The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma: Recent Episodes
Amit Varma
The Seen and the Unseen, hosted by Amit Varma, features longform conversations that aim to give deep insights into the subjects being discussed. Timeless and bingeworthy.
Circumstance made him a legend of the quizzing world, but Siddhartha Basu is a man of many parts. He joins Amit Varma in episode 420 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about life, India, the art of asking questions and the answers he has found.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Siddhartha Basu on Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram and IMDb. 2. Tree of Knowledge, DigiTok. 3. Quizzitok on YouTube. 4. Middlemarch -- George Eliot. 5. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 6. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 7. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 9. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity — Manu Pillai. 12. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism — Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 13. How to Become a Tyrant -- Narrated by Peter Dinklage. 14. What Is Populism? -- Jan-Werner Müller. 15. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 16. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- Richard Fleischer. 17. The Hedgehog And The Fox — Isaiah Berlin. 18. Trees of Delhi : A Field Guide -- Pradip Krishen. 19. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Stage.in. 22. Dance Like a Man -- Mahesh Dattani. 23. How Old Are You? -- Rosshan Andrrews. 24. The Mehta Boys -- Boman Irani. 25. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man -- James Joyce. 26. Massey Sahib -- Pradip Krishen. 27. Derek O'Brien talks to Siddhartha Basu -- Episode 6 of the Quizzitok Podcast. 28. Kwizzing with Kumar Varun. 29. Ivanhoe, Treasure Island and Black Beauty. 30. Jane Austen, Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Allan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, James Joyce, TS Eliot and Vivekananda. 31. Ramayana and Mahabharata -- C Rajagopalachari. 32. Paradise Lost -- John Milton. 33. Morte d'Arthur -- Alfred Tennyson. 34. Death of a Salesman -- Arthur Miller. 35. Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Mukul Kesavan, Rukun Advani, Vikram Seth, Shashi Tharoor, Jhumpa Lahiri, I Allan Sealy, Arundhati Roy and William Dalrymple. 36. The Trotter-nama -- I Allan Sealy. 37. The Everest Hotel -- I Allan Sealy. 38. The Life and Times of Altu-Faltu -- Ranjit Lal. 39. Mr Beast on YouTube. 40. The Spectacular Life of Prahlad Kakar — Episode 414 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Ramki and the Ocean of Stories -- Episode 415 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Adolescence -- Created by Stephen Graham & Jack Thorne. 43. Anora -- Sean Baker. 44. Jerry Seinfeld on the results of the Seinfeld pilot. 45. Scam 1992 -- Hansal Mehta. 46. Dahaad -- Created by Reema Kagti & Zoya Akhtar. 47. The Delhi Walla -- Mayank Austen Soofi. 48. Flood of Fire -- Amitav Ghosh. 49. The Shadow Lines -- Amitav Ghosh. 50. The God of Small Things -- Arundhati Roy. 51. Shillong Chamber Choir. 52. The Waste Land -- TS Eliot. 53. Omkara, Maqbool and Haider -- Vishal Bhardwaj. 54. A Tale of Two Cities -- Charles Dickens. 55. William Shakespeare and Henry James. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Your Time Starts Now’ by Simahina.
Firms are the means of economic progress. India's micro, small and medium enterprises have been hobbled for decades, and flounder even today. Sudhir Sarnobat and Narendra Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 419 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss this landscape -- and Sudhir's brilliant new venture that aims to tackle this. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sudhir Sarnobat on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2. Naren Shenoy on Twitter, Instagram and Blogspot. 3. How Frameworks — Sudhir Sarnobat’s new venture. 4. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World -- Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 7. You’re Ugly and You’re Hairy and You’re Covered in Shit but You’re Mine and I Love You -- Episode 362 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 8. The Teaching Learning Community. 9. Ascent Foundation. 10. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 11. Other episodes of Everything is Everything on firms: 1, 2, 3, 4. 12. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 14. Restart -- Mihir Sharma. 15. Backstage — Montek Singh Ahluwalia. 16. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Devil's Dictionary -- Ambrose Bierce. 18. The Bad and Complex Tax -- Episode 74 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 19. They Stole a Bridge. They Stole a Pond -- Amit Varma. 20. Bihar real estate brokers build illegal bridge on river. 21. The Globalisation Episode -- Episode 95 of Everything is Everything. 22. Is Globalization Doomed? -- Episode 96 of Everything is Everything 23. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything. 24. The Case for Nuclear Electricity -- Episode 78 of Everything is Everything. 25. अंतू बरवा -- Pu La Deshpande. 26. Testaments Betrayed -- Milan Kundera. 27. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel. 28. Marginal Revolution University. 29. The Bankable Wisdom of Harsh Vardhan — Episode 352 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Regrets for my Old Dressing Gown -- Denis Diderot. 31. Good to Great -- Jim Collins. 32. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt. 33. The Goal -- Eliyahu Goldratt. 34. The Toyota Way -- Jeffrey Liker. 35. Start With Why -- Simon Sinek. 36. The Lean Startup -- Eric Reis. 37. The Hard Thing About Hard Things -- Ben Horowitz. 38. Romancing the Balance Sheet -- Anil Lamba. 39. Connect the Dots -- Rashmi Bansal. 40. Zero to One -- Peter Thiel. 41. Acquired, Lenny's Podcast, EconTalk, Work Life, Rethinking, The Knowledge Project, How I Built This, Everything is Everything, HBR Podcast, Ideacast, Deep Questions. 42. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything. 43. Can We Build Switzerland in India? -- Episode 58 of Everything is Everything. 44. Dwarkesh Patel and Hannah Fry. 45. Habuild. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Battleground’ by Simahina.
Why did the attacks in Pahalgam happen? What took place in the skirmishes after that? What have we learnt about geopolitics and our military preparedness? Pranay Kotasthane and Aditya Ramanathan join Amit Varma in episode 418 of The Seen and the Unseen to try to clear some of the fog of war. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution. 2. Aditya Ramanathan on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and the Takshashila Institution. 3. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra & Khyati Pathak). 4. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter. 5. All Things Policy -- The Takshashila Institution's podcast. 6. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 8. Democracy in Pakistan -- Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Hamsini Hariharan). 9. India in the Nuclear Age -- Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon). 10. All previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. 11. Aditya Ramanathan's piece on how India's air defence system performed. 12. Aditya Ramanathan's analysis of Operation Sindoor. 13. 9/11 and Pakistan’s Economy (2006) -- Amit Varma's post on 'Al Faeda'. 14. Action Produces Information -- Brian Armstrong at Startup Archive. 15. Khushi Mukherjee on India, Pakistan and PoK. 16. The Israeli-Egyptian War of Attrition, 1969-1970 -- Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov. 17. Inadvertent Escalation: Conventional War and Nuclear Risks -- Barry R Posen. 18. The People Next Door: The Curious History of India-Pakistan Relations -- TCA Raghavan. 19. The Sovereign Lives of India and Pakistan: Post-Partition Statehood in South Asia -- Atul Mishra. 20. Husain Haqqani on Amazon. 21. Empires of the Indus -- Alice Albinia. 22. Network for Advanced Study of Pakistan (NASP) Fellowship. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Fog of War’ by Simahina.
Data is apolitical and always useful, right? Then why is the caste census so controversial? Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley join Amit Varma in episode 417 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss its history, context and implications. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution. 2. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley's newsletter. 3. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley. 4. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra & Khyati Pathak). 5. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S Jaitley). 6. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter — Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. All episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 9. Some Slopes Are Slippery For Real -- RSJ and Pranay's last debate (Sep 2024) on the caste census. 10. जातीय जनगणना होनी चाहिए या नहीं? -- The Puliyabaazi episode (May 2023) on the caste census. 11. Other posts of Pranay and RSJ's newsletter that touch on this subject: 1, 2, 3. 12. Look Beyond Quotas for Equality -- Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai. 13. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 15. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 17. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism -- Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 19. How the BJP wins: Inside India’s Greatest Election Machine — Prashant Jha. 20. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 21. Badri Narayan on Wikipedia and Amazon. 22. Terms of Trade: Mandal wins, por ahora -- Roshan Kishore. 23. Caste questions for Rahul Gandhi -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 24. The mirage of social justice -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 25. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study -- Thomas Sowell. 26. The Grammar of Anarchy -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 27. Policy Paradox -- Deborah Stone. 28. Why Does the Indian State Both Fail and Succeed? — Devesh Kapur. 29. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 31. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 32. An Area of Darkness -- VS Naipaul. 33. India: A Million Mutinies Now -- VS Naipaul. 34. Upstream -- Zheng Xu. 35. The Sea Hawk -- Manohar Malgonkar. 36. Ideas of India -- Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast. 37. The Great Power Show -- Manoj Kewalramani's podcast. 38. May December -- Todd Haynes. 40. Hard Truths -- Mike Leigh. 41. Secrets and Lies -- Mike Leigh. 42. A Real Pain -- Jesse Eisenberg. 43. Orbital -- Samnatha Harvey. 44. How Music Works -- David Byrne. 45. Visual Arts in the 20th Century -- Edward Lucie-Smith. Applications are open for the Takshashila Institution's Post-Graduate Programme in Public Policy, where Pranay will be one of your teachers! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Count’ by Simahina.
The most astonishing men lie in the far, forgotten corners of history. Kavitha Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 416 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on the life and times of two magnificent failures, Chatto and Roy. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Kavitha Rao on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon and her own website. 2. Spies, Lies and Allies: The Extraordinary Lives of Chatto and Roy -- Kavitha Rao. 3. Lady Doctors : The Untold Stories Of India's First Women In Medicine -- Kavitha Rao. 4. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Chatto: The Life and Times of an Anti-Imperialist in Europe -- Nirode K Barooah. 6. In Freedom's Quest : A Study of the Life and Works of MN Roy -- Sibnarayan Ray. 7. The collected works of MN Roy. 8. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity — Manu Pillai. 9. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism -- Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 10. Ira Mukhoty on Instagram. 11. The Difficulty In Dating Good Men -- Aella. 12. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus -- John Gray. 13. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 14. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 15. The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj -- Anita Anand. 16. Rama Bhima Soma: Cultural Investigations into Modern Karnataka -- Srikar Raghavan. 17. Lady Doctors on Goodreads. 18. The Spectacular Life of Prahlad Kakar -- Episode 414 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Vinayak Calling Vinayak — Episode 385 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinayak Chaturvedi). 20. Daughter of Earth -- Agnes Smedley. 21. The Gilded Age and The White Lotus. 22. Rumours -- Fleetwood Mac. 23. The Day I Became a Runner -- Sohini Chattopadhyay. 24, Brotherless Night -- VV Ganeshananthan. 25. Miss Austen, Wolf Hall and The Traitors. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Lenin Speaks Bengali’ by Simahina.
He observed our society from up close as an advertising man -- and then became an iconic storyteller on Twitter. Ramakrishna Desiraju aka Ramki joins Amit Varma in episode 415 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his journey, and all that it taught him. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ramakrishna Desiraju aka Ramki on LinkedIn and Twitter. 2. Cartwheel Creative Consultancy. 3. Selected legendary threads by Ramki. 4. Ramki's commercial for Kotak Mahindra Bank featuring Ranveer Singh. 5. Celluloid Man -- Shivendra Singh Dungarpur. 6. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty -- James Thurber. 7. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne -- Prakash Jha. 8. All We Imagine as Light -- Payal Kapadia. 9. Heere Ko Kya Pata -- SBI Life Insurance commercial by Prasoon Pandey. 10. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir. 12. The Spectacular Life of Prahlad Kakar -- Episode 414 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Rumble Fish -- Francis Ford Coppola. 14. John Collison's tweet on the world being a museum of passion projects. 15. The Fisher King -- Terry Gilliam. 16. The Grand Central Station scene from The Fisher KIng. 17. The Wheel commercial with Govinda. 18. Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense -- Rory Sutherland. 19. Hausla Hai Toh Ho Jayega -- Kotak commercial. 20. Anora -- Sean Baker. 21. Dr Seuss, Roald Dahl and John le Carre on Amazon. 22. The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck. 23. Perfect Days -- Wim Wenders. 24. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 25. Chhannulal Mishra on Spotify and YouTube. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Waves' by Simahina.
He learnt his craft from Shyam Benegal, became a pioneer & a legend of advertising filmmaking, learnt & taught scuba diving, started the Prithvi Cafe, and lived every moment to the full in a million different ways. Prahlad Kakar joins Amit Varma in episode 414 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his long and wondrous life.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Prahlad Kakar on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, IMDb and his own website. 2. Adman Madman: Unapologetically Prahlad -- Prahlad Kakar. 3. Genesis Film Production. 4. Probal DasGupta Goes to the Himalayas With Books in His Bag -- Episode 412 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Watershed 1967: India’s Forgotten Victory Over China — Probal DasGupta. 6. Sahil Bloom's tweet on preparation vs planning. 7. Big City Blues -- Mervyn LeRoy. 8. Does India take its national symbols too seriously? — Jan 2008 episode of We the People. 9. Au Hasard Balthazar -- Robert Bresson. 10. The Bicycle Thief -- Vittorio De Sica. 11. Blade Runner -- Ridley Scott. 12. 2001: A Space Odyssey -- Stanley Kubrick 13. Straw Dogs -- Sam Peckinpah. 14. Prahlad Kakar's Bombay Dyeing commercial from 1983. 15. Ankur -- Shyam Benegal. 16. Bhumika -- Shyam Benegal. 17. Manthan -- Shyam Benegal. 18. Dekho Dekho, Duniya Dekho -- Prahlad Kakar's commercial for Air India. 19. Modesty Blaise, The Saint, Harry Potter and the work of Tom Clancy, Wilbur Smith and Louis L'Amour. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Shoot’ by Simahina.
One of India's tragedies lies in the schooling of our children. We have let our kids down. Can we fix this problem? Shaheen Mistri joins Amit Varma in episode 413 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her journey -- and what she has learnt about education. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shaheen Mistri on Instagram, LinkedIn, Wikipedia and Facebook. 2. Redrawing India: The Teach For India Story -- Kovid Gupta and Shaheen Mistri. 3. Teach For India. 4. Akanksha Foundation. 5. The City and the City -- China Miéville. 6. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Teach For America. 8. Indicorps. 9. Sahil Bloom's tweet on planning and preparation. 10. Lighthouse Studios. 11. Third Space. 12. The Conference of the Birds by Teach For India. 13. Slam Out Loud. 14. Kahani Tree. 15. What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking -- Tina Oziewicz and Aleksandra Zajac. 16. Charlotte's Web -- EB White. 17. Oh, The Places You'll Go! -- Dr Seuss. 18. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 19. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Episode art: ‘Learn’ by Simahina.
So much in history never made it to the popular imagination -- such as the battles of 1967 in which India beat China. Probal DasGupta joins Amit Varma in episode 412 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his time in the Indian army -- and his fascinating discoveries as a military historian. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Probal DasGupta on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Amazon. 2. Watershed 1967: India's Forgotten Victory Over China -- Probal DasGupta. 3. Camouflaged: Forgotten Stories from Battlefields -- Probal DasGupta. 4. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 5. The Killing Fields -- Roland Joffé. 6. Shame -- Salman Rushdie. 7. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 8. The Satanic Verses -- Salman Rushdie. 9. India's War -- Srinath Raghavan. 10. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia — Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 11. The State of the Ukraine War — Episode 14 of Everything is Everything. 12. A Deep Dive Into the Indian Military -- Episode 31 of Everything is Everything. 13. Indian Defence Strategy: Forces, Potential and Procurement Disasters -- Perun. 14. Biju Rao Won’t Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao. 16. The Absent Dialogue -- Anit Mukherjee. 17. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Episode 37 of Everything is Everything. 18. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything. 19. Love Story -- Rahul Rawail. 20. Grave of the Fireflies -- Isao Takahata. 21. The Nutty Putty cave picture. 22. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War — Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 23. 1971: A Global History Of The Creation Of Bangladesh -- Srinath Raghavan. 24. The chair-raising scene between Adenoid Hynkel and Benzino Napaloni in The Great Dictator. 25. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 26. One Hundred Years of Solitude, the web series. 27. Until August -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 28. Chronicle of a Death Foretold -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 29. No One Writes to the Colonel -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 30. Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 31. Feast of the Goat -- Mario Vargas Llosa. 32. Indian Summer -- Alex von Tunzelmann. 33. The Last Emperor -- Bernardo Bertolucci. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Rare Air’ by Simahina.
Business and life can sometimes be seen more as a search for values than a quest for profit. Private equity pioneer Vishal Nevatia joins Amit Varma in episode 411 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey towards finding his true north. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Vishal Nevatia at True North. 2. Ingredients for high growth firms -- Vishal Nevatia in 2015. 3. Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible — Episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Biju Rao Won’t Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Beauty of Finance -- Ep 21 of Everything is Everything. 7. How Family Firms Evolve -- Ep 34 of Everything is Everything. 8. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Ep 37 of Everything is Everything. 9. Graduating to Globalisation -- Epi 48 of Everything is Everything. 10. The Horrors of KYC -- Episode 74 of Everything is Everything. 11. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 12. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. How We Do the Small Things — Amit Varma. 14. How the Trump Whale Correctly Called the Election -- Alexander Osipovich. 15. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 16. Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants — Episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Polls get elections wrong. So use Google -- Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘True North’ by Simahina.
She's an economist, an institution-builder, an ecosystem-nurturer and one of our finest thinkers. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 410 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life & times -- and her remarkable work. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shruti Rajagopalan on Twitter, Substack, Instagram, her podcast, Ideas of India and her own website. 2. Emergent Ventures India. 3. The 1991 Project. 4. Life Lessons That Are Priceless -- Episodes 400 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. 6. The Day Ryan Started Masturbating -- Amit Varma's newsletter post explaining Shruti Rajagopalan's swimming pool analogy for social science research. 7. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 54 of Everything is Everything. 8. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 9. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 10. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything. 11. Where Has All the Education Gone? -- Lant Pritchett. 12. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Theory of Moral Sentiments — Adam Smith. 14. The Wealth of Nations — Adam Smith. 15. Commanding Heights -- Daniel Yergin. 16. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 17. Free to Choose -- Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman. 18. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt. 19. The Road to Serfdom -- Friedrich Hayek. 20. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything. 21. The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek. 22. Individualism and Economic Order -- Friedrich Hayek. 23. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 24. Richard E Wagner at Mercatus and Amazon. 25. Larry White and the First Principles of Money -- Episode 397 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 27. Marginal Revolution. 28. Paul Graham's essays. 29. Commands and controls: Planning for indian industrial development, 1951–1990 -- Rakesh Mohan and Vandana Aggarwal. 30. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 31. India: Planning for Industrialization -- Jagdish Bhagwati and Padma Desai. 32. Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration -- Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith. 33. Cows on India Uncut. 34. Abdul Karim Khan on Spotify and YouTube. 35. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything. 36. Objects From Our Past -- Episode 77 of Everything is Everything. 37. Sriya Iyer on the Economics of Religion -- The Ideas of India Podcast. 38. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 39. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Pratap Bhanu Mehta: 1, 2. 40. Rohit Lamba Reimagines India’s Economic Policy Emphasis -- The Ideas of India Podcast. 41. Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan — Episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. The Constitutional Law and Philosophy blog. 43. Cost and Choice -- James Buchanan. 44. Philip Wicksteed. 45. Pratap Bhanu Mehta on The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- The Ideas of India Podcast. 46. Conversation and Society — Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 47. The Common Sense of Political Economy -- Philip Wicksteed. 48. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World — Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Manmohan Singh: India's Finest Talent Scout -- Shruti Rajagopalan. 51. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 52. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 54. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 55. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Breaking Through — Isher Judge Ahluwalia. 57. Breaking Out — Padma Desai. 58. Perestroika in Perspective -- Padma Desai. 59. Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible — Episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Pics from the Seen-Unseen party. 61. Pramod Varma on India’s Digital Empowerment -- Episode 50 of Brave New World. 59. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator — Episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 61. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 62. The Overton Window. 63. When Ideas Have Sex -- Matt Ridley. 64. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. 65. Arnold Kling and the Four Languages of Politics -- Episode 394 of The Seen and the Unseen. 66. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel. 67. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 68. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 69. What Does It Mean to Be Libertarian? — Episode 64 of The Seen and the Unseen. 70. The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom -- David Boaz. 71. Publish and Perish — Agnes Callard. 72. Classical Liberal Institute. 73. Shruti Rajagopalan’s YouTube talk on constitutional amendments. 74. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” -- Lant Pritchett. 75. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao. 76. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok. 77. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 78. Invisible Infrastructure -- Episode 82 of Everything is Everything. 79. The Sundara Kanda. 80. Devdutt Pattanaik and the Stories That Shape Us -- Episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen. 81. Y Combinator. 82. Space Fields. 83. Apoorwa Masuk, Onkar Singh Batra, Naman Pushp, Angad Daryani, Deepak VS and Srijon Sarkar. 84. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 85. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away -- The Beatles. 86. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 87. Data For India -- Rukmini S's startup. 88. Whole Numbers And Half Truths — Rukmini S. 89. The Moving Curve — Rukmini S’s Covid podcast, also on all podcast apps. 90. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 91. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 92. Prosperiti. 93. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 94. The Dilemma of an Indian Liberal -- Gurcharan Das. 95. Zakir: 1951-2024 -- Shruti Rajagopalan. 96. Dazzling Blue -- Paul Simon, featuring Karaikudi R Mani. 97. John Coltrane, Shakti, Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan, Pannalal Ghosh, Nikhil Banerjee, Vilayat Khan, Bismillah Khan, Ravi Shankar, Bhimsen Joshi, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Esperanza Spalding, MS Subbulakshmi, Lalgudi Jayaraman, TN Krishnan, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Ranjani-Gayatri and TM Krishna on Spotify. 98. James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, Israel Kirzner, Mario Rizzo, Vernon Smith, Thomas Schelling and Ronald Coase. 99. The Calculus of Consent -- James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock. 100. Tim Harford and Martin Wolf. 101. The Shawshank Redemption -- Frank Darabont. 102. The Marriage of Figaro in The Shawshank Redemption. 103. An Equal Music -- Vikram Seth. 104. Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 - Zubin Mehta and the Belgrade Philharmonic. 105. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's violin concertos. 106. Animal Farm -- George Orwell. 107. Down and Out in Paris and London -- George Orwell. 108. Gulliver's Travels -- Jonathan Swift. 109. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass -- Lewis Carroll. 110. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 111. The Gulag Archipelago -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 112. Khosla Ka Ghosla -- Dibakar Banerjee. 113. Mr India -- Shekhar Kapur. 114. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi -- Satyen Bose. 114. Finding Nemo -- Andrew Stanton. 115. Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny. 116. Michael Madana Kama Rajan -- Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. 117. The Music Box, with Laurel and Hardy. 118. The Disciple -- Chaitanya Tamhane. 119. Court -- Chaitanya Tamhane. 120. Dwarkesh Patel on YouTube. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Learn' by Simahina.
He's lived a rich life as a journalist, a human rights activist, an author, a columnist -- and now he's written a great book on Gujaratis. Salil Tripathi joins Amit Varma in episode 409 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his learnings, these times we live in -- and the times that came before. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Salil Tripathi on Twitter, Instagram, Wikipedia, LinkedIn and Amazon. 2. The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community -- Salil Tripathi. 3. The Colonel Who Would Not Repent -- Salil Tripathi. 4. Offence – The Hindu Case -- Salil Tripathi. 5. Detours: Songs of the Open Road -- Salil Tripathi. 6. For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit -- Edited by Shilpa Gupta and Salil Tripathi. 7. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 8. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 9. Saraswatichandra (Gujarati) (English) -- Govardhanram Tripathi. 10. Gujarat Ni Asmita -- KM Munshi. 11. I Follow the Mahatma -- KM Munshi. 12. Devdutt Pattanaik and the Stories That Shape Us — Episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Ahimsa: 100 Reflections on the Harappan Civilization — Devdutt Pattanaik. 14. Until the Lions -- Karthika Nair. 15. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity — Manu Pillai. 16. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism -- Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 17. Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain -- Fintan O'Toole. 18. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 19. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 20. Gandhi Before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 21. Objects From Our Past -- Episode 77 of Everything is Everything. 22. The Diary of Manu Gandhi (Part 1) (Part 2) -- Edited and Translated by Tridip Suhrud. 23. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 24. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma. 25. Akhil Katyal's poem on caste. 26. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 27. Bare Feet – a Poem about MF Husain -- Salil Tripathi. 28. My Mother’s Fault -- Salil Tripathi. 29. Jejuri -- Arun Kolatkar. 30. Yashwant Rao -- Arun Kolatkar. 31. The Patriot -- Nissim Ezekiel. 32. Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne -- Satyajit Ray. 33. You're Missing -- Bruce Springsteen. 34. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Milan Kundera, Ved Mehta and John McPhee on Amazon. 35. All We Imagine as Light -- Payal Kapadia. 36. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator — Episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. On Tyranny -- Timothy Snyder. 38. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Saving Capitalism From The Capitalists -- Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales. 40. Check out Johan Norberg's great work. 41. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy — Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 42. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 43. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs — Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 44. On Inequality — Harry Frankfurt. 45. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 46. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 47. Amit Varma's 2022 piece on the mess-up at The Wire. 48. Television Price Controls — Episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashok Malik). 49. The Selfish Altruist -- Tony Vaux. 50. Sadanand Dhume's tweet on the hypocrisy around The Satanic Verses. 51. Bad Elements -- Ian Buruma. 52. Biju Rao Won’t Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao. 54. The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad — Episode 302 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. The Wal-Mart Effect -- Charles Fishman. 57. Modern South India -- Rajmohan Gandhi. 58. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 59. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 60. Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat -- Narmad. 61. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 62. Where the Green Ants Dream -- Werner Herzog. 63. People's Linguistic Survey of India -- GN Devy and others. 64. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 65. Stage.in. 66. Reading Lolita in Tehran -- Azar Nafisi. 67. Two Concepts of Liberty — Isaiah Berlin. 68. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 69. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 70. Shruti Rajagopalan’s talk on the many amendments in our constitution. 71. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 72. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 74. Goodbye Solo — Ramin Bahrani. 75. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo. 76. Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada -- Shahu Patole. 77. Firaaq -- Nandita Das. 78. How the BJP Wins — Prashant Jha. 79. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 80. The Year of Living Dangerously -- Peter Weir. 81. Ingmar Bergman, Satyajit Ray, Francois Truffaut and Aparna Sen. 82. The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and London Review of Books. 83. Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain and Vilayat Khan on Spotify. 84. Nadine Gordiner, Fintan O'Toole, Ilya Kaminsky, Karthika Nair, Ruchir Joshi, Kiran Desai, Nilanjana Roy, Sunil Gavaskar and Mike Brearley. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Asmita’ by Simahina.
His earlier episodes on this show have been huge hits, and as he completes a trilogy of books, he returns to complete a trilogy of episodes. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 408 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about writing, noticing, painting, travelling, trees, and unfulfilled train journeys. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Amitava Kumar on Instagram, Substack, Twitter, Amazon, Vassar, Granta and his own website. 2. The Green Book: An Observer's Notebook -- Amitava Kumar. 3. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain -- Episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar. 6. The Yellow Book: A Traveller’s Diary — Amitava Kumar. 7. My Beloved Life: A Novel -- Amitava Kumar. 8. A Million Mutinies Now -- VS Naipaul. 9. The Trees — Philip Larkin. 10. Before the Storm -- Amitava Kumar. 11. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 12. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 13. A Suitable Boy -- Vikram Seth. 14. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. ‘Indian languages carry the legacy of caste’ — Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 16. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Stage.in. 18. Laapataa Ladies -- Kiran Rao. 19. Kanthapura -- Raja Rao. 20. All About H Hatterr -- GV Desani. 21. From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada -- Sudha Bharadwaj. 22. India is Broken -- Ashoka Mody. 23. Being Mortal -- Atul Gawande. 24. Earwitness to Place -- Bernie Krause interviewed by Erin Robinsong. 25. All That Breathes -- Shaunak Sen. 26. Frog: 1 Poetry: 0 -- Amitava Kumar. 27. The Heat Will Kill You First -- Jeff Goodell. 28. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron. 30. An excerpt from Wittgenstein’s diary — Parul Sehgal on Twitter. 31. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus — Ludwig Wittgenstein. 32. Burdock -- Janet Malcolm. 33. Hermit in Paris — Italo Calvino. 34. Objects From Our Past -- Episode 77 of Everything is Everything. 35. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (1877-1977) — Compiled & edited by Bill Frindall. 36. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 37. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 38. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 39. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 40. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Bhavni Bhavai -- Ketan Mehta. 42. All We Imagine as Light -- Payal Kapadia. 43. Secondhand Time -- Svetlana Alexievich. 44. Amitava Kumar's post with Danish Husain's postcard. 45. Fire Weather -- John Vaillant. 46. Ill Nature -- Joy Williams. 47. Hawk -- Joy Williams. This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Gulmohar’ by Simahina.
He was born in Sikkim and lives in the USA, and in the course of engaging with his identity, has written powerful books of Sikh history, and revived its music. Sarbpreet Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 407 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his writing, his music and the lessons of Sikhism. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sarbpreet Singh on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Linktree and Amazon. 2. The Story of the Sikhs -- Sarbpreet Singh's podcast on Spotify. 3. The Gurmat Sangeet Podcast. 4. The Gurmat Sangeet Project. 5. The Story of the Sikhs: 1469-1708 -- Sarbpreet Singh. 6. Cauldron, Sword and Victory: The Rise of the Sikhs -- Sarbpreet Singh. 7. The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia -- Sarbpreet Singh. 8. Kultar's Mime -- Sarbpreet Singh. 9. Night of the Restless Spirits: Stories from 1984 -- Sarbpreet Singh. 10. The Sufi's Nightingale -- Sarbpreet Singh. 11. Nanak Was Here — Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh). 12. Devdutt Pattanaik and the Stories That Shape Us -- Episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Sarbpreet Singh in conversation with Jerry Pinto. 14. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Em and the Big Hoom — Jerry Pinto. 16. History of the Sikhs -- JD Cunningham. 17. Khyal: Creativity within North India's Classical Music Tradition -- Bonnie Wade. 18. Who are the Guilty? -- The PUCL report about the 1984 riots. 19. Gangster Rule -- Madhu Kishwar. 20. Anthropological Knowledge and Collective Violence: The Riots in Delhi, November 1984 -- Veena Das. 21. 100 Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 22. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 23. In The City of Slaughter -- Hayyim Nahman Bialik. 24. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt. 25. The Pluralism Project. 25. Kaya Taran -- Sashi Kumar. 26. A History of the Sikhs -- Khushwant Singh. 27. Kirtan Sewa Malaysia. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Seeker’ by Simahina.
She worked with Femina for 26 years, 12 of them as editor. And she wrote numerous biographies after that. Sathya Saran joins Amit Varma in episode 406 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Indian society, feminism, femininity, her life as a journalist and the art of the biography. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sathya Saran on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Amazon. 2. Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi's Journey -- Sathya Saran. 3. Sun Mere Bandhu Re: The Musical World Of SD Burman -- Sathya Saran. 4. Baat Niklegi Toh Phir: The Life and Music of Jagjit Singh -- Sathya Saran. 5. Breath of Gold: Hariprasad Chaurasia -- Sathya Saran. 6. The Dark Side and Other Stories -- Sathya Saran. 7. How To Look Like Miss India -- Sathya Saran. 8. Gulzar's Angoor: Insights into The Film -- Sathya Saran. 9. From Me to You -- Sathya Saran. 10. Madhumati -- Bimal Roy. 11. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 12. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Anxious Generation — Jonathan Haidt. 14. Coming Through Slaughter -- Michael Ondaatje. 15. Take A Chance On Me -- Abba. 16. Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam -- Guru Dutt. 17. The Monk and His Music -- Moti Lalwani and Richa Lakhanpal. 18. Close -- Lukas Dhont. 19. Girl -- Lukas Dhont. 20. Mughal-E-Azam -- K Asif. 21. Pyaasa -- Guru Dutt. 22. Lekin -- Gulzar. 22. Ijaazat -- Gulzar. 24. Angoor -- Gulzar. This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Beauty’ by Simahina.
Every simple story about it is wrong: Hinduism contains multitudes. And it went into the directions it did for specific reasons. Manu Pillai joins Amit Varma in episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the role of history in the shaping of Hinduism -- and Hindu nationalism. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Manu Pillai on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Amazon and his own website. 2. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity -- Manu Pillai. 3. The Deccan Before Shivaji — Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 4. Our Colorful Past — Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 5. Kerala and the Ivory Throne — Episode 156 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 6. The Multitudes of Our Maharajahs -- Episode 244 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 7. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast. 8. The Changing Forms of Creativity -- Episode 72 of Everything is Everything. 9. Hardcore History — Dan Carlin. 10. Devdutt Pattanaik and the Stories That Shape Us -- Episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 12. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 13. William Dalrymple kicking off a controversy. 14. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 15. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 16. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Evolution of Everything — Matt Ridley. 18. The Evolution of Everything — Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley). 19. Merchants of Virtue -- Divya Cherian. 20. The Logic of Collective Action — Mancur Olson. 21. Caged Tiger — Subhashish Bhadra. 22. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Much Maligned Monsters -- Partha Mitter. 24. Literotica. 25. Genealogy of the South-Indian Gods -- Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg. 26. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 27. State, Politics, and Cultures in Modern South India: Honour, Authority, and Morality -- Pamela Price. 28. The Broken Script — Swapna Liddle. 29. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The History of British India -- James Mill. 31. Vindication of the Hindoos -- Charles Stuart. 32. Tuḥfat al-Muwaḥḥidīn -- Ram Mohan Roy. 33. Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants — Episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Satyarth Prakash -- Dayanand Saraswati. 35. Gulamgiri -- Jyotirao Phule. 36. How the BJP Wins — Prashant Jha. 37. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 38. Three Statesmen -- BR Nanda's biographies of GK Gokhale, MK Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. 39. Essentials of Hindutva -- Vinayak Savarkar. 40. Savarkar: The True Story of the Father of Hindutva -- Vaibhav Purandhare. 41. Hindutva and Violence: VD Savarkar and the Politics of History — Vinayak Chaturvedi. 42. Vinayak Calling Vinayak -- Episode 385 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinayak Chaturvedi). 43. The Savarkar Boxset -- Vikram Sampath. 44. Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva -- Janaki Bakhle. 45. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator -- Episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. Anne with an E -- Moira Walley-Beckett. 47. Arcane -- Christian Linke and Alex Yee. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Open-Source Religion’ by Simahina.
Our societies, our norms, our values are all shaped by stories from the past. Devdutt Pattanaik joins Amit Varma in episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, our society and why we should take mythology seriously. Note: This is Part 2 of a 12-hour episode, being uploaded in two parts now because Spotify and YouTube don't allow uploads over 12 hours. So do listen to Part 1 first -- and if you are on another podcast app, just play the full version if it is there! (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Devdutt Pattanaik on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon and his own website. 2. Myth = Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 3. The Girl Who Chose -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 4. The Boys Who Fought -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 5. Ramayana Versus Mahabharata -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 6. My Gita -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 7. Bahubali: 63 Insights into Jainism -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 8. Sati Savitri -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 9. Business Sutra -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 10. Ahimsa: 100 Reflections on the Harappan Civilization -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 11. Olympus -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 12. Eden -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 13. East vs West -- The Myths That Mystify -- Devdutt Pattanaik's 2009 TED Talk. 14. Today My Mother Came Home -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 15. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Yuganta -- Irawati Karve. 20. Women in Indian History — Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 21. The Jewel in the Crown -- BBC TV series. 22. Heat and Dust -- James Ivory. 23. The Sexual Outlaw -- John Rechy. 24. Bombay Dost and Gay Bombay. 25. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel. 26. The Kama Sutra. 27. Liberty -- Isaiah Berlin. 28. Thought and Choice in Chess -- Adriaan de Groot. 29. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker. 30. The Seven Basic Plots -- Episode 69 of Everything is Everything. 31. The Hero with a Thousand Faces -- Joseph Campbell. 32. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 33. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 33. The egg came before the chicken. 34. The Evolution of Cooperation — Robert Axelrod. 35. The Trees -- Philip Larkin. 36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 37. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 38. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 39. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 40. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 41. Jugalbandi -- Vinay Sitapati. 42. Perfect Days -- Wim Wenders. 43. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 44. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 45. Mary Wollstonecraft and bell hooks. 46. If India Was Five Days Old -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 47. The Road to Freedom — Arthur C Brooks. 48. The Master and His Emissary -- Iain McGilchrist. 49. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 50. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 51. The Elephant in the Brain — Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson. 52. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 53. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants — Peggy Mohan. 55. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 56. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 57. The Golden Bough -- James Frazer. 58. Myth And Reality: Studies In The Formation Of Indian Culture -- DD Kosambi. 59. Srimad Bhagavatam -- Kamala Subramaniam. 60. Boris Vallejo on Instagram, Wikipedia and his own website. 61. The Last Temptation Of Christ -- Nikos Kazantzakis. 62. The Last Temptation Of Christ -- Martin Scorcese. 63. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast. 64. The Poem of the Killing of Meghnad -- Michael Madhusudan Dutt. 65. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt. 66. The Crown -- Created by Peter Morgan. 67. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 68. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 69. The Buddha's Footprint -- Johan Elverskog. 70. A Prehistory of Hinduism -- Manu Devadevan. 71. The ‘Early Medieval' Origins of India -- Manu Devadevan. 72. Unmasking Buddhism -- Bernard Faure. 73. The Red Thread -- Bernard Faure. 74. The Power of Denial -- Bernard Faure. 75. The Thousand and One Lives of the Buddha -- Bernard Faure. 76. A Modern Look At Ancient Chinese Theory Of Language -- Chad Hansen. 77. Hermann Kulke, Umakant Mishra and Ganesh Devy on Amazon. 78. The Hours -- Michael Cunningham. 79. The Hours -- Stephen Daldry. 79. Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization -- Bahata Ansumali Mukhopadhyay. 80. Myth -- Laurence Coupe. This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Tell’ by Simahina.
Our societies, our norms, our values are all shaped by stories from the past. Devdutt Pattanaik joins Amit Varma in episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, our society and why we should take mythology seriously. Note: This is Part 1 of a 12-hour episode, being uploaded in two parts now because Spotify and YouTube don't allow uploads over 12 hours. So if you are on another podcast app, just play the full version if it is there! (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Devdutt Pattanaik on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon and his own website. 2. Myth = Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 3. The Girl Who Chose -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 4. The Boys Who Fought -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 5. Ramayana Versus Mahabharata -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 6. My Gita -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 7. Bahubali: 63 Insights into Jainism -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 8. Sati Savitri -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 9. Business Sutra -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 10. Ahimsa: 100 Reflections on the Harappan Civilization -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 11. Olympus -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 12. Eden -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 13. East vs West -- The Myths That Mystify -- Devdutt Pattanaik's 2009 TED Talk. 14. Today My Mother Came Home -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 15. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Yuganta -- Irawati Karve. 20. Women in Indian History — Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 21. The Jewel in the Crown -- BBC TV series. 22. Heat and Dust -- James Ivory. 23. The Sexual Outlaw -- John Rechy. 24. Bombay Dost and Gay Bombay. 25. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel. 26. The Kama Sutra. 27. Liberty -- Isaiah Berlin. 28. Thought and Choice in Chess -- Adriaan de Groot. 29. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker. 30. The Seven Basic Plots -- Episode 69 of Everything is Everything. 31. The Hero with a Thousand Faces -- Joseph Campbell. 32. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 33. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 33. The egg came before the chicken. 34. The Evolution of Cooperation — Robert Axelrod. 35. The Trees -- Philip Larkin. 36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 37. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 38. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 39. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 40. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 41. Jugalbandi -- Vinay Sitapati. 42. Perfect Days -- Wim Wenders. 43. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 44. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 45. Mary Wollstonecraft and bell hooks. 46. If India Was Five Days Old -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 47. The Road to Freedom — Arthur C Brooks. 48. The Master and His Emissary -- Iain McGilchrist. 49. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 50. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 51. The Elephant in the Brain — Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson. 52. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 53. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants — Peggy Mohan. 55. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 56. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 57. The Golden Bough -- James Frazer. 58. Myth And Reality: Studies In The Formation Of Indian Culture -- DD Kosambi. 59. Srimad Bhagavatam -- Kamala Subramaniam. 60. Boris Vallejo on Instagram, Wikipedia and his own website. 61. The Last Temptation Of Christ -- Nikos Kazantzakis. 62. The Last Temptation Of Christ -- Martin Scorcese. 63. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast. 64. The Poem of the Killing of Meghnad -- Michael Madhusudan Dutt. 65. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt. 66. The Crown -- Created by Peter Morgan. 67. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 68. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 69. The Buddha's Footprint -- Johan Elverskog. 70. A Prehistory of Hinduism -- Manu Devadevan. 71. The ‘Early Medieval' Origins of India -- Manu Devadevan. 72. Unmasking Buddhism -- Bernard Faure. 73. The Red Thread -- Bernard Faure. 74. The Power of Denial -- Bernard Faure. 75. The Thousand and One Lives of the Buddha -- Bernard Faure. 76. A Modern Look At Ancient Chinese Theory Of Language -- Chad Hansen. 77. Hermann Kulke, Umakant Mishra and Ganesh Devy on Amazon. 78. The Hours -- Michael Cunningham. 79. The Hours -- Stephen Daldry. 79. Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization -- Bahata Ansumali Mukhopadhyay. 80. Myth -- Laurence Coupe. This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Tell’ by Simahina.
