so rooted in being relatable, that to refresh it will never be relevant! it just always will be!
how many such identities do you know, sonic or otherwise, that are permanently relevant?