This episode is a sign for you to listen to this podcast more.

There's a lot in here about ancient systems of signaling in times of war and peace - which we found super fascinating! From Byzantine beacons shining between Asia Minor and Constantinople 700 kms away, to the mountaintop Beacons of Gondor (from Lord of the Rings, duh) to signals from aliens registered by the aptly names “Big Ear” that made scientists speechless save for the word, “Wow!”, we’ve got it all! There are some mysterious happs and some happs that have been explained but still pretty awe-inspiring.

The world of semaphores will never be the same as we wander our way through it, picking at threads that seemed most interesting to us and would be interesting to you, dear reader / listener! From signals on terra firma to messages from the great beyond - (not the type from auntie ruthie who died a decade ago, but the kind from Kinshasha, the alien dude who just wants to make friends because he’s too narrow to fit through doorways on Planet Xt2 and his classmates won’t stop making fun of him for it) we’ve got it covered! We go from naval flags to wig wag to hydraulic semaphores that may or may not have worked!

Quick question: Would you be a panicked typed signalman (“I forgot the code for “C”, I’m just going to use “K”) or a nerves-of-steel one (Wow, did that guy just swap a “K” for a “C”)?

Now….clear your mind. And picture this – it’s 2010. Colonel Espejo, the Columbian Army’s communications expert joins forces with Juan Carlos Ortiz a successful ad executive with a Golden Lion from Cannes under his belt. If you thought this was an unlikely combination, we wonder what you’d say to the combination of factors that led to a pop song, an army officer, an ad man and a daring rescue venture! If you’d like to get to the bottom of that convoluted sentence, you’re going to want to listen to this episode where Ragini very eloquently explains the sitch!

And, lastly, to keep things contemporary we also take you through the history of the (truly cathartic to execute) signal of the middle finger!

In conclusion, human beings are just social beings and we found some super complicated and a lot of super simple ways to communicate with each other - distance and panicked signalmen no bar! Also Aeneas might have been a genius and all, but could anyone can please tell us how to pronounce his name without giggling? That’d be great, thanks.

Links of Interest:

WOW Signal

Better Days by Natalia Gutierrez Y Angelo

Sgt. Stubby

Cher Ami

Now stop trawling through this blog post for more info and listen to the episode!

Episode edited by: Mohit Shandilya

Music for the episode: Charita Arora