Our societies, our norms, our values are all shaped by stories from the past. Devdutt Pattanaik joins Amit Varma in episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, our society and why we should take mythology seriously. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Devdutt Pattanaik on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon and his own website. 2. Myth = Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 3. The Girl Who Chose -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 4. The Boys Who Fought -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 5. Ramayana Versus Mahabharata -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 6. My Gita -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 7. Bahubali: 63 Insights into Jainism -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 8. Sati Savitri -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 9. Business Sutra -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 10. Ahimsa: 100 Reflections on the Harappan Civilization -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 11. Olympus -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 12. Eden -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 13. East vs West -- The Myths That Mystify -- Devdutt Pattanaik's 2009 TED Talk. 14. Today My Mother Came Home -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 15. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Yuganta -- Irawati Karve. 20. Women in Indian History — Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 21. The Jewel in the Crown -- BBC TV series. 22. Heat and Dust -- James Ivory. 23. The Sexual Outlaw -- John Rechy. 24. Bombay Dost and Gay Bombay. 25. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel. 26. The Kama Sutra. 27. Liberty -- Isaiah Berlin. 28. Thought and Choice in Chess -- Adriaan de Groot. 29. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker. 30. The Seven Basic Plots -- Episode 69 of Everything is Everything. 31. The Hero with a Thousand Faces -- Joseph Campbell. 32. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 33. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 33. The egg came before the chicken. 34. The Evolution of Cooperation — Robert Axelrod. 35. The Trees -- Philip Larkin. 36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 37. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 38. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 39. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 40. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 41. Jugalbandi -- Vinay Sitapati. 42. Perfect Days -- Wim Wenders. 43. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 44. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 45. Mary Wollstonecraft and bell hooks. 46. If India Was Five Days Old -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 47. The Road to Freedom — Arthur C Brooks. 48. The Master and His Emissary -- Iain McGilchrist. 49. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 50. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 51. The Elephant in the Brain — Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson. 52. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 53. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants — Peggy Mohan. 55. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 56. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 57. The Golden Bough -- James Frazer. 58. Myth And Reality: Studies In The Formation Of Indian Culture -- DD Kosambi. 59. Srimad Bhagavatam -- Kamala Subramaniam. 60. Boris Vallejo on Instagram, Wikipedia and his own website. 61. The Last Temptation Of Christ -- Nikos Kazantzakis. 62. The Last Temptation Of Christ -- Martin Scorcese. 63. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast. 64. The Poem of the Killing of Meghnad -- Michael Madhusudan Dutt. 65. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt. 66. The Crown -- Created by Peter Morgan. 67. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 68. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 69. The Buddha's Footprint -- Johan Elverskog. 70. A Prehistory of Hinduism -- Manu Devadevan. 71. The ‘Early Medieval' Origins of India -- Manu Devadevan. 72. Unmasking Buddhism -- Bernard Faure. 73. The Red Thread -- Bernard Faure. 74. The Power of Denial -- Bernard Faure. 75. The Thousand and One Lives of the Buddha -- Bernard Faure. 76. A Modern Look At Ancient Chinese Theory Of Language -- Chad Hansen. 77. Hermann Kulke, Umakant Mishra and Ganesh Devy on Amazon. 78. The Hours -- Michael Cunningham. 79. The Hours -- Stephen Daldry. 79. Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization -- Bahata Ansumali Mukhopadhyay. 80. Myth -- Laurence Coupe. This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Story’ by Simahina.
Populism is on the rise everywhere, and the long arc of history has bent away from freedom. Shikha Dalmia joins Amit Varma in episode 403 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the derangements of our modern times -- and the threat that Donald Trump poses. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shikha Dalmia on Twitter, LinkedIn, Reason, The Week and ISMA. 2. Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism. 3. The UnPopulist. 4. The Seen/Unseen episode on immigration with Shikha Dalmia. 5. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 6. Why Both Modi and Trump are Textbook Populists (2017) -- Amit Varma. 7. Rhinoceros -- Eugène Ionesco. 8. Stopping the Rhinoceros Takeover -- Shikha Dalmia. 9. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 10. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 11. Colours of the Cage: A Prison Memoir — Arun Ferreira. 12. The Reactionary Spirit -- Zack Beauchamp. 13. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on demonetisation). 14. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 15. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 16. The Good and Bad of Critical Race Theory -- Fabio Rojas. 17. The Color of Law -- Richard Rothstein. 18. Identity -- Francis Fukuyama. 19. Coleman Hughes, Glenn Loury and John McWhorter on Twitter/X. 20. The Fall of Minneapolis -- Alpha News. 21. What Really Happened to George Floyd? -- Coleman Hughes. 22. The retconning of George Floyd: Parts One, Two, an Update, Three -- Radley Balko. 23. The Murder Trial of OJ Simpson. 24. Glenn Loury & John McWhorter do a second take. 25. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 26. A Typology of the New Right -- Shikha Dalmia. 27. The Flight 93 Election -- Michael Anton. 28. A Passage to India -- EM Forster. 29. Jane Austen on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 30. Thomas Hardy and W Somerset Maugham on Amazon. 31. Ayn Rand on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 32. Milton Friedman on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 33. Friedrich Hayek on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 34. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 35. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 36. Arnold Kling and the Four Languages of Politics -- Episode 394 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi. 39. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 40. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything. 41. Don't Mess With the Price System -- Episode 66 of Everything is Everything. 42. The Road to Serfdom -- Friedrich Hayek. 43. Dadabhai Naoroji, Mahadev Govind Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar. 44. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box — Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. What Is Populism? -- Jan-Werner Müller. 47. The State of Indian Politics — Episode 50 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 48. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. The Liberalism of Fear -- Judith Shklar. 50. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Nooran Sisters and Hadiqa Kiani on Spotify. 51. Kamli -- Hadiqa Kiani. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Unpopulist’ by Simahina.
He's a polymath who cares deeply about the world, tries to understand it, and straddles many fields. He's played a key role over the last few decades in India's journey towards development. Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 402 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and times. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack. 2. Everything is Everything -- Ajay Shah's YouTube show with Amit Varma. 3. Life Lessons -- A course taught by Ajay Shah and Amit Varma. 4. In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 5. XKDR Forum. 6. The LEAP blog. 7. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 8. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything. 9. The Economic Lives of the Poor -- Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. 10. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Hiking Episode -- Episode 35 of Everything is Everything. 12. Declutter -- Episode 30 of Everything is Everything. 13. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 17. A Passion for Cycling -- Episode 53 of Everything is Everything. 18. Il Lombardia: Tadej Pogačar delivers historical fourth consecutive victory. 19. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. 20. Seven Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 23 of Everything is Everything (including Ajay's retelling, 'The Fat Frogs of Tatsinskaya'). 21. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 22. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu. 23. Five Epic Stories That Must Be Films -- Episode 29 of Everything is Everything (including Amit's retelling of VP Menon's story). 24. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 — Tony Judt. 25. The God That Failed -- Edited by Richard Crossman. 26. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 27. Free to Choose -- Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman. 28. Both Sides Now -- Joni Mitchell. 29. How to Write a Paper -- Episode 62 of Everything is Everything. 30. Jim Corbett on Wikipedia and Amazon. 31. Trek The Sahyadris -- Harish Kapadia. 32. Inflation Targeting Rocks! -- Episode 68 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Heckman Equation. 34. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 54 of Everything is Everything. 35. The Two Cultures -- CP Snow. 36. Shivaji and His Times -- Jadunath Sarkar. 37. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Seeing Like a State — James C Scott. 39. The Tyranny of Experts — William Easterly. 40. Are You Just One Version of Yourself? -- Episode 3 of Everything is Everything. 41. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 42. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything if Everything. 44. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 45. Plato (or Why Philosophy Matters) — Episode 109 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rebecca Goldstein). 46. How to Do Development -- Episode 57 of Everything is Everything. 47. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. The Life and Times of Chess -- Episode 52 of Everything is Everything. 49. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 50. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 51. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 52. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 53. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 54. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. The Importance of Finance — Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 56. India in Transition: Freeing the Economy -- Jagdish Bhagwati. 57. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 58. Don't Mess With the Price System -- Episode 66 of Everything is Everything. 59. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything. 60. The Ghost and the Darkness -- Stephen Hopkins. 61. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 62. Understanding India's Pensions Disaster -- Episode 65 of Everything is Everything. 63. What Bruce Springsteen Means to Us -- Episode 13 of Everything is Everything. 64. Distance From Delhi -- The Takshashila Institution. 65. Beyond A Boundary -- CLR James. 66. Letters for a Nation: From Jawaharlal Nehru to His Chief Ministers 1947-1963 -- Jawaharlal Nehru. 67. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister — Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 68. The Long Road to Change -- Episode 36 of Everything is Everything. 69. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 70. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working -- Jonathan Rauch. 71. Understanding deviations from the fiscal responsibility law in India -- Pratik Datta, Radhika Pandey, Ila Patnaik and Ajay Shah. 72. Who Lends to the Indian State? -- Aneesha Chitgupi, Ajay Shah, Manish Singh, Susan Thomas and Harsh Vardhan. 73. The Percy Mistry report. 74. Bare Acts. 75. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 76. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments. 77. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 78. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh. 79. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 80. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 81. The Matrix -- Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski. 82. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything. 83. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Episode 37 of Everything is Everything. 84. Graduating to Globalisation -- Episode 48 of Everything is Everything. 85. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast. 86. Born to Run -- Bruce Springsteen. 87. Go to the root cause (2007) -- Ajay Shah. 88. Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah Will Not Wear a Blue Tie to Work — Episode 389 of The Seen and the Unseen. 89. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 90. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 91. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 92. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 93. Public Choice – A Primer -- Eamonn Butler. 94. The Journey of Indian Finance -- Ajay Shah. 95. Amrita Agarwal Wants to Solve Healthcare -- Episode 393 of The Seen and the Unseen. 96. Fortress and Frontier in American Health Care -- Robert Graboyes. 97. We Love Vaccines! We Love Freedom! -- Episode 27 of Everything is Everything. 98. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 99. Pranay Kotasthane on Amazon. 100. A blog post is a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people and make them route interesting stuff to your inbox -- Henrik Karlsson. 101. For Whom the Bell Tolls -- Ernest Hemingway. 102. Essays in Persuasion -- John Maynard Keynes. 103. The Ascent Of Man -- Jacob Bronowski. 104. How to Modernise the Working of Courts and Tribunals in India -- Many authors including Ajay Shah. 105. How to Modernise the Working of Courts and Tribunals in India -- Ajay Shah. 106. The lowest hanging fruit on the coconut tree — Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah. 107. Climate Change and Our Power Sector — Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 108. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything. 109. False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet -- Bjorn Lomborg. 110. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 111. Nuclear Power Can Save the World -- Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist & Steven Pinker. 112. But Clouds Got In My Way -- Ayush Patnaik, Ajay Shah, Anshul Tayal and Susan Thomas. 113. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 114. The Truth About Ourselves — Amit Varma. 115. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 116. Against the Grain -- James C Scott. 117. The Beatles, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Bruce Springsteen on Spotify. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Dreaming’ by Simahina.
Bloody hell. The world has changed, society looks different, and men and women have to find new ways of relating to each other. We're not equipped for this. Sanjana Ramachandran and Samarth Bansal join Amit Varma in episode 401 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how meeting and mating are both easier and, well, harder. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sanjana Ramachandran on Twitter, Instagram, Substack, LinkedIn , FiftyTwo and her own website. 2. Samarth Bansal on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and his own website. 3. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. The Romantic Idiot -- Samarth Bansal. 5. Thirty and Thriving -- Samarth Bansal. 6. The Namesakes -- Sanjana Ramachandran. 7. The 'Woman-Math' Of A 31-Year-Old, Unmarried, Bengaluru Woman -- Sanjana Ramachandran. 8. Society of the Snow -- JA Bayona. 9. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt. 10. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 11. Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood -- Satya Doyle Byock. 12. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 13. What’s Consolation For An Atheist? -- Amit Varma. 14. Molecules Of Emotion -- Candace B Pert. 15. Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. 15. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Scenes From a Marriage -- Ingmar Bergman. 17. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky. 18. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 19. Determined -- Robert Sapolsky. 20. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 21. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 22. Reinventing Love -- Mona Chollet. 23. Sex Is Not a Spectrum -- Colin Wright. 24. Understanding the Sex Binary -- Colin Wright. 25. The Naturalistic Fallacy. 26. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel. 27. Bad Faith in Existentialism. 28. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. 29. Whiplash -- Damien Chazelle. 30. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma on Demonetisation. 31. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 32. The Gulag Archipelago — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 33. I Am The Best -- The Shah Rukh Khan song from Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. 34. The Madonna–Whore Complex. 35. Ranbir Kapoor on Nikhil Kamath's show. 36. Tamasha -- Imtiaz Ali. 37. Manic Pixie Dream Girl. 38. The Art of Podcasting -- Episode 49 of Everything Everything. 39. Anatomy of a Fall — Justine Triet. 40. Anatomy of a Folly — Amit Varma. 41. Marriage Story -- Noah Baumbach. 42. The Abyss and Other Stories — Leonid Andreyev. 43. Amit Varma's BTS reel as Gitanjali. 44. Peter Cat Recording Co. on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram and their own website. 45. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 46. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 47. How to Do Development -- Episode 57 of Everything is Everything. 48. The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee — Honoré de Balzac. 49. Sasha's 'Newsletter' -- Sasha Chapin. 50. The Evolution of Desire -- David Buss. 51. Modern Family and Friends. 52. Eve Fairbanks Examines a Fractured Society -- Episode 398 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. The Flirting Trap — Eve Fairbanks. (Scroll down on that page for this piece). 54. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind -- Michel Gondry. 55. The Bookshop Romeo -- Amit Varma. 56. The Stranger -- Albert Camus. 57. When Harry Met Sally... -- Rob Reiner. 58. Annie Hall -- Woody Allen. 59. Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative -- Glenn Loury. 60. Rob Henderson's tweet on Glenn Loury's book. 61. The Game -- Neil Strauss. 62. On Flirting -- Rega Jha. 63. Notting Hill -- Roger Michell. 64. Postcards From Utsav Mamoria -- Episode 376 of The Seen and the Unseen. 65. Malini Goyal is the Curious One — Episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen. 66. Unboxing Bengaluru — Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash. 67. Indian Matchmaking -- Created by Smriti Mundhra. 68. High Fidelity -- Nick Hornby. 69. Third Place. 70. The Pineapple Game. 71. The Razor's Edge -- W Somerset Maugham. 72. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy. 73. Mating in Captivity -- Esther Perel. 74. The State Of Affairs -- Esther Perel. 75. The Poly Couple of YouTube and Instagram. 75. The School of Life. 76. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 77. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 79. Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other -- James Hollis. 80. Fallen Leaves -- Aki Kaurismäki. 81. I hired a Contract Killer -- Aki Kaurismäki. 82. Manhattan, Husbands and Wives, Crimes and Misdemeanors & Bullets Over Broadway -- Woody Allen. 83. New York Stories -- Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese. 84. Running with Scissors -- Augusten Burroughs. 85. Aftersun -- Charlotte Wells. 86. Elena Ferrante on Amazon. 87. Bloodline -- Todd Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman. 88. Sex and the City -- Darren Star, based on Candace Bushnell's columns and book. 89. She's Gotta Have It -- Spike Lee. 90. She Said -- Maria Schrader. 91. The Take on YouTube. 92. Succession’s Shiv - The Real “Woman Problem" in Business -- The Take. 93. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 92. You’re Ugly and You’re Hairy and You’re Covered in Shit but You’re Mine and I Love You -- Episode 362 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 93. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 94. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). This episode is sponsored by The 6% Club, which will get you from idea to launch in 45 days! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Meetings and Matings’ by Simahina.
It's episode 400, and on this special and unlikely occasion, Shruti Rajagopalan gets Amit Varma to chat about all the life lessons he has learnt during these eight years -- and favourite books, films, music and poetry. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Amit Varma on Twitter, India Uncut, Substack, The Art of Clear Writing, The Seen and the Unseen and Everything is Everything. 2. Shruti Rajagopalan on Twitter, Substack, Instagram and her podcast, Ideas of India. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. 4. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. The Art of Podcasting -- Episode 49 of Everything is Everything. 6. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 7. Why Are My Episodes So Long? -- Amit Varma. 8. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 9. 'How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives' -- Amit Varma. 10. 'I Play to Play' -- Amit Varma. 11. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 12. New York Stories -- The anthology film including Martin Scorcese's Life Lessons. 13. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane, in reverse order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 14. Arnold Kling and the Four Languages of Politics -- Episode 394 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Dead Poets Society -- Peter Weir. 16. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon. 17. Biju Rao Won’t Bow to Conventional Wisdom -- Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. He Tells Her -- Wendy Cope. 19. Not Waving but Drowning -- Stevie Smith. 20. Runaway -- Alice Munro. 21. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage -- Alice Munro. 22. The Bear Came Over the Mountain — Alice Munro. 23. Lives of Girls and Women -- Alice Munro. 24. Gulliver's Travels -- Jonathan Swift. 25. How To Know a Person -- David Brooks. 26. Fierce Attachments -- Vivian Gornick. 27. The Odd Woman and the City -- Vivian Gornick. 28. Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible -- Episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Dead — John Huston. 30. Dubliners -- James Joyce. 31. Amit Varma's thread on The Dead. 32. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 33. The Gulag Archipelago -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 34. You Can Always Get There From Here — Mark Strand. 35. Father Returning Home — Dilip Chitre. 36. PG Wodehouse on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 37. Finding Nemo -- Andrew Stanton. 38. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance — Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck. 40. Atomic Habits -- James Clear. 41. The City — CP Cavafy. 42. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 43. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 44. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers — Ali Abdaal. 47. Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah Will Not Wear a Blue Tie to Work -- Episode 389 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. Louie — Louis CK. 49. You’re Missing — Bruce Springsteen. 50. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 51. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky. 52. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 53. Anatomy of a Fall -- Justine Triet. 54. Anatomy of a Folly -- Amit Varma. 55. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 56. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything. 57. Individualism and Economic Order -- Friedrich Hayek. 58. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast. 59. The Wealth of Nations -- Adam Smith. 60. Trickle-up, not trickle-down -- Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar. 61. “Trickle Down” Theory and “Tax Cuts for the Rich” -- Thomas Sowell. 62. Beware of These Five Fallacies! -- Episode 45 of Everything is Everything. 63. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 64. This Passing Moment — Amit Varma’s Housefull Economics piece on Opportunity Cost. 65. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Life is Here’ by Simahina.
He's a bestselling writer who's brought Hindi literature into a modern age -- and he also writes films and tells stories. Divya Prakash Dubey joins Amit Varma in episode 399 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his language, his society and his art. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Divya Prakash Dubey on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, IMDb, Amazon and his own website. 2. Musafir Cafe -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 3. October Junction -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 4. Ibnebatuti -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 5. Aako Baako -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 6. Sharten Laagoo -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 7. Masala Chay -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 8. The first episodes of Hum Log, Buniyaad and Byomkesh Bakshi.9. Maya Memsaab -- Ketan Mehta. 10. Raja Hindustani -- Dharmesh Darshan. 11. Deep Work and Slow Productivity -- Cal Newport. 12. Memories, Dreams, Reflections -- Carl Gustav Jung. 13. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 14. How Not To Get Trolled -- Amit Varma. 15. Kya Bhulu Kya Yaad Karu -- Harivansh Rai Bachchan. 16. Mujhe Chand Chahiye -- Surendra Verma. 17. Shekhar: Ek Jeevani (Hindi) (English) — Agyeya. 18. Self-Portrait — AK Ramanujan. 19. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 20. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World — Snigdha Poonam. 21. Husain Ki Kahani, Apni Zubani -- MF Husain. 22. Mrityunjaya -- Shivaji Sawant. 23. Yugandhar -- Shivaji Sawant. 24. जिन मुश्किलों में मुस्कुराना हो मना -- Gopaldas Niraj. 25. Rahi Masoom Raza on Amazon, Wikipedia, Hindwi, Rekhta and IMDb. 26. Kissi Se Na Kehna -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 27. Scene: 75 (Hindi) (English) -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 28. Cinema Aur Sanskriti -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 29. Aadha Gaon -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 30. Manohar Shyam Joshi on Amazon, Wikipedia, Hindwi and IMDb. 31. Kathasaritsagara -- Somadeva. 32. Bimal Mitra on Wikipedia, Amazon and IMDb. 33. Chitralekha -- Bhagwaticharan Verma. 34. Nayi Kahani Andolan. 35. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai. 36. The Life and Times of Ira Pande — Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The Art of Podcasting -- Episode 49 of Everything is Everything. 38. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 38. A Piece of String -- Guy de Maupassant. 39. Divya Prakash Dubey's tweet about his influence for dialogue writing. 40. Ponniyin Selvan -- Mani Ratnam. 41. Humankind -- . 42. Bela Sheshe. 43. Anand -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 44. 96 -- S Prem Kumar. 45. Notting Hill -- xxx. 46. Ten Years with Guru Dutt -- Abrar Alvi in conversation with Sathya Saran. 47. Tamsoma Jyotirgamay and Peevat Ram Ras Lagi Khumari -- Rajnish aka Osho. 48. Urdu Ki Aakhiree Kitab -- Ibne Insha. 49. कल चौदहवीं की रात थी -- Ibne Insha. 50. Humesha Der Kar Deta Hoon Main — Muneer Niazi. 51. Kunwar Narayan, Vinod Kumar Shukla and Kedarnath Singh. 52. Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rahti Thi -- Vinod Kumar Shukla. 53. Complete Short Stories -- Guy de Maupassant. 54. Pyramid Ka Sapna -- Jack Harte. This episode is sponsored by The 6% Club, which will get you from idea to launch in 45 days! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Naye Waale Writer’ by Simahina.
She learnt journalism in America and spent many years in South Africa writing a portrait of their troubled society, where everything is complicated and nothing is settled -- much like anywhere else. Eve Fairbanks joins Amit Varma in episode 398 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her work, her craft and the world around her. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Eve Fairbanks on Twitter, LinkedIn and her own website. 2. The Inheritors -- Eve Fairbanks. 3. The Dispossession of District Six -- Eve Fairbanks. 4. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wendell Berry on Wikipedia and Poetry Foundation. 6. Get Married -- Brad Wilcox. 7. The Four Loves -- CS Lewis. 8. The World in a World Cup -- Eve Fairbanks. 9. Robert George's thread on his rhetorical question to his students. 10. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Harmony in the Boudoir — Mark Strand. 12. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker. 13. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujata Anandan). 14. The Flirting Trap -- Eve Fairbanks. (Scroll down on that page for this piece). 15. The Art of Gathering -- Priya Parker. 16. Common Sense -- Thomas Paine. 17. On Tyranny -- Timothy Snyder. 18. The Origins of Political Order -- Francis Fukuyama. 19. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 20. The Power Broker — Robert Caro. 21. Beautiful Thing — Sonia Faleiro. 22. The Good Girls — Sonia Faleiro. 23. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree — Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro). 24. The Broken Script — Swapna Liddle. 25. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. RRR -- SS Rajamouli. 27. Here Comes The Groom: A (conservative) case for gay marriage -- Andrew Sullivan. 28. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line — Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 30. William Prince and Khwezi on Spotify. 31. Love: A History -- Simon May. 32. How Far Can Amapiano Go? -- Kelefa Sanneh. This episode is sponsored by The 6% Club, which will get you from idea to launch in 45 days! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘This Town’ by Simahina.
We take money and banking and finance for granted -- but the way they exist in the world is not the only way they could exist. Lawrence H White joins Amit Varma in episode 397 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss ideas, ideologies, money, crypto and the field he pioneered, free banking. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Lawrence H White on Twitter, Wikipedia, Cato, GMU, Amazon and Google Scholar. 2. Free Banking in Britain – Theory, Experience and Debate 1800-1845 -- Lawrence H White. 3. The Clash of Economic Ideas -- Lawrence H White. 4. Better Money: Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin? -- Lawrence H White. 5. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran. 7. The Problem With Digital Public Goods -- Episode 56 of Everything is Everything. 8. Seeing Like a State — James C Scott. 9. Javier Milei's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 10. For a New Liberty -- Murray Rothbard. 11. Laissez Faire Books. 12. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 13. Power and Market -- Murray Rothbard. 14. Economics in One Lesson — Henry Hazlitt. 15. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal -- Ayn Rand. 16. Man, Economy and State -- Murray Rothbard. 17. Gold and Economic Freedom -- Alan Greenspan. 18. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution -- Bernard Bailyn. 19. Is Nonprice Competition in Currency Inefficient? -- Lawrence H White & Donald J Boudreaux. 20. Demonetisation and welfare -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Lawrence H White. 21. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 22. Anarchy, State and Utopia -- Robert Nozick. 23. Civilization III. 24. The Fatal Conceit — Friedrich Hayek. 25. The Private Mint In Economics: Evidence from American Gold Rushes -- Lawrence H White. 26. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass -- Frederick Douglass. 27. Lombard Street - A Description of the Money Market -- Walter Bagehot. 28. Has Government Any Role in Money? -- Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz. 29. Antifragile -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 30. What Really Happened? — Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis. 31. Gambling with Other People's Money -- Russell D Roberts. 32. The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure -- John Allison. 33. Check Your Financial Privilege -- Alex Gladstein. 34. Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin -- Andrew Bailey, Bradley Rettler and Craig Warmke. 35. Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptoassets -- Fabian Schär and Aleksander Berentsen. 36. The Denationalisation of Money -- Hayek. 37. The Theory of Free Banking -- George Selgin. 38. Money: Free and Unfree -- George Selgin. 39. The Experience of Free Banking -- Kevin Dowd. 40. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 41. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 42. The Outlaws -- Episode 61 of Everything is Everything. 43. Guru -- Mani Ratnam. 44. Sholay -- Ramesh Sippy. 45. Don -- Chandra Barot. 46. Red Plenty -- Francis Spufford. 47. Not I: Memoirs of a German Childhood -- Joachim Fest. 48. The Madeira, Lords of Atlantis, Man Or Astro-Man?, Satan's Pilgrims and Badmarsh & Shri on Spotify. 49. Godzilla Minus One -- Takashi Yamazaki. 50. Amarcord -- Federico Fellini. 51. Roma -- Federico Fellini. 52. I Vitelloni -- Federico Fellini. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Money on the Mind’ by Simahina.
They started out busting misinformation. Then, as fake news became weaponized at an industrial scale, they become warriors not just for truth, but for a better society. Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha join Amit Varma in episode 396 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about their life, their work and their country. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Mohammed Zubair on Twitter, Instagram and Alt News. 2. Pratik Sinha on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Alt News. 3. Alt News. 4. Fighting Fake News — Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 5. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 6. PeerTube and BigBlueButton. 7. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 8. Mohammed Zubair interviewed by Alishan Jafri. 9. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 10. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 11. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 12. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 14. Kaveri's thread about the new scam in town. 15. BR Ambedkar's BBC interview. 16. The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad — Episode 302 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Swiss Family Robinson -- Johann David Wyss. 19. The Historybook -- Jannik Hastrup. You can SUPPORT ALT NEWS by donating here. This episode is sponsored by The 6% Club, which will get you from idea to launch in 45 days! Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Fighting Leviathon’ by Simahina.
She's an authority in the field of foreign policy -- and what makes her such a force is her deep curiosity about, well, everything. Tanvi Madan joins Amit Varma in episode 395 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her learnings and this changing world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Tanvi Madan at Brookings, War on the Rocks and Twitter. 2. Fateful Triangle: How China Shaped US-India Relations During the Cold War -- Tanvi Madan. 3. The Global India Podcast, hosted by Tanvi Madan. 4. War on the Rocks, where Tanvi Madan is a contributing editor. 5. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen touching on foreign policy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. 6. Tanvi Madan's paper on the Quad for Rand. 7. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 8. We, The Citizens: Strengthening the Indian Republic — Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane. 9. Making Policy Fun with Khyati Pathak and Friends — Episode 374 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 12. John Lewis Gaddis, Stephen Cohen and James Steinberg. 13. Government’s End: Why Washington Stopped Working — Jonathan Rauch. 14. The Ideas Industry -- Dan Drezner. 15. Blind Oracles -- Bruce Kuklick. 16. India and The United States: Estranged Democracies -- Dennis Kux. 17. The Cold War on the Periphery -- Robert McMahon. 18. Promoting the National Interest -- Condoleezza Rice. 19. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne -- Prakash Jha. 20. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty -- James Thurber. 21. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 22. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War — Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 23. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh -- Srinath Raghavan. 24. Is there going to be an India-China deal? -- Tanvi Madan. 25. The Metaphysical Club -- Louis Menand. 26. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 28. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 29. War and Peace in Modern India -- Srinath Raghavan. 30. The Liberal Nationalism of Nitin Pai — Episode 318 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. Seeing Like a State — James C Scott. 32. Slow Horses, A Spy Among Friends, The Sandbaggers, Deutschland 83 and Shadow Lines. 33. John le Carré on Amazon. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Kid Who Asked Why’ by Simahina.
Why is our political discourse so polarised? Why do we shout past each other instead of talking to each other? Arnold Kling joins Amit Varma in episode 394 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, the state of the world and how a fourth language has joined the three he mentioned in his seminal book on political discourse. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Arnold Kling on Wikipedia, Twitter, Amazon and his own website. 2. In My Tribe -- Arnold Kling on Substack. 3. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling. 4. Specialization and Trade: A Re-introduction to Economics -- Arnold Kling. 5. Invisible Wealth: The Hidden Story of How Markets Work -- Arnold Kling and Nick Schulz. 6. Not What They Had in Mind: A History of Policies that Produced the Financial Crisis of 2008 -- Arnold Kling. 7. Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care -- Arnold Kling. 8. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 9. David Boaz and the state of libertarianism -- Arnold Kling. 10. Splinter Groups -- Arnold Kling. 11. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott. 12. A Million Mutinies Now -- VS Naipaul. 13. The Median Voter Theorem. 14. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 15. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 16. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Stage.in. 18. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 19. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution -- CP Snow. 20. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 21. Arnold Kling's extended biographical note on himself. 22. The Best and the Brightest -- David Halberstam. 23. The Wind in the Willows -- Kenneth Grahame. 24. The State of AI with Marc & Ben -- The A16Z Podcast. 25. The Cash Nexus -- Niall Ferguson. 26. Marginal Revolution -- Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok's blog. 27. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Alex Tabarrok: 1, 2, 3, 4. 28. Stubborn Attachments -- Episode 106 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tyler Cowen). 29. Conversation and Society — Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 30. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 31. Free to Choose -- The documentary series by Milton Friedman. 32. The Anxious Generation -- Jonathan Haidt. 33. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy — Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 34. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 35. Arnold Kling's July 19 post on JD Vance. 36. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 37. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line — Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web -- Bari Weiss. 39. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence — Amit Varma. 40. The Experience Machine. 41. What is Populism? — Jan-Werner Müller. 42. The Populist Playbook — Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 43. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Matt Y's Declaration of Independence -- Arnold Kling. 45. Lies, Damned Lies, and Productivity Data -- Arnold Kling. 46. Everything Is Amazing & Nobody Is Happy -- Louis CK. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Don't Fight’ by Simahina.
She grew up reading three books a day, became a high-flying consultant, and then became hyperfocused on healthcare. Amrita Agarwal joins Amit Varma in episode 393 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her learnings from years of studying the field. Also discussed: first-principles thinking, consulting, philanthropy, longevity and sunscreen. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Amrita Agarwal at LinkedIn. 2. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 4. How to Do Development -- Episode 57 of Everything is Everything. 5. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 6. The Life and Times of Chess -- Episode 52 of Everything is Everything. 7. Strong Medicine -- Arthur Hailey. 8. Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand. 9. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Acting Life — Episode 189 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rasika Dugal and Mukul Chadda). 11. The case for Universal Health Care is weak -- Jeffrey S Hammer. 12. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 13. Sanjiv Sharma Sails Through 45 Years of Indian Entertainment -- Episode 390 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 54 of Everything is Everything. 15. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 16. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 18. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 19. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 20. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma — Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 21. The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Vaidya. 22. Distribution of self-reported health in India: The role of income and geography -- Ila Patnaik, Renuka Sane, Ajay Shah and SV Subramanian. 23. Our Unlucky Children (2007) -- Amit Varma. 24. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 25. Economic Learnings of India for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Bihar — Episode 345 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand and Kumar Anand). 26. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 27. Karthik Muralidharan and the Bureaucrat’s Burden -- Episode 375 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 29. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Why We Sleep -- Matthew Walker. 31. Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen -- Baz Luhrmann. 32. Sandman -- Neil Gaiman. 33. Dune -- Frank Herbert. 34. Ender's Game -- Orson Scott Card. 35. Speaker for the Dead -- Orson Scott Card. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Solve’ by Simahina.
He's an economist who cares more about people than numbers -- and he thinks his field needs more sociology and anthropology in it. Vijayendra (Biju) Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about what makes him angry, what drives him forward and what brings him peace. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Vijayendra (Biju) Rao on Twitter, Google Scholar, The World Bank and his own website. 2. Biju Rao's blog at the World Bank. 3. Localizing Development: Does Participation Work? -- Ghazala Mansuri and Vijayendra Rao. 4. Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies -- Paromita Sanyal and Vijayendra Rao. 5. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? -- Vijayendra Rao. 6. Vamsha Vriksha -- Girish Karnad. 7. ‘I want absolute commitment to our gharana’: A tribute to Rajshekhar Mansur and his music -- Vijayendra Rao. 8. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande — Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Two Hundred and Fifty-Thousand Democracies: A Review of Village Government in India -- Siddharth George, Vijaendra Rao and MR Sharan. 10. Last Among Equals : Power Caste And Politics In Bihar's Villages -- MR Sharan. 11. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? — Lant Pritchett. 13. The Perils of Partial Attribution: Let’s All Play for Team Development — Lant Pritchett. 14. The Rising Price of Husbands: A Hedonic Analysis of Dowry Increases in Rural India -- Vijayendra Rao. 15. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible -- Episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Jiddu Krishnamurti on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 18. Biju Rao listens to Jiddu Krishnamurthy. 19. Ben Hur -- William Wyler. 20. Trade, Institutions and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from South Asia -- Saumitra Jha. 21. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 22. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 23. Deliberative Democracy -- Jon Elster. 24. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 25. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 27. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 28. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 29. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 30. Accelerating India’s Development — Karthik Muralidharan. 31. The Added Value of Local Democracy -- Abhishek Arora, Siddharth George, Vijayendra Rao and MR Sharan. 32. Some memories of VKRV Rao -- Vijayendra Rao. 33. The Foundation Series — Isaac Asimov. 34. Lawrence of Arabia -- David Lean. 35. Gandhi -- Richard Attenborough. 36. The Story of My Experiments with Truth -- Mohandas Gandhi. 37. Bhagavad Gita on Wikipedia and Amazon. 38. KT Achaya on Amazon. 39. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 40. My Varied Life in Management: A Short Memoir -- SL Rao. 41. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Ram Guha Writes a Letter to a Friend -- Episode 371 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Terror as a Bargaining Instrument : A Case Study of Dowry Violence in Rural India -- Francis Bloch and Vijayendra Rao. 44. Domestic Violence and Intra-Household Resource Allocation in Rural India: An Exercise in Participatory Econometrics -- Vijayendra Rao. 45. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 46. Narrative Economics -- Robert J Shiller. 47. Culture and Public Action -- Edited by Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton. 48. The Capacity to Aspire -- Arjun Appadurai. 49. Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming -- Agnes Callard. 50. Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind -- Tom Holland. 51. PV Sukhatme in EPW. 52. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything if Everything. 53. Deliberative Inequality: A Text-As-Data Study of India’s Village Assemblies -- Ramya Parthasarathy, Vijayendra Rao and Nethra Palaniswamy. 54. A Method to Scale Up Interpretive Qualitative Analysis with An Application to Aspirations among Refugees and Hosts in Bangladesh -- Julian Ashwin, Vijayendra Rao, Monica Biradavolu, Aditya Chhabra, Afsana Khan, Arshia Haque and Nandini Krishnan. 55. Using Large-Language Models for Qualitative Analysis Can Introduce Serious Bias -- Julian Ashwin, Aditya Chhabra and Vijayendra Rao. 56. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 57. Audacious Hope: An Archive of How Democracy is Being Saved in India -- Indrajit Roy. 58. Poverty and the Quest for Life -- Bhrigupati Singh. 59. Recasting Culture to Undo Gender: A Sociological Analysis of Jeevika in Rural Bihar, India -- Paromita Sanyal, Vijayendra Rao and Shruti Majumdar. 60. We Are Poor but So Many -- Ela Bhatt. 61. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok. 62. James Wolfensohn in Wikipedia and The World Bank. 63. Arati Kumar-Rao Took a One-Way Ticket -- Episode 383 of The Seen and the Unseen. 64. Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink — Arati Kumar-Rao. 65. Amitav Ghosh on Amazon. 66. Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life -- Nicholas Phillipson. 67. Elinor Ostrom on Amazon, Britannica, Wikipedia and EconLib. 68. Jane Mansbridge on Amazon, Wikipedia, and Google Scholar. 69. Albert O Hirschman on Amazon and Wikipedia. 70. Mughal-e-Azam -- K Asif. 71. Samskara -- Pattabhirama Reddy. 72. The Wire -- David Simon. 73. Deadwood -- David Milch. 74. Biju Rao on Democracy, Deliberation, and Development -- the Ideas of India podcast with Shruti Rajagopalan. Biju Rao's Specially curated music recommendations: 1. The Senior Dagar Brothers (Moinuddin & Aminuddin Dagar) performing (Komal Rishab) Asavari and Kamboji. 2. Raghunath Panigrahi performing Ashtapadi from the Geeta Govinda and Lalita Lavanga. 3. Amir Khan performing Lalit and Jog. 4. Vilayat Khan performing Sanjh Saravali and Hameer. 5. Ravi Shankar performing Jaijaiwanti and Tilak Shyam (full concert) and Durga. 6. Faiyaz Khan performing Raga Darbari and Raga Des. 7. N Rajam performing a full concert with Gorakh Kalyan, Sawani Barwa, Hamir, Malkauns. 8. Kumar Gandharva performing Tulsidas – Ek Darshan and Surdas – Ek Darshan. 9. Bhimsen Joshi performing Ragas Chhaya and Chhaya Malhar & Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada – Bhajan in Raga Bhairavi (original recording from 1960). The Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana: 1. Mallikarjun Mansur in a guided Listening Session by Irfan Zuberi, and performing Basanti Kedar and Tilak Kamod. 2. Kesarbai Kerkar performing Lalit and Bhairavi. 3. Moghubai Kurdikar performing Kedar and Suddha Nat. 4. Kishori Amonkar performing Bhimpalas and Bhoop(ali). 5. Some performances by Rajshekhar Mansur are linked in Biju Rao's piece on him. Karnatic Music: 1. TM Krishna performing Krishna Nee Begane Baaro, Yamuna Kalyani (Yaman Kalyan) and Nalinakanthi (closest Hindustani equivalent is Tilak Kamod). 2. MD Ramanathan performing Bhavayami – Raga Malika and Samaja Vara Gamana – Ragam Hindolam (Malkauns). 3. Aruna Sairam performing a full concert. 4. Madurai Mani Iyer performing Taaye Yoshade. 5. MS Subbulakshmi performing a full Concert from 1966 and Bhaja Govindam (Ragamalika). 6. TR Mahalingam performing Swara Raga Sudha – Shankarabharanam. Jugalbandis: 1. Ali Akbar Khan and Vilayat Khan performing Marwa. 2. Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar performing Jaijaiwanti. 3. N Rajam with her brother TN Krishnan performing Raga Hamsadhwani. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Iconoclast' by Simahina.
The internet has changed the way we live -- and someone needs to make sense of it all. Shephali Bhatt joins Amit Varma in episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe all that she has learnt through her deep dives into popular culture, the creator economy, this turbulent society and her Mamaji's library. Also check out: 1. Shephali Bhatt on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Economic Times, Mint and Instagram. Full comprehensive show notes will be published by midweek. Sorry for the delay.
He started in advertising in 1979, became a pioneering ad filmmaker, broke new ground in Indian television, and is the managing trainee of his own life. Sanjiv Sharma joins Amit Varma in episode 390 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his frameworks for living. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sanjiv Sharma on Instagram, Twitter, IMDb and LInkedIn. 2. Divya Prakash Dubey on Instagram, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, IMDb, Twitter, Amazon and his own website. 3. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything. 4. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Mansoor Khan on Wikipedia, Amazon and IMDb. 6. Umberto -- Mansoor Khan. 7. American Cinematographer. 8. Idhar Udhar. 9. Chalti Ka Naam Antakshari. 10. Khul Ja Sim Sim. 11. The Evolution of Cricket -- Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle). 12. Television Price Controls -- Episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashok Malik). 13. Yeh Meri Life Hai. 14. Urban Discoveries for Ford Ecosport. 15. Crime Patrol Season 2. 16. Comedy Circus Season 1. 17. My Cancer is Me -- Vijay Bhat and Nilima Bhat. 18. Sakshi. 19. The Rakshin Project. 20. Smita Bharti interviewed by Radio One. 21. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 22. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 23. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel. 25. Lectures by Swami Sarvapriyananda: 1, 2, 3, 4 plus a full series of them here. 26. Spiral Bound -- Screenwriting with Boman Irani. Sanjiv's Recommendations: Movies 1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest -- Miloš Forman. 2. As Good as It Gets -- James L Brooks. 3. Roman Holiday -- William Wyler. 4. Anne of the Thousand Days -- Charles Jarrott. 5. Kramer vs Kramer -- Robert Benton. 6. The Shawshank Redemption -- Frank Darabont. 7. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 8. Oppenheimer -- Christopher Nolan. 9. The Dark Knight -- Christopher Nolan. Sanjiv's Recommendations: Books1. The Covenant of Water -- Abraham Verghese. 2. The Untethered Soul -- Michael A Singer. 3. The Craving Mind -- Judson Brewer. 4. The Ascent of Humanity -- Charles Eisenstein. 5. Essence of the Upanishads -- Eknath Easwaran. 6. The Mind Illuminated -- Culadasa (John Yates). 7. Same as Ever -- Morgan Housel. 8. The Ascent of Money -- Niall Ferguson. 9. The Ending of Time -- Jiddu Krishnamurti. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Sailing’ by Simahina.
The world is complex. The state is primitive. Regulation is where they meet. Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 389 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her experiences with the regulatory state at the intersection of law & economics. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Bhargavi Zaveri Shah on Twitter, LinkedIn, The Leap Blog and her own website. 2. The accountability framework of UIDAI: Concerns and solutions -- Vrinda Bhandari and Renuka Sane and Bhargavi Zaveri. 3. Institutionalise formal regulatory independence -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 4. Regulators don't need constitutional status -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 5. Measuring Regulatory Responsiveness in India: A Framework for Empirical Assessment -- Anirudh Burman and Bhargavi Zaveri. 6. Participatory governance in regulation making: How to make it work? -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 7. IBBI's draft framework sets new standards of regulatory governance in India -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 8. FIU’s Penalty on PayPal: The Wisdom of Jurisprudence by Committee -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 9. Survey-based measurement of Indian courts -- Pavithra Manivannan, Susan Thomas, and Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah. 10. Helping litigants make informed choices in resolving debt disputes -- Pavithra Manivannan, Susan Thomas, and Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah. 12. Judicial triage in the lockdown: evidence from India's largest commercial tribunal -- Anjali Sharma and Bhargavi Zaveri. 13. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 14. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 15. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World -- Snigdha Poonam. 16. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 17 Alice Evans on Twitter and The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 19. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 20. Economic Facts and Fallacies — Thomas Sowell. 21. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression -- Amity Shlaes. 22. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 23. Parkinson’s Law. 24. Statutory Regulatory Authorities and the Federal System in India -- KP Krishnan, Amrita Pillai and Karan Gulati. 25. Suits on Netflix. 26. The Accidental Prime Minister -- Sanjaya Baru. 27. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 30. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 31. The Anxious Generation -- Jonathan Haidt. 32. Concrete Island -- JG Ballard. 33. High-Rise -- JG Ballard. 34. Judicial Reforms -- Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alok Prasanna Kumar). 35. Noise -- Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein. 36. Court on Trial: A Data-Driven Account of the Supreme Court of India -- Aparna Chandra, Sital Kalantry and William HJ Hubbard. 37. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 38. The Plague -- Albert Camus. 39. The Outsider -- Albert Camus. 40. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 41. Shoe Dog -- Phil Knight. 42. Laapataa Ladies -- Kiran Rao. 43. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Warrior’ by Simahina.
He's an elder statesman in the worlds of journalism, policy and economics in India -- and he takes the long view. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha joins Amit Varma in episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha on Twitter, Mint and Artha Global. 2. The Rise of India -- NIranjan Rajadhyaksha. 3. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha interviewed in Marathi by Think Bank: Part 1. Part 2. 4. MV Rajadhyaksha and Vijaya Rajadhyaksha. 5. The Times of India obituary of MV Rajadhyaksha. 6. Adventures of a Bystander -- Peter F Drucker. 7. The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Adam Smith's book that contains the concept of the impartial spectator. 8. The Impartial Spectator columns by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha and Shruti Rajagopalan. 9. Ratatouille -- Brad Bird. 10. The Overton Window. 11. John Maynard Keynes on Alfred Marshall. 12. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Rise and Fall of the Bilingual Intellectual -- Ramachandra Guha. 14. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 15. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 16. The Heckman Equation -- a website based on James Heckman's work. 17. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Suyash Rai (1, 2) and Rahul Verma (1, 2). 18. Stri Purush Tulana by Tarabai Shinde on Amazon and Wikipedia. 19. Kalyanche Nishwas by Vibhavari Shirurkar (Malati Bedekar) on Amazon and Wikipedia. 20. Makers of Modern India -- Ramachandra Guha. 21. Simone de Beauvoir (Wikipedia, Britannica, Amazon) and Germaine Greer (Wikipedia, Britannica, Amazon). 22. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar's essay on education for girls. 23. The omnibus volume of BR Nanda’s biographies of Gokhale, Gandhi and Nehru. 24. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 25. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 26. Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan -- Episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Volga Se Ganga (Hindi) (English) -- Rahul Sankritayan. 28. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 29. Turning Over the Pebbles: A Life in Cricket and in the Mind -- Mike Brearley. 30. Slow Horses (book one of Slough House) -- Mick Herron. 31. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 -- Tony Judt. 32. On Warne -- Gideon Haigh. 33. The Essential Keynes -- John Maynard Keynes. 34. The Age of Uncertainty — John Kenneth Galbraith. 35. Asian Drama -- Gunnar Myrdal. 36. Aneesh Pradhan on Spotify, Amazon, Instagram, Twitter and his own website. 37. Malini Goyal is the Curious One — Episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 39. The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development -- Michael Kremer. 40. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory -- Amit Varma. 41. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 42. The Dark Knight Rises -- Christopher Nolan. 43. Thinking it Through -- The archives of Amit Varma's column for Mint. 44. Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker -- Ved Mehta. 45. Videhi -- Vijaya Rajadhyaksha. 46. Select pieces on the relationship between Raymond Carver and Gordon Lish: 1, 2, 3, 4. 47. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy -- Joseph Schumpeter. 48. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujata Anandan). 49. Complaint Resolution Systems: Experimental Evidence from Rural India -- Chinmaya Kumar and MR Sharan. 50. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 51. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 52. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 54. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 57. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 58. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 59. The Logic of Collective Action — Mancur Olson. 60. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change — Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Rational Ignorance. 62. The State of Our Farmers — Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi). 63. India’s Agriculture Crisis — Ep 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand). 64. The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer — Amit Varma. 65. The Worldly Philosophers -- Robert Heilbroner. 66. The Clash of Economic Ideas — Lawrence H White. 67. Capital-Labor Substitution and Economic Efficiency -- Kenneth Arrow, Hollis Chenery, Bagicha Singh Minhas and Robert Solow. 68. Room 666 -- Wim Wenders. 69. Laapataa Ladies -- Kiran Rao. 70. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything. 71. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” — Lant Pritchett. 72. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? — Lant Pritchett. 73. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 74. Smoke and Ashes -- Amitav Ghosh. 75. Sata Uttarachi Kahani -- GP Pradhan. 76. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. 77. Collections of VD Savarkar's Marathi essays: 1, 2. 78. Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva -- Janaki Bakhle. 79. Savarkar Te BJP -- SH Deshpande. 80. Sarvakarancha Buddhiwad Ani Hindutvawad -- Sheshrao More. 81. Swatantryaveer Savarkar Ek Rahasya -- DN Gokhale. 82. Shodh Savarkarancha -- YD Phadke. 83. The Taking of Pelham 123 -- Tony Scott. 84. Sriram Raghavan (IMDb) (Wikipedia) and Vijay Anand (IMDb) (Wikipedia). 85. Manorama Six Feet Under -- Navdeep Singh. 86. Agatha Christie and Frederick Forsyth on Amazon. 87. Salil Chowdhury and RD Burman on Spotify. 88. Haikyu -- Haruichi Furudate. 89. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 90. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister — Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 91. Dilip José Abreu: an elegant and creative economist — Rohit Lamba. Niranjan would like to inform listeners that Spontaneous Order would be translated to Marathi as उत्सफूर्त व्यवस्था. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Impartial Spectator’ by Simahina.
Our greatest moral imperative is to solve the problem of poverty -- and after over 75 years, we still have some distance to travel. Rajeswari Sengupta joins Amit Varma in episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen for a deep dive into how we got here, where we went wrong, what we got right, and how we should look at the Indian economy going forward. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Rajeswari Sengupta's homepage. 2. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 3. Twelve Dream Reforms — Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta & Vivek Kaul). 4. Two-and-a-Half Bengalis Have an Economics Adda -- Episode 274 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta and Shrayana Bhattacharya). 5. Talks & Discussions on the Indian Economy featuring Rajeswari Sengupta. 6. Rajeswari Sengulta's writings on the Indian economy. 7. Rajeswari Sengupta's writing for Ideas for India. 8. Rajeswari Sengupta's writing on the Leap Blog. 9. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on GDP: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 10. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on fiscal policy: 1, 2, 3. 11. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on the banking crisis: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 12. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on the financial sector: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 13. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on Covid: 1, 2, 3, 4. 14. Getting the State out of Our Lives -- Rajeswari Sengupta's TEDx talk. 15. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 16. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 17. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 18. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 20. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 21. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity -- Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World — Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan -- Episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box — Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. The State of Our Farmers — Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi). 27. India’s Agriculture Crisis — Ep 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand). 28. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 29. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 30. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand). 31. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 32. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State -- Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 34. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 35. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 36. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 37. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 38. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 39. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything. 40. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 41. The Long Road to Change -- Episode 36 of Everything is Everything. 42. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 43. Beware of These Five Fallacies! -- Episode 45 of Everything is Everything. 44. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 45. Graduating to Globalisation -- Episode 48 of Everything is Everything (on I18N). 46. Ask Me ANYTHING! -- Episode 50 of Everything is Everything. 47. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything. 48. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 49. The 1991 Project. 50. The quest for economic freedom in India — Shruti Rajagopalan. 51. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” — Lant Pritchett. 52. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? — Lant Pritchett. 53. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 54. Is India a Flailing State?: Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization — Lant Pritchett. 55. Is Your Impact Evaluation Asking Questions That Matter? A Four Part Smell Test — Lant Pritchett. 56. The Perils of Partial Attribution: Let’s All Play for Team Development — Lant Pritchett. 57. Some episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the state of the economy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 58. Accelerating India’s Development — Karthik Muralidharan. 59. Unshackling India -- Ajay Chhibber and Salman Soz. 60. India Grows At Night -- Gurcharan Das. 61. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma. 62. Mohit Satyanand's newsletter post on the informal sector. 63. Pratap Bhanu Mehta's column on mission mode interventions. 64. The Hedonistic Treadmill. 65. 77% low-income households saw no income increase in the past 5 yrs -- Vasudha Mukherjee. 66. Pandit’s Mind — The 1951 Time magazine cover story on Jawaharlal Nehru. 67. Economic Facts and Fallacies -- Thomas Sowell. 68. An Autobiography -- Jawaharlal Nehru. 69. The Double 'Thank You' Moment -- John Stossel. 70. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 71. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 72. The China Dude Is in the House -- Episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 73. The Dragon and the Elephant -- Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharan and Shibani Mehta). 74. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 75. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 76. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 77. How to assess the needs for aid? The answer: Don’t ask -- William Easterly. 78. The White Man's Burden -- William Easterly. 79. The Elusive Quest for Growth -- William Easterly. 80. The Tyranny of Experts -- William Easterly. 81. Planners vs. Searchers in Foreign Aid — William Easterly. 82. Pandit’s Mind — The 1951 Time magazine cover story on Jawaharlal Nehru. 83. 75 Years of India’s Foreign Exchange Controls -- Bhargavi Zaveri Shah. 84. Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future — Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba. 85. The History of the Planning Commission — Episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Menon). 86. Adam Smith on The Man of System. 87. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 88. Price Controls Lead to Shortages and Harm the Poor -- Amit Varma. 89. The Great Redistribution -- Amit Varma. 90. Backstage: The Story behind India’s High Growth Years -- Montek Singh Ahluwalia. 91. The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer -- Amit Varma piece, which contains the Sharad Joshi shair. 92. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 93. The Economic Legacies of Colonial Rule in India -- Tirthankar Roy. 94. The Semiconductor Wars — Episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi). 95. BR Shenoy on Wikipedia and Indian Liberals. 96. BR Shenoy: Stature and Impact -- Peter Bauer. 97. The Foreign Exchange Crisis and India's Second Five Year Plan -- VKRV Rao. 98. India’s Water Crisis — Episode 60 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vishwanath S aka Zenrainman). 99. The Delhi Smog — Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 100. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 101. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 102. The Profit Motive in Education — Episode 9 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parth Shah). 103. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 104. Where Has All the Education Gone? — Lant Pritchett. 105. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 106. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma on DeMon & Mao killing sparrows. 107. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 108. Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track — Episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen. 109. Seven Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 23 of Everything in Everything, in which Amit talks about the Emergency. 110. Milton Friedman on the minimum wage. 111. The Commanding Heights -- Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. 112. Bootleggers and Baptists: The Education of a Regulatory Economist -- Bruce Yandle. 113. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film — Amit Varma. 114. Josh Felman on Twitter, Project Syndicate, JH Consulting and The Marginal Economist. 115. Obituaries of SV Raju by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha and Samanth Subramanian. 116. Breaking Out -- Padma Desai. 117. Breaking Through -- Isher Judge Ahluwalia. 118. India’s Far From Free Markets (2005) — Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal. 119. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- The Struggle And The Promise — Naushad Forbes. 121. Half-Lion -- Vinay Sitapati's biography of PV Narasimha Rao. 122. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? — Amit Varma. 123. India Transformed -- Rakesh Mohan. 124. Highway to Success: The Impact of the Golden Quadrilateral -- Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R Kerr. 125. The Cantillon Effect. 126. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra. 127. Modi’s Domination – What We Often Overlook — Keshava Guha. 128. XKDR Forum. 129. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 130. Some of Amit Varma's pieces and episodes against Demonetisation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 131. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on GST: 1, 2, 3. 132. Miniature episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on PSBs, NPAs and NBFCs. 133. The Bankable Wisdom of Harsh Vardhan -- Episode 352 of The Seen and the Unseen. 134. Politics of Economic Growth in India, 1980-2005 -- Atul Kohli. 135. The Economic Consequences of the Peace -- John Maynard Keynes. 136. India's GDP Mis-estimation: Likelihood, Magnitudes, Mechanisms, and Implications -- Arvind Subramanian. 137. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 138. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. 139. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World -- Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 140. The Indus Valley Playbook — Sajith Pai. 141. India’s Trade Policy Is Working Great — for Vietnam -- Andy Mukherjee. 142. A Trade Deficit With a Babysitter -- Tim Harford. 143. The City & the City — China Miéville. 144. A Decade of Credit Collapse in India -- Harsh Vardhan. 145. The Low Productivity Trap of Collateralised Lending for MSMEs -- Harsh Vardhan. 146. Economic Learnings of India for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Bihar -- Episode 345 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand and Kumar Anand). 147. They Stole a Bridge. They Stole a Pond -- Amit Varma. 148. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister -- Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 149. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 150. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 151. Some of Amit Varma's pieces on agriculture: 1, 2, 3. 152. The Crisis in Indian Agriculture — Brainstorm on Pragati. 153. Where are the Markets? — Kumar Anand. 154. Empower Women Farmers -- Mrinal Pande. 155. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando De Soto. 156. India Unbound -- Gurcharan Das. 157. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 158. We, The Citizens: Strengthening the Indian Republic — Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane. 159. Making Policy Fun with Khyati Pathak and Friends -- Episode 374 of The Seen and the Unseen. 160. Seeing Like a State — James C Scott. 161. Free To Choose — Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman. 162. Classical Liberalism- A Primer -- Eamonn Butler. 163. Friedrich Hayek: The ideas and influence of the libertarian economist -- Eamonn Butler. 164. Milton Friedman: A concise guide to the ideas and influence of the free-market economist -- Eamonn Butler. 165. Public Choice – A Primer -- Eamonn Butler. 166. Adam Smith – A Primer: Eamonn Butler. 167. The Clash of Economic Ideas -- Lawrence H White. 168. Just a Mercenary?: Notes from My Life and Career -- D Subbarao. 169. Who Moved My Interest Rate? -- D Subbarao. 170. Advice & Dissent: My Life in Public Service -- YV Reddy. 171. A Business History of India -- Tirthankar Roy. 172. Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath -- Ben Bernanke. 173. Whole Numbers And Half Truths -- Rukmini S. 174. Fragile by Design -- Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber. 175. Universal Man: The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes -- Richard Davenport-Hines. 176. A Life in Our Times -- John Kenneth Galbraith. 177. The Age of Uncertainty -- John Kenneth Galbraith. 178. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘It's Complicated’ by Simahina.
Our cities have changed -- but the ways in which they are governed and imagined can take time to catch up. Shashi Verma joins Amit Varma in episode 386 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey in thought and action -- and his pioneering work in reshaping urban transport. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shashi Verma on LinkedIn and Centre for London. 2. Shashi Verma on Transport in the 21st Century -- Episode 83 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar. 3. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything. 4. Guns, Germs and Steel -- Jared Diamond. 5. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 6. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 7. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 9. Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance — Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck. 10. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 11. Confronting Constraints: Shashi Verma & Transport for London Tackle a Tough Contract -- Harvard case study. 12. Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure -- Oliver Hart. 13. India: The Dabhol Power Corporation -- Shashi Verma's case study for Harvard Kennedy School. 14. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 15. The Epic of Gilgamesh. 16. Dunbar’s number. 17. The Life and Death of Ancient Cities -- Greg Woolf. 18. The Complete Sherlock Holmes -- Arthur Conan Doyle. 19. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 20. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 21. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 23. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs. 24. The Power Broker — Robert Caro. 25. Michael Beesley and Cost Benefit Analysis -- CD Foster. 26. Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities -- Episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Reclaim the Sky -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok). 28. Status Quo Bias. 29. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 30. Seen/Unseen episodes with singing by Karthik Muralidharan and Ashwini Deshpande -- and no singing by TM Krishna. 31. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 32. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 33. Pyaasa -- Guru Dutt. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘London Calling’ by Simahina.
To understand modern India, we must understand the history of Hindutva -- and we must wrestle with Savarkar. Vinayak Chaturvedi joins Amit Varma in episode 385 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life and work as a historian -- and the importance of history in shaping the present moment. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) (This episode was recorded in March, 2024.) Also check out: 1. Vinayak Chaturvedi at UC Irvine and Amazon. 2. Hindutva and Violence: VD Savarkar and the Politics of History -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 3. Peasant Pasts – History and Memory in Western India -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 4. Imaginary Homelands -- Salman Rushdie. 5. The Road and No Country for Old Men -- Cormac McCarthy. 6. No Country for Old Men -- Joel and Ethan Coen. 7. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 8. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 9. Partha Chatterjee on Amazon, Wikipedia and Columbia University. 10. The Egg -- Andy Weir. 11. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 14. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran. 15. Some plagiarism complaints against Claudine Gay: 1, 2, 3, 4. 16. The Exquisite Irony of Claudine Gay's Downfall -- Glenn Loury with John McWhorter. 17. Why Did Harvard Cancel Its Best Black Professor? -- Documentary by Rob Montz on the destruction of Roland Fryer. 18. “A White Male Would Probably Already Be Gone” -- Carol Swain interviewed by Christopher Rufo. 19. How one hearing brought down two Ivy League presidents -- Sareen Habeshian. 20. Carlo Ginzburg and Christopher Bayly. 21. The Birth of the Modern World -- CA Bayly. 22. Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire -- CA Bayly. 23. The Indian Ideology -- Perry Anderson. 24. Event, Metaphor, Memory : Chauri Chaura -- Shahid Amin. 25. Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania -- Steven Feierman. 26. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India -- Ranajit Guha. 27. Maps Are Magic -- Episode 44 of Everything is Everything. 28. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 29. Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars -- CA Bayly. 30. The Cheese and the Worms -- Carlo Ginzburg. 31. From Peasant Pasts to Hindutva Futures? -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 32. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 33. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 34. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi. 36. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 37. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 38. Essentials Of Hindutva -- VD Savarkar. 39. Farewell Waltz -- Milan Kundera. 40. A Zone of Engagement -- Perry Anderson. 41. Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas -- Perry Anderson. 42. BR Ambedkar's interview on BBC from 1955. 43. Hindutva before Hindutva: Selected Writings and Discourses of Chandranath Basu in Translation -- Edited by Amiya Sen. 44. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 45. The Many Shades of George Fernandes -- Episode 327 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. The Life and Times of George Fernandes — Rahul Ramagundam. 47. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 48. Annihilation of Caste — BR Ambedkar. 49. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 50. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 51. The Indian War of Independence: 1857 -- VD Savarkar. 52. Savarkar: The True Story of the Father of Hindutva -- Vaibhav Purandare. 53. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 54. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 55. Hindu-Padpaadshahi (Hindi Edition) -- VD Savarkar. 56. Veer Savarkar -- Dhananjay Keer. 57. GS Sardesai, VK Rajwade and Jadunath Sarkar. 58. The Collected Works of MK Gandhi and BR Ambedkar. 59. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 61. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4. 62. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 63. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma and Rana Safvi. 64. John McEnroe plus Anyone -- Edward Said. 65. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste -- Pierre Bourdieu. 66. Lendl, Becker, McEnroe, & Wilander interviewed in the Tennis Legends Podcast. 67. Ben Böhmer, Sultan+Shepard, Nora En Pure, U2 and New Order on Spotify. 68. The Zone of Interest -- Jonathan Glazer. 69. Oldboy -- Park Chan-wook. 70. Burning -- Lee Chang-dong. 71. Memories of Murder -- Bong Joon-ho. 72. Return to Seoul -- Davy Chou. 73. Past Lives -- Celine Song. 74. Monster -- Kore-eda Hirokazu. 75. The Wind From Far Away -- Amit Varma (on Monster among other things). 76. Shoplifters -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 77. Nobody Knows -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 78. Broker -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 79. A Death in the Family -- Book 1 of Karl Ove Knausgaard's A Struggle. 80. In Search Of Lost Time -- Marcel Proust. 81. My Saga -- Karl Ove Knausgaard's essay for NYT. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Historian’ by Simahina.
He has lived two lives: first he reached the top of the corporate ladder and became a top banker; and now he is embarked upon the long game of changing India. Narayan Ramachandran joins Amit Varma in episode 384 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about stimulating change, building institutions -- and making ideas and serendipity come together. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Narayan Ramachandran at LinkedIn, Takshashila and Mint. 2. Narayan Ramachandran's quote on timeframes in an interview by Rithika Kumar. 3. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 4. The omnibus volume of BR Nanda's biographies of Gokhale, Gandhi and Nehru. 5. The Road to Serfdom -- Friedrich Hayek. 6. The Constitution of Liberty -- Friedrich Hayek. 7. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 8. Marching For Salt -- Amit Varma. 9. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 10. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Median Voter Theorem. 12. Morgan Hausel's books and podcast. 13. The Fortune at The Bottom of The Pyramid -- CK Prahalad. 14. 'Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman' -- Richard Feynman. 15. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma’s column on reading. 16. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything. 17. Mindset -- Carol S Dweck. 18. Dunbar’s number. 19. How Many Friends Does One Person Need? — Robin Dunbar. 20. Religion, Food, Indian Society — Episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shoba Narayan). 21. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 22. When Ideas Have Sex -- Matt Ridley. 23. Traffic -- Tom Vanderbilt. 24. RSJ's newsletter post on Akio Morita and Japan. 25. Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance — Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck. 26. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World — Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Rick Beato's Ultimate Bundle. 28. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Beware of These Five Fallacies! -- Episode 45 of Everything is Everything. 30. Chip War -- Chris Miller. 31. The Power Law -- Sebastian Mallaby. 32. The Economist, New Yorker and National Geographic. 33. Lords of the Deccan -- Anirudh Kanisetti. 34. Empire of the Mughal -- Alex Rutherford. 35. Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977 -- Abhishek Choudhary. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Puzzle’ by Simahina.
She gave up a corporate career to live a slow life: to travel, to immerse, to write, to learn to see. Arati Kumar-Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 383 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her writing, her photography and the lessons she has learnt by standing still and looking. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
- Arati Kumar-Rao on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and her own website. 2. Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink -- Arati Kumar-Rao. 3. The Peepli Project. 4. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Killers of the Flower Moon -- David Grann. 6. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Masanobu Fukuoka and Wendell Berry. 9. India’s Water Crisis — Episode 60 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vishwanath S aka Zenrainman). 10. The American Geographies -- Barry Lopez. 11. The Invisible Gorilla. 12. Letters to a Young Poet -- Rainer Maria Rilke. 13. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor -- Rob Nixon. 14. The Fatal Conceit -- Friedrich Hayek. 15. The Gokhale Bridge fiasco. 16. Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities — Episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Toba Tek Singh -- Sadat Hasan Manto. 18. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 20. Modern South India: A History from the 17th Century to our Times -- Rajmohan Gandhi. 21. Blindness -- José Saramago. 22. The Wreck -- Rabindranath Tagore. 23. Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray and Gulzar. 24. Rachel Carson, Barry Lopez, Nan Shepherd and Robert Macfarlane on Amazon. 25. The Living Mountain -- Nan Shepherd. 26. The Peregrine -- JA Baker. 27. Paul Salopek on Twitter and the Out of Eden Walk. 28. Pradip Krishen on Wikipedia, Amazon and IMDb. 29. Pather Panchali -- Satyajit Ray, 30. The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck. 31. Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck. 32. Call Me American -- Abdi Nor Iftin. 33. Hisham Matar and Kamila Shamsie on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘River’ by Simahina.
He describes himself as a dharmik skeptic, and has written a book about how atheism evolved within Hindu philosophy. Kushal Mehra joins Amit Varma in episode 382 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his intellectual evolution-- and his journey as a podcaster. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Kushal Mehra on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and his own website. 2. Nastik: Why I Am Not an Atheist -- Kushal Mehra. 3. The Cārvāka Podcast -- Kushal Mehra's podcast on YouTube. 4. Kushal Mehra's YouTube monologues. 5. 'How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives' -- Amit Varma. 6. Hanlon's Razor. 7. Tim Urban's tweet on getting to know people. 8. The Harm Principle. 9. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 11. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read. 12. Why People Believe Weird Things -- Michael Shermer. 13. Richard Dawkins on the God of the Old Testament. 14. Vinamre Kasanaa and Prakhar Gupta on YouTube. 15. Kushal Mehra on Dostcast. 16. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 17. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference -- Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The God Delusion -- Richard Dawkins. 19. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 20. The Evolution of Cooperation -- Robert Axelrod. 21. A Manual for Creating Atheists -- Peter Boghossian. 22. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 23. Tell Me You Love Me -- Amit Varma. 24. Dr Chatterjee and therealnihal's Instagram post on friendship. 25. The New Atheism and the Four Horsemen. 26. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett on Amazon. 27. ‘Wet Streets Cause Rain’ — Michael Crichton. 28. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 29. Three cultures of atheism: on serious doubts about the existence of God -- Simon Glendinning. 30. Charvaka and Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 31. Tattvopaplavasiṃha — Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 32. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Imagine There’s No Svarga: Rediscovering Cārvāka, India’s 2,700-Year-Old Atheistic Tradition -- Kushal Mehra on Quilette. 34. Moral Foundations Theory, proposed by Jonathan Haidt, Craig Joseph and Jesse Graham. 35. Hitchen's Razor. 36. Consciousness Explained -- Daniel Dennett. 37. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 38. Soul and Sword: The History of Political Hinduism -- Hindol Sengupta. 39. Hind Swaraj -- MK Gandhi. 40. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box — Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Hindutva -- Vinayak Savarkar. 42. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 43. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 44. Rangila Rasul. 45. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 46. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 47. Don't Insult Pasta (2007) -- Amit Varma. 48. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 49. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. The Progress of Humanity -- Episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Steven Pinker). 51. Colours of the Cage -- Arun Ferreira. 52. Modi's Domination: What We Often Overlook -- Keshava Guha. 53. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 54. Anand -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 55. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 56. How Not To Get Trolled -- Amit Varma. 57. The Pursuit of Happyness -- Gabriele Muccino.. 58. Andaz Apna Apna -- Rajkumar Santoshi. 59. I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto -- Tupac Shakur. 60. Shiv Kumar Batalvi on Rekhta. 61. Bulleh Shah on Wikipedia. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Study’ by Simahina.
He created the iconic Simputer, and has lived a life that married science and its applications. V Vinay joins Amit Varma in episode 381 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his journey and what it taught him. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. V Vinay on Twitter, LinkedIn, IISC and Google Scholar. 2. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 3. Calculus Made Simple -- H Mulholland. 4. India vs West Indies, 1st Test, Bengaluru, November 22 – 27, 1974. 5. Ram Guha Writes a Letter to a Friend -- Episode 371 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. A Text-book Of Inorganic Chemistry -- JR Partington. 7. Perkin and Kipping's Organic Chemistry -- Stanley F Kipping and Barry Kipping. 8. There’s no speed limit — Derek Sivers. 9. The Botany of Desire -- Michael Pollan. 10. Vishwa Bandhu Gupta on cloud computing & more! 11. Design & Analysis of Computer Algorithms -- Alfred V Aho, John E Hopcroft and Jeffrey D Ullman. 12. A Circuit-Based Proof of Toda′ s Theorem -- Ravi Kannan, H Venkateswaran, V Vinay and Andrew C Yao. 13. Ramesh Hariharan's website. 14. The Little Prince -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. 15. Bruce Sterling on the Simputer in the New York Times. 16. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. James Hadley Chase, Alistair Maclean, Desmond Bagley and Agatha Christie on Amazon. 18. Illusions -- Richard Bach. 19. Jonathan Livingston Seagull -- Richard Bach. 20. Lila -- Robert M Pirsig. 21. The True Believer -- Eric Hoffer. 22. Crime and Punishment -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 23. The Idiot -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 24. Leo Tolstoy's short stories. 25. Essays -- Ralh Waldo Emerson. 26. The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson. 27. Self-Reliance -- Ralph Waldo Emerson. 28. Walden -- Henry David Thoreau. 29. Vinaya Pitaka. 30. Isha Upanishad. 31. Atoms in Motion -- Richard Feynman. 32. Mandukya Upanishad. 33. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 34. The Matrix -- The Wachowskis. 35. Chanakya -- Chandraprakash Dwivedi. 36. Chomana Dudi -- BV Karanth. 37. Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu. 38. Tokyo Story -- Yasujirō Ozu. 39. Departures -- Yôjirô Takita. 40. The Silence of the Lambs -- Jonathan Demme. 41. Notorious -- Alfred Hitchcock. 42. Mr Smith Goes to Washington -- Frank Capra. 43. The Philadelphia Story -- George Cukor. 44. Bringing Up Baby -- Howard Hawks. 45. Casablanca -- Michael Curtiz. 46. Gandhi -- Richard Attenborough. 47. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring -- Kim Ki-duk. 48. Bicycle Thieves -- Vittorio De Sica. 49. Ilaiyaraaja, TM Krishna and MS Subbulakshmi on Spotify. 50. Twenty-Five Twenty-One -- Jung Ji-hyun. 51. Misaeng -- Kim Won-seok. 52. My Ahjusshi -- Kim Won-seok. 53. Succession, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and House. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Searching for Truth’ by Simahina.
How do women live in India? How do workers live? What impact can economics have in the real world? Sowmya Dhanaraj joins Amit Varma in episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her life, her work and the churn in our society. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sowmya Dhanaraj on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Scholar, Good Business Lab and her own website. 2. Male Backlash and Female Guilt: Women’s Employment and Intimate Partner Violence in Urban India -- Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare. 3. Family structure, education and women’s employment in rural India -- Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare. 4. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box -- Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 7. Tell No One -- Harlan Coben. 8. Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach -- Jeffrey Wooldridge. 9. Econometric Analysis -- William Greene. 10. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 11. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 13. Santosh Desai is Watching You -- Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Challenges of Change: An Experiment Promoting Women to Managerial Roles in the Bangladeshi Garment Sector -- Rocco Macchiavello, Andreas Menzel, Atonu Rabbani & Christopher Woodruff. 16. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 18. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 20. Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare speak to Alice Evans on her podcast. 21. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 23. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 24. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 26. Emergent Ventures. 27. Malini Goyal is the Curious One -- Episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Is Work Fun -- Tyler Cowen. 29. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 30. Housefull Economics. 31. This Passing Moment -- Amit Varma's Housefull Economics piece on Opportunity Cost. 32. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 33. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 34. Evicted -- Matthew Despond. 35. Whole Numbers And Half Truths -- Rukmini S. 36. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 37. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 38. The Great Indian Kitchen -- Jeo Baby. 39. Pariyerum Perumal -- Mari Selvaraj. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Machinery of Society’ by Simahina.
He's one of the great economists of our times, always focussed on the big questions, no matter how hard they are. Lant Pritchett joins Amit Varma in episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his work and what he has learnt about the world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Lant Pritchett on Google Scholar and his own website. 2. Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 3. Deals and Development: The Political Dynamics of Growth Episodes -- Lant Pritchett, Kunal Sen and Eric Werker. 4. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” -- Lant Pritchett. 5. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? -- Lant Pritchett. 6. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough -- Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 7. Is India a Flailing State?: Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization -- Lant Pritchett. 8. Is Your Impact Evaluation Asking Questions That Matter? A Four Part Smell Test -- Lant Pritchett. 9. The Perils of Partial Attribution: Let’s All Play for Team Development -- Lant Pritchett. 10. Where Has All the Education Gone? -- Lant Pritchett. 11. Looking Like a State: Techniques of Persistent Failure in State Capability for Implementation -- Lant Pritchett. 12. Cents and Sociability: Household Income and Social Capital in Rural Tanzania -- Deepa Narayan and Lant Pritchett. 13. Where Did Development Economics Go Wrong? -- Lant Pritchett speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on Ideas of India. 14. Reforming Development Economics -- Lant Pritchett speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on Ideas of India. 15. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Economics in One Lesson — Henry Hazlitt. 17. The Worldly Philosophers -- Robert L Heilbroner. 18. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 19. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 20. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything (in which Amit talks about Hayek's essay). 21. The Great Wave off Kanagawa. 22. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 24. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 25. The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development — Michael Kremer. 26. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory — Amit Varma. 27. Amadeus -- Milos Forman. 28. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 29. Imagined Communities -- Benedict Anderson. 30. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 31. Accelerating India's Development -- Karthik Muralidharan. 32. An update in 2020 of the Big Stuck in State Capability -- Lant Pritchett. 33. The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy -- Daniel Carpenter. 34. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 35. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott. 36. Dido and Aeneas -- Mark Morris Dance Group. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Lighthouse’ by Simahina.
He is an economist with the soul of a poet. He has studied number theory and is an expert on policy. He has studied Urdu and and dreams in shairi. Rohit Lamba joins Amit Varma in episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss economics, politics, society and our human condition. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rohit Lamba links at Penn State, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Scholar, YouTube and his own website. 2. Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India's Economic Future -- Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba. 3. The Broken Script -- Swapna Liddle. 4. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Six More Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 43 of Everything is Everything, which includes a chapter inspired by Swapna Liddle's book. 6. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 7. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 8. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes -- Zachary D. Carter. 10. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 11. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 12. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 13. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 14. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 17. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 19. Ramcharitmanas -- Tulsidas. 20. Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva -- Janaki Bakhle. 21. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 22. Political Ideology in India — Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 23. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 24. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 25. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 26. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 27. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 29. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Postcard from Kashmir -- Agha Shahid Ali. 31. The Veiled Suite: The Collected Poems -- Agha Shahid Ali. 32. You Can Always Get There From Here -- Mark Strand. 33. Collected Poems — Mark Strand. 34. Variants of chess on chess.com. 35. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world — Amit Varma on Viswanathan Anand. 36. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma on Alpha Zero. 37. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. 38. The History of the Planning Commission -- Episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Menon). 39. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 41. Milton Friedman on Minimum Wage Laws. 42. Main Gautam Nahin Hoon -- Khalilur Rahman Azmi. 43. Lessons from Nirala’s ballad for our battle with covid -- Rohit Lamba. 44. Poker and Life -- Episode 38 of Everything is Everything. 45. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for the Economic Times. 46. What is Populism? — Jan-Werner Müller. 47. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 48. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 49. Dynamism with Incommensurate Development: The Distinctive Indian Model -- Rohit Lamba and Arvind Subramanian. 50. List of Soviet and Russian leaders by height. 51. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma on Demonetisation. 52. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 53. Number Theory. 54. Fermat's Last Theorem. 55. A Beautiful Mind -- Ron Howard. 56. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande — Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. Dilip José Abreu: an elegant and creative economist -- Rohit Lamba. 58. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 59. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 60. Ghummakkad Shastra -- Rahul Sankrityayan. 61. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron — Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 62. The Looking-Glass Self. 63. Jo Bhi Main -- Song from Rockstar with lyrics by Irshad Kamil. 64. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains — Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 65. Politically correct, passive-aggressive: How Indians in the US struggle to decode corporate speak -- Anahita Mukherji. 66. Lincoln -- Steven Spielberg. 67. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 68. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines — Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 69. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 70. The Semiconductor Wars — Episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi). 71. The Smile Curve. 72. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 73. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State — Amit Varma. 74. The Child and the State in India -- Myron Weiner. 75. Where India Goes -- Diane Coffey and Deam Spears. 76. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 77. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 78. South vs North: India’s Great Divide — Nilakantan RS. 79. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ashwin Mahesh: 1, 2, 3. 80. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 81. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee. 82. Snow -- Pamuk. 83. Bahut Door, Kitna Door Hota Hai -- Manav Kaul. 84. Shakkar Ke Paanch Dane -- Manav Kaul.. 85. Poems: 1962–2020 -- Louise Glück. 86. Mahabharata. 87. राम की शक्ति-पूजा -- सूर्यकांत त्रिपाठी निराला. 88. Iqbal and Ahmad Faraz on Rekhta. 89. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Ahmad Faraz. 90. Zindagi Se Yahi Gila Hai Mujhe -- Ahmad Faraz. 91. AR Rahman on Wikipedia and Spotify. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Pick a Tree' by Simahina.
As a journalist, she always went deep. As an author, she has peeled off layers of Bengaluru -- and Indian society. Malini Goyal joins Amit Varma in episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights -- and the values that shape her work. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Malini Goyal at Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Economic Times. 2. Unboxing Bengaluru: The City of New Beginnings -- Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash. 3. Unboxing Bengaluru -- The website. 4. After Hours With India Inc -- Malini Goyal's podcast. 5. Bindra's Wishlist (2005) -- Amit Varma. 6. Reforming Urban Governance -- Episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen (w V Ravichandar). 7. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. . 8. Malini Goyal's piece on Alang. 9. India's first social media election -- Malini Goyal. 10. Malini Goyal's four-part story on India's liberalisation children: 1, 2, 3, 4. 11. Malini Goyal's series on Hyderabad. 12. ‘Wet Streets Cause Rain’ — Michael Crichton explains Gell-Mann Amnesia. 13. Maruti 800 to Alto 800: A 30-year journey -- Malini Goyal. 14. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for The Economic Times. 15. How large corporations go about picking CXO-level honchos -- Malini Goyal. 16. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 18. Shaili Chopra and the Sisterhood -- Episode 325 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Israel, a startup oasis in the middle of a war zone -- Malini Goyal. 20. The Romantic Idiot -- Samarth Bansal. 21. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Aella's tweet about the slutcloud. 23. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ashwin Mahesh: 1, 2, 3. 24. The Pursuit of Happyness -- Gabriele Muccino. 25. Personal History -- Katherine Graham. 26. Open: An Autobiography -- Andre Agassi. 27. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography -- Walter Isaacson. 26. Einstein: His Life and Universe -- Walter Isaacson.. 27. Alice Munro, Kazuo Ishiguro and Roald Dahl on Amazon. 28. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘There is More Here’ by Simahina.
When he travels, he's a man of reflection. When he creates, he's a man of action. Utsav Mamoria joins Amit Varma in episode 376 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his philosophy towards travel, creating and living. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Utsav Mamoria on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. 2. Postcards From Nowhere -- Utsav Mamoria's podcast. 3. The 6% Club.. 4. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani.. 5. The Universe of Chuck Gopal -- Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Getting Meta. -- Chuck Gopal's podcast. 7. The legendary Simblified. 8. Sabbaticalling -- Episode 85 of Simblified (w Utsav Mamoria). 9. The Untravel Show -- Abhishek.Vaid's YouTube show. 10. Chuck Gopal interviews Utsav Mamoria. 12. Horizon -- Barry Lopez. 13. Imaginary Cities -- Darran Anderson. 14. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino. 15. The Hiking Episode -- Episode 35 of Everything is Everything. 16. I Play to Play -- Amit Varma. 17. Unboxing Bengaluru -- Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash. 18. Lords of the Deccan -- Anirudh Kanisetti. 19. Anirudh Kanisetti's podcasts. 20. Are You Just One Version of Yourself? -- Amit Varma. 21. Don't Get Into a Box -- Amit Varma. 22. Shoveling Smoke -- William Mazzarella. 23. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. The Stanford Prison Experiment. 26. Imagined Communities — Benedict Anderson. 27. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 28. Santosh Desai is Watching You — Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Dhadak Dhadak -- Song from Bunty and Babli. 30. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Language of Food -- Dan Jurafsky. 32. Bihar Review -- Kumar Anand's twitter account on Bihar. 33. Interior design for 10 crore kids. 34. Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain -- Episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Amadeus -- Miloš Forman. 36. Arctic Dreams -- Barry Lopez. 37. The Art of Travel -- Alain De Botton. 38. The School of Life. 39. Robert Macfarlane and Pico Iyer on Amazon. 40. Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. 41. Marginlands -- Arati Kumar-Rao. 42. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 43. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 44. Tarana Husain Khan, Sadaf Hussain and Krish Ashok on Amazon. 45. The Language of Cities -- Deyan Sudjic. 46. Italo Calvino on Amazon. 47. When Breath Becomes Air -- Paul Kalanithi. 48. Coke Studio Pakistan. 49. Kabir, Kabir Cafe and Songs of Kabir. 50. The soundtracks of Qala, Udaan and Lootera. 51. Ud Jayega Hans Akela -- Kumar Gandharva. 52. Spotlight -- Tom McCarthy. 53. Grave of the Fireflies -- Isao Takahata. 54. My Neighbour Totoro -- Hayao Miyazaki. 55. Woman in the Dunes -- Hiroshi Teshigahara. 56. Departures -- Yōjirō Takita. 57. Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Majid Majidi, Tahmineh Milani and Yasujirō Ozu. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Travel’ by Simahina.
To reform India, you must reform the Indian state. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 375 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his much-awaited new book that has finally released -- and the chapters on it that deal with our bureaucracy. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Karthik Muralidharan on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar, UCSD and CEGIS. 2. Accelerating India's Development -- Karthik Muralidharan. 3. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 4. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 5. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 7. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah). 8. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast. 9. To Kill A Mockingbird -- Harper Lee. 10. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 11. The Elusive Quest for Growth -- William R Easterly. 12. The White Man's Burden -- William R Easterly. 13. The Tyranny of Experts -- William R Easterly. 14. Thomas Sargent's speech at Berkeley. 15. Front-line Courts As State Capacity: Evidence From India -- Manaswini Rao. 16. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 17. BR Ambedkar's speech to the constituent assembly in 1949. 18. State Building -- Francis Fukuyama. 19. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 20. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 21. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 22. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 23. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 25. The Political Economy of Bureaucratic Overload -- Aditya Dasgupta and Devesh Kapur. 26. Red Tape -- Akhil Gupta. 27. Paper Tiger -- Nayanika Mathur. 28. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 29. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 30. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. Annie Hall -- Woody Allen. 32. The withering trend of public employment in India -- CP Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh. 33. The Colonial Constitution — Arghya Sengupta. 34. Arghya Sengupta and the Engine Room of Law — Episode 366 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Active and Passive Waste in Government Spending -- Oriana Bandiera, Andrea Prat and Tommaso Valletti. 36. Lagaan -- Ashutosh Gowariker. 37. List of Soviet and Russian leaders by height. 38. Bureaucratic Indecision and Risk Aversion in India -- Sneha P, Neha Sinha, Avanti Durani and Ayush Patel. 39. A Theory of Misgovernance -- Abhijit Banerjee. 40. Premature load bearing: Doing too much too soon -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 41. Sense and Sensibility -- Jane Austen. 42. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 43. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Montek Singh Ahluwalia). 44. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 45. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 46. How China Escaped the Poverty Trap -- Yuen Yuen Ang. 47. Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities -- Episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. Gangaajal -- Prakash Jha. 49. Building State Capacity: Evidence from Biometric Smartcards in India -- Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukhtankar. 50. Amitabh Bachchan on Twitter. 51. Nick Bloom at Stanford. 52. The Personnel Economics of the Developing State -- Frederico Finan, Benjamin Olken and Rohini Pande. 53. Double for Nothing? Experimental Evidence on an Unconditional Teacher Salary Increase in Indonesia -- Joppe de Ree, Karthik Muralidharan, Menno Pradhan and Halsey Rogers. 54. The Indian Labour Market through the Lens of Public Sector Recruitment -- Kunal Mangal. 55. Timepass: Youth, Class, and the Politics of Waiting in India -- Craig Jeffrey. 56. Karmayogi Bharat. 57. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 58. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 59. A new vision for legal education in India -- Abhishek Singhvi. 60. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Zindagi Toh Bewafa Hai -- Song from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Magic and Files’ by Simahina.
Economics and public policy touch all our lives, and have humanitarian consequences. But isn't it damn boring? No! Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane join Amit Varma in episode 374 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk policy and comics -- and how they came together in their book, We the Citizens. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) I strongly recommend that you check out the courses and the output of the Takshashila Institution. What they do is nothing less than a great public service to India. Also check out: 1. Khyati Pathak on Twitter, Instagram, Substack and her own website of comics. 2. Anupam Manur on Twitter, LinkedIn and the Takshashila Institution. 3. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution. 4. We, The Citizens: Strengthening the Indian Republic -- Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane. 5. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane and Khyati Pathak's podcast (co-hosted with Saurabh Chandra). 6. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter. 7. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley. 8. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S Jaitley). 9. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Semiconductor Wars -- Episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi). 11. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 12. Protectionism -- Episode 59 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anupam Manur). 13. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Toan Truong's Twitter thread on learning how to learn. 15. Harvard’s CS50 course. 16. A Bushel is equal to "2 kennings, 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons." 17. A trade deficit with a babysitter (2005) — Tim Harford. 18. 1984 -- George Orwell. 19. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 20. There’s no speed limit -- Derek Sivers. 21. A Deep Dive Into the Indian Military -- Episode 31 of Everything is Everything. 22. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia — Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 23. The State of the Ukraine War -- Episode 14 of Everything is Everything. 24. The Economics of Arms -- Keith Hartley. 25. The Indian Armed Forces — Episode 175 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon). 26. India in the Nuclear Age — Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon). 27. Guns vs Butter. 28. This Passing Moment -- Amit Varma on Opportunity Cost. 29. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 30. Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration -- Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith. 31. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 32. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 33. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 34. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 35. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 36. The Overton Window. 37. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box -- Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Radical Markets -- Eric Posner and E Glen Weyl. 40. Karejwa -- Varun Grover, Ankit Kapoor and Sumit Kumar. 41. Parsai -- Mansi Sharma and Sumit Kumar. 42. So Below -- Sam Wallman. 43. Manjula Padmanabhan is a Forever Outsider -- Episode 372 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Irfan, the Keeper of Memories -- Episode 368 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 47. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 48. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 51. भारतीय भाषाओँ में हमारे अतीत के सुराग़ -- Episode 106 of Puliyabaazi (w Peggy Mohan). 52. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 53. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 54. We, The Citizens: A Review -- Ashish Kulkarni. 55. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 56. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything. 57. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 58. Anupam Manur's piece on water pricing in Bangalore. 59. The Great Redistribution (2015) — Amit Varma. 60. Bootleggers and Baptists: The Education of a Regulatory Economist — Bruce Yandle. 61. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma). 62. We the Living -- Ayn Rand. 63. so you want to be a writer? -- Charles Bukowski. 64. Vijay Kelkar's legendary CD Deshmukh Lecture. 65. In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 66. Why Does the Indian State Both Fail and Succeed? -- Devesh Kapur. 67. Milton Friedman on India. 68. The Dalit Emancipation Manifesto of 1951 — Babasaheb Ambedkar. 69. How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time -- Hal Varian. 70. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. We Want More FSI -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok). 72. Defending the Undefendable -- Walter Block. 73. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 74. Free To Choose -- Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman. 75. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 76. Milton Friedman Speaks -- Collected speeches in a YouTube playlist. 77. The Economist. 78. Free Trade under Fire -- Douglas Irwin. 79. The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye -- Sonny Liew. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Artist’ by Simahina.
He's an entrepreneur who thinks deeply about the world, and some of his ideas could make your brain explode. Deepak VS joins Amit Varma in episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his thoughts on entrepreneurship, education, morality, life and the old hag who sits on your chest. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Deepak VS at Twitter, LinkedIn and his own website. 2. Tilt. 3. Everything flows: Looking back on six years of Tilt -- Deepak VS. 4. Deepak VS on why incubators are broken. 5. Y Combinator. 6. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 7. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 8. 4chan. 9. Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance -- Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck. 10. Nomsita MS Haritashya on Instagram. 11. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 12. Tim Minchin on Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and his own website. 13. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 14. Gaurav Chintamani on Instagram.. 15. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin -- Episode 405 of the Lex Fridman Podcast. 17. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 18. Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking on Amazon. 19. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Zero to One -- Peter Thiel. 21. Angad Daryani at Praan, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.. 22. Ship of Theseus. 23. Dangerous Dave. 24. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus — Ludwig Wittgenstein. 26. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 27. Anatomy of a Folly -- Amit Varma. 28. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 29. The Expanding Circle — Peter Singer. 30. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt. 31. The Ethics of Vegetarianism -- An interview with Peter Singer where he talks about oysters. 32. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Essays — Paul Graham. 34. Free Will -- Sam Harris. 35. Determined: Life Without Free Will -- Robert Sapolsky. 36. Behave -- Robert Saponsky. 37. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas -- Ursula K LeGuin. 38. The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant — Nick Bostrom. 39. Vitalik Buterin Fights the Dragon-Tyrant — Episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Pour Some Sugar on Me -- Amit Varma. 41. The Last Lecture -- Randy Pausch. 42. Poker and Life -- Episode 38 of Everything is Everything. 43. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World — Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen.. 44. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 45. Lucid Dreaming. 46. Sleep Paralysis. 47. The Night Hag. 48. Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants — Episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. The Brothers Karamazov -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 50. House of the Dead -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 51. Titus Andronicus -- William Shakespeare. 52. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track -- Richard Feynman. 53. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 54. Quichotte -- Salman Rushdie. 55. We -- Yevgeny Zamyatin. 56. PG Wodehouse on Amazon and Wikipedia. 57. Storm -- Tim Minchin. 58. The Egg -- Andy Weir. 59. Lifespan -- David Sinclair. 60. Ash Jogalekar's tweet on Chandrasekhar, Fermi and von Neumann. 61. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything. 62. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity -- Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Chal Hut’ by Simahina.
She's a comic-strip artist, a playwright, a science fiction author -- a creator who doesn't fit into any box. Manjula Padmanabhan joins Amit Varma in episode 372 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Manjula Padmanabhan on.Amazon, Wikipedia, Instagram, Substack and her own website. 2. Getting There -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 3. Harvest -- Manula Padmanabhan. 4. Escape -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 5. The Island Of Lost Girls -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 6. Blood and Laughter: Plays -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 7. Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 8. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 9. Why We Sleep -- Matthew Walker. 10. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Looking-Glass Self. 12. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Escape With Manjula Padmanabhan (2008) -- Amit Varma. 14. Comedy Vs Mortality -- Amit Varma. 15. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains — Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. How Not To Boil An Egg -- MFK Fisher. 17. Journey To Ixtlan -- Carlos Castaneda. 18. Anton Chekhov on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 19. The classic Derek Guy tweet.. 20. Make Me a Canteen for My Soul — Episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage). 21. Deham -- Govind Nihalani. 22. Watchmen -- Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. 23. Amartya Ghosh on Spotify. 24. Declutter -- Episode 30 of Everything is Everything. 25. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams. 26. Ursula K Le Guin, Ken Liu and Ted Chiang on Amazon. 27. Blue Apron. 28. Penelope Fitzgerald on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 29. Wordle and Words With Friends. 30. The House of Doors -- Tan Twan Eng. 31. The Gift of Rain -- Tan Twan Eng. 32. Fire On The Ganges -- Radhika Iyengar. 33. Amarcord -- Federico Fellini. 34. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 35. The Obscure Object of Desire -- Luis Buñuel. 36. All That Jazz -- Bob Fosse. 37. Star Wars -- George Lucas. 38. Popcorn Essayists: What Movies Do to Writers -- Edited by Jai Arjun Singh. 39. The 400 Blows -- François Truffaut. 40. The Magus -- John Fowles. 41. Through the Looking-Glass -- Lewis Carroll. 42. The Beatles and Pink Floyd on Spotify. 43. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie -- Luis Buñuel. 44. The Phantom of Liberty -- Luis Buñuel. 45. Jean-Claude Carrière on Wikipedia and IMDb. 46. The Mahabharata -- Peter Brook. 47. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Philip Kaufman. 48. I Vitelloni -- Federico Fellini. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Outsider’ by Simahina.
His latest book looks back at a friendship -- and at a world gone by. Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 371 of The Seen and the Unseen to shoot the breeze and share some memories. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon, Twitter and his own website. 2. The Cooking of Books: A Literary Memoir -- Ramachandra Guha. 3. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 5. Taking Stock of Our Republic — Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 6. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 7. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 8. Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals and India -- Ramachandra Guha. 9. Gandhi before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 10. Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World -- Ramachandra Guha. 11. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 12. Environmentalism: A Global History -- Ramachandra Guha. 13. A Corner of a Foreign Field -- Ramachandra Guha. 14. The New India Foundation. 15. Stet: An Editor's Life -- Diana Athill. 16. Of Gifted Voice: The Life and Art of MS Subbulakshmi — Keshav Desiraju. 17. Dunbar’s number. 18. How Many Friends Does One Person Need? -- Robin Dunbar. 19. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 20. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 21. Trapped Inside the Infinite Scroll -- Amit Varma. 22. India vs West Indies, 1st Test, Bengaluru, November 22 - 27, 1974. 23. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 26. Pundits from Pakistan -- Rahul Bhattacharya. 27. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 28. Where Are The Conservative Intellectuals in India (2015) -- Ramachandra Guha. 29. Beethoven Among the Cows -- Rukun Advani. 30. Sharafat Hussain Khan, Latafat Hussain Khan, Lalith Rao, Radhika Mohan Maitra and Buddhadev Das Gupta. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Letter’ by Simahina.
So what if he is an academic? He is also an an original thinker with deep insights about education, elections, colonisation, politics, history, society. Yugank Goyal joins Amit Varma in episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen to throw thought-bomb after thought-bomb at all of us. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
- Yugank Goyal on Twitter, LinkedIn, EPW, Flame University and Google Scholar. 2. Who Moved My Vote? -- Yugank Goyal and Arun Kumar Kaushik. 3. Documenting India: The Centre for Knowledge Alternatives. 4. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 5. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 6. Harvard's CS50 course. 7. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. 8. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 9. The Superiority of Economists -- Marion Fourcade, Etienne Ollion and Yann Algan. 10. Publish and Perish — Agnes Callard. 11. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran. 12. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Premchand on Amazon and Wikipedia. 15. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir. 16. Maithili Sharan Gupt and Jaishankar Prasad. 17. Kafan -- Premchand. 18. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 19. Is There an Indian Way of Thinking? — AK Ramanujan. 20. The Intimate Enemy -- Ashis Nandy. 21. The Colonial Constitution — Arghya Sengupta. 22. Arghya Sengupta and the Engine Room of Law -- Episode 366 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. The History of British India -- James Mill. 24. SN Balagangadhara (aka Balu) on Amazon and Wikipedia. 25. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 26. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4. 27. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 28. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 30. The Evolution of Everything -- Matt Ridley. 31. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley). 32. The Evolution of Cooperation -- Robert Axelrod. 33. Kantara -- Rishab Shetty. 34. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 35. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 37. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. The People of India -- Herbert Risley. 39. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Gangs of Wasseypur -- Anurag Kashyap. 41. Why Children Labour (2007) -- Amit Varma. 42. Laws Against Victimless Crimes Should Be Scrapped — Amit Varma. 43. Intimate City — Manjima Bhattacharjya. 44. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 46. Politics — A limerick by Amit Varma. 47. India’s Far From Free Markets (2005) — Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal. 48. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 49. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 50. Ramayana, the 1987 serial, on Wikipedia and YouTube. 51. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 52. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 54. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 55. Cycle -- Prakash Kumte. 56. Mulshi Pattern -- Pravin Tarde. 57. The Heathen in His Blindness -- SN Balagangadhara. Amit's newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Look Inside the Box’ by Simahina.
She's a writer. She's a translator. She's as old as this Republic, and she knows it well. Ira Pande joins Amit Varma in episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and her learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ira Pande on Amazon, Goodreads and The Tribune.. 2. Diddi: My Mother's Voice -- Ira Pande. 3. Amader Shantiniketan -- Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 4. Dhano Dhanne — Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir. 5. Pitch Perfect -- Ira Pande's obituary of Jaya Varma. 6. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Old world nationalism -- Ira Pande. 11. Buniyaad on Wikipedia, IMDb and YouTube. 12. Do Bigha Zameen -- Bimal Roy. 13. Ganga Jamuna -- Nitin Bose. 14. Awaara and Shree 420 -- Raj Kapoor. 15. Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar In The Life Of India -- Meghnad Desai. 16. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 17. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 18. The Other Side of Silence — Urvashi Butalia. 19. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Tamas -- Bhisham Sahni. 21. Tamas -- Govind Nihalani. 22. The Secret City -- Robin Gupta. 23. Secret city and more -- Ira Pande. 24. Apradhi Kaun -- Shivani. 25. Apradhini - Women Without Men -- Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 26. T'ta Professor -- Manohar Shyam Joshi (translated by Ira Pande). 27. कसप -- मनोहरश्याम जोशी 28. The Matunga Racket -- Amit Varma. 29. The Day Ryan Started Masturbating -- Amit Varma. 30. The Secret Diary Of Kasturba -- Neelima Dalmia Adhar. 31. Father Dearest -- Neelima Dalmia Adhar. 32..Remain in Me -- Peter Cat Recording Co. 33. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 34. A Life Apart -- Prabha Khaitan (translated by Ira Pande). 35. Ira Pande on Chetan Bhagat. 36. Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya — Episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Stage.in. 39. Try living in the slow lane -- Ira Pande. 40. A Room of One's Own -- Virginia Woolf. 41. Raw Umber -- Sara Rai. 43. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya -- Akshaya Mukul. 44. Here And Hereafter: Nirmal Verma's Life in Literature -- Vineet Gill. 45. Biyaban Me -- Sara Rai. 46. Nabeela Aur Anya Kahaniyan -- Sara Rai. 47. Lapoojhanna -- Ashok Pande. 48. One Foot on the Ground — Shanta Gokhale. 49. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘’She Writes” by Simahina.
He's a master of the longform conversation, a connoisseur of the past, a man steeped in culture. Syed Mohd Irfan joins Amit Varma in episode 368 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his times, his learnings -- and Guftagoo! (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Syed Mohd Irfan on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. 2. Guftagoo with Irfan. 3. Guftagoo at Sansad TV. 4. Guftagoo at Rekhta. 5. Interviewing as a tool of archiving of knowledge and memories -- TEDx talk by Syed Mohd Irfan. 6. Preserving Moments: The Significance of Audio-Visual Records -- TEDx talk by Syed Mohd Irfan. 7. Irfan on Memorywala. 8. Irfan interviewed by UnReported India. 9. Ek Mulakaat with Senior Journalist Mr Syed Mohd Irfan. 10. Do Ankhen Barah Haath -- V Shantaram. 11. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 13. Hind Pocket Books. 14. Bhagat Singh, Dhoomil, Krishan Chander, Amrita Pritam, Shivani and Vivekananda. 15. The Story of My Experiments with Truth -- Mohandas Gandhi. 16. Ankur -- Shyam Benegal. 17. Aakrosh -- Govind Nihalani. 18. Premchand on Amazon and Wikipedia. 19. Pita -- Govind Nihalani. 20. Stage Whisper -- Vimal Bhagat. 21. Walk on the Wild Side -- Lou Reed. 22. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Father Returning Home — Dilip Chitre. 24. Guftagoo with Raghuvir Yadav. 25. Guftagoo with Gulzar. 26. Guftagoo with Dr Guri. 27. Guftagoo with Imtiaz Ali. 28. Guftagoo with Jaideep Ahlawat. 29. Guftagoo with Ram Gopal Bajaj. 30. Guftagoo with Mohan Agashe. 31. Guftagoo with Jackie Shroff. 32. Jackie Shroff talks about his mom in Guftagoo. 33. Guftagii with Danish Husain. 34. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. कविवर -- सुरजीत पातर. 36. Irfan's Instagram post on magazines like Madhuri.. 37. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 39. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 39. Kashi ka Assi -- Kashinath Singh. 41. Sone ki Chidiya -- Shaheed Latif. 42. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music -- Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna).. 43. Kumar Gandharva on Spotify. 44. Dhanraj Bhagat, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Balraj Sahni and Ritwik Ghatak. 45. Meghe Dhaka Tara -- Ritwik Ghatak. 46. अपनी खबर -- पांडेय बेचन शर्मा 'उग्र' 47. Pedagogy of the Oppressed -- Paulo Freire. 48. A Pedagogue's Romance -- Krishna Kumar. 49. Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen and Mani Kaul. You can write to Irfan at Irfan.rstv@gmail.com. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Keeper of Memories’ by Simahina.
Delhi has had a mad history -- and that history has shaped our culture, our art, our languages, our society. Swapna Liddle joins Amit Varma in episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen to take us on a walk through space and time. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Swapna Liddle on Facebook, Instagram, Wikipedia and Amazon.. 2. The Broken Script -- Swapna Liddle. 3. Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi -- Swapna Liddle. 4. 14 Historic Walks of Delhi -- Swapna Liddle. 5. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. . 6. Dorothy L Sayers & Agatha Christie on Amazon. 7. The Englishman's Cameo -- Madhulika Liddle. 8. The Golden Age of Murder -- Martin Edwards. 9. ye na thi hamari qismat ki visal-e-yar hota -- Mirza Ghalid. 10. ye masail-e-tasawwuf ye tera bayan ghaalib -- Mirza Ghalib. 11. Use kaun dekh saktaa hai -- Mirza Ghalib. 12. Charlotte's Web -- EB White. 13. Physics for Entertainment -- Yakov Perelman. 14. The Adventures of Dennis -- Viktor Dragunsky. 15. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 16. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 17. Rani Ketki Ki Kahaani -- Insha Allah Khan Insha. 18. Rekhta. 19. When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? -- Jeanne Maglaty. 20. The Thugs Or Phansigars of India -- William Henry Sleeman. 21. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 22. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 23. Delhi Between Two Empires, 1803-1931 -- Narayani Gupta. 24. Percival Spear on Wikipedia and Amazon. 25. Old Delhi: 10 Easy Walks -- Gaynor Barton and Laurraine Malone. 26. The Financial foundations of the British Raj -- Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. 27. Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain -- Episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Women in Indian History — Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 29. Jahangir the Curious — Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma). 30. Public Opinion — Walter Lippman. 31. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 32. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Rakhshanda Jalil Watches the Changing World -- Episode 365 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. The ‘Delhi Renaissance: Indigenous roots of colonial modernity -- A talk by Swapna Liddle. 35. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India — Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel). 36. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4. 37. The Many Cities of Delhi — Episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rana Safvi). 38. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Shahjahanabad’ by Simahina.
He's been an important force in shaping legal policy over the last decade. He's written an essential book on our constitution. He's worked closely with government -- but done so with a sense of public purpose. Arghya Sengupta joins Amit Varma in episode 366 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his work and his learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Arghya Sengupta on Twitter, LinkedIn, Times of India and Vidhi Center for Legal Policy. 2. The Colonial Constitution -- Arghya Sengupta. 3. Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. 4. Insiders and Outsiders -- Amit Varma. 5. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 6. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 7. Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World -- Episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Apar Gupta Fights the Good Fight -- Episode 353 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State -- Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 13. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments. 14. 'कोस-कोस पर बदले पानी, चार कोस पर वाणी।' 15. Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants -- Episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Ao. 17. Enid Blyton, Five Find-Outers, The Famous Five, Billy Bunter, Just William, Hardy Boys, Three Investigators and Jeffrey Archer. 18. Kane and Abel -- Jeffrey Archer. 19. Bimbo -- Jim Reeves. 20. Chandril Bhattacharya interviewed at Kolkata Literary Meet 2016. (Listen to him 5:40 onwards). 21. Chandrabindoo on Spotify and YouTube. 22. Rabindra Sangeet. 23. The Complete Adventures of Feluda — Satyajit Ray. 24. Chander Pahar (Bengali) -- Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. 25. Sonar Kella -- Satyajit Ray. 26. Donoghue v Stevenson. 27. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus — Ludwig Wittgenstein. 28. Law, Legislation and Liberty -- Friedrich Hayek.
- Nationalist Thought in a Colonial World -- Partha Chatterjee. 30. The Truth Pill -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. 31. Taxi No 9211 -- Milan Luthria. 32. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 33. The Overton Window. 34. From Addict to Convict -- Neha Singhal, Arpita Mitra and Kaushiki Sanyal. (Scroll down on the page for Punjabi version.) 35. Punjab's drug menace: Secrecy renders women substance abusers 'invisible' -- Neha Singhal & Sumathi Chandrashekaran. 36. End of Life Care in India: A Model Legal Framework 2.0 -- Dhvani Mehta and Akshat Agarwal. 37. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 39. Annihilation of Caste -- BR Ambedkar. 40. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 42. The Federalist Papers — Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. 43. Marching For Salt (2015) -- Amit Varma. 44. Two Concepts of Liberty -- Isaiah Berlin. 45. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 46. Sandipto Dasgupta on the Anxious Administrator. 47. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 48. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 49. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 50. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 51. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back -- Subhashish Bhadra. 52. Of Gods and Men -- Xavier Beauvois. 53. Devi -- Satyajit Ray. 54. Jalsaghar -- Satyajit Ray. 55. Advaita on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 56. Junoon and Coke Studio Pakistan. 57. Now and Then -- The Beatles. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘’The Engine Room of Law” by Simahina.
You could think of her as someone who tries to preserve a fading world -- or to chronicle a changing one. Rakhshanda Jalil joins Amit Varma in episode 365 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about literature, language and loss. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rakhshanda Jalil on Twitter, Wikipedia, The Wire, Scroll and Amazon. 2. But You Don't Look Like a Muslim -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 3. Invisible City: The Hidden Monuments of Delhi -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 4. Urdu: The Best Stories of Our Times -- Edited & translated by Rakhshanda Jalil. 5. Liking Progress, Loving Change -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 6. Preeto and Other Stories: The Male Gaze in Urdu -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 7. A Rebel and Her Cause: The Life and Work of Rashid Jahan -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 8. Shahryar: A Life in Poetry -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 9. Release and Other Stories -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 10. The Temple and The Mosque -- Premchand (translated by Rakhshanda Jalil). 11. Fear, Depression in Indian Muslims Is Palpable Even Among Those Who Are ‘Privileged’ -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 12. In New India, a Muslim Rose Smells Different From a Hindu Rose -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 13. Aaliya Waziri's essay about her mother Rakhshanda Jalil. 14. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab). 15. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Many Cities of Delhi — Episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rana Safvi). 17. The Age of Average -- Alex Murrell. 18. Order Without Design -- Alain Bertaud. 19. Asar–us–Sanadid -- Syed Ahmed Khan. 20. Basu Da’s Bombay. 21. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Stage.in. 24. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 25. The Elephant in the Room -- Kay Ryan. 26. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 27. Malevolent Republic -- Kapil Komireddi. 28. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 29. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 30. Khwaab Baaki Hai -- Ale Ahmad Suroor. 31. Uneasy Lies the Head -- Mayank Austen Soofi. 32. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 33. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 34. Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein -- Song from Hum Hindustani. 35. Tu Hindu Banega Na Musalman Banega -- Song from Dhool Ka Phool, with lyrics by Sahir Ludhainvi. 36. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 37. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 38. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 40. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 41. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 42. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 43. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 45. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 46. Ibn-e Safi on Amazon. 47. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. Personal Libraries -- Rakhshanda Jalil's book collection. 49. Charles Dickens, Mills and Boon, Georgette Heyer, Barbara Cartland, Jean-Paul Sartre, James Hadley Chase, Northrop Frye and TS Eliot. 50. Exile and the Kingdom -- Albert Camus. 51. Waiting for Godot -- Samuel Beckett. 52. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 53. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. Raw Umber : A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 58. The Death of Sheherzad -- Initizar Husain (translated by Rakhshanda Jalil). 59. Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 60. Drown -- Junot Diaz. 61. Mehroom -- Raman Negi. 62. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai. 63. Saare Jahaan Se Achha -- Rakesh Sharma speaks to Indira Gandhi. 64. Premchand on Amazon and Wikipedia. 65. The Nature and Purpose of Literature -- Premchand's presidential address at the First All India Progressive Writers’ Conference, 1936. 66. The Progressive Writer's Movement. 67. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 68. Patrice Lumumba. 69. Testaments Betrayed -- Milan Kundera. 70. Hum Jo Tarik Rahon Mein Mare Gae -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 71. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 72. Aag Ka Dariya (River of Fire) -- Qurratulain Hyder. 73. Rahman Abbas on Amazon, Wikipedia and Twitter. 74. Tambih -- Shahryar. 75. Bol -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 76. Hum Dekhenge -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 77. Hum Dekhenge -- Faiz. 78. Krishan Chander, Qurratulain Hyder and Ismat Chugtai. 79. Rekhta. 80. The Paradise of Food -- Khalid Jawed (translated by Baran Farooqi). 81. Sturgeon's Law. 82. Imposter Syndrome. 83. 'How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives' -- Amit Varma. 84. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 85. Mirza Ghalib on Rekhta. 86. Faiz Ahmad Faiz on Rekhta. 87. Mujhse Pahli Si Mohabbat Meri Mahbub Na Maang -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 88. Hindostan Hamara -- Edited by Jan Nisar Akhtar. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Change’ by Simahina.
Writing helps you find yourself, and shape yourself. Nothing illustrates this better than the life & work of our guest today. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen to continue his journaling in the form of this conversation. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Amitava Kumar on Instagram, Substack, Twitter, Amazon, Vassar and his own website.. 2. The Yellow Book: A Traveller's Diary -- Amitava Kumar. 3. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar.. 4. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh. 6. The White Lioness -- Henning Mankell. 7. The Snow in Ghana -- Ryszard Kapuściński. 8. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 11. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept -- Elizabeth Smart. 13. Open City -- Teju Cole. 14. Intimacies -- Katie Kitamura. 15. Bradford -- Hanif Kureishi. 16. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 17. The Lonely Londoners -- Sam Selvon. 18. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- Alice Munro. 20. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron. 21. Vinod Kumar Shukla on Wikipedia and Amazon. 22. Waiting for the Barbarians -- JM Coetzee. 23. Paris, Texas -- Wim Wenders. 24. Janet Malcolm, Susan Sontag and Joan Didion on Amazon. 25. Iphigenia in Forest Hills -- Janet Malcolm. 26. Butter Chicken in Ludhiana -- Pankaj Mishra. 27. Hermit in Paris -- Italo Calvino. 28. In the Waiting Room -- Elizabeth Bishop. 29. Abandon the Old in Tokyo -- Yoshihiro Tatsumi. 30 The Push Man and Other Stories -- Yoshihiro Tatsumi. 31. Why I Write -- George Orwell. 32. Tum Na Jaane Kis Jahaan Mein Kho Gaye -- Lata Mangeshkar song from Sazaa. 33. Monsoon Wedding -- Directed by Mira Nair, written by Sabrina Dhawan. 34. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Mehdi Hassan. 35. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Ali Sethi. 36. Saaranga Teri Yaad Mein -- Mukesh song from Saranga. 37. Mohabbat Kar Lo Jee Bhar Lo -- Song from Aar Paar. 38. Mera Dil Ye Pukare, Aaja -- Lata Mangeshkar song from Nagin. 39. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars -- Kunal Purohit. 41. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche -- Haruki Murakami. 42. UP Girl Challenges CM Yogi To Arrest Her Over Oxygen Shortage -- Mojo Story. 43. Too Many Hurried Goodbyes -- Amitava Kumar. 44. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 45. Wheatfield with Crows -- Vincent van Gogh. 46. The Wind -- Warren Zevon. 47. El Amor de Mi Vida -- Warren Zevon. 48. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 50. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for The Economic Times. 51. Why I Loved and Left Poker -- Amit Varma. 52. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 53. The Bastiat Prize. 54. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 55. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 56. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 60. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 61. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 62. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 63. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. 64. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 65. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 66. The Undoing Project -- Michael Lewis. 67. The podcasts of Russ Roberts, Sam Harris and Tyler Cowen. 68. Roam Research: A note-taking too for networked thought. 69. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 70. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life -- Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 74. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 75. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 76. Pandemonium in India’s Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay). 77. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri). 78. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 79. Crossing Over With Deepak Shenoy — Episode 271 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 81. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 82. Brave New World -- Hosted by Vasant Dhar. 83. Among the Believers -- VS Naipaul. 84. Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle ka Naata Koi -- Soham Chatterjee sings for his dying mother. 85. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line — Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 86. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher -- Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 87. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil -- Hannah Arendt. 88. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker. 89. Particulate Matter -- Amitava Kumar. 90. A Seventh Man -- John Berger. 91. Khushwant Singh and Ved Mehta on Amazon. 92. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee. 93. Elizabeth Costello -- JM Coetzee. 94. Penelope Fitzgerald, VS Naipaul and Ashis Nandy on Amazon. 95. A House for Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 96. Sabbath's Theater -- Philip Roth. 97. Finding the Centre -- VS Naipaul. 98. Dinesh Thakur, not Dinesh Thakur. 99. Rajnigandha -- Basu Chatterjee. 100. Rules of Writing -- Amitava Kumar. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Storm Is Inside Me’ by Simahina.
He's a poet, art critic, curator, translator, cultural theorist -- and someone who helps make sense of our world. Ranjit Hoskote joins Amit Varma in episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his times and his work. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ranjit Hoskote on Twitter, Instagram and Amazon. 2. Jonahwhale -- Ranjit Hoskote. 3. Hunchprose -- Ranjit Hoskote. 4. I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd -- Translated by Ranjit Hoskote. 5. Poet's nightmare -- Ranjit Hoskote. 6. State of enrichment -- Ranjit Hoskote. 7. Nissim Ezekiel, AK Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar, Keki Daruwalla, Dom Moraes, Dilip Chitre, Gieve Patel, Vilas Sarang, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Agha Shahid Ali, Mani Rao, Mustansir Dalvi, Jerry Pinto, Sampurna Chattarji, Vivek Narayanan and Arundhathi Subramaniam. 8. Ted Hughes, Geoffrey Hill, Seamus Heaney, Sharon Olds, Louise Glück, Jorie Graham and Rita Dove. 9. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. कुँवर नारायण, केदारनाथ सिंह, अशोक वाजपेयी and नागार्जुन. 12. Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Bismillah Khan, Igor Straviksky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Steve Reich and Terry Riley. 13. Palgrave's Golden Treasury: From Shakespeare to the Present. 14. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 15. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 17. Arun Khopkar, Mani Kaul and Clement Greenberg. 18. Stalker -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 19. The Sacrifice -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 20. Ivan's Childhood -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 21. The Color of Pomegranates -- Sergei Parajanov. 22. Ranjit Hoskote's tribute on Instagram to Gieve Patel. 23. Father Returning Home -- Dilip Chitre. 24. Jejuri -- Arun Kolatkar. 25. Modern Poetry in Translation -- Magazine and publisher founded by Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort. 26. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 27. How Music Works — David Byrne. 28. CBGB. 29. New York -- Lou Reed. 30. How This Nobel Has Redefined Literature — Amit Varma on Dylan winning the Nobel Prize. 31. The Fire and the Rain -- Girish Karnad. 32. Vanraj Bhatia on Wikipedia and IMDb. 33. Amit Varma's tweet thread on Jonahwhale. 34. Magic Fruit: A Poetic Trip -- Vaishnav Vyas. 35. Glenn Gould on Spotify. 36. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture -- Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Steven Fowler. 38. Serious Noticing -- James Wood. 39. How Fiction Works -- James Wood. 40. The Spirit of Indian Painting -- BN Goswamy. 41. Conversations -- BN Goswamy. 42. BN Goswamy on Wikipedia and Amazon. 43. BN Goswamy (1933-2023): Sage and Sensitivity -- Ranjit Hoskote. 44. Joseph Fasano's thread on his writing exercises. 45. Narayan Surve on Wikipedia and Amazon. 46. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden. 47. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 48. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 49. Future Shock -- Alvin Toffler. 50. The Third Wave -- Alvin Toffler. 51. The Long Tail -- Chris Anderson. 52. Ranjit Hoskote's resignation letter from the panel of Documenta. 53. Liquid Modernity -- Zygmunt Bauman. 54. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Panopticon. 56. Tron -- Steven Lisberger. 57. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 58. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 59. Ramchandra Gandhi on Wikipedia and Amazon. 60. Majma-ul-Bahrain (also known as Samudra Sangam Grantha) -- Dara Shikoh. 61. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 62. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 64. पुराण स्थल. 65. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 66. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 67. The Speaking Tree: A Study of Indian Culture and Society -- Richard Lannoy. 68. Clifford Geertz, John Berger and Arthur C Danto. 69. The Ascent of Man (book) (series) -- Jacob Bronowski. 70. Civilization (book) (series) -- Kenneth Clark. 71. Cosmos (book) (series) -- Carl Sagan. 72. Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, Stephen Jay Gould and Oliver Sacks. 73. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla.. 74. Raag Darbari on Storytel. 75. Krishnamurti's Notebook -- J Krishnamurty. 76. Shame -- Salman Rushdie. 77. Marcovaldo -- Italo Calvino. 78. Metropolis -- Fritz Lang. 79. Mahanagar -- Satyajit Ray. 80. A Momentary Lapse of Reason -- Pink Floyd. 81. Learning to Fly -- Pink Floyd, 82. Collected poems -- Mark Strand. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Dancing in Chains’ by Simahina.
What is the difference between chtiya and dusht? Why are vegetarians evil? Why do Indians do the best bench pressing? Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 362 of The Seen and the Unseen for the most fun conversation ever. Really, ever. We got it certified. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Krish Ashok on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, his own website and Spotify/Apple Music/Soundcloud. 2. Naren Shenoy on Twitter, Instagram and Blogspot. 3. We Are All Amits From Africa -- Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 5. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking — Krish Ashok. 7. We want Narendra Shenoy to write a book. 8. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 9. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 10. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 11. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 16. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 17. Narendra Modi on climate change. 18. Yes Minister -- Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 19. Yes Prime Minister -- Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 20. The Overview Effect. 21. The Day Ryan Started Masturbating -- Amit Varma. 22. Security Check -- Varun Grover. 23. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! -- Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 24. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe -- Douglas Adams. 25. Arrival — Denis Villeneuve. 26. The Hidden Life of Trees — Peter Wohlleben. 27. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) — Amit Varma’s post with Douglas Adams’s puddle quote. 28. Bittu Sahgal on Wikipedia, Instagram, Twitter and Amazon. 29. I Contain Multitudes -- Ed Yong. 30. Song of Myself — Walt Whitman. 31. How I Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes -- Episode 9 of Everything is Everything. 32. Fat Chance -- Robert Lustig on Fructose 2.0. 33. How Sugar & Processed Foods Impact Your Health -- Robert Lustig on The Huberman Lab Podcast. 34. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Privacy 3.0 — Rahul Matthan. 36. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Shruti Jahagirdar's Twitter thread on Bournvita. 38. Shruti Jahagirdar is the Sporty One -- Episode 289 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Seven Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 23 of Everything is Everything. 41. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 42. The Walrus and the Carpenter -- Lewis Carroll. 43. There is no Frigate like a Book -- Emily Dickinson. 44. Why I'm Hopeful About Twitter -- Amit Varma. 45. A decontextualized reel of Dr Pal on The Ranveer Show. 46. The Liver Doctor's feisty response to the reel above. 47. The full interview of Dr Pal on The Ranveer Show. 48. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher — Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Dunbar’s number. 51. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson. 52. Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. 53. The Selfish Gene -- Richard Dawkins. 54. GianChand Whisky. 55. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health — Amit Varma. 56. Homeopathic Faith — Amit Varma. 57. Homeopathy, quackery and fraud — James Randi. 58. Fallacy of Composition. 59. The Secret to a Happy Marriage -- Mike and Joelle. 60. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud -- William Wordsworth. 61. WD 40 on Amazon. 62. Dog Songs -- Mary Oliver. 63. The Evolution of Cooperation -- Robert Axelrod. 64. The Interpreter -- Amit Varma (on Michael Gazzaniga's split-brain experiments). 65. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 66. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 67. Minority Report -- Steven Spielberg. 68. Free Will -- Sam Harris. 69. Determined: Life Without Free Will -- Robert Sapolsky. 70. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky. 71. Noise -- Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein. 72. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley. 73. Cicada -- Shaun Tan. 74. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 75. Are You Just One Version of Yourself? -- Episode 3 of Everything is Everything. 76. Lat Uljhi Suljha Ja Balam -- Bade Ghulam Ali Khan performs Raag Bihag. 77. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture -- Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Danish Husain’s anecdote about Mahatma Gandhi and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. 79. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life -- Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. Arijit Singh on Autotune. 81. How Music Works -- David Byrne. 82. Raga Lalita Gauri -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 83. Raag Lalita Gauri (1947) -- Kesarbai Kerkar. 84. Raga Vibhas -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 85. Mohe Rang Do Laal -- Song from Bajirao Mastani. 86. Raag Basanti Kedar -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 87. Travelling through Pakistan; from Karachi to K2 -- Salman Rashid on The Pakistan Experience, hosted by Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. 88. A rare video of Balasaraswathi dancing while singing Krishna Nee Begane. 89. Krishna Nee Begane Baro -- Madras String Quartet. 90. Albela Sajan -- Hard rock adaptation by Krish Ashok and Vijay Kannan. 91. [Don't Fear] The Reaper -- Blue Oyster Cult. 92. Krish Ashok's Sanskrit version of the song above. 93. Purple Haze -- Jimi Hendrix. 94. All That She Wants — Ace of Base. 95. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna). 96. Brown Eyed Girl -- Van Morrison. 97. Astral Weeks -- Van Morrison. 98. Moondance -- Van Morrison. 99. Episode on Astral Weeks in the podcast, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. 100. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 101. Advaita on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 102. Raman Negi on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 103. Greta Van Fleet and The Mars Volta on Spotify. 104. Shakti and Indian Ocean on Spotify. 105. Pink Floyd and Kendrick Lamar on Spotify. 106. Analysis of Food Pairing in Regional Cuisines of India -- Anupam Jain, Rakhi NK and Ganesh Bagler. 107. Krish Ashok's reel explaining the above paper. 108. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 109. How to Show, Not Tell: The Complete Writing Guide -- Diane Callahan. 110. We Love Vaccines! We Love Freedom! -- Episode 27 of Everything is Everything. 111. Math Is Better Than the Brigadier's Girlfriend -- Episode 15 of Everything is Everything. 112. Chintaman and I -- Durgabai Deshmukh. 113. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 114. Lady Doctors -- Kavitha Rao. 115. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast talking about one-way doors and two-way doors. 116. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why — Amit Varma. 117. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 118. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything. 119. ChuChuTV. 120. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia — Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 121. The State of the Ukraine War -- Episode 14 of Everything is Everything. 122. King Lear -- William Shakespeare. 123. Churchill: Walking with Destiny -- Andrew Roberts. 124. Churchill and the genocide myth — Zareer Masani. 125. Perplexity. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘’Let's Dance" by Simahina.*
Cities are that miraculous technology that bring people together to make us all better, richer, happier. But bad planning, or even too much planning, can turn them into hellholes. Pritika Hingorani joins Amit Varma in episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights on how we should think about cities, how governments do policy, and what economics can bring to urban planning. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pritika Hingorani at Artha Global and Twitter. 2. The Importance of Cities — Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani). 3. Financing urban infrastructure for an evolving India -- Pritika Hingorani, Sharmadha Srinivasan & Harshita Agrawal. 4. Reforming Urban India -- Pritika Hingorani et al. (Page 14 of this report has the map Pritika mentions in the episode.) 5. India Infrastructure Report: Making Housing Affordable -- Various authors. 6. Bombay: The Cities Within -- Sharada Dwiwedi and Rahul Mehrotra. 7. Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities -- Alain Bertaud. 8. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs. 9. Norwegian Wood -- Haruki Murakami. 10. Absolutely on Music -- Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa. 11. Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami on Amazon. 12. Piercing -- Ryu Murakami. 13. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy -- Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 15. Miniature early episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on FSI and Rent Control with Alex Tabarrok, and Slums with Pavan Srinath. 16. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando De Soto. 17. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro. 19. Urban expansion: theory, evidence and practice -- Shlomo Angel. 20. Atlas of Urban Expansion. 21. Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization -- Justin Marozzi. 22. The City and the City -- China Miéville. 23. The Faltering Escalator of Urban Opportunity -- David Autor. 24. The Shane Parrish tweet on WFH. 25. Securing the Home Market -- Alice Amsden. 26. The Elusive Quest for Growth -- William Easterly. 27. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 28. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 29. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic -- Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 30. Parkinson’s Law. 31. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State — Amit Varma. 33. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 34. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 35. The Skeptical Environmentalist — Bjorn Lomborg. 36. London 1870-1914: A City at Its Zenith -- Andrew Saint. 37. Modi’s Lost Opportunity — ep 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz). 38. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 39. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 41. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 42. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 44. Living London History -- The blog Pritika mentions. 45. Good Bye, Lenin -- Wolfgang Becker. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘These Are People’ by Simahina.
The world is changing fast. Technology can be used to empower us -- and also to hack our brains & our lives. What laws do we need to protect our freedoms? Rahul Matthan joins Amit Varma in episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his work on privacy -- and on a new, subtle approach towards data governance. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rahul Matthan on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Trilegal, Substack and his own website. 2. Privacy 3.0: Unlocking Our Data-Driven Future -- Rahul Matthan. 3. The Third Way: India’s Revolutionary Approach to Data Governance -- Rahul Matthan. 4. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World -- Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Roam Research. 7. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia. 8. Tana, Obsidian and Notion. 9. Getting Things Done -- David Allen. 10. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 11. Hallelujah (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Leonard Cohen. 12. Hallelujah (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Jeff Buckley. 13. The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah" -- Alan Light. 14. Hallelujah on Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell. 15. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life -- Anne Lamott. 16. The New Basement Tapes. (Also Wikipedia.) 17. Kansas City -- Marcus Mumford. 18. The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial -- Venkatesh Rao. 19. Vitalik Buterin Fights the Dragon-Tyrant — Episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Paul Graham on Twitter and his own website. (His essays are extraordinary.) 21. Ribbonfarm by Venkatesh Rao. 22. The Network State -- Balaji Srinivasan. 23. Marc Andreessen on Twitter. 24. The Techno-Optimist Manifesto -- Marc Andreessen. 25. Siddhartha Mukherjee and Carlo Rovelli on Amazon. 26. For the Lord (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Rahul Matthan. 27. Predicting the Future -- Rahul Matthan (on Asimov's concept of Psychohistory etc). 28. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature — Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Looking-Glass Self. 30. Panopticon. 31. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture -- Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 33. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 34. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! — Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 35. The Right to Privacy -- Samuel D Warren and Louis D Brandeis. 36. John Locke on Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Wikipedia and Econlib. 37. Build for Tomorrow -- Jason Feifer. 38. Ex Machina -- Alex Garland. 39. Arrival -- Denis Villeneuve. 40. The Great Manure Crisis of 1894 -- Rahul Matthan. 41. Climate Change and Our Power Sector — Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 42. The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect -- Judea Pearl. 43. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma on Alpha Zero. 44. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast, produced by Amit Varma. 45. Human and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare -- Episode 4 of Brave New World (w Eric Topol). 46. The Colonial Constitution -- Arghya Sengupta. 47. Beyond Consent: A New Paradigm for Data Protection -- Rahul Matthan. 48. The Puttaswamy case. 49. Judicial Reforms in India -- Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alok Prasanna Kumar.) 50. Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility among India’s Professional Elite -- Swethaa S Ballakrishnen. 51. Magic Fruit: A Poetic Trip -- Vaishnav Vyas. 52. Hermanos Gutiérrez and Arc De Soleil on Spotify. 53. The Travelling Salesman Problem. 54. The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet -- Jeff Kosseff. 55. Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace -- Lawrence Lessig. 56. Financial Inclusion and Digital Transformation in India -- Suyash Rai. 57. No Time for False Modesty -- Rahul Matthan. 58. In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 59. Once Upon a Prime -- Sarah Hart. 60. The Greatest Invention -- Silvia Ferrara. 61. Surveillance State -- Josh Chin and Liza Lin. 62. Surveillance Valley -- Yasha Levine. 63. Sex Robots and Vegan Meat -- Jenny Kleeman. 64. How to Take Smart Notes -- Sönke Ahrens. 65. The Creative Act -- Rick Rubin. 66. How to Write One Song -- Jeff Tweedy. 67. Adrian Tchaikovsky and NK Jemisin on Amazon. 68. Snarky Puppy. on Spotify and YouTube. 69. Empire Central -- Snarky Puppy. 70. Polyphia on Spotify and YouTube. 71. The Lazarus Project on Jio Cinema. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Protocol’ by Simahina.
He is a writer, an actor, a poet, a storyteller, an anti-storyteller -- and he cares about both the world outside and the one inside. Danish Husain joins Amit Varma in episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Danish Husain on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Wikipedia and IMDb. 2. TheHoshrubaRepertory, Qissebaazi and Poetrification. 3. Danish Husain interviewed by Irfan for Jashn-e-Rekhta. 4. The art of storytelling -- Danish Husain interviewed by Purva Naresh. 5. 'Becoming the story when performing it' -- Danish Husain interviewed by Roanna Gonsalves. 6. The 27 Club. 7. Self-Portrait — AK Ramanujan. 8. The Mysterious Arrival of an Unusual Letter -- Mark Strand. 9. Collected Poems — Mark Strand. 10. Man's Search For Meaning -- Viktor E Frankl. 11. The Importance of Satya — Episode 241 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Uday Bhatia). 12. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 14. Out of Place: A Memoir -- Edward Said. 15. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 17. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 19. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 20. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 21. Santosh Desai is Watching You -- Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Bombay--London--New York -- Amitava Kumar. 24. Fighting Fake News — Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 25. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 26. Life is Elsewhere -- Milan Kundera. 27. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 28. Ignaz Semmelweis on Britannica and Wikipedia. 29. India’s Tryst With Pandemics -- Episode 205 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 30. Age of Pandemics — Chinmay Tumbe. 31. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 32. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 33. Scene: 75 -- Rahi Masoom Raza (translated by Poonam Saxena). 34. Folktales From India — Edited by AK Ramanujan. 35. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 36. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Stage.in. 38. The Age of Average -- Alex Murrell. 39. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! -- Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 40. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 41. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 42. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 43. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 44. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. ‘Indian languages carry the legacy of caste’ — Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 46. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 47. Premchand, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie on Amazon. 48. Milan Kundera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Saul Bellow, Henry Miller and Octavio Paz on Amazon.. 49. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 50. Selected Poems -- Dom Moraes. 51. Theatres of Independence -- Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker. 52. Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chugtai on Amazon. 53. Toba Tek Singh -- Saadat Hasan Manto. 55. How Music Works -- David Byrne. 56. Danish Husain's anecdote about Mahatma Gandhi and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. 57. Poems -- Louise Glück. 58. Harmony in the Boudoir -- Mark Strand. 59. And Then One Day: A Memoir -- Naseeruddin Shah. 60. Kohrra -- Created by Sudip Sharma and directed by Randeep Jha.. 61. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 62. Make Me a Canteen for My Soul — Episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage). 63. The Aaron Levie tweet on the market for cars. 64. 'A feeble no may mean yes': Indian court overturns rape conviction -- Michael Safi. 65. Grace is Poetry -- Danish Husain. 66. Train-Track Figure -- Kay Ryan. 67. अंधा कबाड़ी -- नून मीम राशिद. 68. The Conjurer of Meaning -- Danish Husain. 69. Converse: Contemporary English Poetry by Indians -- Edited by Sudeep Sen. 67. Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English: 2022 -- Edited by Sukrita Paul Kumar & Vinita Agrawal. 68. मत बुरा उस को कहो गरचे वो अच्छा भी नहीं -- कलीम आजिज़. 69. शम्-ए-तन्हा की तरह सुब्ह के तारे जैसे -- इरफ़ान सिद्दीक़ी.. 70. हुस्न-ए-मह गरचे ब-हंगाम-ए-कमाल अच्छा है -- मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब. 71. हिरास -- साहिर लुधियानवी. 72. Separation -- WS Merwin 73. वो जो इक शर्त थी वहशत की उठा दी गई क्या -- इरफ़ान सिद्दीक़ी. 74. तुम्हें डर है. -- गोरख पाण्डेय. 75. शायद कि ये ज़माना उन्हें पूजने लगे -- अब्दुल वहाब सुख़न. 76. Kya sitam hai waqt ka -- Madan Mohan Danish. 77. फ़राज़ अब कोई सौदा कोई जुनूँ भी नहीं -- फ़राज़. 78. कौन-सी बात कहाँ , कैसे कही जाती है -- वसीम बरेलवी. 79. A Plain Landscape -- Danish Husain. 80. इतिहास की कगार -- दानिश हुसैन. 81. Jawaab -- Kumar Ambuj (translated by Danish Husain). 82. Your Touch -- Danish Husain. 83. The Joke -- Milan Kundera. 84. Herzog -- Saul Bellow. 85. Edward Said, Mary Oliver and Toni Morrison on Amazon. 86. Step Across This Line -- Salman Rushdie. 87. Harishankar Parsai, John Kenneth Galbraith and AS Byatt on Amazon. 88. Garam Hawa -- MS Sathyu. 89. Shatranj Ke Khilari -- Satyajit Ray. 90. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppolla. 91. Do Ankhen Barah Haath -- V Shantaram. 92. Mandi -- Shyam Benegal. 93. Party -- Govind Nihalani. 94. Khosla Ka Ghosla! -- Dibakar Banerjee. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Actor as a Builder of Worlds’ by Simahina.
Semiconductors power much of modern technology -- and thus, our lives and our politics. Pranay Kotasthane and Abhiram Manchi join Amit Varma in episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on how so much geopolitics today centres around chips -- and why its such a big deal. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution. 2. Abhiram Manchi on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and the Takshashila Institution. 3. When the Chips Are Down: A Deep Dive into a Global Crisis -- Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi. 4. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (co-hosted with Saurabh Chandra). 5. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley. 6. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S Jaitley). 7. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter. 8. Siliconpolitik -- The tech newsletter started by Pranay Kotasthane. 9. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 11. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 12. Ilya Sutskever on the dinner invite from Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. 13. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati, with the quote about perfection being the enemy of production). 14. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Chip War -- Chris Miller. 16. The New World Upon Us (2017) -- Amit Varma. 17. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 19. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world -- Amit Varma. 20. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 21. I, Pencil — Leonard Read. 22. The Three Globalizations -- Episode 17 of Everything is Everything. 23. The Great Redistribution (2015) -- Amit Varma. 24. A trade deficit with a babysitter (2005) -- Tim Harford. 25. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker. 26. Paper Tigers, Hidden Dragons -- Douglas B Fuller. 27. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 28. Jawaan -- Atlee. 29. Terry Pratchett on Amazon. 30. Robert Sapolsky and Joseph Henrich on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Fighting for Chips’ by Simahina.
She's covered US-India relations as a foreign correspondent for more than 30 years -- and now she's told that momentous story in a book. Seema Sirohi joins Amit Varma in episode 357 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life as a journalist -- and the love-hate relationship between countries that she saw at close quarters. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Seema Sirohi on Twitter, Economic Times, India Today and Amazon. 2. Friends with Benefits: The India-US Story -- Seema Sirohi. 3. The Luxury Travel Expert on YouTube. 4. The Front Page -- Billy Wilder. 5. The Bhopal Gas Tragedies -- Episode 35 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 6. Playboy Stories: The Best of Forty Years of Short Fiction -- Edited by Alice K Turner. 7. Marginal Revolution -- Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok. 8. Persuasion -- Founded and edited by Yascha Mounk. 9. 9/11 and Pakistan’s economy (2006) -- Amit Varma on the Al Faeda nickname. 10. Government’s End: Why Washington Stopped Working — Jonathan Rauch. 11. Kicking Schoolbags (2006) -- Amit Varma. 12. The Three Globalizations -- Episode 17 of Everything is Everything. 13. Dawn of the third globalisation? -- Ajay Shah. 14. Caste -- Isabel Wilkerson. 15. A People's History of the United States -- Howard Zinn. 16. A Tale of Love and Darkness -- Amos Oz. 17. The Bureau, The Americans, Kohrra and Made in Heaven. 18. To Sir, With Love (the book) -- ER Braithwaite. 19. To Sir, With Love (the film) -- James Clavell.. 20. Doctor Zhivago -- David Lean. 21. A Dry White Season -- Euzhan Palcy. 22. Cry Freedom -- Richard Attenborough's film on Steve Biko. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Foreign Correspondent’ by Simahina.
What is this world we live in, and how did we get here? One of the finest thinkers on this subject is in the house. Santosh Desai joins Amit Varma in episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Indian society and this changing world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Santosh Desai on Twitter, the Times of India, LinkedIn, Futurebrands and his own website. 2. Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense Of Everyday India -- Santosh Desai. 3. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 4. The Slimfit Conspiracy -- Santosh Desai. 5. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Great Indian Rope Trick? -- Santosh Desai. 7. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 8. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! — Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 10. Nick Carter, PG Wodehouse and Arthur Hailey on Amazon. 11. Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco on Amazon. 12. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (1877-1977) — Compiled & edited by Bill Frindall. 13. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma’s column on reading. 14. Dom Moraes on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Poem Hunter. 15. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 16. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 17. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 19. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 20. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam. 21. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 22. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 23. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 24. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 25. The Guilty Pleasures of Digital Dawdling -- Santosh Desai. 26. 30 years on, you can get what you want but don’t know what you need -- Santosh Desai. 27. How traditions give meaning to our lives -- Santosh Desai. 28. The Median Voter Theorem. 29. Mohammad Zubair’s Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad. 30. Inverting the Behaviour Change Paradigm? -- Santosh Desai. 31. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 32. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy -- Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 34. Living Two Lives in Digital India -- Santosh Desai. 35. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 36. The Experience Machine. 37. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 38. Song of Myself — Walt Whitman. 39. Baaba Maal and Advaita on Spotify.. 40. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Paul Cézanne, Krishen Khanna, Jayasri Burman and Gogi Saroj Pal. 41. Sudhir Kakar, Ashis Nandy, Roland Barthes, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong and John Berger on Amazon. 42. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘He Sees Everything’ by Simahina.
India has travelled a long way in the last few decades -- and one man had an inside view of the whole process, shaping policy and trying to fix the nation. KP Krishnan joins Amit Varma in episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his extraordinary life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. KP Krishnan at Centre for Policy Research.. 2. KP Krishnan interviewed in CPR Perspectives by Rohan Venkat: Part 1, Part 2. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 4. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 5. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 6. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 7. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis -- Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 9. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) — Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik). 10. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been — Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 11. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World -- Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 13. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 14. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 15. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar — Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra. 17. Why Freedom Matters — Episode 10 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 18. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 19. Ivan Menezes (1959-2023): A personal recollection of his journey -- Arvind Subramanian. 20. College pedigree, daddy’s name, BBC accent no longer golden ticket. India has a growing new elite -- Shekhar Gupta. 21. Memoirs of a Maverick -- Mani Shankar Aiyar. 22. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 23. KM Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra. 24. Rustom -- Tinu Suresh Desai. 25. Kesavananda Bharati v. The State of Kerala Who Wins? -- PK Tripathi. 26. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. The China Model is Broken -- Episode 16 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 28. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 29. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 30. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 31. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 33. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 34. Hindi Against India: The Meaning of DMK -- Mohan Ram. 35. Governments across the world are discovering “homeland economics” -- Callum Williams. 36. Living Two Lives in Digital India -- Santosh Desai. 37. Rahul Matthan on Twitter, Amazon, LinkedIn and Trilegal. 38. Climate Change and Our Power Sector — Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 39. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change — Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Vishnu Sahasranamam - MS Subbulakshmi. 41. Foyle's War -- Created by Anthony Horowitz. 42. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 43. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. The Percy Mistry Report. 46. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 47. The Logic of Collective Action — Mancur Olson. 48. The Alchemy of Finance — George Soros. 49. Amid 2008 meltdown, how short-selling survived a ban -- P Vaidyanathan Iyer. 50. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 51. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on Demonetisation, collected in one Twitter thread. 52. We Also Make Policy -- Subhash Chandra Garg. 53. Parkinson's Law. 54. Shashank Subramanyam, N Ramani and RK Srikantan on Spotify. 55. The Truth Pill -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. 56. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma — Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 57. The Third Way: India’s Revolutionary Approach to Data Governance -- Rahul Matthan. 58. Whole Numbers And Half Truths -- Rukmini S. 59. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 60. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 61. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India -- Narayani Basu. 62. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘A Civil Servant’ by Simahina.
Motherhood is a terrifying condition that changes a woman's life forever. Forget coping with it -- how do you even understand it? Priya Mathews and Gunjan Grover Gupta join Amit Varma in episode 354 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss all they have learnt from being mothers, processing the experience, and their cult podcast, The Mommy Mix Tape. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Priya Mathews and Gunjan Grover Gupta on Instagram.. 2. The Mommy Mix Tape -- The most awesome parenting podcast ever by Priya Mathews, Bakul Dua and Gunjan Grover Gupta. 3. The Mommy Mix Tape on Instagram. 4. A Life's Work -- Rachel Cusk. 5. Of Woman Born -- Adrienne Rich. 6. The Child, the Family, and the Outside World -- Donald Winnicott. 7. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra (1, 2), Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar, Rohini Nilekani and Shaili Chopra. 8. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 9. Gaurav Chintamani on Instagram. 10. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel. 11. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 12. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 14. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 16. Pallavi Aiyar Has Seen the World -- Episode 351 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Babies and Bylines — Pallavi Aiyar. 18. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 19. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 20. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 21. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 22. Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World — Episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. The Nurture Assumption -- Judith Rich Harris. 24. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 25. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 26. Happiness Class: A Film by Samina Mishra. 27. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 29. Hold on to Your Kids -- Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté. 30. The Breeders on Disney Hotstar. 31. My Daughter's Mum -- Natasha Badhwar. 32. I Will -- The Beatles. 33. All You Need is Love -- Shelja Sen. 34. The Whole-Brain Child -- Daniel J Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson. 32. Frances Ha -- Noah Baumbach. 33. The Lost Daughter -- Maggie Gyllenhaal. 34. How to Apologize -- David LaRochelle & Mike Wohnoutka. 35. I Talk Like a River -- Jordan Scott & Sydney Smith. 36. Cry, Heart, But Never Break -- Glenn Ringtved & Charlotte Pardi. 37. A Stone For Sascha -- Aaron Becker. 38. Journey -- Aaron Becker. 39. How War Changed Rondo -- Romana Romanyshyn & Andriy Lesiv. 40. The Wanderer -- Peter Van den Ende. 41. Cicada -- Shaun Tan. 42. The Arrival -- Shaun Tan. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Mother Looking Out, Looking In’ by Simahina.
How does technology affect our rights? Do we need protection from the state and Big Tech? Apar Gupta joins Amit Varma in episode 353 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his battle for digital rights in India. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Apar Gupta on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, IFF and YouTube. 2. Internet Freedom Foundation. (Donate to it!) 3. Apar Gupta's application to the Ashoka Fellowship (effectively a mini-autobiography). 4. IFF Wrapped, Unwrapped -- 2022 year-end event. 5. The Fine Line of Free Speech in India -- Apar Gupta. 6. When lawyers speak, they argue -- Apar Gupta. 7. I Don't Know -- Apar Gupta. 8. The archives of India Law and Technology Blog. 9. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 10. The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad — Episode 302 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Amartya Ghosh on Spotify. 12. Neighbours Envy, Owners Pride -- Onida commercial. 13. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne. 14. Permanent Record -- Edward Snowden. 15. Nehru's India -- Taylor Sherman. 16. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 18. The Shallows -- Nicholas Carr. 19. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Why India Votes— Mukulika Banerjee. 21. Vlogbrothers, Tom Scott and Hardcore History. 22. The Techno-Optimist Manifesto -- Marc Andreeson. 23. Zero to One -- Peter Thiel. 24. Narendra Modi interviewed by Rajeev Shukla. 25. Sacred Games. 26. The Road Ahead -- Bill Gates. 27. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Vladimir Nabokov on Wikipedia and Amazon. 29. The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald. 30. Ruth Bader Ginsberg on Wikipedia and Amazon, 31. The Notebook Trilogy — Agota Kristof. 32. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 33. Jinnah -- Jaswant Singh. 34. Gujarat High Court lifts ban on Jaswant's book on Jinnah -- Saeed Khan. 35. Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. 36. Charges dropped against girls held for Facebook post -- PTI. 37. Nikhil Pahwa on Twitter, LinkedIn, MediaNama and his own site. 38. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Nikhil Pahwa: 1, 2, 3. 39. Chandrahas Choudhury on Instagram, Amazon and The Middle Stage. 40. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature -- Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Kiran Jonnalagadda on Twitter and Hasgeek. 42. Sedition charges dropped against Aseem Trivedi -- PTI. 43. Justice K.S.Puttaswamy(Retd) vs Union Of India. 44. Hello world - and happy Independence Day! (2016) -- Apar Gupta. 45. IFF on Reddit. 46. Twitter and Tear Gas — Zeynep Tufekci. 47. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 48. Anushka Jain's thread on SRK and digital rights. 49. IFF's Aarogya Setu Infographic. 50. The AgriStack: A Primer -- Rohin Garg. 51. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen. 52. The Struggle And The Promise -- Naushad Forbes. 53. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments. 54. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 55. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 56. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 57. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 59. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 60. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 62. Why Freedom Matters — Episode 10 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 63. India’s Far From Free Markets (2005) — Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal. 64. Don’t Insult Pasta (2007) — Amit Varma. 65. The Matunga Racket (2007) — Amit Varma. 66. One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second-Class Citizens (2018) -- Amit Varma. 67. The Colonial Constitution -- Arghya Sengupta. 68. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 69. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh. 70. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De. 71. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 73. Roland Barthes and John Berger on Amazon. 74. Bombay Progressive Artists' Group and Gond art. 75. Bill Evans on Spotify and YouTube. 76. Night Song and Mustt Mustt -- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with Michael Brook. 77. Doppelganger -- Naomi Klein. 78. Automating Inequality -- Virginia Eubanks. 79. The Speaking Constitution -- KG Kannabiran. 80. The Wages of Impunity -- KG Kannabiran. 81. The Good Fight. 82. Court and The Disciple -- Chaitanya Tamhane. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Carrying a Torch’ by Simahina.
He's been a consultant, an expert on the financial sector, and now lives a life of the mind. Harsh Vardhan joins Amit Varma in episode 352 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Harsh Vardhan on The Leap Blog, Ideas for India, Money Control and Bloomberg Quint. 2. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 3. Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, Mario Vargas Llosa and VS Naipaul on Amazon. 4. BS Mardhekar on Wikipedia and Amazon. 5. Vijay Tendulkar (Wikipedia, Amazon) and Mahesh Elkunchwar (Wikipedia, Amazon). 6. Mirza Ghalib on Wikipedia and Rekhta. 7. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. What Really Happened? — Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis. 9. Fragile by Design -- Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber. 10. The post-pandemic credit landscape in India -- Rajeswari Sengupta and Harsh Vardhan. 11. ‘Consumerisation’ of banking in India: Cyclical or structural? -- Rajeswari Sengupta and Harsh Vardhan. 12. A decade of credit collapse in India -- Harsh Vardhan. 13. Thinking about financial sector reforms in India -- Rajeswari Sengupta and Harsh Vardhan. 14. The Metamorphosis -- Franz Kafka. 15. Lord of the Flies -- William Golding. 16. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 17. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 18. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. 19. Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World -- Episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Who Is Bharat Mata? -- Edited by Purushottam Agrawal. 21. Kishori Amonkar and Kumar Gandharva on Spotify. 22. The Wonder That Was India -- AL Basham. 23. Romila Thapar on Amazon. 24. Desert Island Discs on BBC. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Bank on Him’ by Simahina.
She's been a journalist, travelled the world, lived in nine countries, fought and beaten cancer -- and written about it all in exquisite prose. Pallavi Aiyar joins Amit Varma in episode 351 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pallavi Aiyar on Substack, Amazon, Twitter and her own website. 2. Smoke and Mirrors -- Pallavi Aiyar. 3. Orienting -- Pallavi Aiyar. 4. Babies and Bylines -- Pallavi Aiyar. 5. The Acting Life -- Episode 189 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rasika Dugal and Mukul Chadda). 6. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 7. Orphaned and almost married at 10 -- Pallavi Aiyar about her grandmother. 8. Who's Afraid of Cola Colonialism? -- Pallavi Aiyar. 9. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 12. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Train-Track Figure -- Kay Ryan. 16. The Arias-Aiyar global khichdi -- Pallavi Aiyar. 17. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar's columns and homepage. 19. A tribute to my mother, Gitanjali Aiyar -- Pallavi Aiyar. 20. Confessions of a terrible guru -- Pallavi Aiyar. 21. Children and Death -- Pallavi Aiyar. 22. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar — Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 24. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. The Coming Collapse Of China -- Gordon G Chang. 26. Lord of the Rings -- Pallavi Aiyar. 27. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 28. We Are All Amits From Africa -- Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 29. How The Desperate Norwegian Salmon Industry Created A Sushi Staple -- Jess Jiang. 30. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! -- Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 31. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 32. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 33. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 35. Butter Chicken in Ludhiana -- Pankaj Mishra. 36. An End to Suffering -- Pankaj Mishra. 37. A Room of One's Own -- Virginia Woolf. 38. My Mother's Magic Jar of Happiness -- Pallavi Aiyar. 39. In between the Kingdoms of the Well and Sick -- Pallavi Aiyar. 40. Farewell, good breast -- Pallavi Aiyar. 41. I Am, I Am, I Am -- Maggie O'Farrell. 42. Reggaeton. 43. Bad Bunny on Spotify and YouTube. 44. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. 45. Dead Poets Society -- Peter Weir. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Harbour’ by Simahina.
He built a career and a life through sheer force of will -- and he applies that intentionality to everything in his life. Sudhir Sarnobat joins Amit Varma in episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his learnings and the frameworks he wants to share with others. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sudhir Sarnobat on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2. How Frameworks -- Sudhir Sarnobat's new venture. 3. Ascent Foundation. 4. The Crypto Masterclass playlist compiled by Sudhir Sarnobat. 5. What is Intellectual Investment Planning? -- Sudhir Sarnobat on CTQ Smartcast. 6. The Teaching Learning Community (TLC), founded by Rajendra Bagwe. 7. Reliable Autotech, Rajendra Bagwe's company. 8. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 9. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 10. Think and Grow Rich -- Napolean Hill. 11. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 12. The Design of Everyday Things -- Don Norman. 13. Bridgital Nation -- N Chandrasekaran and Roopa Purushothaman. 14. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 15. Vitalik Buterin Fights the Dragon-Tyrant -- Episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vitalik Buterin). 16. How I Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes -- Episode 9 of Everything is Everything. 17. Sudhir Sarnobat's tribute to The Seen and the Unseen at ep 200. 18. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 19. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life -- Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. Sudhir Sarnobat's recommendations Writing in English 1. Everything by Paul Graham. 2. Everything at Farnham Street. 3. Everything at Collab Fund. 4. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt. 5. The Great Mental Models -- Shane Parrish. 6. Atomic Habits -- James Clear. 7. The Psychology Of Money -- Morgan Housel. 8. Principles -- Ray Dalio. 9. Deep Work -- Cal Newport. 10. Steve Jobs -- Walter Isaacson. 11. Open -- Andre Agassi. 12. A Gentleman in Moscow -- Amor Towles. 13. Family Matters -- Rohinton Mistry. 14. A Fine Balance -- Rohinton Mistry. 15. A Man Called Ove -- Fredrik Backman. 16. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine -- Gail Honeyman. 17. Ghachar Ghochar -- Vivek Shanbhag (translated by Srinath Perur). Writing in Marathi 1. Vyakti ani Valli -- PL Deshpande. 2. Batatyachi Chal -- PL Deshpande. 3. Asa Mi Asami -- PL Deshpande. 4. Apurvai -- PL Deshpande. 5. Purvrang -- PL Deshpande. 6. Mahimchi Khadi -- Madhu Mangesh Karnik. 7. Mrutyunjay -- Shivaji Sawant. 8. Swami -- Ranjeet Desai. 9. Shrimanyogi -- Ranjeet Desai. 10. Radheya -- Ranjeet Desai. 11. Yayati -- VS Khandekar. 12. Duniyadari -- Suhas Shirvalkar. 13. Partner -- VP Kale. Movies 1. Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 2. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro — Kundan Shah. 3. Dil Chahta Hai -- Farhan Akhtar. 4. Delhi Belly -- Abhinay Deo. 5. Dil Dhadakne Do -- Zoya Akhtar. 6. Lunchbox -- Ritesh Batra. 7. Wake Up Sid -- Ayan Mukerji. 8. Dhobi Ghat -- Kiran Rao. 9. Masaan — Neeraj Ghaywan. 10. Gangs of Wasseypur -- Anurag Kashyap. 11. A Wednesday -- Neeraj Pandey. 12. Mandela -- Madonne Ashwin. 13. The Great Indian Kitchen -- Jeo Baby. 14. Kumbalangi Nights -- Madhu C. Narayanan. 15. Gamak Ghar -- Achal Mishra. 16. The Banshees of Inisherin -- Martin McDonagh. 17. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. 18. Three Colors: Red -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 19. Three Colors: White -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 20. Three Colors: Blue -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 21. Jait Re Jait -- Jabbar Patel. 22. Sinhasan -- Jabbar Patel. 23. Umbartha -- Jabbar Patel. 24. Court -- Chaitanya Tamhane. 25. Harishchandrachi Factory -- Paresh Mokashi. 26. Doghi -- Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar. 27. Dombivali Fast -- Nishikanth Kamath. English OTTs and Mini-series Game of Thrones, Mad Men, The West Wing, The Wire, The Newsroom, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Ted Lasso, Mindhunter, Chernobyl and The Queen's Gambit. Indian OTTSDahaad, Guns and Gulabs, The Bear, Kohrra, Asur and Modern Love Chennai. Restaurants Konkan Cafe, Thai Pavilion, Americano, Bombay Canteen, O Pedro, Masala Library, Cin Cin, Hakkasan, Nutcracker, Masque, Thai Naam, Hotel Surekha, Hotel Prakash, Ashok Vadapav, Udyan Ganesh Bhaji Pav, Sri Krishna Vada/Kande Pohe Samosa (Manju cha Vada), Mamledaar Misal, Dhangar, Divatya Budhalya, Marz-O-Rin Sandwiches, Samosas in Cafe Naaz, Karavalli, Ponnusamy, Arsalan, Flury's, Peter Cat, Aheli, 6 Ballygunge Place, Nizam's Rolls and Jhaal Moori. Perfumes Terre d'Hermes, Bleu de Chanel, Acqua di Gio, CK One, Sauvage, Boss Infinite, Luna Rossa Ocean and Tom Ford Noir Extreme. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Seekar’ by Simahina.
Why did the Middle East fall behind Europe despite being in a similar state in 1000 AD? How do modern authoritarians benefit from our tendency to falsify our preferences? Timur Kuran joins Amit Varma in episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his learnings from history -- and what they teach us about today. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Timur Kuran on Twitter, Wikipedia, Google Scholar and Duke University. 2. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 3. The Long Divergence -- Timur Kuran. 4. Freedoms Delayed -- Timur Kuran. 5. You Will Know Them By Their Unpopular Views -- Bryan Caplan. 6. The Hindu Equilibrium -- Deepak Lal. 7. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. James M Buchanan, Albert O Hirschman, Mancur Olson, Thomas Schelling and Kenneth Arrow. 10. The Logic of Collective Action -- Mancur Olson. 11. Micromotives and Macrobehavior -- Thomas Schelling. 12. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty -- Albert O Hirschman. 13. A Theory of Justice — John Rawls. 14. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 15. A Trump wave is on the way (2016) -- Glenn Reynolds. 16. It’s Cascading Trump, It’s Cascading Modi! (2016) -- Amit Varma. 17. Instapundit -- Glenn Reynolds's blog. 18. Marginal Revolution. 19. Bari Weiss on Twitter, Substack and her own website. 20. VS Naipaul on Amazon. 21. Solomon Asch's experiments. 22. Irreversible Damage -- Abigail Shrier. 23. Luxury Beliefs. 24. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 25. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 26. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma. 27. The Beautiful Tree — James Tooley. 28. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 30. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando De Soto. 31. Belling the Cat. 32. Oppenheimer -- Christopher Nolan. 33. Censored -- Margaret E Roberts.. 34. The Art of Not Being Governed -- James C Scott. 35. Domination & the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts -- James C Scott. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ by Simahina.
From Ganja Park in Kolkata to lock-ups in 13 countries, he has travelled the world and lived through mad times. Devangshu Datta joins Amit Varma in episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Bengalis who make bombs, Gujaratis who make fetish costumes, his river pirate ancestors and how Only Fans has disrupted Pornhub. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Devangshu Datta on Twitter and Business Standard. 2. Previous (miniature) episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Devangshu Datta: 1, 2, 3. 3. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 5. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 6. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 7. Godwin's Law. 8. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 9. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 10. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 11. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 12. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher — Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama -- David Remnick. 14. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu. 15. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 16. 'How big is your Madhya Pradesh?' -- Mamata Banerjee asks a party worker to lose weight. 17. Patriots, Poets and Prisoners: Selections from Ramananda Chatterjee's The Modern Review, 1907-1947 -- Edited by Anikendra Sen, Devangshu Datta and Nilanjana S Roy. 18. The State of Indian Sport — Episode 238 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya & Nandan Kamath). 19. Early Indians -- Tony Joseph. 20. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 21. All Quiet on the Western Front -- Erich Maria Remarque. 22. The Dosadi Experiment (featuring Jorj X. McKie) -- Frank Herbert. 23. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia -- Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 24. Lost Victories -- Erich von Manstein. 25. Basic Chess Endings -- Reuben Fine. 26. The Tamilian Gentleman Who Took on the World — Amit Varma. 27. The New World Upon Us -- Amit Varma on Alpha Zero. 28. Alpha Zero -- Episode 51 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devangshu Datta). 29. Google’s AlphaZero Destroys Stockfish In 100-Game Match — Mike Klein (with Peter Heine Nielson's quote on a superior species playing chess). 30. Skynet (Terminator). 31. Neuromancer -- William Gibson. 32. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson. 33. Why Children Labour (2007) — Amit Varma. 34. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm -- Kim Cattrall and Mark Levinson. 36. Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones. 37. The Matunga Racket (2007) -- Amit Varma. 38. Colleen Hoover on Amazon, Instagram, Wikipedia and her own website. 39. The Business of Books — Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika). 40. New in Chess. 41. Amartya Ghosh on Spotify. 42. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. 'Wet Streets Cause Rain' -- Michael Crichton explains Gell-Mann Amnesia. 44. How to generate black money in India (2013) -- TEDx Talk by Devangshu Datta. 45. Poker and Stock Markets — Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand). 46. Once Upon a Prime -- Sarah Hart. 47. Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe on Amazon. 48. Professor Moriarty. 49. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon. 50. A Gentleman in Moscow -- Amor Towles. 51. NK Jemisin and Ursula K Le Guin on Amazon. 52. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 -- Antony Beevor. 53. The Spanish Civil War (playlist with all six parts of the docu-series). 54. The Sandman on Netflix. 55. The Sandman -- Neil Gaiman. 56. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal -- Mikhail Tal. 57. Dune and Blade Runner 2049 -- Denis Villeneuve. 58. India’s War: The Making of Modern South Asia -- Srinath Raghavan. 59. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Chess Board’ by Simahina.
It might seem to be a subject that would interest only wonks and retirees, but "pensions can reshape an entire society." Ajay Shah and Renuka Sane join Amit Varma in episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why -- and to take a deep dive into the crisis India is facing right now. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
- Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack. 2. Renuka Sane on Twitter and The Print. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 4. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 5. XKDR Forum (where Ajay Shah is co-founder). 6. TrustBridge (where Renuka Sane is research director). 7. The Project Oasis Report (2000). 8. A sustainable and scalable approach in Indian pension reform (2005) -- Ajay Shah. 9. Towards estimating India’s implicit pension debt on account of civil service employees (2006) -- Gautam Bhardwaj and Surendra A Dave. 10. Pension guarantees are subtle (2006) -- Ajay Shah. 11. Understanding the Indian financial environment (2015) -- Ajay Shah. 12. The way forward with one-rank-one-pension (2015) -- Ajay Shah and Renuka Sane. 13. Stay the course on the NPS (2018) -- Ajay Shah. 14. Fund management that you buy (2022) -- Ajay Shah. 15. The NPS challenge (2022) -- Ajay Shah. 16. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy -- Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 18. Whose Money is it Anyway? -- Amit Varma. 19. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 20. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on GST: 1, 2, 3. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Wilderness’ by Simahina.
She's been a journalist, an editor, a columnist, a novelist -- someone who sees the world and writes it down. Seema Goswami joins Amit Varma in episode 346 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and times, and what they taught her. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Seema Goswami on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon and her own site. 2. Seema Goswami's column in HT Brunch. 3. Woman on Top -- Seema Goswami. 4. Race Course Road -- Seema Goswami. 5. Madam Prime Minister -- Seema Goswami. 6. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. One Foot on the Ground — Shanta Gokhale's brilliant memoir. 8. I Feel Bad About My Neck -- Nora Ephron. 9. Swim against the stereotypes -- Seema Goswami. 10. Zeenat Aman on Instagram. 11. The Culture Code -- Clotaire Rapaille. 12. Jane Austen on Amazon and Wikipedia. 13. Photographic memory -- Seema Goswami. 14. Cameo: Personalized videos from your favorite stars. 15. The West Wing -- Aaron Sorkin. 16. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 17. Kohrra and Dahaad. 18. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Self-Portrait — AK Ramanujan. 20. The Complete Works of George Bernard Shaw. 21. Georgette Heyer, Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew, James Hadley Chase and Alistair MacLean on Amazon. 22. SJ Bennett's murder mysteries. 23. Manu Pillai on Amazon and The Seen and the Unseen (1, 2, 3, 4). 24. Madhulika Liddle's Muzaffar Jang mysteries. 25. The Malory Towers collections by Enid Blyton: 1, 2, 3, 4. 26. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. 27. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher -- Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair. 29. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity — Peter Attia. 30. Peter Attia on the Huberman Lab Podcast. 31. Pandemic Praise -- Seema Goswami. 32. Blooming Glory -- Seema Goswami. 33. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Why I Loved and Left Poker — Amit Varma. 35. The archives of Amit Varma’s poker column for the Economic Times, Range Rover. 36. Amarcord -- Federico Fellini. 37. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 39. Chourangi, Dhamaka and Semma. 40. The Slow Fire Chef on Twitter. 41. Mahabelly, Savya Rasa and Jamun. 42. The Romantic Idiot -- Samarth Bansal. 43. Cut the Clutter with Shekhar Gupta. 44. Mojo Story on YouTube. 45. Faye D'Souza on YouTube and Instagram. 46. Faye D'Souza doing stand-up comedy on One Mic Stand. 47. Larking About -- Seema Goswami. 48. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 50. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 51. Seema Goswami's Instagram post on her mother and grandmother. 52. The Simple Knot -- Seema Goswami. 53. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 54. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 55. The Imitation Game -- Seema Goswami. 56. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 57. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 59. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Shashi Tharoor on Amazon. 61. The Paradox of Narendra Modi — Episode 102 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shashi Tharoor). 62. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 63. Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery -- Yashowardhan Mishra. 64. Daniel Silva, Clare Mackintosh and Elizabeth Jane Howard on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Write it Down’ by Simahina.
If Bihar was a country, it would be both one of the largest and one of the poorest in the world. How did we get here? What can we do? Mohit Satyanand and Kumar Anand join Amit Varma in episode 345 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their insights from a lifetime of study -- and a road trip they took last year. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Mohit Satynanand (Twitter, Instagram, IMdB) and Kumar Anand (Twitter). 2. Gimme Mo -- Mohit Satyanand's newsletter. 3. Power of Ideas -- Kumar Anand's blog. 4. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Kumar Anand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6. Politics — A limerick by Amit Varma. 7. The Right to Property — Ep 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 8. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film — Amit Varma. 9. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist -- Bruce Yandle. 10. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 11. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra -- Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 13. Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation -- Episode 336 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 15. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 16. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 17. Return to Good Riddance : A Cameo of Contemporary Patna -- Sankarshan Thakur. 18. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. A Matter of Rats — Amitava Kumar. 20. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Not Anurag Behar, Not Smriti Irani, Ramchandara’s Wife Knows Best What’s Good For Her Kids -- Kumar Anand. 22. Education & the Industrial Revolution -- EG West. 23. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar -- Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Barun Mitra, Philosopher and Practitioner — Episode 264 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Gobar Kababs -- Picture by Mohit Satyanand. 26. Snapshots from Bihar: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 -- Pictures by Kumar Anand. 27. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 28. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 29. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 31. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 32. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 33. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty — Albert O Hirschman. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Inside Bihar’ by Simahina.
She's a journalist, a satirist and a connoisseur of bullshit. Manisha Pande joins Amit Varma in episode 344 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her learnings and the lamentable state of our nation and our journalism.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Manisha Pande on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Newslaundry.
2. TV Newsance.
3. Newslaundry.
4. Rahul Gandhi interviewed by Arnab Goswami (2014), Samdish and Curly Tails.
5. Newslaundry on the BeerBiceps collab with MyGov.
6. Wanting — Luke Burgis.
7. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen.
8. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia.
9. S Jaishankar on The Ranveer Show.
10. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen.
11. The Looking-Glass Self.
12. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
13. The Doors, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Bob Dylan, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Cat Stevens.
14. Highway 61 Revisited -- Bob Dylan.
15. Blonde and Blonde -- Bob Dylan.
16. Blood on the Tracks -- Bob Dylan.
17. Fyodor Dostoyevsky on Britannica, Wikipedia and Amazon.
18. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen.
19. What the moral lessons for journalists quitting Republic TV miss out -- Manisha Pande.
20. What women think of Narendra Modi -- Manisha Pande.
21. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh.
22. The Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast episode after Gino Mader's death.
23. The TV Newsance episode on Seema Haidar and Piyush Goyal.
24. The Lallantop video on the vegetable vendor.
25. The Barkha Dutt Files — Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barkha Dutt).
26. We all live in a Cannibal Holocaust -- Amit Varma.
27. Cannibal Holocaust -- Ruggero Deodato.
28. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive!
29. Narendra Modi interviewed by Akshay Kumar.
30. Why we report on the media -- Manisha Pande.
31. Kean -- Jean-Paul Sartre.
32. Cross Purpose -- Albert Camus.
33. Oscar Wilde, Vijay Tendulkar, RK Narayan, Nida Fazli,
34. Collected Plays -- Girish Karnad.
35. Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977 -- Abhishek Choudhary.
36. Diddi: My Mother's Voice -- Ira Pande.
37. The Way Things Were -- Aatish Taseer.
38. India: A Wounded Civilization -- VS Naipaul.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Watch’ by Simahina.
Our statues must eat ice cream, our cities must be designed by cardiovascular surgeons, and we must all go to the fifth temple. Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen to banter away a few perfectly good hours. What a waste of time, eh? NO!
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Krish Ashok on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, his own website and Spotify/Apple Music/Soundcloud.
2. Naren Shenoy on Twitter, Instagram and Blogspot.
3. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
4. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
5. Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking -- Krish Ashok.
6. Simblified, co-hosted by Narendra Shenoy.
7. We want Narendra Shenoy to write a book.
8. Lohapurusha -- Krish Ashok's Sanskrit Heavy Metal album.
9. The Masala Lab Dal Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok.
10. The Amaklamatic Salad Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok.
11. The Amaklamatic Chutney Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok.
12. Newton the Alchemist. Gandhi the Black Swan -- Episode 7 of Everything is Everything.
13. Krish Ashok hates computers and this is proof.
14. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen.
15. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas).
16. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
17. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna).
18. 4′33″ -- John Cage.
19. Is the Singularity Near? -- Episode 2 of Everything is Everything.
20. The Formula Behind Every Perfect Pop Song — Seeker.
21. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read.
22. The Cadbury Dairy Milk Mystery -- Krish Ashok.
23. A Poetry Handbook — Mary Oliver.
24. Tvam -- Krish Ashok's version of Rammstein's Du Hast.
25. Du Hast -- Rammstein.
26. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
27. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
28. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen.
29. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee).
30. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee.
31. The Country Foods channel.
32. Ulhas Kamathe -- The Chicken Leg Piece Guy.
33. Sell the Tiger to Save It — Barun Mitra.
34. The Poultry Map.
35. The Egg Map.
36. Team Pizza or Team Biryani?
37. Gordon tries to make Pad Thai -- The F Word.
38. The Panchatantra.
39. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen.
40. Kimaham Abhavam -- Krish Ashok's version of Johnny Cash's version of Nine Inch Nails's Hurt.
41. Hurt -- Johnny Cash.
42. Hurt -- Nine Inch Nails.
43. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok.
44. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day — Nilay Patel.
45. The Menu -- Mark Mylod.
46. Cilappatikaram.
47. Dunbar's number.
48. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen.
49. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter.
50. Superforecasting -- Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
51. Essays -- Paul Graham.
52. Nityananda making sense.
53. Uncle Roger.
54. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen.
55. Never Talk About TURMERIC on Social Media — Abby Philips.
56. The Magic Pill -- Rob Tate.
57. Wanting — Luke Burgis.
58. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen.
59. Brandolini's law.
60. Foodpharmer on Instagram.
61. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
62. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin.
63. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes.
64. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz.
65. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung.
66. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll.
67. Your Undivided Attention -- Podcast by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin.
68. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
69. 3Blue1Brown on YouTube.
70. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
71. Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir perform Dhano Dhanne.
72. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani).
73. Sonnet 18 -- William Shakespeare.
74. Sonnet 18 -- Harriet Walter.
74. Sonnet 18 -- Akala.
75. Sonnet 18 -- David Gilmour.
76. Raga Ahir Bhairav -- Gangubai Hangal.
77. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri).
78. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao).
79. Dark Was the Night -- Blind Willie Johnson.
80. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road -- Lucinda Williams.
81. Sweet Old World -- Lucinda Williams.
82. All That She Wants -- Ace of Base.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Amits’ by Simahina.
Everything about the world must be rethought -- and Vitalik Buterin is on it. He joins Amit Varma and guest co-host Ajay Shah in episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss currencies, freedom, political philosophy, community, aging and why we need not be too scared of men with guns.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Vitalik Buterin on Twitter and his own website.
2. Ending Aging -- Aubrey de Grey.
3. The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant -- Nick Bostrom.
4. Issue # 1 of Bitcoin Magazine.
5. The World of Warcraft origin story.
6. Human Action -- Ludwig von Mises.
7. Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand.
8. Thomas Sowell on Amazon, Wikipedia and his own website.
9. Frédéric Bastiat’s writings at Bastiat.org and Amazon.
10. The Bastiat-Proudhon Debate.
11. True Names -- Vernon Vinge.
12. The Overton Window.
13. In Defense of Alternative Cryptocurrencies (2013) -- Vitalik Buterin.
14. Convex and Concave Dispositions -- Vitalik Buterin.
15. Arrow's impossibility theorem.
16. Credible Auctions: A Trilemma -- Mohammad Akbarpour and Shengwu Li.
17, Crypto currencies and conventional currencies will both evolve -- Ajay Shah.
18. How Bitcoin Can Actually Help Iranians and Argentinians (2013) -- Vitalik Buterin.
19. Law, Legislation and Liberty -- Friedrich Hayek.
20. The Wandering Earth -- Frant Gwo, based on the book by Cixin Liu.
21. 3 Body Problem -- David Benioff, DB Weiss and Alexander Woo, based on the book by Cixin Liu.
22. The Studio Ghibli Collection.
23. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress -- Robert Heinlein.
24. Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant -- Video by CGP Grey.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Vitalik’ by Simahina.
She's one of our finest thinkers, and has devoted her life to public policy and building this country. Yamini Aiyar joins Amit Varma in episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her learnings and how the Indian state can be reformed.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Yamini Aiyar at Twitter, Deccan Herald, Hindustan Times and Center for Policy Research.
2. The Curious Case of the Powerful yet Powerless Bureaucrat -- BSC Seminar with Yamini Aiyar.
3. Rules Vs. Responsiveness -- A talk by Yamini Aiyar at IIM-A.
4. The State of the State: Strengthening India's Governance Capabilities -- Panel discussion featuring Yamini Aiyar and moderated by Amit Varma.
5. The Looking-Glass Self.
6. Wanting — Luke Burgis.
7. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia.
8. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. The Overton Window.
10. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
11. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
12. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
13. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen.
14. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change — Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen.
15. India’s Far From Free Markets (2005) — Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal.
16. Pure Magic -- Kumkum Chadha on Shankara Pillai Krishna Kumar.
17. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
18. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
19. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra.
20. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen.
21. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
22. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy — Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen.
23. The RISE Programme.
24. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma.
25. Is the Singularity Near? -- Episode 2 of Everything is Everything.
26. My Hero, Oppenheimer -- Episode 5 of Everything is Everything.
27. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
28. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
29. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen.
30. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
31. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen.
32. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley.
33. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley).
34. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
35. Making Bureaucracy Work: Norms, Education and Public Service Delivery in Rural India -- Akshay Mangla.
36. Is India a Flailing State? — Lant Pritchett.
37. James Manor on Amazon.
38. The Hedgehog And The Fox — Isaiah Berlin.
39. Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977 -- Abhishek Choudhary.
40. Planning Democracy: How A Professor, An Institute, And An Idea Shaped India — Nikhil Menon.
41. The History of the Planning Commission -- Episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Menon).
42. Nehru's India -- Taylor Sherman.
43. Hindutva and Violence -- Vinayak Chaturvedi.
44. The Thursday Murder Club -- Richard Osman.
45. Agatha Christie on Amazon.
46. Dahaad, Kohrra, Scoop and Crash Course in Romance.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Build It’ by Simahina.
He's a philosopher, a political theorist, a runner, a wine lover, an Ambedkarite -- and he used to be a Dharma Bum. Aakash Singh Rathore joins Amit Varma in episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his unusual journey and his unconventional insights.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Aakash Singh Rathore on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Amazon, Deccan Herald and his own website.
2. Poorva Paksha -- Aakash Singh Rathore's columns in Deccan Herald.
3. Indian Political Theory: Laying the Groundwork for Svaraj -- Aakash Singh Rathore.
4. Ambedkar's Preamble: A Secret History of the Constitution of India -- Aakash Singh Rathore.
5. Becoming Babasaheb: The Life and Times of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Volume 1): Birth to Mahad (1891-1929) -- Aakash Singh Rathore.
6. Vision for a Nation: Paths and Perspectives -- Edited by Aakash Singh Rathore and Ashis Nandy.
7. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
8. Cathedral — Raymond Carver.
9. Both Sides Now -- Joni Mitchell.
10. Some ancient wisdom for the modern world -- Aakash Singh Rathore.
11. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling.
12. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man -- Marshall McLuhan.
13. Understanding Media -- Marshall McLuhan.
14. Phaedrus -- Plato.
15. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma.
16. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
17. Philosophy, Cognition and Writing: A Talk on the Writing Process -- Aakash Singh Rathore.
18. Ghare Baire / Home and the World -- Rabindranath Tagore.
19. Ghare Baire -- Satyajit Ray.
20. Citizen Kane — Orson Welles.
21. A Movable Feast -- Ernest Hemingway.
22. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen.
23. Murder in Mahim — Jerry Pinto.
24. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line -- Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen.
25. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll.
26. The Dharma Bums -- Jack Kerouac.
27. The Beat Generation.
28. Kicking Schoolbags -- Amit Varma.
29. The Sex Pistols and Clash.
30. Unsatisfied — The Replacements.
31. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
32. Yukio Mishima on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon.
33. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra -- Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen.
34. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Life and Mission -- Dhananjay Keer.
35. CB Khairmode's 12-volume Marathi biography of Ambedkar.
36. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
37. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu).
38. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
39. Hind Swaraj -- Mohandas Gandhi.
40. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
41. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
42. The centre-Left in India is more concerned with dirty politics -- Aakash Singh Rathore interviewed by Caravan.
43. Coriolanus -- William Shakespeare.
44. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee -- Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen.
45. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee.
46. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World — Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen.
47. Relativity: The Special And The General Theory -- Albert Einstein.
48. I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) -- Aakash Singh Rathore.
49. Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers -- Jeremy Corbell.
50. The Fermi Paradox.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Running to Find the Light’ by Simahina.
She's a filmmaker, feminist, artist, writer -- impossible to pin down, a connoisseur of multitudes. Paromita Vohra joins Amit Varma in episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen to shoot the breeze and share her thoughts on Covid, relationships, the garden of consent, how being a misfit can be liberating and what she means by Poetic Feminism.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Paromita Vohra on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, IMDb and Parodevi Pictures.
2. Paromita Vohra's column archives in Mid-Day.
3. Agents of Ishq.
3. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra).
4. Unlimited Girls (95 mins).
5. Partners in Crime (95 mins).
6. Paromita Vohra interviewed by The Third Eye.
7. Empire of the Sun -- Steven Spielberg.
8. Simple Recipes for Complicated Times -- Peter Griffin's Facebook group.
9. Tsunami Help and Cloudburst Mumbai.
10. Feeding the Hungry in the Pandemic — Episode 210 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ruben Mascarenhas).
11. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
12. Chekhov's Gun.
13. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen.
14. Padosan and Kashmir Ki Kali.
15. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. One Foot on the Ground — Shanta Gokhale.
17. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus — John Gray.
18. What Makes Women Happy -- Fay Weldon.
19. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
20. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja).
21. Asterix, Tintin, Phantom and Mandrake.
22. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie.
23. Shame -- Salman Rushdie.
24. Amitav Ghosh on Amazon.
25. Anjali Arondekar on Amazon and her own website.
26. Sex, Law, and the Politics of Age: Child Marriage in India, 1891–1937 -- Ishita Pande.
27. Indian Sex Life -- Durba Mitra.
28. The Looking-Glass Self.
29. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham.
30. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok.
31. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day — Nilay Patel.
32. Tokyo is the new Paris -- Noah Smith.
33. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta.
34. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai — Karan Johar.
35. Supermen of Malegaon -- Faiza Ahmad Khan.
36. The Overton Window.
37. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
38. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
39. Stage.in.
40. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges.
41. On Uniform Civil Code, intent matters -- GN Devy.
42. Past Lives -- Celine Song.
43. Joseph Fasano on Twitter.
44. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri.
45. Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women -- Translated by Charles Hallisey.
46. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
47. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph.
48. Why Children Labour (2007) -- Amit Varma.
49. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen.
50. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist -- Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen.
51. Roots -- Alex Haley.
52. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair.
53. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity -- Peter Attia.
54. Chronicle of a Summer -- Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin.
55. Chaalbaaz -- Pankaj Parashar.
56. Topsy-Turvy -- Mike Leigh.
57. Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency -- Chen Chen.
58. i love you to the moon & -- Chen Chen.
59. Chen Chen on Instagram.
60. Rajendra Krishan on Wikipedia, IMDb and Rekhta.
61. Pyar Ke Jahan Ki Nirali Sarkar Hai -- Song from Patang, written by Rajendra Krishan.
62. Ga Ga Ga Gori Gori -- Baba Sehgal.
63. Ek Thi Ladki -- Roop Shorey.
64. Lara Lappa Lara Lappa -- Song from Ek Thi Ladki.
65. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee).
66. Regrets, None -- Dolly Thakore.
67. Timepass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi -- Protima Bedi.
68. Joan Didion on Amazon.
69. The Odd Woman and the City — Vivian Gornick.
70. We Should All Be Feminists -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
71. Fearless Freedom -- Kavita Krishnan.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘The Dance of Life’ by Simahina.
There are few spaces in the world more intense than an intensive care unit, where life hangs in the balance, where nothing can be taken for granted. Nitin Arora joins Amit Varma in episode 338 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about the history and evolution of intensive care, what Covid taught him and why he speaks more Punjabi in Birmingham than in Amritsar.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Nitin Arora on Twitter, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Those We Carry.
2. The Beginner's Guide to Intensive Care -- Nitin Arora and Shondipon K Laha.
3. Nitin Arora on the Simblified podcast: 1, 2, 3, 4.
4. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto).
5. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine -- Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen.
6. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
7. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
8. The Medical Council of India — Episode 8 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath).
9. Critical: Stories from the front line of intensive care medicine -- Matt Morgan.
10. The Armchair Economist -- Stephen Landsburg.
11. Being Mortal -- Atul Gawande.
12. Platoon -- Oliver Stone.
13. Freakonomics -- Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.
14. The Darwin Awards.
15. Oxygen cylinders or Irish nuns?.
15, The Checklist Manifesto -- Atul Gawande.
16. When Breath Becomes Air -- Paul Kalanithi.
17. Thinking Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Intensive Care’ by Simahina.
To live the examined life, we have to examine our own desires. Luke Burgis joins Amit Varma in episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights into human nature -- and to talk about his own evolution as a person and a thinker.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Luke Burgis on Twitter, Instagram and his own website.
2. Wanting -- Luke Burgis.
3. Anti-Mimetic -- Luke's newsletter.
4. Ride/Drive -- Another newsletter by Luke.
5. Speaking Out (Of Order) -- Luke Burgis.
6. Podcast Heroes -- Luke Burgis.
7. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
8. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma.
9. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma.
10. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges.
11. Getting out from under the influencers -- Luke Burgis on Look Ma' No Hands, Laura Max Rose's podcast.
12. Marshall McLuhan on Britannica, Wikipedia and Amazon.
13. The Power of Mimetic Desire -- Luke Burgis on The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish.
14. Dietrich von Hildebrand on Wikipedia and Amazon.
15. Leisure: The Basis of Culture -- Josef Pieper.
16. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen.
17. Dunbar's Number.
18. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri.
19. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja).
20. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
21. How the Language of Therapy Took Over Dating -- Dani Blum.
22. The Pathless Path -- Paul Millerd.
23. How To Find Your True Desires -- Luke Burgis on Paul Millerd's Pathless Path podcast.
24. Songs of Surrender -- U2.
25. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature -- Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen.
26. Gurwinder Bhogal's recent megathread -- and his tweet about the learning pyramid.
27. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia.
28. Man's Search For Meaning -- Viktor Frankl.
29. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen.
30. Mystagogues Wanted -- Luke Burgis.
31. Cormac McCarthy on Amazon.
32. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity -- Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen.
33. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai).
34. What People Are Really Doing When They Play Hard to Get -- Luke Burgis.
35. The Two Gentlemen of Verona -- William Shakespeare.
36. Blood Meridian -- Cormac McCarthy.
37. Aesop's Fables.
38. The Crisis of Political Imagination -- Glenn Tinder.
39. A Hidden Life -- Terrence Malick.
40. Paterson -- Jim Jarmusch.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Look' by Simahina.
In a democracy, every vote should be equal. But in India, that's not the case. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 336 of The Seen and the Unseen to give a detailed primer into the complex issue of Delimitation -- and to suggest her own radical solution.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Shruti Rajagopalan on Twitter, Substack, Instagram and her podcast, Ideas of India.
2. Demography, Delimitation, and Democracy -- Shruti Rajagopalan's detailed post on Delimitation.
3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
4. India’s Emerging Crisis of Representation -- Milan Vaishnav and Jamie Hintson.
5. Of Openings and Possibilities -- Pranay Kotasthane on Delimitation.
6. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS).
7. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy -- Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
8. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. Amit Varma on the Creator Economy -- A recent episode of the Ideas of India podcast.
11. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature -- Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen.
12. The Prism -- Gurwinder Bhogal's Substack newsletter.
13. Public Choice Theory — Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen.
14. Public Choice: A Primer — Eomonn Butler.
15. Public Choice -- Politics Without Romance -- James M Buchanan.
16. Politics Without Romance -- Amit Varma's column archives for Bloomberg Quint.
17. David Hume on Britannica, Wikipedia and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
18. Adam Smith on Britannica, Wikipedia and Amazon.
19. James M Buchanan on Britannica, Wikipedia, Econlib and Amazon.
20. Gordon Tullock on Wikipedia, Econlib, Mercatus and Amazon.
21. The Calculus of Consent — James M Buchanan and Gordon Tullock.
22. Democracy in Deficit -- James M Buchanan and Richard E Wagner.
23. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments.
24. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State -- Episode 33 of The Seen and the Unseen.
25. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra.
26. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
27. The Political Theory of a Compound Republic -- Vincent Ostrom.
28. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
29. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
30. Great Soul -- Joseph Lelyveld.
31. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
32. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
33. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma.
34. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
35. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
36. Nehru’s Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.)
37. Coalition Politics and Economic Development -- Irfan Nooruddin.
38. The Laffer Curve.
39. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
40. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan).
41. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham.
42. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein.
43. Eppur si muove.
44. Jagdish Bhagwati's co-written defence of demonetisation, and Shruti Rajagopalan's co-written rebuttal.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Figure it Out’ by Simahina.
The war in Ukraine may seem distant -- but it affects us all in a million unseen ways. Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen to deliver an in-depth masterclass on exactly what is going on.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack.
2. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
3. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
4. Rising to the China Challenge -- Gautam Bambawale, Vijay Kelkar, Raghunath Mashelkar, Ganesh Natarajan, Ajit Ranade and Ajay Shah.
5. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy — Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai).
6. Conflict in Ukraine: A timeline (2014 - present) -- Nigel Walker for House of Commons Library.
7. RUSI's commentary on Ukraine.
8. Rand Corporation's archive on the war.
9. Understanding the Russo-Ukranian War: A Guide From War on the Rocks.
10. Foreign Affairs articles on Ukraine, Russia and China.
11. Maps that update every day from Deep State and War Mapper.
12. YouTubers to follow on this subject: Perun, Timothy Snyder, Anders Puck Nielsen, The Telegraph, Silicon Curtain and William Spaniel.
13. Wind and solar power generated more electricity in the EU last year than gas did. Here’s how -- Stefan Ellerbeck.
14. Economic stress in Russia -- Ajay Shah.
15. More ammo: Improving resilience against extreme surges in demand -- Ajay Shah.
16. Downstream from the Ukraine war -- Gautam Bambawale and Ajay Shah.
17. Bloodlands -- Timothy Snyder.
18. Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine -- Anne Applebaum.
19. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56 -- Anne Applebaum.
20. On Tyranny -- Timothy Snyder.
21. What is Populism? -- Jan-Werner Müller.
22. Tyranny in the Post-Truth Universe (2017) -- Amit Varma.
23. Why Both Modi and Trump are Textbook Populists (2017) -- Amit Varma.
24. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay.
25. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book.
26. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
27. Arthur Koestler and Boris Pasternak on Amazon.
28. Annual Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (2005) -- Vladimir Putin.
29. Requiem -- Anna Akhmatova.
30. Russian court orders closure of country’s oldest human rights group -- Andrew Roth on the ban of Memorial.
31. The Resource Curse.
32. Leo Tolstoy, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Vasily Grossman.
33. Dersu Uzala -- Akira Kurosawa.
34. Servant of the People -- The show in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy starts as the president of Ukraine.
35. Volodymyr Zelenskyy plays the piano with his penis.
36. How Corruption Destroys Armies - Theft, Graft, and Russian failure in Ukraine -- Perun.
37. An excerpt from Wittgenstein's diary -- Parul Sehgal on Twitter.
38. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus -- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
39. The Innovator's Dilemma -- Clayton M Christensen.
40. National Security Strategy of Japan.
41. Suspicious deaths of Russian businesspeople (2022–2023).
42. ‘Stop the war.’ 44 Top Russian Players Publish Open Letter To Putin — Sam Copeland.
43. Alexander Grischuk’s emotional press conference after Russia invaded Ukraine. (Watch from 4:20.)
44. India must detach from Russia -- Renuka Sane.
45. Helping India Replace Russia in the Value Arms Market -- Vasabjit Banerjee and Benjamin Tkach.
46. After Ukraine, Where Will India Buy its Weapons? -- Vasabjit Banerjee and Benjamin Tkach.
47. For Whom the Bell Tolls -- Ernest Hemingway.
48. For Whom the Bell Tolls -- John Donne.
49. Night of the Long Knives.
50. Anton Geraschenko's tweet after the Wagner backdown.
51. Mad Max: Fury Road — George Miller.
52. Max Seddon's tweet about Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘War’ by Simahina.
He was a physician, and then an IAS officer, and then a universally-respected politician. Jayaprakash Narayan joins Amit Varma in episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his lifelong quest to complete our task of nation-building.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
- A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
- The State of Indian Politics — Episode 50 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
- The Myth of Sisyphus (Amazon) (Wikipedia) -- Albert Camus.
- Factfulness — Hans Rosling.
- The best stats you’ve ever seen — Hans Rosling.
- What’s Consolation For An Atheist? (2008) -- Amit Varma.
- Barun Mitra, Philosopher and Practitioner -- Episode 264 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra.
- Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State -- Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
- We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State — Amit Varma.
- Rajesh Jain and Dhan Vapasi -- Episode 94 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Team of Rivals — Doris Kearns Goodwin.
- The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
15, The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer -- Amit Varma. - Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
- Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
- Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
- The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
- The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
- The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
- Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma.
- The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel.
- Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander.
- Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan).
- We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma.
- South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS).
- Animal Farm -- George Orwell.
- Guns, Germs And Steel -- Jared Diamond.
- Yuval Noah Harari on Amazon.
- The Economic Government of the World: 1933-2023 -- Martin Daunton.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Build’ by Simahina.
India is like a caged tiger -- and the cage is unseen by most and difficult to break through. Subhashish Bhadra joins Amit Varma in episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the many ways in which the Indian state holds back the Indian people -- and also to introspect on his own journey.
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
Also check out:
1. Subhashish Bhadra on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
2. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back -- Subhashish Bhadra.
3. Freedom at Midnight -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.
4. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen.
5. Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) -- Marvin Gaye.
6. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen.
7. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen.
8. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. Yeh Honsla -- Song from Dor.
10. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature -- Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen.
11. The Perils of Audience Capture — Gurwinder Bhogal.
12. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
13. The State of Our Farmers — Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil).
14. The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer -- Amit Varma.
15. Power and Prosperity — Mancur Olson.
16. A Tale Of Two Bandits: Naxals And The Indian State -- Amit Varma.
17. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
18. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh.
19. The Narrow Corridor: How Nations Struggle for Liberty -- Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.
20. Paul Graham’s essays.
21. Malevolent Republic — Kapil Komireddi.
22. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
23. A New Idea of India -- Harsh Madhusudan and Rajeev Mantri.
24. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
25. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Ep 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
26. The Transformative Constitution -- Gautam Bhatia.
27. The Great Repression — Chitranshul Sinha.
28. India’s Sedition Law — Episode 146 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chitranshul Sinha).
29. Georges Simenon on Amazon.
30. The Road to Serfdom — Friedrich Hayek.
31. Leviathan -- Thomas Hobbes.
32. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
33. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash.
34. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen.
35. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
36. Minimum government, maximum governance: A manifesto for a limited state -- Reuben Abraham and Vivek Dehejia.
37. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
38. India's Far From Free Markets (2005) -- Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal.
39. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
40. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra.
41. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma.
42. The Delhi Smog — Ep 40 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
43. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
44. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor.
45. Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track — Episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen.
46. Memories of a Father -- TV Eachara Varier.
47. Flying Spaghetti Monster.
48. Don’t Insult Pasta (2007) — Amit Varma.
49. Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India -- Abhinav Chandrachud.
50. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS).
51. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century -- Yuval Noah Harari.
52. Rethinking Public Institutions in India -- Edited by Devesh Kapur, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Milan Vaishnav.
53. Black Mirror on Netflix.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Cage’ by Simahina.
She's been a historian and a filmmaker. She's worked on feminism and caste and Buddhism. She's collected oral histories of India's traumas. She's mentored generations. The legendary Uma Chakravarti joins Amit Varma in episode 332 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her times and her invaluable work towards the pursuit of truth. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Uma Chakkravarti on Wikipedia and Amazon. 2. The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism -- Uma Chakravarti. 3. Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai -- Uma Chakravarti. 4. Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens -- Uma Chakravarti. 5. Delhi Riots: Three Days in the Life of a Nation -- Uma Chakravarti and Nandita Haksar. 6. Thinking Gender, Doing Gender -- Edited by Uma Chakravarti. 7. A Quiet Little Entry -- Uma Chakravarti. 8. Fragments of a Past -- Uma Chakravarti. 9. Ek Inquilab Aur Aaya: Lucknow 1920-1949 -- Uma Chakravarti. 10. Prison Diaries -- Uma Chakravarti. 11. Sexual Violence in Indian Society -- Uma Chakravarti. 12. Restructuring the Path: Inserting Women into History (2000) -- Uma Chakravarti. 13. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar, Rohini Nilekani and Shaili Chopra. 14. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 15. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 17. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 18. Kiran Ahluwalia Finds Our Aam Zameen -- Episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 20. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 21. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 22. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 23. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 24. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 25. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 26. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 27. Therīgāthā on Wikipedia and Amazon. 28. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma — Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Deedar -- Nitin Bose. 30. Diya Jalao Jagmag Jagmag -- Song from Tansen. 31. Do Bigha Zameen -- Bimal Roy. 32. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 34. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — Mary Wollstonecraft. 35. Frankenstein -- Mary Shelley. 36. Amit Varma’s episode of The Book Club on Wollstonecraft’s book. 37. Amit Varma's episode of The Book Club on Shelley's book. 38. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 41. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 42. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 43. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 45. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 46. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 47. The Beautiful Tree — James Tooley. 48. Hum Dekhenge -- Iqbal Bano. 49. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India -- V Geetha. 50. Let's Read Ambedkar -- Lecture series by V Geetha. 51. Dust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India -- Douglas Ober. 52. The Conversion of the Untouchables -- BR Ambedkar. 53. The Gregorian Chant. 54. Deva Bandha Namma -- Bhimsen Joshi. 55. Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada So Hi Param Pada Pavega -- Bhimsen Joshi. 56. Vaishnav Jan To -- Riyaaz Qawwali. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Carrying the Torch’ by Simahina.
It is not the world that is the problem but the flawed ways in which we think about it. Gurwinder Bhogal joins Amit Varma in episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his interest in meta-cognition -- and what it reveals about us and the world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Gurwinder Bhogal on Substack and Twitter. 2. My Story -- Gurwinder Bhogal. 3. Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things -- Gurwinder Bhogal. 4. The Perils of Audience Capture -- Gurwinder Bhogal. 5. Skin in the Game -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 6. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. 7. The Looking-Glass Shelf. 8. Nikocado Avocado -- Nicholas Perry's YouTube channel. 9. God is Not Great -- Christopher Hitchens. 10. The Coddling of the American Mind — Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. 11. A Biologist Explains Why Sex Is Binary -- Colin Wright. 12. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Think About Thinking’ by Simahina.
He's a freethinker who's never been scared to rattle orthodoxies. Eric Weinstein joins Amit Varma in episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how he became the man he is. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Eric Weinstein on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and his own website. 2. Eric Weinstein on The Joe Rogan Experience (1, 2) and Lex Fridman (1, 2, 3, 4). 3. Eric Weinstein in Karjat, 1986. 4. The Road Not Taken -- Robert Frost. 5. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening -- Robert Frost. 6. Total Love -- Gur Bentwich. 7. Eric Weinstein in Kiev, 1989. 8. Eric Weinstein meets a harmonica friend. 9. The 27 Club. 10. Umwelt. 11. John Mayer and Blake Mills on Spotify. 12. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Desire -- Clementine Von Radics. 14. The Is-Ought Problem. 15. The Naturalistic Fallacy. 16. The Big Questions — Steven E Landsburg. 17. Hindi Nationalism — Alok Rai. 18. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron — Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 19. Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth-Century India — Jahnavi Phalkey. 20. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 21. Unlikely is Inevitable — Amit Varma. 22. Poisson Point Process. 23. The Major-General song from The Pirates of Penzance. 24. The HMS Pinafore song. 25. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma (on Alpha Zero). 26. Alfred Hitchcock and The Beach Boys. 27. Roger Ebert on Mulholland Drive and Memento. 28. Joe Morgenstern and Bonnie and Clyde. 29. Creep -- Radiohead. 30. The Perils of Audience Capture -- Gurwinder Bhogal (on 'The Looking-Glass Self; and more). 31. David Bowie and Madonna. 32. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) -- Green Day. 33. I Can't Stand the Rain -- Ann Peebles. 34. Fast Car -- Tracy Chapman. 35. Planet Claire -- The B52s. 36. Dunning-Kruger Effect. 37. Imposter Syndrome. 38. Bethany Hamilton on Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram and her own website. 39. FOO Camp. 40. Gad Saad's poll on Like vs Respect. 41. Mary Oliver and Mark Strand. 42. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 43. The Great Brain -- John D Fitzgerald. 44. Pippi Longstocking -- Astrid Lindgren. 45. Tom Lehrer on Spotify. 46. Eric Weinstein on Kung Fu Panda. 47. Kung Fu Panda -- John Stevenson. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Endless Possibility’ by Simahina.
He gave up a staggeringly successful career to live a quiet life -- and now he shares his wisdom with us. Murali Neelakantan joins Amit Varma in episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life he has lived and the lessons he has learnt. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Murali Neelankantan on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2. An Idea of a Law School -- NR Madhava Menon, Murali Neelakantan and Sumeet Malik. 3. Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya -- Episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 6. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why — Amit Varma. 7. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 8. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Casino Royale -- Martin Campbell. 11. Schrödinger's cat. 12. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 13. Right to Education: Just another law -- Meera Neelakantan. 14. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 16. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 17. Major Navneet Vats SM. 18. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair. 19. The Lifespan Podcast by David Sinclair. 20. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 21. Loss Aversion. 22. Aandhi -- Gulzar. 23. Nowhere Near -- Yo La Tengo. 24. Dil Hi To Hai Na Sang o Hishat -- Abida Parveen. 25. Ranjish hi Sahi -- Mehdi Hasan. 26. Old Man -- Neil Young. 27. Oscar Wilde on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho -- Jagjit Singh. 29. Bonjour Tristesse -- Françoise Sagan. 30. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 31. Politics and the Sociopath (2014) — Amit Varma. 32. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 33. The Expanding Circle — Peter Singer. 34. Dunbar's number. 35. Rankthings.io by Aella and David. 36. Aella on Twitter and Substack. 37. Ye Humse Na Hoga -- Javed Akhtar. 38. All You Who Sleep Tonight -- Vikram Seth. 39. GCN +. 40. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. SVB, Banking and the State of the Economy -- Episode 323 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah and Mohit Satyanand). 43. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change -- Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Laws Against Victimless Crimes Should Be Scrapped — Amit Varma. 45. One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second-Class Citizens — Amit Varma. 46. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 47. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (on isomorphic mimicry, with Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 48. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 49. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 51. The Wealth of Nations -- Adam Smith. 52. The Theory of Moral Sentiments — Adam Smith. 53. Humesha Der Kar Deta Hoon Main -- Muneer Niazi. 54. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines — Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 55. Rustom -- Tinu Suresh Desai on the Nanavati case. 56. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 58. Mohit Satyanand on Twitter and Substack. 59. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 60. Richard Dawkins on unpleasant gods. 61. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life -- Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 62. Three Hundred Verses: Musings on Life, Love and Renunciation -- Bhartrihari. 63. Drug Price Controls -- Episode 29 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath). 64. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma — Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 65. Bottle of Lies — Katherine Eban. 66. The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. 67. Fire in the Blood -- Dylan Mohan Gray. 68. New York Stories -- Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen. 69. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 70. Kumārasambhava -- Kalidasa. 71. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking -- Susan Cain. 72. Goodbye, Mr Chips -- Sam Wood. 73. Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil -- Jim Goddard. 74. What Money Can't Buy -- Michael Sandel.
- Tum Bilkul Hum Jaise Nikle -- Fehmida Riaz. 76. Kuchh Log Tumhein Samjhaaenge -- Fehmida Riaz. 77. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘This is the World’ by Simahina.
Her career spans decades and genres, and she's brought together worlds that seldom meet. Kiran Ahluwalia joins Amit Varma in episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her music and the ethic that binds it all together. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Song Timecodes: Rabba Ru: 34:56 Har Khayal : 01:06:00 Awara : 02:00:12 Dil: 03:08:30 Zindagi : 04:11:45 Pancake: 4:16:56 Jaane Jahan : 04:21:13 Mustt Mustt: 04:27:25 Hayat: 04:31:40 We Sinful Women : 4:36:40 Also check out: 1. Kiran Ahluwalia on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and her own website. 2. Kashish: Attraction -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 3. Beyond Boundaries -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 4. Kiran Ahluwalia -- Kiran Ahluwalia. (Also see this.) 5. Wanderlust -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 6. Aam Zameen: Common Ground -- Kiran Ahluwalia (featuring Tinariwen and Terakaft). 7. Sanata: Stillness -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 8. 7 Billion -- Kiran Ahluwalia. (Also see this.) 9. Kiran Ahluwalia interviewed by Asia Blog. 10. Kalpana Bharat, Narendra Datar, Padma Talwalkar and Vithal Rao. 11. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The War Against Cliche — Martin Amis. 16. Lament from Night Song -- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with Michael Brook. 17. Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hasan. 18. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 19. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 20. Souad Massi on Spotify and YouTube Music. 21. Pink Moon -- Nick Drake. (And also Amit's favourite Nick Drake song, Northern Sky.) 22. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Cities of Sleep -- Shaunak Sen. 24. All That Breathes -- Shaunak Sen. 25. Saving Face -- Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge. 26. My Octopus Teacher -- Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed. 27. Metamorphosis -- Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper. 28. Shooting Indians -- Ali Kazimi. 29. Kaifinama -- Sumantra Ghosal. 30. Garm Hava -- MS Sathyu. 31. Nainsukh -- Amit Dutta. 32. The Fall -- Tarsem Singh. 33. Timbuktu -- Abderrahmane Sissako. (Also check out the soundtrack.) 34. The Square -- Ruben Östlund. 35. Triangle of Sadness -- Ruben Östlund. 36. The Innocents -- Anne Fontaine. 37. Border -- Ali Abbasi. 38. The Hedgehog -- Mona Achache. 39. A Fraction Of The Whole -- Steve Toltz. 40. What is the What -- Dave Eggers. 41. Barabbas -- Pär Lagerkvist. 42. Tinariwen, Amadou & Mariam, Fatoumata Diawara, Khaira Arby, Tufail Niazi, Vithal Rao, Padma Talwalkar, Ulhas Kashalkar and Venkatesh Kumar on Spotify. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Listen to the Music’ by Simahina.
George Fernandes was an activist, politician, minister, thinker -- and was as complicated as the times he lived in. Rahul Ramagundam joins Amit Varma in episode 327 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his biography of Fernandes, the decades he lived through, and this country that kept changing, changing, changing. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rahul Ramagundam at Jamia Millia Islamia, Amazon, LinkedIn and Google Scholar. 2. The Life and Times of George Fernandes -- Rahul Ramagundam. 3. Gandhi's Khadi: A History of Contention and Conciliation -- Rahul Ramagundam. 4. Including the Socially Excluded -- Rahul Ramagundam. 5. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 6. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 7. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 8. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 9. A shoe store brings together two faces of 2002 Gujarat riots -- The Hindu. 10. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 11. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 12. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 13. The Decline of the Congress — Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 14. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 15. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 16. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma’s column on reading. 17. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 18. Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 19. No One Writes to the Colonel -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 20. The Moon is Down -- John Steinbeck. 21. Is Paris Burning? -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 22. Freedom at Midnight -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 23. Hermann Hesse and Henry Miller on Amazon. 24. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 25. Life among the Scorpions -- Jaya Jaitly. 26. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. 27. The Graham Staines murder. 28. Thomas Weber's books on Gandhi. 29. Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track -- Episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 31. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 33. A Prisoner's Scrap-Book -- LK Advani. 34. Prison Diary -- Jayaprakash Narayan. 35. The Power Broker — Robert A Caro. 36. Robert A Caro on Amazon. 37. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 38. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 39. VS Naipaul on Amazon. 40. Idgah (Hindi) (English) -- Munshi Premchand. 41. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Raw Umber: A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 43. Samuel Huntington on Wikipedia and Amazon. 44. Francis Robinson and Barbara Metcalf on Amazon. 45. India in the Persianate Age — Richard Eaton. 46. The New India Foundation. 47. Weapons of the Weak -- James C Scott. 48. The Causes of the Indian Revolt -- Syed Ahmed Khan. 49. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 50. Hindutva — VD Savarkar. 51. Annihilation of Caste -- BR Ambedkar. 52. Gandhi before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 53. Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World -- Ramachandra Guha. 54. Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Amazon. 55. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Fist’ by Simahina.
He taught international relations for a living, and he lived Indian culture -- food, clothes, music, films, languages, the whole package. Pushpesh Pant joins Amit Varma in episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his times and this beautiful country he loves so much. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pushpesh Pant on Amazon, Twitter and YouTube. 2. India: Cookbook -- Pushpesh Pant. 3. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Devi : Tales Of The Goddess In Our Time -- Mrinal Pande. 9. Amader Shantiniketan — Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 10. 2001: A Space Odyssey — Stanley Kubrick. 11. In Praise of Slowness -- Carl Honore. 12. Tabiyat: Medicine and Healing in India and Other Essays -- Farokh Erach Udwadia. 13. Things to Leave Behind -- Namita Gokhale. 14. Raag Pahadi -- Namita Gokhale, translated by Pushpesh Pant. 15. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 17. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Lahron Ke Rajhans (Hindi) -- Mohan Rakesh. 19. India: A Sacred Geography -- Diana Eck. 20. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna). 21. An Equal Music -- Vikram Seth. 22. The Wonder That Was India -- AL Basham. 23. Dhano Dhanne -- Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir. 24. Ira Pande's obituary of Jaya Varma. 25. Ira Pande on Amazon. 26. Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya -- Episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Constantine Cavafy, André Gide and Jean Genet. 28. The Counterfeiters -- André Gide. 29. Death in Venice -- Thomas Mann. 30. Collected Poems 1954 - 2004 -- Dom Moraes. 31. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Phir Ek Din Aisa Aayega -- Ali Sardar Jafri. 33. Zindagi -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 34. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 35. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 36. Kishore Mahbubani on Amazon. 37. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie — Luis Buñuel. 38. Chance and Necessity -- Jacques Monod. 39. Try Anything Twice -- Peter Cheyney. 40. Rakesh Raghunathan on YouTube. 41. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 42. Cooking the world's oldest known curry -- Soity Banerjee. 43. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Stage.in. 45. The Slow Fire Chef on Twitter. 46. Marginal Revolution posts on books. 47. The Myth of the Holy Cow -- DN Jha. 48. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 49. The Lady’s Dressing Room -- Jonathan Swift. 50. My Friend Dropped His Pants -- Amit Varma. 51. A Paean to the Paan -- Pushpesh Pant. 52. Vairagya Shatak (Hindi) -- Bhartihari. 53. Bhaja Govindam -- Adi Shankara. 54. Rainer Maria Rilke and Meer Taqi Meer. 55. Titash Ekti Nadir Naam -- Ritwik Ghatak. 56. Jukti Takko Aar Gappo -- Ritwik Ghatak. 57. Teesri Kasam -- Basu Bhattacharya. 58. Duniya Banane Wale -- Song from Teesri Kasam. 59. Guide — Vijay Anand. 60. Caurapañcāśikā -- Bilhana. 61. Dagar Brothers, Siyaram Tiwari, Vidya Rao and TM Krishna. 62. A Southern Music — TM Krishna. 63. The Raga-Ness of Ragas -- Deepak S Raja.. 64. NAD - Understanding Raga Music -- Sandeep Bagchee. 65. Form in Indian and Western Music -- Chetan Karnani. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Feast’ by Simahina.
Women in India are much more than either bechari, badass or bitch -- and they won't be defined any more by the male gaze. Shaili Chopra joins Amit Varma in episode 325 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her learnings and why she won't hold back on her anger. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shaili Chopra on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and her own website. 2. Sisterhood Economy -- Shaili Chopra. 3. SheThePeople.tv and GyTree. 4. Let Her Be Angry -- Shaila Chopra's TEDx Talk. 5. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar and Rohini Nilekani. 6. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 8. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies — Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Mita Kapur -- Episode 322 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 12. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 13. How Social Media Threatens Society — Episode 8 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar, featuring Jonathan Haidt. 14. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani. 15. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 16. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 17. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Mrinal Pande’s pieces for Pragati on women in Indian agriculture: 1, 2. 19. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 20. 'What's Your Favourite Position?' -- Shaili Chopra's Instagram post. 21. Imposter Syndrome. 22. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 23. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 24. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 25. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 26. The Second Sex — Simone de Beauvoir. 27. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 28. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 29. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 30. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Raja Beta Syndrome — Mahima Vashisht. 32. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 33. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 34. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 35. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dabangg, Mardaani, Badhaai Ho, Badhaai Do, Astitva and Lust Stories. 36. Alice Munro, Marilynne Robinson, Mary Oliver and JK Rowling. 39. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 40. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 41. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 42. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 43. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Women at Work — Ep 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 46. The Code Breaker -- Walter Isaacson. 47. Lessons in Chemistry -- Bonnie Garmus. 48. Caste -- Isabel Wilkerson. 49. Normal People -- Sally Rooney. 50. Conversations with Friends -- Sally Rooney. 51. Red, White & Royal Blue -- Casey McQuiston. 52. Curry -- Lizzie Cunningham. 53. Figuring -- Maria Popova. 54. The Marginalian -- Maria Popova's website. 55. Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary -- Anita Anand. 56. Hello, Mum -- Polly Dunbar. 57. Bruno Mars, Blue, Michael Jackson, Amjad Ali Khan, Shobha Gurtu, Shubha Mudgal and Kishori Amonkar on Spotify. 58. Chor Bazari, Prem Ki Naiyya and Girls Like To Swing. 59. Waka Waka -- Shakira. 60. Valeria, Unauthorised Living, Monarca, and High Seas. 61. Sitting Woman -- Henri Matisse. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Sisterhood’ by Simahina.
Agyeya was a writer, a rebel, a soldier, a lover-- and a man who shaped modern Hindi literature. Akshaya Mukul joins Amit Varma in episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life of this remarkable man -- as well as the art of biography and the state of the nation. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Akshaya Mukul on Amazon and Twitter. 2. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya -- Akshaya Mukul. 3. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 4. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 5. Agyeya on Wikipedia, Amazon, Kavitakosh and Hindwi. 6. Shekhar: Ek Jeevani (Hindi) (English) -- Agyeya. 7. Dunning-Kruger Effect. 8. Poker at Lake Wobegon — Amit Varma. 9. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 10. Siddharth Chowdhury on Amazon. 11. The Power Broker — Robert Caro. 12. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs. 13. Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing -- Robert Caro. 14. Robert Caro on Amazon. 15. John Richardson's books on Pablo Picasso. 16. Sontag: Her Life and Work -- Benjamin Moser. 17. Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector -- Benjamin Moser. 18. Stephen Kotkin's volumes on Joseph Stalin. 19. Hilary Spurling's volumes on Henri Matisse. 20. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 21. Gandhi Before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 22. Here And Hereafter: Nirmal Verma's Life in Literature -- Nirmal Verma. 23. Ian Kershaw's books on Adolf Hitler. 24. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE — Amit Varma. 25. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 26. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. To the Book -- WS Merwin. 28. Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh, Raghuvir Sahay, Nagarjun, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Jainendra Kumar. 29. Frida: The Biography of Frida Kahlo -- Hayden Herrera. 30. Maya C Popa, Ilya Kaminsky, Mary Oliver, Nâzım Hikmet, Nizar Qabbani and Forugh Farrokhzad. 31. Francis Newton Souza, VS Gaitonde and Krishen Khanna. 32. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 33. The Shah Bano case. 34. Hindi Modernism: Rethinking Agyeya and His Times -- Edited by Vasudha Dalmia. 35. Raw Umber : A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 36. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The email conversation between Pankaj Mishra and Amit Chaudhuri. 38. Rahul Sankrityayan on Wikipedia and Amazon. 39. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron -- Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 40. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 41. Frank Sinatra Has a Cold -- Gay Talese. 42. Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me -- Ada Calhoun. 43. Sunita -- Jainendra Kumar. 44. Song of Myself, 51 -- Walt Whitman. 45. Tar Saptak. 46. Suraj Ka Saatwaan Ghoda -- Dharamvir Bharti. 47. Patrick French on Amazon and Wikipedia. 48. Leon Edel and James Atlas. 49. The Art of Biography No 1 -- Leon Edel interviewed by Jeanne McCulloch for Paris Review.50. Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet -- James Atlas. 51. The Shadow in the Garden: A Biographer's Tale -- James Atlas. 52. The Most of Nora Ephron -- Nora Ephron. 53. What Makes Women Happy -- Fay Weldon. 54. Keeda Jadi Ki Khoj Mein -- Anil Yadav. 55. Bhuvanesh Komkali, Mukul Shivputra, Amir Khan and Alladiya Khan. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Writing on the Wall’ by Simahina.
What happened at SVB? Is our banking system in crisis? What are we to make of our economy? Ajay Shah and Mohit Satynanand join Amit Varma in episode 323 of The Seen and the Unseen to tackle these complicated questions and more. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ajay Shah (Twitter, Substack) and Mohit Satyanand (Twitter, Substack). 2. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 4. Ajay Shah on currencies and crypto (1, 2, 3), an RBI misstep, the third globalisation, NBFCs and banks (1, 2), digital payments, the resolution corporation (1, 2), interest rate mismatch, voting in the MPC, the importance of low and stable inflation and the mispricing of risks. 5. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand). 6. The State of Our Economy -- Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand). 7. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 8. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 9. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 10. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World -- Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 12. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 13. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 15. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 16. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok. 17. Public Opinion — Walter Lippman. 18. The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads — Walter Lippman. 19. Watching the Wheels -- John Lennon. (Amit also loves Chris Cornell's version.) 20. You’re Missing — Bruce Springsteen. 21. The End of Silicon Valley (Bank) -- Ben Thompson on Stratechery. 22. This Banking Crisis Won’t Wreck the Economy -- Tyler Cowen. 23. SVB Took the Wrong Risks -- Matt Levine. 24. Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market -- Walter Bagehot. 25. Moral Hazard and the Cantillon Effect. 26. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 27. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 28. Austrian Economics: An Introduction -- Steven Horwitz. 29. Friedrich Hayek: The ideas and influence of the libertarian economist -- Eamonn Butler. 30.The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 31. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 32. Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology -- Chris Miller. 33. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 34. Why Pramila Devi Uses Her Chappals Sparingly -- Sayantan Bera. 35. Where Are the Customers' Yachts? -- Fred Schwed Jr. 36. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 37. Jimi Hendrix on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 38. Neil Young on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Madness of Money’ by Simahina.
She's been an author, an entrepreneur, a literary agent, an organiser of events and a mother -- but her finest achievement is perhaps her making of herself. Mita Kapur joins Amit Varma in episode 322 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life she has lived, and what it has taught her. Much talk of writing, food, patriarchy and motherhood. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Mita Kapur at Siyahi, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and her own website. 2. The F Word -- Mita Kapur. 3. Siyahi -- A Literary Consultancy. 4. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Objects Speak to Annapurna Garimella — Episode 257 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The Business of Books — Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika). 8. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma's column on reading. 9. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Harry Potter, Twilight and the Rick Riordan books. 11. Mills and Boon on Wikipedia, Amazon and their own website. 12. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya — Akshaya Mukul. 13. Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew on Amazon. 14. Arthur Hailey, Nathaniel Hawthorne, TS Eliot, Leon Uris, Harold Robbins and James Hadley Chase on Amazon. 15. Wheels -- Arthur Hailey. 16. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 17. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 18. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 20. South India Would Like to Have a Word -- Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 21. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 23. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 24. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 25. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 27. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 29. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 30. Chuck Palahniuk and Susan Sontag on Amazon. 31. Kitchen -- Banana Yoshimoto. 32. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Karthika Nair and Sampurna Chattarji on Amazon. 34. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers — Ali Abdaal. 36. Imposter Syndrome. 37. In a Silent Way -- Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 38. Pavan Varma on Wikipedia and Amazon. 39. Make Me a Canteen for My Soul -- Episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage). 40. Choco Butterscotch Barks — Amit Varma’s favourite dessert of all time. 41. Daastan-e-Dastarkhan: Stories and Recipes from Muslim Kitchens -- Sadaf Hussain. 42. Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Suzanne Vega, Tom's Diner, Rufus Wainwright, Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, Harry Styles and Sam Smith on Spotify. 43. The Book of Goose -- Yiyun Li. 44. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers -- Yiyun Li. 45. Valeria, The Cook of Castamar, Daughter From Another Mother, Gentefied and Velvet Colección on Netflix. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘A Girl and Her Books’ by Simahina.
He's a renowned economist, he's worked in the IMF, he's an Asia specialist and he loves India. Josh Felman joins Amit Varma in episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his times, and all that he has learnt about economics and human beings. This episode is co-hosted by Ajay Shah. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Josh Felman on Twitter, Project Syndicate, JH Consulting and The Marginal Economist. 2. Why India Can’t Replace China -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 3. Three Globalization Shocks Could Hurt China and Help India -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 4. India's Size Illusion -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 5. India’s Stalled Rise -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 6. Are Intellectuals Killing Convergence? -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 7. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah) 8. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.. 9. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 10. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 11. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 12. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been — Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 14. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 15. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 16. Pandemonium in India’s Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay.) 17. The State of Our Economy (Nov 2021) -- Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand.) 18. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) — Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik). 19. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 20. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand). 21. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 22. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 23. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 24. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 26. Maya on IMDb and Wikipedia. 27. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Stage.in. 29. Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things -- Gurwinder. 30. The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization -- Bryan Ward-Perkins. 31. Richard Clarida and Thomas Laubach. 32. Thomas Laubach remembered by Ila Patnaik and Ajay Shah. 33. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 34. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 35. A History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 36. I, Pencil — Leonard Read. 37. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome — Mary Beard. 38. Mussolini: A Biography — Dennis Mack Smith. 39. Mussolini — RJB Bosworth. 40. The Great Dictator — Charlie Chaplin. 41. The chair-raising scene between Adenoid Hynkel and Benzino Napaloni. 42. Far Far Away on IMDb and Wikipedia — Amos Why. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘A Man, A Dog and the World’ by Simahina.
India is run in a top-down way with a Northern bias -- and this is a problem. Nilakantan RS joins Amit Varma in episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how and why our Southern states perform so much better -- and are punished for it. Also discussed: virtue ethics, the charms of Madras and the dangers of storytelling. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Nilakantan RS on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. 2. South vs North: India's Great Divide -- Nilakantan RS. 3. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Lessons in Investing (and Life) — Episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Deepak Shenoy). 5. Crossing Over With Deepak Shenoy -- Episode 271 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza.. 8. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Phineas Gage. 10. The Great Man Theory of History. 11. Pandemonium in India’s Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay). 12. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 13. On Bullshit — Harry Frankfurt. 14. The Facts Do Not Matter — Amit Varma. 15. Facts Don’t Matter. Stories do -- Amit Varma. 16. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why -- Amit Varma. 17. Better Never to Have Been -- David Benator. 18. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 19. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 20. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Beyond Words: Philosophy, Fiction, and the Unsayable -- Timothy Cleveland. 23. Consider the Hamiltonian. 24. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Murder in Mahim — Jerry Pinto. 26. Mallikarjun Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 26. Paul Krugman on the internet in 1998. 27. The naked man with an egg -- Amit Varma's prompt and ChatGPT's reply. 28. The Liberal Nationalism of Nitin Pai -- Episode 318 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Adam Gopnik, Michel Martin, Paul Harding and Timothy Gowers. 31. Tinkers -- Paul Harding. 32. Eraserhead -- David Lynch. 33. There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing -- Adam Grant. 34. The variants on Chess.com. 35. A Summons to Memphis -- Peter Taylor. 36. Virtue Ethics on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 37. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu. 38. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu). 39. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 40. The Indus Valley Playbook — Sajith Pai. 41. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 42. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 43. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 45. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma. 46. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 47. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes — Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 48. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 49. Arrow's Impossibility Theorem. 50. Athenian Democracy and Socrates. 51. Plato (or Why Philosophy Matters) -- Episode 109 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rebecca Goldstein). 52. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 53. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).. 54. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 55. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mahadev Govind Ranade and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar. 56. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani. 57. The Walk -- Robert Walser. 58. So Long, See You Tomorrow -- William Maxwell. 59. All Aunt Hagar's Children -- Edward P Jones. 60. The Known World -- Edward P Jones. 61. Slow Man -- JM Coetzee. 62. The Changeling -- Kenzaburo Oe. 63. Earthlings -- Sayaka Murata. 64. Birth of a Theorem -- Cedric Villani. 65. Gilead -- Marilynne Robinson. 66. If I Survive You -- Jonathan Escoffery. 67. Donnie Darko -- Richard Kelly. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Conflict’ by Simahina.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone possessed of an obsession will run into the forces of inertia. Jahnavi Phalkey joins Amit Varma in episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her history of nuclear physics in India, the men who brought a cyclotron to Chandigarh to study the world -- and her own quest to make common people love science. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Jahnavi Phalkey on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 2. Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth-Century India -- Jahnavi Phalkey. 3. Cyclotron -- Jahnavi Phalkey (Password: cyclotron_2020). 4. Science Gallery Bengaluru. 5. Re:Collect India. 6. CV Raman, Meghnad Saha and Homi Jehangir Bhabha. 7. Because the Night -- Patti Smith. 8. CBGB. 9. Venus -- Television. 10. Just Kids -- Patti Smith. 11. Patti Smith's Instagram post on Tom Verlaine. 12. Ward Morehouse on Wikipedia and UMass Amherst. 13. Rahul Sankrityayan on Wikipedia and Amazon. 14. A House for Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 15. Satyajit Ray's Oscar acceptance speech. 16. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 17. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 18. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 19. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 20. Scum Manifesto -- Valerie Solanas. 21. The History Boys — Alan Bennett. 22. Children are Topple. 23. Yuganta — Irawati Karve. 24. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne (on Wikipedia and YouTube). 25. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma -- Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 29. Ursula Le Guin, Mary Oliver, Mark Strand and Tom Waits. 30. The Sopranos and The Wire. 31. Binaca Geetmala. 32. Tumhe Ho Na Ho -- Runa Laila. 33. Diva -- Annie Lennox. 34. Dire Straits, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Patti Smith on Spotify. 35. Kishori Amonkar and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 36. Tosca — Giacomo Puccini — performed at Arena di Verona. 37. Vissi d'arte -- From Tosca by Puccini, performed by Maria Callas. (And the lyrics.) 38. Gloria -- Patti Smith. (And the Van Morrison/Them original.) 39. Horses -- Patti Smith. 40. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 41. Leviathan and the Air-Pump -- Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer. 42. The Moomin books by Tove Jansson. 43. Lawrence and His Laboratory -- JL Heilbron and Robert W Seidel. 44. A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes -- Rodrigo Garcia. 45. Ironic -- Alanis Morisette. 46. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 47. Behave — Robert Sapolsky. 48. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 49. $800,000 to Zero – The FASCINATING History of DaVinci Resolve — Alex Jordan of Learn Color Grading. 50. Justice with Michael Sandel. 51. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 52. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz. 53. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 54. Falsifiability. 55. The Logic of Scientific Discovery -- Karl Popper. 56. Merchants of Doubt -- Naomi Oreskes and Erik M Conway. 57. Priyanka Pulla on Twitter and LinkedIn. 58. The Ultimate Pocket Camera: Insta360 X3! -- Marques Brownlee. 59. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 60. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Volumes 1 to 98. 61. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 62. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine -- Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Hortus Malabaricus. 64. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health — Amit Varma. 65. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 66. In a Silent Way -- Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 67. Raymond Carver on Amazon. 68. Cathedral -- Raymond Carver. 69. Joseph Epstein on Amazon and Wikipedia. 70. Wisława Szymborska on Poetry Foundation, Amazon and Wikipedia. 71. The Foundation Series -- Isaac Asimov. 72. Abbey Road -- The Beatles. 73. The Man Who Sold the World -- David Bowie. 74. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro — Kundan Shah. 75. The 400 Blows — Francois Truffaut. 76. Delicatessen -- Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. 77. La Haine -- Mathieu Kassovitz. 78. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan:1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. 79. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Void Stares Back’ by Simahina.
The task of nation-building did not end with our founders, and does not stop at our politicians. It's up to us to build the India we want to see. Nitin Pai joins Amit Varma in episode 318 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his learnings and his liberal nationalism. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Nitin Pai on his own website, Mint & Mastodon . 2. The Nitopadesha -- Moral Tales for Good Citizens. 3. The archives of The Acorn, Nitin Pai's blog. And its current avatar. 4. Nitin Pai's ideas, notes and current research and teaching. 5. The Takshashila Institution. 6. Seven Tenets of Indian Nationalism -- Nitin Pai. 7. In support of a liberal nationalism -- Nitin Pai. 8. A republic - if we can keep it -- Nitin Pai. 9. Saving the Nation From Nationalists -- Nitin Pai. 10. The real problem is that we have too little republic -- Nitin Pai. 11. The operating system of liberal democracy needs a major upgrade -- Nitin Pai. 12. Social harmony is a matter of national interest -- Nitin Pai. 13. Liberal democracies must protect their citizens’ minds from being hacked -- Nitin Pai. 14. Understanding Foreign Policy — Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai). 15. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy -- Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai). 16. The City and the City — China Miéville. 17. The State of Our Economy -- Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand). 18. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 19. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 20. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 21. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 22. The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People — Michael Shermer. 23. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 24. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress — Peter Singer. 25. How the BJP Wins — Prashant Jha. 26. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 27. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 29. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward -- Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar : A citizen-first approach — Rohini Nilekani. 31. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind — Gustave le Bon. 32. Crowds and Power — Elias Canetti. 33. EO Wilson on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 34. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on Modi, Mao and locusts). 35. FAQ: Why Anna Hazare is wrong and Lok Pal a bad idea -- Nitin Pai. 36. Sadanand Dhume on Twitter -- and this podcast! 37. Social media is an existential threat to civilisation -- Nitin Pai. 38. Reframing the social media policy debate -- Nitin Pai. 39. The coming regulation of social media is an opportunity for India -- Nitin Pai. 40. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 41. Thinking Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman. 42. Human — Michael S Gazzaniga. 43. The Interpreter — Amit Varma. 44. The Elephant in the Brain -- Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson. 45. Freedom to Think -- Susie Alegre. 46. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll. 47. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 48. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 49. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. The original Takshashila. 51. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 52. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 53. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 54. Nikita -- Elton John. 55. The Importance of Cities — Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani). 56. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Arthashastra -- Kautilya 58. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 59. Emergent Ventures. 60. Friedrich Hayek on Wikipedia, Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Econlib. 61. Milton Friedman on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Econlib. 62. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma -- Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence — Amit Varma. 64. The Generation of Rage in Kashmir — David Devadas. 65. Counterinsurgency Warfare — David Galula. 66. We Won’t Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace — Amit Varma. 67. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 68. Think the Unthinkable (2008) -- Vir Sanghvi. 69. Independence Day for Kashmir (2008) -- Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar. 70. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 71. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 72. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Why Read the Classics? — Italo Calvino. 74. History Of Western Philosophy -- Bertrand Russell. 75. Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud -- Peter Watson. 76. Arthashastra -- Kautilya (translated by Shama Shastri). 77. The Upanishads. 78. The Mahabharata -- translated by Bibek Debroy. 79. Brihatkatha, Kathasaritsagara, Panchatantra and Hitopadesha. 80. Charvaka and Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 81. Tattvopaplavasiṃha -- Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 82. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams. 83. Catch 22 -- Joseph Heller. 84. Commanding Hope -- Thomas Homer-Dixon. 85. Paul Auster, David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami, Ryu Murakami and Terry Pratchett on Amazon. 86. Piercing -- Ryu Murakami. 87. 2021 - The Year in Fiction -- Nitin Pai. 88. Bhimsen Joshi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Radiohead, Norah Jones, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Himesh Reshammiya and Yehudi Menuhin on Spotify. 89. Take Five -- The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Bigger Picture’ by Simahina.
Samaaj came before Sarkaar and Bazaar. We are more than subjects of the state and consumers of the market. Rohini Nilekani joins Amit Varma in episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life and her learnings, why citizens need to embrace their agency -- and why those with wealth have a special responsibility. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Rohini Nilekani on Amazon, Wikipedia and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. 2. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar : A citizen-first approach -- Rohini Nilekani. 3. Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. 4. Arghyam, EkStep and Pratham Books. 5. The Annual Status of Education (ASER) Report, 2022. 6. Enid Blyton, Just William, Winnie the Pooh, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys on Amazon. 7. A Terrible Beauty -- Peter Watson. 8. Iris Murdoch and VS Ramachandran on Amazon. 9. The Tell-Train Brain -- VS Ramachandran. 10. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 11. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho — Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. 12. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 13. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma -- Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Germaine Greer, Nancy Friday and Betty Friedan on Amazon. 15. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale and Arshia Sattar. 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 18. The Will to Change — Bell Hooks. 19. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions. 20. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Imposter Syndrome. 22. Gerald Durrell, The Jungle Book and Black Beauty on Amazon. 23. Indian Institute for Human Settlements. 24. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 25. The Chauri Chaura Incident. 26. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 27. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence — Amit Varma. 28. The Third Pillar — Raghuram Rajan. 29. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 30. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 31. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic — Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 32. Lewis Mumford on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 33. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. The Median Voter Theorem. 35. Mohammad Zubair’s Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad. 36. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma's column on the importance of reading. 37. Janaagraha. 38. Emergent Ventures. 39. Giving Billions Fast, MacKenzie Scott Upends Philanthropy -- Nicholas Kulish. 40. The/Nudge Institute, Give India, Dasra and Bridgespan India. 41. Lewis Hyde on Amazon. 42. The Brass Notebook: A Memoir - Devaki Jain. 43. Breaking Through: A Memoir -- Isher Judge Ahluwalia. 44. My Life in Full -- Indra Nooyi. 45. A Full Life -- Sabira Merchant. 46. Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past and Savarkar: A Contested Legacy -- Vikram Sampath. 47. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Nurture’ by Simahina.
He's a guitarist, a composer, a producer, an audio engineer and a teacher. Gaurav Chintamani joins Amit Varma in episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his reflections on music and life. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Gaurav Chintamani at Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, SACAC and his own website. 2. Advaita on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 3. Raman Negi on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 4. The Dirt Machine on YouTube Music, YouTube and Spotify. 5. Grounded in Space -- Advaita. 6. The Silent Sea -- Advaita. 7. Shaksiyat -- Raman Negi. 8. Mehroom -- Raman Negi. 9. Lullaby for the Anxious Bones -- Raman Negi. 10. It's About Time -- The Dirt Machine. 11. Kleptocrat -- The Dirt Machine + Amartya Ghosh (The song that started with dripping water). 12. Carol of the Bells -- Ishaan Chintamani. 13. Gaurav Chintamani on the School of Bass Podcast. 14. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Hard work vs. Long work -- Seth Godin. 16. Warren Mendonsa Plays the Universal Pentatonic — Episode 273 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Beatles on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 18. Bob Dylan on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 19. Choo Lo -- The Local Train. 20. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 21. Four Thousand Weeks -- Oliver Burkeman. 22. Redemption Song -- Bob Marley. 23. The Beach (book) -- Alex Garland. 24. The Beach (film) -- Danny Boyle. 25. John Cage on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 26. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 27. Over the Hills and Far Away -- Led Zeppelin. 28. Amit Varma's favourite lofi playlists on YouTube and Spotify. 29. Music for Airports -- Brian Eno. 30. The Formula Behind Every Perfect Pop Song — Seeker. 31. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 32. Deezer -- The French streaming service that Gaurav mentions. This is how they pay their artists. 33. Entry and Exit in Agriculture -- Episode 1 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath and Karthik Shashidhar). 34. Altitude -- Advaita on The Dewarists. 35. A Hard Day's Night -- The Beatles. 36. Thriller -- Michael Jackson. 37. Guns N' Roses, Pantera and The Doors. 38. The Sky is Crying -- Stevie Ray Vaughan. 39. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies — Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Lou Majaw on YouTube Music and Spotify. 41. Acquired Senses (a demo version) -- HFT. 42. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity -- Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Jeff Beck on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 45. Jimi Hendrix on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 46. Imposter Syndrome. 47. Aakar Patel on Twitter. 48. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 49. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 50. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 51. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair. 52. Waking Up - A New Operating System for Your Mind -- Sam Harris. 53. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 54. Dirty Mind -- Jeff Beck. 55. The Haas Effect. 56. The Advaita jam in the Kolkata hotel room. 57. Here, There and Everywhere -- Geoff Emerick. 58. Paul McCartney listens to John Lennon's Beautiful Boy. 59. Watching the Wheels -- John Lennon. 60. Chris Cornell's covers of Watching the Wheels, Redemption Song, Long As I Can See The Light, Nothing Compares 2 U, I Will Always Love You and Thunder Road. 61. Penny Lane -- The Beatles. 62. Strawberry Fields Forever -- The Beatles. 63. The Bends -- Radiohead. 64. The White Album -- The Beatles. 65. Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street and Goat's Head Soup -- The Rolling Stones. 66. Time out of Mind -- Bob Dylan. 67. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 68. A Day in the Life -- The Beatles. 69. Stevie Wonder on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 70. Friends, Crime, & The Cosmos -- Abhishek Upmanyu. 71. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 72. Somebody That I Used To Know -- Mike Dawes. 73. Happy -- Pharrell Williams. 74. Blow by Blow -- Jeff Beck. 75. Cause We've Ended as Lovers -- Jeff Beck. 76. Miles Davis on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 77. Bitches Brew -- MIles Davis. 78. Pat Metheny on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 79. John Scofield on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 80. I Can See Your House from Here -- Pat Metheny and John Scofield. 81. SD Burman on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 82. John Williams on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 83. The Study of Orchestration -- Samuel Adler. 84. Maurice Ravel on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 85. Claude Debussy on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 86. Johann Sebastian Bach on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 87. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major -- Johann Sebastian Bach, played by Yo Yo Ma. 88. Thomas Dybdahl on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 89. The Old Man and the Sea -- Ernest Hemingway. 90. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald. 91. Crime and Punishment — Fyodor Dostoevsky. 92. Atomic Habits — James Clear. 93. Stanley Kubrick on IMDb and Wikipedia. 94. Martin Scorsese on IMDb and Wikipedia. 95. Goodfellas -- Martin Scorsese. 96. Raging Bull -- Martin Scorsese. 97. Bernard Herrmann. 98. Psycho -- Alfred Hitchcock. 99. The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. 100. Seven Samurai -- Akira Kurosawa.. 101. The Girl From Kashmir — Episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Farah Bashir). 102. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 103. Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu. 104. Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks -- David Lynch. 105. Taxi Driver, New York Stories, Casino, Kundun and Silence -- Martin Scorsese. 106. A Whiter Shade of Pale -- Procul Harum. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Pieces of Me’ by Simahina.
The Ramayana is not one book, but a living text with countless versions across languages, each reflecting the values of its time and place. Arshia Sattar joins Amit Varma to share her insights from decades of study. Also discussed: the art of translation -- and our search for dharma. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Arshia Sattar on Amazon, Open and Wikipedia. 2. Valmiki's Ramayana -- Translated by Arshia Sattar. 3. Maryada: Searching for Dharma in the Ramayana -- Arshia Sattar. 4. Lost Loves: Exploring Rama's Anguish -- Arshia Sattar. 5. AK Ramanujan on Amazon and Wikipedia. 6. Wendy Doniger on Amazon and Wikipedia. 7. Alf Hiltebeitel on Amazon and Wikipedia. 8. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 9. On Hinduism and The Hindus — Wendy Doniger. 10. Yuganta — Irawati Karve. 11. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 12. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 13. 'I Have a Dream' (video) (transcript) -- Martin Luther King. 14. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 15. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 14. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 15. The Shah Bano case, the Sati at Deorala and the banning of Satanic Verses. 16. 1968: The Year that Rocked the World -- Mark Kurlanksy. 17. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Girish Karnad on Amazon and Wikipedia. 19. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 20. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 21. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 22. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 23. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 24. Nissim Ezekiel on Amazon, Wikipedia and All Poetry. 25. The Seven Basic Plots — Christopher Booker. 26. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 27. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho — Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. 28. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen on Mughal history with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma, Rana Safvi and Manimugdha Sharma. 29. Tales from the Kathasaritsagara -- Somadeva (translated by Arshia Sattar). 30. The Second Game of Dice -- Amit Varma. 31. Range Rover -- The archives of Amit Varma's column on poker for the Economic Times. 32. Critical Theory and Structuralism. 33. The Missing Queen -- Samhita Arni. 34. Ramcharitmanas (Hindi) (English) (Wikipedia) -- Tulsidas. 35. Krittivasi Ramayan (Bengali) (Wikipedia) -- Krittibas Ojha. 36. The Kamba Ramayana -- Translated by PS Sundaram. 37. The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer. 38. David Shulman on Amazon and Wikipedia. 39. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on demonetisation). 40. Bimal Krishna Matilal on Amazon and Wikipedia. 41. Dharma: Dimensions of Asian Spirituality -- Alf Hiltebeitel. 42. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 43. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 44. The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology -- Wendy Doniger. 45. Raja Ravi Varma. 46. Shoodhra Tapasvi -- Kuvempu. 47. Ludwig Wittgenstein on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 48. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 49. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto -- Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 51. RRR -- SS Rajamouli. 52. The Girish Karnad Podcasts: The Rover Has No Fear of Memories -- An oral history enabled by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo. 53. This Life At Play: Memoirs -- Girish Karnad. 54. Kind of Blue -- Miles Davis. 55. Elena Ferrante on Amazon. 56. The Door -- Magda Szabó. 57. The Mahabaharata -- Peter Brook. 58. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire — Luis Buñuel. 59. The Unbearable Lightness of Being — Philip Kaufman. 60. The Line -- An Apple Original podcast. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Searching for Dharma’ by Simahina.
Poet, novelist, translator, journalist, crime fiction writer, children's book author, teacher, math tutor: now here is a man who contains multitudes. Jerry Pinto joins Amit Varma in episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Jerry Pinto on Instagram, Amazon and his own website. 2. Em and the Big Hoom -- Jerry Pinto. 3. The Education of Yuri -- Jerry Pinto. 4. Murder in Mahim -- Jerry Pinto. 5. A Book of Light -- Edited by Jerry Pinto. 6. Baluta -- Daya Pawar (translated by Jerry Pinto). 7. I Have Not Seen Mandu -- Swadesh Deepak (translated by Jerry Pinto). 8. Cobalt Blue -- Sachin Kundalkar (translated by Jerry Pinto). 9. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale -- Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. ‘Sometimes I feel I have to be completely invisible as a poet’ -- Jerry Pinto's interview of Adil Jussawalla. 11. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 12. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Big Questions — Steven E Landsburg. 14. Unlikely is Inevitable — Amit Varma. 15. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 16. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 18. Dreamers — Snigdha Poonam. 19. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 20. The History Boys -- Alan Bennett. 21. The Connell Guide to How to Write Well -- Tim de Lisle. 22. Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut -- Marcus Du Sautoy. 23. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir. 24. A Mathematician's Apology -- GH Hardy. 25. The Man Who Knew Infinity -- Robert Kanigel. 26. David Berlinski and Martin Gardner on Amazon, and Mukul Sharma on Wikipedia.. 27. Range Rover -- The archives of Amit Varma's column on poker for The Economic Times. 28. Luck is All Around -- Amit Varma. 29. Stoicism on Wikipedia, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Britannica. 30. House of the Dead — Fyodor Dostoevsky. 31. Black Beauty -- Anna Sewell. 32. Lady Chatterley's Lover -- DH Lawrence. 33. Mr Norris Changes Trains -- Chistopher Isherwood. 34. Sigrid Undset on Amazon and Wikipedia. 35. Some Prefer Nettles -- Junichiro Tanizaki. 36. Things Fall Apart — Chinua Achebe. 37. Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy on Amazon. 38. Orientalism -- Edward Said. 39. Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Kurt Vonnegut on Amazon. 40. Johnny Got His Gun -- Dalton Trumbo. 41. Selected Poems -- Kamala Das. 42. Collected Poems -- Kamala Das. 43. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones — Pradip Krishen. 44. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 45. Tosca -- Giacomo Puccini. 46. Civilisation by Kenneth Clark on YouTube and Wikipedia. 47. Archives of The World This Week. 48. Dardi Rab Rab Kardi -- Daler Mehndi. 49. Is Old Music Killing New Music? — Ted Gioia. 50. Mother India (Mehboob Khan) and Mughal-E-Azam (K Asif). 51. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 52. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. Collected Poems — Mark Strand. 54. Forgive Me, Mother -- Eunice de Souza. 55. Porphyria's Lover -- Robert Browning. 56. Island -- Nissim Ezekiel. 57. Paper Menagerie — Ken Liu. 58. Jhumpa Lahiri on Writing, Translation, and Crossing Between Cultures — Episode 17 of Conversations With Tyler. 59. The Notebook Trilogy — Agota Kristof. 60. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar. 62. Nissim Ezekiel on Amazon, Wikipedia and All Poetry. 63. Adil Jussawalla on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poetry International. 64. Eunice de Souza on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poetry International. 65. Dom Moraes on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poem Hunter. 66. WH Auden and Stephen Spender on Amazon. 67. Pilloo Pochkhanawala on Wikipedia and JNAF. 68. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poetry Foundation. 69. Amar Akbar Anthony -- Manmohan Desai. 67. Ranjit Hoskote on Amazon, Instagram, Twitter, Wikipedia and Poetry International. 71. Arundhathi Subramaniam on Amazon, Instagram, Wikipedia, Poetry International and her own website. 72. The Red Wheelbarrow -- William Carlos Williams. 73. Mary Oliver's analysis of The Red Wheelbarrow. 74. A Poetry Handbook — Mary Oliver. 75. The War Against Cliche -- Martin Amis. 76. Seamus Heaney on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poetry Foundation. 77. The world behind 'Em and the Big Hoom' -- Jerry Pinto interviewed by Swetha Amit. 78. Jerry Pinto interviewed for the New York Times by Max Bearak. 79. Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and GV Desani on Amazon. 80. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 81. Graham Greene, W Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley on Amazon. 82. Surviving Men -- Shobhaa De. 83. Surviving Men -- Jerry Pinto. 84. The Essays of GK Chesterton. 85. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 86. City Improbable: Writings on Delhi -- Edited by Khushwant Singh. 87. Bombay, Meri Jaan -- Edited by Jerry Pinto and Naresh Fernandes. 88. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 89. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 90. Wanting -- Luke Burgis. 91. Kalpish Ratna and Sjowall & Wahloo on Amazon. 92. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 93. Ashad ka Ek Din -- Mohan Rakesh. 94. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy (translated by Constance Garnett). 95. Gordon Lish: ‘Had I not revised Carver, would he be paid the attention given him? Baloney!’ -- Christian Lorentzen.. 96. Sooraj Barjatya and Yash Chopra. 97. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 98. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma. 99. Phineas Gage. 100. Georges Simenon on Amazon and Wikipedia.. 101. The Interpreter -- Amit Varma on Michael Gazzaniga's iconic neuroscience experiment. 102. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.. 103. Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert. 104. Self-Portrait — AK Ramanujan. 105. Ivan Turgenev, Ryu Murakami and Patricia Highsmith on Amazon. 106. A Clockwork Orange -- Anthony Burgess. 107. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 110. Playwright at the Centre: Marathi Drama from 1843 to the Present — Shanta Gokhale. 111. Kubla Khan -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 112. Girish Shahane, Naresh Fernandes, Suketu Mehta, David Godwin and Kiran Desai. 113. The Count of Monte Cristo -- Alexandre Dumas. 114. Pedro Almodóvar and Yasujirō Ozu. 115. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 116. The Lives of the Poets -- Samuel Johnson. 117. Lives of the Women -- Various authors, edited by Jerry Pinto. 118. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma. 119. On Bullshit — Harry Frankfurt. 120. The Facts Do Not Matter — Amit Varma. 121. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 122. Modi’s Lost Opportunity — Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz). 123. Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala. 124. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 125. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 126. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 127. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma.. 128. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 129. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 130. The Saturdays -- Elizabeth Enwright. 131. Summer of My German Soldier -- Bette Greene. 132. I am David -- Anne Holm. 133. Tove Jannson and Beatrix Potter on Amazon. 134. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkien. 135. Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness -- William Styron. 136. An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness -- Kay Redfield Jamison. 137. Searching for Swadesh -- Nirupama Dutt.. 138. Parsai Rachanawali -- Harishankar Parsai. 139. Not Dark Yet (official) (newly released outtake) -- Bob Dylan.. 140. How This Nobel Has Redefined Literature -- Amit Varma on Dylan winning the Nobel Prize.. 141. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma. 142. PG Wodehouse on Amazon and Wikipedia. 143. I Heard the Owl Call My Name -- Margaret Craven. 144. 84, Charing Cross Road -- Helen Hanff. 145. Great Expectations, Little Dorrit and Bleak House -- Charles Dickens. 146. Middlemarch -- George Eliot. 147. The Pillow Book -- Sei Shonagon. 148. The Diary of Lady Murasaki -- Murasaki Shikibu. 149. My Experiments With Truth -- Mohandas Gandhi. 150. Ariel -- Sylvia Plath. 151. Jejuri -- Arun Kolatkar. 152. Missing Person -- Adil Jussawalla. 153. All About H Hatterr -- GV Desani. 154. The Ground Beneath Her Feet -- Salman Rushdie. 155. A Fine Balance -- Rohinton Mistry. 156. Tales from Firozsha Baag -- Rohinton Mistry. 157. Amores Perros -- Alejandro G Iñárritu. 158. Samira Makhmalbaf on Wikipedia and IMDb. 159. Ingmar Bergman on Wikipedia and IMDb. 160. The Silence, Autumn Sonata and Wild Strawberries - Ingmar Bergman. 161. The Mahabharata. 162. Yuganta — Irawati Karve. 163. Kalyug -- Shyam Benegal. 164. The Hungry Tide -- Amitav Ghosh. 165. On Hinduism and The Hindus -- Wendy Doniger. 166. I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd — Lal Dĕd (translated by Ranjit Hoskote). 167. The Essential Kabir -- Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 168. The Absent Traveller -- Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 169. These My Words: The Penguin Book of Indian Poetry -- Edited by Eunice de Souza and Melanie Silgardo. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘He is Reading’ by Simahina.
Public policy may seem arcane and complicated, a field only for geeks. But all our lives are shaped by it. Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley join Amit Varma in episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe their efforts to make policy great again. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy -- Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley. 2. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter. 3. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra). 4. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy -- Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 7. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 8. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 9. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 10. Angus Maddison's chart on GDP through the ages. 11. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 13. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Bhaktamal -- Nabha Dass. 15. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. 16. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 17. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 18. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Overton Window. 20. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 21. Where Did Development Economics Go Wrong? -- Shruti Rajagopalan speaks to Lant Pritchett on the Ideas of India podcast. 22. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working -- Jonathan Rauch. 23. Public Opinion — Walter Lippmann. 24. Democracy in America — Alexis De Tocqueville. 25. Yeh Jo Public Hai Sab Janti Hai -- Song from Roti. 26. Price Controls Lead to Shortages and Harm the Poor -- Amit Varma. 27. Amit Varma’s prescient 2017 tweet on the price caps on stents. 28. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Tu Kisi Rail Si — Lyrics by Varun Grover. 30. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People -- Michael Shermer. 32. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 33. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress — Peter Singer. 34. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama. 35. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama. 36. Political Order and Political Decay — Francis Fukuyama. 37. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 38. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking — Amit Varma. 39. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist — Bruce Yandle. 40. Zanjeer (Prakash Mehra) and Gol Maal (Hrishikesh Mukherjee). 41. A People’s Constitution— Rohit De. 42. Laws Against Victimless Crimes Should Be Scrapped -- Amit Varma. 43. We All Gamble. Make It Legal -- Devangshu Datta. 44. Yes We Cannabis! -- Devangshu Datta. 45. Prohibition doesn’t work. Tax Alcohol Instead -- Devangshu Datta. 46. Legalise Prostitution to Fight Trafficking -- Amit Varma. 47. Sea of Poppies -- Amitav Ghosh. 48. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 49. Rent Control — Ep 14 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok). 50. A Theory of Justice — John Rawls. 51. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 52. Politics and Money -- Amit Varma's limerick. 53. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 54. Power and Prosperity — Mancur Olson. 55. Swaminathan S Aiyar at Times of India, Amazon and his own website. 56. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 57. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 58. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on GST: 1, 2, 3. 59. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State — Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 60. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 61. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? — Amit Varma. 62. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 63. A Beast Called Government (2007) -- Amit Varma. 64. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 65. Policy Paradox – The Art of Political Decision Making — Deborah Stone. 66. Bara -- UR Ananthamurthy 67. Sookha -- MS Sathyu's film based on Bara, 68. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy -- Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai). 69. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker. 70. The Third Pillar -- Raghuram Rajan. 71. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar : A citizen-first approach -- Rohini Nilekani. 72. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 73. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 74. Frédéric Bastiat’s writings at Bastiat.org and Amazon. 75. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 76. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 77. Econ Talk — Russ Roberts’s podcast. 78. Conversation and Society — Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 79. The Economist as Scapegoat -- Russ Roberts. 80. Bollywood's New Capitalist Hero (2007) -- Amit Varma. 81. Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! -- Saaed Mirza. 82. Scam 1992 -- Hansal Mehta. 83. Bharat Ane Nenu -- Koratal Siva. 84. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 85. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 86. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 87. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma. 88. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 89. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 90. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic — Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 91. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 92. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 93. The Solution -- Bertolt Brecht. 94. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine -- Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 95. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 96. The Multitudes of Our Maharajahs -- Episode 244 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 97. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 98. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho -- Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. 99. Crimemaster Gogo in the house! Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Graveyard of Good Intentions’ by Simahina.
He is an IAS officer who has just co-written a book about Gandhian social workers in Vidarbha. Ashutosh Salil joins Amit Varma in episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the difficult work of bringing about change from within society -- and from within the state. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Ashutosh Salil on Twitter, Amazon and Outlook. 2. Being the Change: In the Footsteps of the Mahatma -- Ashutosh Salil and Barkha Mathur. 3. Friendship Day: An IAS Officer Recollects His Childhood Friend -- Ashutosh Salil. 4. Nomad’s Diary: An IAS Officer Tries To Find The Meaning Of Home -- Ashutosh Salil. 5. Singing Frogs & Sinking Roads: Experiencing The Monsoons In Smalltown Bihar -- Ashutosh Salil. 6. Writer's Diary: Walking Down The Memory Lane -- Ashutosh Salil. 7. Learning From Tribals -- Ashutosh Salil. 8. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Stage.in. 10. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 11. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 12. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Sharda Sinha on Spotify and YouTube. 14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 15. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 16. Maithili Thakur on Spotify and YouTube. 17. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 18. The Darbhanga Gharana on Wikipedia and YouTube. 19. Chhannulal Mishra on Spotify and YouTube. 20. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 24. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 25. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 26. Friedrich Hayek on Wikipedia, Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Econlib. 27. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 28. Tory MP visibly furious over party chaos -- Guardian News. 29. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 30. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 31. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic -- Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 32. Mission Shaurya on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 33. Poorna -- Directed by Rahul Bose. 34. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 35. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 36. Where There is no Doctor -- David Werner. 37. Chinki Sinha at Outlook and Twitter. 38. Rohinton Mistry and WG Sebald on Amazon. 39. The Imposter Syndrome. 40. Kumar Gandharva on Spotify and YouTube. 41. Nirbhay Nirgun -- Kumar Gandharva. 42. Prahlad Singh Tipanya on YouTube. 43. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya -- Akshaya Mukul. 44. Shekhar: A Life -- Agyeya. 45. Shekhar: Ek Jeevani -- Agyeya. 46. The Life and Times of George Fernandes -- Rahul Ramagundam. 47. Man's Search for Meaning -- Viktor Frankl. 48. Kantara -- Rishab Shetty. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Being the Change’ by Simahina.
She's been a novelist, a playwright, a critic, an essayist, a memoirist, a journalist, a writer for cinema and a historian of theatre -- in both English and Marathi. Shanta Gokhale joins Amit Varma in episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her remarkable life and times. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Shanta Gokhale on Amazon, Wikipedia and her own website. 2. One Foot on the Ground -- Shanta Gokhale. 3. Living With Father: A Memoir -- Shanta Gokhale. 4. आमची आई : इंदिरा गोपाळ गोखले -- Shanta Gokhale. 5. The Engaged Observer: The Selected Writings of Shanta Gokhale -- Edited by Jerry Pinto. 6. Rita Velinkar (Marathi) (English) -- Shanta Gokhale. 7. Tya Varshi/Crowfall (Marathi) (English) -- Shanta Gokhale. 8. Playwright at the Centre: Marathi Drama from 1843 to the Present -- Shanta Gokhale. 9. Shivaji Park: Dadar 28: History, Places, People -- Shanta Gokhale. 10. Satyadev Dubey: A Fifty-Year Journey Through Theatre -- Edited by Shanta Gokhale. 11. The Scenes We Made: An Oral History of Experimental Theatre in Mumbai -- Edited by Shanta Gokhale. 12. Avinash: The Indestructible -- Shanta Gokhale. 13. Smritichitre: The Memoirs of a Spirited Wife -- Lakshmibai Tilak (translated by Shanta Gokhale). 14. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 15. The Adda at the End of the Universe -- Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 16. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Never Never Nest -- Cedric Mount. 18. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mrinal Pande). 19. The Female Eunuch -- Germaine Greer. 20. The Second Sex -- Simone de Beauvoir. 21. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 22. Agarkar’s Donkeys: A Meditation on God — Amit Varma. 23. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Kavita Krishnan Files — Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 26. The Will to Change — bell hooks. 27. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 28. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. 29. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 30. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 31. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress — Peter Singer. 32. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 33. Phineas Gage. 34. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 35. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 36. Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram, Arun Kolatkar and Dilip Chitre. 37. GN Devy on Amazon and Wikipedia. 38. Navyug Vachanmala and Arun Vachan -- PK Atre's series for elementary school and middle school respectively. 39. The State of Our Farmers — Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil). 40. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Storytel. 43. Pu La Deshpande, Raag Darbari and Kashi Ka Assi on Storytel. 44. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Stage.in. 46. A Doll's House -- Henrik Ibsen. 47. Looking for Ibsen in Maharashtra -- Shanta Gokhale. 48. The Vintage Book Of Indian Writing 1947 - 1997 -- Edited by Salman Rushdie and Elizabeth West. 49. The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature -- Edited by Amit Chaudhuri. 50. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 51. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 52. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 53. Namdeo Dhasal on Amazon and Wikipedia. 54. Alice Munro on Amazon and Wikipedia. 55. Squid Game on Netflix. 56. Yada Kadachit (Part 1) (Part 2) -- Written and directed by Santosh Pawar. 57. Sakharam Binder (Marathi) (English) -- Vijay Tendulkar. 58. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 59. सप्तरंगी कोरिया एक अनुभव -- Sudha Hujurbajar-Tumbe. 60. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity -- Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Alice in Wonderland -- Lewis Carroll. 62. Charles Dickens, William Wordsworth, JB Priestley, George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare on Amazon. 63. The Lost Daughter -- Elena Ferrante. 64. The Lost Daughter -- The film by Maggie Gyllenhaal. 65. The Shadow Lines -- Amitav Ghosh. 66. Enid Blyton on Amazon. 67. This Life At Play: Memoirs -- Girish Karnad. 68. Sunil Shanbag and Shanta Gokhale in conversation with Girish Karnad. 69. Aranyer Din Ratri -- Satyajit Ray. 70. Messy: How to Be Creative and Resilient in a Tidy-Minded World -- Tim Harford. 71. A Room of One's Own -- Virginia Woolf. 72. A Passage to India -- EM Forster. 73. Kumar Shahani on Wikipedia and IMDb. 74. Middlemarch -- George Eliot. 75. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy. 76, Far From the Madding Crowd -- Thomas Hardy. 77. Vanity Fair -- William Makepeace Thackeray. 78. Ulysses -- James Joyce. 79. Picnic at Hanging Rock -- Peter Weir. 80. Why Read the Classics? -- Italo Calvino. 81. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 82. Hercule Poirot on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 83. The Golden Age of Murder — Martin Edwards. 84. PG Wodehouse on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 85. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 86. The Creative Process: A Symposium -- Edited by Brewster Ghiselin. 87. Nissim Ezekiel and Satyadev Dubey. 88. Avadhya -- CT Khanolkar. 89. Masaan — Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. 90. Tanjore Painting and Prabhakar Barwe. 91. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 92. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 93. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 94. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 95. Memoirs -- Habib Tanvir. 96. Sulabha Deshpande on Wikipedia and IMDb. 97. Sunil Shanbag on Wikipedia, IMDb and Instagram. 98. Atul Pethe on Book My Show and Facebook. 99. Shanta Gokhale's cameo in Ardh Satya (at 1:36:10). 100. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 101. Bend it Like Beckham -- Gurinder Chadha. 102. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 103. Indira Sant on Amazon and Wikipedia. (And a translation of Ekti by Vinay Dharwadkar.) 104. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 105. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 106. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 107. Ranjit Hoskote, Arundhati Subramaniam and Jerry Pinto on Amazon. 108. Alt News, The News Minute and Scroll. 109. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 110. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 111. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 112. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on Demonetisation). 113. Enabled by technology, young Indians show what it means to be a citizen — Amit Varma. 114. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health — Amit Varma. 115. The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad -- Episode 302 of The Seen and the Unseen. 116. Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert. 117. The Brothers Karamazov -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 118. The World as India -- Susan Sontag. In addition to the links above, Shanta recommended: Books: Women in Love (DH Lawrence), Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka), Ways of Seeing (John Berger), 84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff), The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway), The Tin Drum (Gunter Grass), The Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace, Hungry Tide (all Amitav Ghosh), Solo (Rana Dasgupta), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera), Respected Sir (Naguib Mahfouz), One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez), Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie), The Sense of an Ending, Flaubert's Parrot, The Noise of Time, Levels of Life (all Julian Barnes). Hindustani Classical Vocal: Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Padma Talwalkar, Dinkar Kaikini, Venkatesh Kumar, Ulhas Kashalkar, Uday Bhawalkar (dhrupad), Mukul Shivputra. Carnatic Vocal: MS Subbulakshmi, DK Pattamal, TM Krishna, Sanjay Subrahmanyan. Instrumental: TR Mahalingam (flautist), Lalgudi Jayaraman (violin). Others: Geet Varsha (Kumar Gandharva), Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo (Farida Khanum), Dnyaneshwari (Lata Mangeshkar). This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Reading the World’ by Simahina.
Known online as The Liver Doctor, he's a crusader against quackery of all sorts. Cyriac Abby Philips joins Amit Varma in episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey to becoming a doctor-scientist, the breakthroughs in his field, what he has learnt as a physician -- and the dangers of 'alternative medicine.' (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Abby Philips on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google Scholar, Rajagiri Hospital and The Morning Context. 2. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma -- Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 3. The Practice of Medicine -- Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 4. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 5. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health -- Amit Varma. 6. Homeopathic Faith -- Amit Varma. 7. Bad Science -- Ben Goldacre. 8. Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial -- Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. 9. Homeopathy, quackery and fraud -- James Randi. 10. Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker. 11. Doctor, heal thyself -- Suresh K Pandey and Vidushi Sharma on the shorter life expectancy of doctors in India. 12. Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart — Gerd Gigerenzer, Peter M Todd and the ABC Research Group on ‘fast and frugal heuristics’). 13. The Medical Council of India -- Episode 8 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath). 14. Abby Philips's tweet about how cirrhosis can be reversed. 15. A Phase 3 Trial of Pirfenidone in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis -- Various authors for the ASCEND study group. 16. Repurposing Pirfenidone for Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis-related Cirrhosis: A Case Series -- Cyriac Abby Philips and others. 17. Regression of Human Cirrhosis: Morphologic Features and the Genesis of Incomplete Septal Cirrhosis -- Ian R Wanless, Eisuke Nakashima and Morris Sherman. 18. Reversal of Liver Cirrhosis: A Desirable Clinical Outcome and Its Pathogenic Background -- Flavia Bortolotti and Maria Guido. 19. Ignaz Semmelweis on Britannica and Wikipedia. 20. The Diabetes Code -- Jason Fung. 21. The perfect treatment for diabetes and weight loss -- Interview of Jason Fung. 22. Intestinal microbiota contributes to individual susceptibility to alcoholic liver disease -- M Llopis and others. 23. Fecal microbiota manipulation prevents dysbiosis and alcohol-induced liver injury in mice -- Gladys Ferrere and others. 24. Some of Abby Philips's papers on stool transplants: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 25. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Karthik Muralidharan: 1, 2, 3. 26. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 27. Fecal enema as an adjunct in the treatment of pseudomembranous enterocolitis -- Ben Eiseman and others. 28. Duodenal Infusion of Donor Feces for Recurrent Clostridium difficile -- Els van Nood and others. 29. There is no safe level of alcohol consumption -- Abby Philips. 30. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 31. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz. 32. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung. 33. Priyanka Pulla on Twitter and LinkedIn. 34. Abby Philips and Krish Ashok's Instagram post on Ayurveda. 35. Edzard Ernst on Twitter and his own website. 36. The studies on nanoparticles in homeopathy from IIT Bombay and Belgium. 37. Parents guilty of manslaughter over daughter's eczema death -- Harriet Alexander. 38. Never Talk About TURMERIC on Social Media -- Abby Philips. 39. Abby Philips's video on Arsenic Album. 40. Clinical outcomes, histopathological patterns, and chemical analysis of Ayurveda and herbal medicine associated with severe liver injury -- Abby Philips and others. 41. Abby Philips's paper on Herbalife products causing fatal acute liver failure. 42. Paper about Herbalife®-related patient death removed after company threatens to sue the journal -- Elizabeth Bik. (Also, her tweets: 1, 2.) 43. Retraction Watch on the controversy. 44. The Jaslok study on the harmful effects of Giloy, commonly used in Ayurveda. 45. Subsequent studies on the harm that Giloy does from New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Delhi again, Delhi one more time, Lucknow, Mumbai and a large multicenter study. 46. As COVID Surged, India Had a Silent Outbreak of Giloy-Induced Liver Injury -- Banjot Kaur. 47. Blankets -- Craig Thompson. 48. Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir -- Tom Hart. 49. Robot Dreams -- Sara Varon. 50. The Complete Maus -- Art Spiegelman. 51. Bone -- Jeff Smith. 52. V For Vendetta -- Alan Moore and David Lloyd. 53. Cinema Paradiso -- Giuseppe Tornatore. 54. Tigertail -- Alan Yang. 55. The Town -- Ben Affleck. 56. I Saw the Devil -- Jee-woon Kim. 57. The Roundup -- Lee Sang-yong. 58. Memories of Murder -- Bong Joon-ho. 59. The Night Of and True Detective. 60. Pink Floyd, Def Leppard and Metallica on Spotify. 61. Bon Jovi, Manowar and Savatage on Spotify. 62. Sleep -- Savatage. 63. The Police, Sting, Cyndi Lauper and Imagine Dragons on Spotify. 64. The master thread by Abby Philips of his Twitter mega threads. This episode is sponsored by MapMyGenome. Use the code UNSEEN to get 25% off all their products, especially MedicaMap. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Good Doctor’ by Simahina.
As 2022 draws to a close, it's time to chill. Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas join Amit Varma in episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen to share wit, wisdom and life lessons that are priceless. There is cricket, there is singing, there are great bad jokes -- never has insight been so much fun! (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Roshan Abbas at Instagram, Twitter and his own website. 2. Vikram Sathaye at Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. 3. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Kommune on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 5. Speechless — Roshan Abbas and Siddharth Banerjee. 6. What the Duck With Vikram Sathaye -- Vikram Sathaye's talk show on YouTube. 7. How Sachin Destroyed My Life -- Vikram Sathaye. 8. Vikram Sathaye's breakout performance at the 2004 Ceat Cricket Awards. 9. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 10. The Loneliness of the Indian Man -- Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 11. Pu La Deshpande. 12. Roam Research. 13. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia. 14. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 15. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 16. Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify and YouTube. 17. Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder -- Arnold Schwarzenegger. 18. Papa Kehte Hain -- Mahesh Bhatt. 19. Ghar Se Nikalte Hi -- Song from Papa Kehte Hain. 20. Tarkash -- Javed Akhtar. 21. Vijay Tendulkar and Satyadev Dubey. 22. Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega, directed by Tim Burton & others. 23. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 24. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 25. The BarberShop with Shantanu. 26. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Stage.in. 28. Parasite — Bong Joon-ho. 29. Sunandan Lele on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook. 30. Atomic Habits — James Clear. 31. The Love Fools on Instagram, Zomato and Facebook. 32. Behave — Robert Sapolsky. 33. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 34. Seinfeld -- Created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. 35. 3 Deewarein (Nagesh Kukunoor), Satta (Madhur Bhandarkar) and Dil Vil Pyar Vyaar (Anant Mahadevan). 36. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 37. Vijay Gokhale on Amazon. 38. The Evolution of Cricket — Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle). 39. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 40. Nudge -- Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. 41. Japan fans clean up the stadium after defeat to Croatia. 42. Euphoria on Hotstar/HBO. 43. Why I'm Hopeful About Twitter -- Amit Varma. 44. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To -- David Sinclair. 45. The Lifespan Podcast by David Sinclair. 46. Huberman Lab. 47. Muse: EEG-Powered Meditation & Sleep Headband. 48. Factfulness — Hans Rosling. 49. Genepath Diagnostics. 50. Abby Philips on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google Scholar. 51. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 52. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz. 53. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung. 54. Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker. 55.The Swimmers -- Sally El Hosaini. 56. Khakee: The Bihar Chapter -- Created by Neeraj Pandey. 57. Bihar Diaries -- Amit Lodha. 58. Angad Daryani of Praan on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 59. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 60. Jonathan Haidt on Amazon, Twitter, Google Scholar and his own website. 61. Anatomy of the Vertical Invader -- IMRB International. 62. Josh Talks and The Lallantop. 63. The full Cristiano Ronaldo Interview With Piers Morgan. 64. Anumita Nadesan on Spotify, YouTube and Instagram. 65. Kusha Kapila on Instagram and YouTube. 66. I Boiled My Buttocks for a Week -- Amit Varma. 67. Propah Lady -- Puma commercial directed by Reema Sengupta. 68. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 69. Glimpses from the event with Zakir Hussain and Sachin Tendulkar. 70. Phineas Gage. 71. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 72. Why We Choke — Amit Varma. 73. Garden -- The app for staying in touch. 74. A Creator of the Floating World — Episode 218 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Varun Duggirala). 75. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron. 76. Coverage of the Bawraas by YourStory, Times of India and Hindustan Times. 77. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Monsoon Wedding -- Mira Nair. 79. How to Be Successful -- Sam Altman. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Time For Adda’ by Simahina.
Borders and nation states can sometimes seek to divide communities -- but isn't that a bit like cutting water with a knife? Saaz Aggarwal joins Amit Varma in episode 308 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her work chronicling the history and culture of the Sindhi people -- and her own rich life as a writer and artist. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Saaz Aggarwal on Amazon, Instagram, LinkedIn, Scroll, Open and her own website. 2. Sindh: Stories from a Vanished Homeland -- Saaz Aggarwal. 3. Sindhi Tapestry: Reflections on the Sindhi Identity -- Saaz Aggarwal. 4. The Amils of Sindh: A Narrative History of a Remarkable Community -- Saaz Aggarwal. 5. Losing Home: Finding Home -- Saaz Aggarwal, with illustrations by Subhodeep Mukherjee. 6. The Six Sigma Dabbawalas of Mumbai -- Samatvam Academy. 7. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 8. Frédéric Bastiat’s writings at Bastiat.org and Amazon. 9. Remembering Frédéric Bastiat (2007) — Amit Varma. 10. Autobiography of Malcolm X -- Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley. 11. A Shot At History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold -- Abhinav Bindra with Rohit Brijnath. 12. Odyssey: My Journey Through Life -- Nandlal P Tolani with Saaz Aggarwal. 13. Veda Aggarwal's website. 14. Comparative Advantage. 15. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. ‘Indian languages carry the legacy of caste’ — Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 18. Vipassana meditation at Dhamma.org. 19. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 20. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 21. Rekhta. 22. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Stage.in. 24. Nanak Was Here — Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh). 25. Songs of Kabir -- Kabit, translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 26. Doorway To Sindh -- Aruna Madnani's project. 27. In defence of suit, boot — Chandra Bhan Prasad. 28. The Good Lion -- Ernest Hemingway. 29. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 30. Eye Cosmetic ‘Surma’: Hidden Threats of Lead Poisoning -- K Goswami, 31. Nandita Bhavnani on Amazon and YouTube. 32. Toba Tek Singh -- Sadat Hasan Manto. 33. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 34. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 35. Beyond the Rainbow -- Murli Melwani. 36. Kurt Vonnegut, Philip Roth, Douglas Adams, Leslie Thomas and PG Wodehouse on Amazon. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Tapestry’ by Simahina.
Indian society, the Indian state and the Indian economy are all complex beasts that defy simple narratives. Suyash Rai joins Amit Varma in episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how he has tried to make sense of it all -- and how he tries to make a difference. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Suyash Rai at Carnegie India, Twitter and The Print. 2. Ideas and Institutions -- The Carnegie India newsletter co-written by Suyash Rai. 3. Interpreting India -- The Carnegie India podcast sometimes hosted by Suyash Rai. 4. Carnegie India's YouTube Channel. 5. Demonetisation -- Episode 2 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 6. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 7. Suyash Rai on GDP growth: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 8. Suyash Rai on public finance: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 9. Suyash Rai on the financial system: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 10. Suyash Rai on changes in state-capital relations in recent years: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 11. Suyash Rai on the judiciary: 1, 2. 12. Suyash Rai on utopian laws that do not work in practice: 1, 2, 3. 13. Suyash Rai on Demonetisation: 1, 2, 3, 4. 14. Paper Menagerie — Ken Liu. 15. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life -- Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Conquest and Community: The Afterlife of Warrior Saint Ghazi Miyan -- Shahid Amin. 17. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 18. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 19. The Undiscovered Self: The Dilemma of the Individual in Modern Society -- CG Jung. 20. A Memoir of Mary Ann -- By Dominican Nuns (introduction by Flannery O'Connor). 21. Nathaniel Hawthorne on Amazon and Wikipedia. 22. Flannery O’Connor and “A Memoir of Mary Ann” -- Daniel J Sundahl. 23. GK Chesterton on Amazon and Wikipedia. 24. Alasdair MacIntyre on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 25. The Moral Animal -- Robert Wright. 26. Gimpel the Fool -- Isaac Bashevis Singer (translated by Saul Bellow). 27. George Orwell on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Frédéric Bastiat on Amazon and Wikipedia. 29. Reflections on Gandhi -- George Orwell. 30. Interview of Harshal Patel in Breakfast With Champions. 31. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 32. The Facts Do Not Matter — Amit Varma. 33. The Hippocratic Oath. 34. Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart -- Gerd Gigerenzer, Peter M Todd and the ABC Research Group on 'fast and frugal heuristics'). 35. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 36. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin). 37. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood -- Howard Pyle. 38. Ivanhoe -- Walter Scott. 39. The Swiss Family Robinson -- Johann David Wyss. 40. Treasure Island -- Robert Louis Stevenson. 41. One Hundred Years of Solitude — Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 42. Saul Bellow on Amazon and Wikipedia. 43. Dangling Man -- Saul Bellow. 44. Salman Rushdie, Philip Roth, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Bernard Malamud on Amazon. 45. Aristotle on Amazon, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 46. Plato on Amazon, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 47. Gorgias -- Plato. 48. The Dialogues of Plato. 49. Ramayana, Mahabharata and Amar Chitra Katha. 50. Nausea -- Jean-Paul Sartre. 51. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 52. Political Ideology in India — Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 53. Against Sainte-Beuve and Other Essays -- Marcel Proust. 54. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 55. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. The Aristocratic Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville -- Suyash Rai. 57. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 58. Ronald Dworkin on Amazon and Wikipedia. 59. Immanuel Kant on Amazon, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 60. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 61. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma. 62. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 63. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do And Why They Do It -- James Q Wilson. 64. The Moral Sense -- James Q Wilson. 65. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 66. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama. 67. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama. 68. Political Order and Political Decay — Francis Fukuyama. 69. Going from strong as in scary to strong as in capable -- Suyash Rai and Ajay Shah. 70. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy. 72. Utilitarianism on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 73. Practical Ethics -- Peter Singer. 74. Reasons and Persons -- Derek Parfit. 75. The Repugnant Conclusion. 76. Governing the Commons -- Elinor Ostrom. 77. A Pragmatic Approach to Data Protection -- Suyash Rai. 78. Technology and the Lifeworld -- Don Ihde. 79. Postphenomenology -- Don Ihde. 80. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 81. Looking at Lucas’s Question After Seventy-five Years of India’s Independence -- Suyash Rai. 82. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 83. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 84. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 85. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 86. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 87. Douglass North and Albert O Hirschman. 88. The Intellectual Odyssey of Albert Hirschman -- Suyash Rai. 89. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 90. Democracy in America -- Alexis De Tocqueville. 91. Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy -- Pierre Manent. 92. The Populist Century -- Pierre Rosanvallon. 93. The Theory of Populism According to Pierre Rosanvallon -- Suyash Rai. 94. After Virtue -- Alasdair MacIntyre. 95. Philosophy of Technology -- Don Ihde. 96. Technology and the Virtues -- Shannon Vallor. 97. Nihilism and Technology -- Nolen Gertz. 98. Lant Pritchett on Amazon, Google Scholar and his own website. 99. Harnessing Complexity -- Robert Axelrod and Michael D Cohen. 100. Mahabharata, Odyssey, Divine Comedy and Rashmirathi. 101. Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar on Spotify. 102. Andrei Rublev -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 103. Andrei Tarkovsky, Luis Buñuel, Akira Kurosawa and Satyajit Ray. 104. Mission Impossible, Bad News Bears and Anand. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Past and the Future' by Simahina.
Society cannot be designed in a top-down way. Central planning was a historic blunder that harmed India -- even though it was conceived by great men with good intentions. Nikhil Menon joins Amit Varma in episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the flawed genius PC Mahalanobis, the planning commission, and his own life as a scholar. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Nikhil Menon on Amazon and University of Notre Dame. 2. Planning Democracy: How A Professor, An Institute, And An Idea Shaped India -- Nikhil Menon. 3. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley). 4. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 5. Sherlock Holmes, Ramayana and Mahabharata. 6. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 8. Political Ideology in India — Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 9. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 10. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 11. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 12. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 13. The Discovery of India -- Jawaharlal Nehru. 14. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 15. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chandra Bhan Prasad). 16. John Locke on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 17. John Dewey on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 18. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 19. Friedrich Hayek on Wikipedia, Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Econlib. 20. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism -- Friedrich Hayek.. 21. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 22. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 23. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 24. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 25. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. On Exactitude in Science (Wikipedia) — Jorge Luis Borges. 28. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 29. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 30. Angus Deaton, John von Neumann, Albert Einstein and Howard Aiken. 31. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Les Misérables -- Victor Hugo. 33. Hardy Boys on Amazon. 34. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 35. Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 36. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 37. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 38. Shahid Amin and Sunil Kumar. 39. 300 Ramayanas -- AK Ramanujan. 40. Nehru’s Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.) 41. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 42. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 43. John McPhee on Amazon. 44. Mumbai Fables -- Gyan Prakash. 45. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 46. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 47. Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India's Capital -- Rotem Geva. 48. A People’s Constitution — Rohit De. 49. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati. 50. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 51. India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy -- Ramachandra Guha. 52. Roam Research. 53. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia. 54. Linda Colley on Amazon and Princeton. 55. Gandhi as Mahatma -- Shahid Amin. 56. Tanika Sarkar, Neeladri Bhattacharya and Janaki Nair. 57. The Great Man Theory of History. 58. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 60. Milton Friedman on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Econlib. 61. The Man of System — Adam Smith (excerpted from The Theory of Moral Sentiments). 62. The Idea of India — Sunil Khilnani. 63. The Rocking-Horse Winner -- DH Lawrence. 64. Taylor Sherman and Niraja Gopal Jayal. 65. Kamyab Hum Karke Rahenge -- Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi on central planning. 66. Naya Daur -- BR Chopra. 67. Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein -- Song from Hum Hindustani. 68. Char Dil Char Raahein -- KA Abbas. 69. Jhootha Sach (Hindi) (English) -- Yashpal. 70. Marxvaad Aur Ram Rajya — Karpatri Maharaj. 71. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 72. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 73. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 74. Circe -- Madeline Miller. 75. The Song of Achilles -- Madeline Miller. 76. The Thursday Murder Club -- Richard Osman. 77. Only Murders in the Building. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Central Planning’ by Simahina.
She's been a journalist for half a century, wrote the definitive book on the Emergency, and is revered for her political insight. Coomi Kapoor joins Amit Varma in episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, Indian politics and the state of our media.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Inside Track -- Coomi Kapoor's column in the Indian Express.
2. The Emergency: A Personal History -- Coomi Kapoor.
3. The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas: An Intimate History of the Parsis -- Coomi Kapoor.
4. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
5. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty).
6. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph.
7. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
8. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan).
10. Men Must Step Up Now — Amit Varma.
11. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena).
12. Arun Shourie,on Amazon and Wikipedia.
13. Kuldip Nayar on Amazon and Wikipedia.
14. The Nagarwala Case.
15. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. Vinod Mehta on Amazon and Wikipedia.
17. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra.
18. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
19. The Turkman Gate Massacre (but read Kapoor's book for the full details!)
20. An Incomplete Life -- Vijaypat Singhania.
21. The Decline of the Congress — Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
22. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen.
23. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
24. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash.
25. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen.
26. All the Light We Cannot See -- Anthony Doerr.
27. Gangubai Kathiawadi and Darlings.
28. Panchayat.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘The Inside Track’ by Simahina.
Food is more than just sustenance for the body. Food contains stories, memories, emotions, and the ingredients of the self. Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage join Amit Varma in episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe their journeys in food, from starting cult restaurants like Bombay Canteen and O Pedro, to setting up the pathbreaking Bombay Sweet Shop, to now taking that deeper dive into the role food plays in our society.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Sameer Seth (LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter) and Yash Bhanage (LInkedIn, Instagram and Twitter).
2. Hunger Inc on LinkedIn and its own website.
3. Bombay Canteen on Instagram and its own website.
4. O Pedro on Instagram and its own website.
5. Bombay Sweet Shop on Instagram and its own website.
6. Choco Butterscotch Barks -- Amit Varma's favourite dessert of all time.
7. Enthu Cutlet.
8. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
9. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
10. Religion, Food, Indian Society -- Episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shoba Narayan).
11. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon).
12. Haruki Murakami on Amazon.
13. Setting the Table -- Danny Meyer.
14. Sameer Seth's Instagram post on Floyd Cardoz.
15. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. Will Guidara on Wikipedia, Instagram, Twitter and TED.
17. The boys behind The Bombay Canteen are hungry for more -- Shrabonti Bagchi.
18. Shoe Dog -- Phil Knight.
19. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time — Amit Varma.
20. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri.
21. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
22. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin.
23. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
24. Stage.in.
25. The Fat Duck -- Heston Blumenthal's restaurant.
25. Tesouro by Firefly.
26. Chef's Table and Masterchef.
27. Saransh Goila and Ranveer Brar on YouTube.
28. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty).
29. Barkha Cardoz's talk on Floyd Cardoz at The Welcome Conference.
30. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen.
31. Creativity, Inc -- Ed Catmull.
32. Delivering Happiness -- Tony Hsieh.
33. Talk Like TED -- Carmine Gallo.
34. Yash Bhanage's Instagram prank on his head of marketing.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Women are not the only victims of patriarchy -- men are also diminished by it. Nikhil Taneja joins Amit Varma in episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss what he has learnt about mental health, young people in India, the epidemic of loneliness in our country -- and the enormous power of storytelling.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
2. Nikhil Taneja on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, IMDb and HT Brunch.
3. Yuvaa.
4. The internet—a toxic love story -- Nikhil Taneja.
5. The pandemic pretence of being ‘okay’ -- Nikhil Taneja.
6. Keeping up with the algorithms -- Nikhil Taneja.
7. It is okay for men to cry -- Nikhil Taneja.
8. Reject the mission statement of your gender -- Nikhil Taneja.
9. Kindness: Don't be an Ahole! -- Nikhil Taneja.
10. Why young Indians are lonelier than ever before -- Nikhil Taneja.
11. How stories can heal our divided world -- Nikhil Taneja.
12. Nikhil Taneja on Advertising is Dead with Varun Duggirala.
13. Nikhil Taneja on the Filter Koffee Podcast with Karthik Nagarajan.
14. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted — Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen.
15. Episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande and Natasha Badhwar.
16. Hitesh Kewalya on Twitter, Instagram and IMDb.
17. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan.
18. Dev Anand and Roger Corman.
19. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen.
20. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin.
21. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
22. Gendered Leadership Course by Angellica Aribam.
23. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
24. Dreamers — Snigdha Poonam.
25. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma.
26. Beedi Jali Le -- Song from Omkara.
27. NH 10 (Navdeep Singh), Hichki (Siddharth Malhotra), Chhapaak (Meghna Gulzar), Rashmi Rocket (Akarsh Khurana) and Queen (Vikas Bahl).
28. Ghostbusters (2016, Paul Feig) and The Lost City (Nee Brothers).
29. 3 Idiots (Rajkumar Hirani), Dangal (Nitesh Tiwari), Badhaai Ho (Amit Ravindernath Sharma), Kantara (Rishab Shetty) and Thugs of Hindostan (Vijay Krishna Acharya).
30. Aamir Khan on Koffee With Karan (2018).
31. Parasite -- Bong Joon-ho.
32. Asghar Farhadi on Wikipedia and IMDb.
33. Delhi Crime.
34. TikTok and Indian Society -- The online course conducted by Amit Varma, now no longer on offer.
35. Vicky Donor (Shoojit Sircar) and RRR (SS Rajamouli).
36. Salim-Javed.
37. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s poker column for the Economic Times.
38. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra) and Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (Rakesh Roshan).
39. Dev D (Anurag Kashyap), Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane) and Oye Lucky Oye Lucky (Dibakar Banerjee).
40. Bhuvam Bam, Prajakta Koli and Amit Bhadana.
41. Man's World (Y-Films) and Ki & Ka (R Balki).
42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
43. Mumbai Diaries 26/11 -- NIkhil Advani.
44. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
45. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin.
46. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma.
47. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri.
48. One Cut of the Dead — Shin’ichirō Ueda.
49. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala -- Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty).
50. Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith (Clerks), Sofia Coppola and Richard Linklater.
51. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen.
52. Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and Mani Kaul.
53. Andaz Apna Apna (Rajkumar Santoshi), Gunda (Kanti Shah) and Disco Dancer (Babbar Subhash).
54. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen.
55. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter.
56. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence — Shrayana Bhattacharya.
57. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
58. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra.
59. Shravana Kumara, the pious son.
60. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao).
61. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao.
62. Penelope Fitzgerald on Amazon and Wikipedia.
63. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy -- Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen.
64. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai -- Karan Johar.
65. The Chaos Machine -- Max Fisher.
66. The Social Dilemma -- Jeff Orlowski.
67. The Flying Spaghetti Monster.
68. Coming Out as Bisexual -- Mohit's talk at Main Hoon Yuvaa.
69. Nikhil Taneja's Twitter thread on his anxiety.
70. Nikhil Taneja's Facebook post on his anxiety.
71. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen.
72. Turtles All the Way Down -- John Green.
73. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death.
74. The Road to Freedom — Arthur C Brooks.
75. Amit Varma's favourite shower gel.
76. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
77. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
78. Schitt's Creek, Kim's Convenience and Parks and Recreation.
79. Greatest Events of WWII in Colour -- The Netflix docuseries mentioned by Nikhil.
80. Zeynep Tufekci’s newsletter, Twitter and column archive.
81. Ed Yong on Twitter, Amazon, The Atlantic and his own website.
82. My Friend Dropped His Pants -- Amit Varma.
83. Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill by Richard Curtis.
84. Project Everyone.
85. Ladies Room, 6 Pack Band and Bang Baaja Baaraat.
86. Maja Ma -- Anand Tiwari.
87. Phone Bhoot, Badhaai Ho and Crash Course.
88. Let's Talk Consent.
89. Queeristan -- Episode 190 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parmesh Shahani)..
90. Gray (Sakshi Gurnani) and Tasalli Se (Tarun Dudeja).
91. Dear Teenage Me.-- A podcast by Yuvaa on Spotify.
92. Humankind: A Hopeful History -- Rutger Bregman.
93. The Stanford Prison Experiment.
94. Invisible Women — Caroline Criado Perez.
95. Will -- Will Smith's autobiography.
96. Homeland Elegies -- Ayad Akhtar.
97. Yearbook -- Seth Rogan.
98. Shamoon Ismail on YouTube and Spotify.
99. Vampire Weekend on YouTube and Spotify.
100. Dev D by Amit Trivedi.
101. Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke -- Song from Nau Do Gyarah, starring Dev Anand.
102. The Before Trilogy by Richard Linklater.
103. Rambling Man -- An interview of Richard Linklater by Nikhil Taneja.
104. Superchor -- Song from Oye Lucky Lucky Oye.
104. Succession, Ted Lasso and Bojack Horseman.
105. Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory -- Raphael Bob-Waksberg.
106. The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkein.
107. The Lord of the Rings -- The films.
108. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
109. 8 Book Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks.
110. Weekly Movie Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks.
111. 80 Marvelous Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks.
112. Nikhil Taneja's 2020 and 2021 recommendations on Instagram.
113. Nikhil Taneja's 2022 favourites, specially compiled for The Seen and the Unseen.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘I'm not lonely' by Simahina.
She began as a journalist in the pursuit of truth. She went on to embrace activism in the pursuit of justice. Teesta Setalvad joins Amit Varma in episode 302 to talk about all that she learnt from her life and work.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Teesta Setalvad on Twitter, Facebook and Amazon.
2. Foot Soldier of the Constitution -- Teesta Setalvad.
3. Beyond Doubt: A Dossier on Gandhi's Assassination -- Teesta Setalvad.
4. Gujarat: Behind the mirage -- Edited by Teesta Setalvad.
5. Citizens for Justice and Peace. (Also see their About and Twitter pages..)
6. Sabrang India.
7. Teesta Setalvad | A powerful voice for India’s human rights movement -- Video feature by Sabrang India.
8. A half baked secularism -- Teesta Setalvad.
9. Hopes for tomorrow -- Teesta Setalvad's speech in Nuremberg.
10. Courts keep me Busy -- Teesta Setalvad.
11. My Hindu Hriday Samrats -- Teesta Setalvad.
12. Teesta Setalvad Refuses to be Silenced.
13. It’s vital to recall the sparks of hate that burst into Gujarat’s brutal 2002 riots -- Teesta Setalvad.
14. Teesta Setalvad empowers citizens and questions modalities with regards to NRC -- CJP team.
15. Wrong intention, wrong rationale, wrong method -- Teesta Setalvad on CAA-NPR-NRC.
16. Teesta Setalvad addresses massive crowd on CAA, NPR-NRC -- CJP Team.
17. What next for those left out of the NRC? -- Teesta Setalvad.
18. A Home Behind Bars -- Teesta Setalvad.
19. Prisoner of Conscience Teesta Setalvad -- Feminist Dissent.
20. Forced confinement is loss of dignity, says Teesta Setalvad -- Sonam Saigal.
21. The pandemic has put the spotlight on inhumane conditions in Indian prisons -- Teesta Setalvad.
22. Teesta Setalvad’s First Interview After Bail by Arfa Khanum Sherwani.
23. My Life: Law and Other Things -- MC Setalvad.
24. Javed Anand in the Indian Express.
25. Basavanna, Narayana Guru, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Eknath, Namdev, Tukaram and the Bhakti Movement.
26. Nanak Was Here -- Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh).
27. Savitribai Phule, Jyotirao Phule and BR Ambedkar.
28. Jogan, starring Nargis, on YouTube and IMDb.
29. Mirabai and Janabai.
30. The Poverty of India -- Dadabhai Naoroji.
31. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India -- Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel).
32. The Indigo Revolt, the Santhal Rebellion, the Tebhaga Movement and Birsa Munda.
33. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
34. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen,
35. Picture of Arvind Kejriwal with portraits of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh in the background.
36. India: Legacies and Challenges of the Land & Forest Rights Movement -- Ashok Chowdhury, Teesta Setalvad, Roma and Divya Kapoor.
37. Forest Rights Act, 2006.
38. The Pathalgadi Movement.
39. Stan Swamy profiled by Scroll, India Today, the Wire, the Times of India and Hindustan Times.
40. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
41. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
43. Romila Thapar and KM Panikkar on Amazon.
44. Romila Thapar interviewed by Teesta Setalvad.
45. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
46. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
47. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
48. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla.
49. P Sainath interviewed by Teesta Setalvad.
50. A People’s Constitution — Rohit De.
51. All the President's Men -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
52. The Citizenship Battles — Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
53. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
54. The Nellie Massacre.
55. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
56. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi.
57. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
58. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati.
59. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
60. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen.
61. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash.
62. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
63. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee).
64. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee.
65. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
66. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator economy with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri.
67. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan).
68. Prabodhankar Thackeray's life and literature.
69. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen.
70. Jerry Pinto on Amazon and Instagram.
71. HM Seervai on Amazon and Wikipedia.
72. Dilip D'Souza on Amazon, Twitter and his blog.
73. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen.
74. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma.
75. Khabar Lahariya.
76. Tamas (the book) -- Bhisham Sahni.
77. Tamas (the film) -- Govind Nihalani.
78. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab).
79. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen.
80. Muslims and I -- Vijay Tendulkar.
81. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander.
82. Undercover: My Journey into the Darkness of Hindutva -- Ashish Khetan.
83. A World of Stopped Watches — Amit Varma.
84. The Banality of Evil.
85. Her rapists were sentenced to life in prison. Now they’re free, and she’s in hiding -- CNN report on the Bilkis Bano case.
86. The Jyotsna Yagnik judgement in Communalism Combat.
87. Rights and Wrongs: Ordeal by Fire in the Killing Fields of Gujarat -- Editors Guild Fact Finding Mission Report by Aakar Patel, Dileep Padgaonkar and BG Verghese.
88. The Srikrishna Commission report.
89. The Sarkari Mussalman: Life and travails of a soldier educationist -- Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah.
90. India’s Security State — Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph).
91. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph.
92. Karan Thapar's interviews with AP Shah and Dushyant Dave.
93. Flogging in Kheda. Rape in Kannauj.
94. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
95. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S.
96. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
97. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen.
98. The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune -- Ted Allan and Sydney Gordon.
99. Eduardo Galeano and Orhan Pamuk on Amazon.
100. The Framing of India's Constitution -- Edited by B Shiva Rao.
101. The Constituent Assembly Debates.
102. Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Mallikarjun Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify.
103. Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman and Charlie Chaplin.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘The Scales of Injustice’ by Simahina.
Her acclaimed personal essays explore motherhood, marriage and this modern world -- and hold up a mirror to all of us. Natasha Badhwar joins Amit Varma in episode 301 to speak about her life and her writing.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Natasha Badhwar on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, LinkedIn, The Tribune and Mint Lounge.
2. My Daughters' Mum -- Natasha Badhwar.
3. Immortal for a Moment -- Natasha Badhwar.
4. Natasha Badhwar's newsletter on Substack.
5. Natasha Badhwar's old blog on Blogspot.
6. Natasha Badhwar's Memoir Writing Course.
7. Parenthood -- Episode 43 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Natasha Badhwar).
8. Reconciliation: Karwan e Mohabbat’s Journey of Solidarity through a Wounded India -- Edited by Harsh Mander, John Dayal and Natasha Badhwar.
9. Karwan e Mohabbat.
10. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen.
11. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen.
12. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen.
13. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Jonathan Haidt in conversation with Vasant Dhar in episode 8 of Brave New World.
14. Why my daughters don’t go to school anymore -- Natasha Badhwar interviewed by Manisha Natarajan. (Full video.)
15. The most important lesson learnt as an #unschooling parent -- Natasha Badhwar.
16. School forced me to put parts of myself inside a box -- Sahar Beg (Natasha's daughter).
17. Meet the unschooling girls -- Homeschooling India Community.
18. The Joys of Walking Out -- Natasha Badhwar and Sahar Beg.
19. How Children Fail -- John Holt.
20. Unsatisfied -- The Replacements.
21. To Fail Without Feeling Like A Failure -- Natasha Badhwar.
22. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris.
23. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
24. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar.
25. Sholay — Ramesh Sippy.
26. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza.
27. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
28. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
29. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen.
30. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? -- Harsh Mander.
31. The real difference between my husband and me -- Natasha Badhwar.
32. Self-Portrait -- AK Ramanujan.
33. The Girl From Kashmir -- Episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Farah Bashir).
34. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen.
35. Roger Ebert and me: How tragedy and Twitter bonded us across continents -- Natasha Badhwar.
36. In Conversation with Roger Ebert -- Natasha Badhwar.
37. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo.
38. Roger Ebert's essay on Dekalog.
39. A welcome note for new husbands and wives -- Natasha Badhwar.
40. Five things to learn from the man you love -- Natasha Badhwar.
41. Deep Work — Cal Newport.
42. Fatherhood is a funny thing -- Natasha Badhwar.
43. El Amor de Mi Vida -- Warren Zevon.
44. Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck and JD Salinger on Amazon.
45. Cyrano De Bergerac -- Edmond Rostand.
46. Sweet Thursday -- John Steinbeck.
47. The Catcher in the Rye -- JD Salinger.
48. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee.
49. The Colour Purple -- Alice Walker.
50. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma.
51. Imposter Syndrome.
52. What we say and what we mean, the fine art of small talk -- Natasha Badhwar.
53. Kabhi Hum Khoobsurat -- Nayyara Noor.
54. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen.
55. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott.
56. Hayao Miyazaki on IMDb, Wikipedia and Britannica.
57. Ponyo -- Hayao Miyazaki.
58. Natasha's favourite shows: Bad Buddy, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, The Dragon Prince and The Good Place.
59. Masaan — Neeraj Ghaywan.
60. Mirch Masala -- Ketan Mehta.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘The Examined Life’ by Simahina.
Our selves are nebulous, the world is complex and the times they are a-changin'. Pratap Bhanu Mehta joins Amit Varma in episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen for a freewheeling chat about how to make sense of all of this.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen, where Amit Varma answers questions from his guests.
2. Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Twitter, Amazon and the Indian Express.
3. What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
4. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) — Amit Varma’s post with Douglas Adams’s puddle quote.
5. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay.
6. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book.
7. Francis Fukuyama on Amazon.
8. Ideas of India: The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta discusses Adam Smith with Shruti Rajagopalan.
9. Conversation and Society -- Russ Roberts discusses Adam Smith with Amit Varma in episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. Human — Michael S Gazzaniga.
11. The Interpreter — Amit Varma.
12. Free Will on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
13. Free Will — Sam Harris.
14. Immanuel Kant on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
15. The Median Voter Theorem.
16. 'Thinking and Reflecting' and 'The Thinking of Thoughts': Gilbert Ryle's essays on 'thick description' and Winks vs Twitches, also found in Collected Essays.
17. Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture -- Clifford Geertz.
18. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha).
19. The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast -- Arkotong Longkumer.
20. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
21. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra.
22. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident -- Amit Varma's column on Chris Cornell's death.
23. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence -- Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen.
24. Scientism.
25. Ludwig Wittgenstein on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
26. Wanting — Luke Burgis.
27. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia.
28. Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
29. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
30. Agarkar’s Donkeys: A Meditation on God -- Amit Varma.
31. Faust, as portrayed by Christopher Marlowe and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
32. The Measure of a Man -- Episode 9, Season 2, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Wikipedia entry).
33. Ex Machina -- Alex Garland.
34. Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy -- David Chalmers.
35. Yoga Vasistha.
36. On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings -- William James.
37. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman.
38. The Experience Machine -- Robert Nozick. (Wikipedia entry.)
39. Utilitarianism: For and Against -- JJC Smart and Bernard Williams.
40. Reasons and Persons -- Derek Parfit.
41. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
42. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy -- Bernard Williams.
43. Bernard Williams on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
44. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
45. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
46. Friedrich Hayek on Amazon, Econlib, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
47. The Dark Side of Democracy -- Michael Mann.
48. Jayaprakash Narayan on proportional representation.
49. Pakistan or the Partition of India — BR Ambedkar.
50. Don’t Insult Pasta (2007) — Amit Varma.
51. Manish Sisodia invokes ‘Rajput’ caste amidst CBI probe -- Janta Ka Reporter.
52. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
53. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs — Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad.
54. Beware of Half Victories -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
55. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen.
56. Carl Schmitt on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
57. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen.
58. Justin Amash on why he left the Republican Party.
59. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh.
60. Rational Ignorance.
61. The Economics of Voting — Amit Varma on Rational Ignorance.
62. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen.
63. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma on the importance of reading.
64. John Aubrey's biography of Thomas Hobbes.
65. Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Frideric Handel and Felix Mendelssohn on Spotify.
66. Digital Concert Hall -- Berliner Philharmoniker.
67. Berliner Philharmoniker on YouTube, Twitter and their own website.
68. Nikhil Banerjee on Spotify, YouTube and Wikipedia.
69. Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light -- The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel.
70. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin).
71. Premchand’s Kazaki And Other Marvellous Tales — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by Sara Rai).
72. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
73. Yeh Premchand Hai -- Apoorvanand.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Radiant Knowledge’ by Simahina.
What should a newsroom report on? Does journalism know its own purpose? Do we? What ethics should we live by, and why? Samarth Bansal joins Amit Varma in episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about living the examined life, and asking the fundamental questions.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Samarth Bansal on Twitter and his own website.
2. The Interval -- Samarth Bansal's newsletter.
3. Truth Be Told -- Samarth Bansal's Food and Fitness newsletter with Shashank Mehta and others.
4. Journalists refer to themselves as storytellers. Is that a mistake? -- Samarth Bansal.
5. Why the event-oriented structure of news doesn't help in understanding how the world works -- Samarth Bansal.
6. A different way to think about Indian media -- Samarth Bansal.
7. Sugar-coated conspiracies: How ‘publication bias’ amplifies half-truths -- Samarth Bansal.
8. How I approach and manage my freelance journalism career -- Samarth Bansal.
9. Thoughts and observations on data journalism in India -- Samarth Bansal.
10. Why I am relearning statistics -- Samarth Bansal.
11. The Wire’s TekFog investigation: A futile search for evidence -- Samarth Bansal.
12. Indian pollsters are doing fine. Here is how forecasts work -- Samarth Bansal.
13. Lessons learnt from my 52-week workout streak -- Samarth Bansal.
14. The pursuit of truth with Samarth Bansal -- An interview by In Old News.
15. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
17. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature -- Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen.
18. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
19. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
20. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen.
21. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
22. Strangers Drowning -- Larissa MacFarquhar.
23. Larissa MacFarquhar on Getting Inside Someone's Head -- Episode 58 of Conversations With Tyler.
24. Dil Dhadakne Do -- Zoya Akhtar.
25. Kapoor & Sons -- Shakun Batra.
26. Why are India's housewives killing themselves? -- Soutik Biswas.
27. Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho -- Jagjit Singh's ghazal from Arth.
28. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence -- Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen.
29. Amit Varma's tweet on winning the Asian Championships of Match Poker.
30. Wanting — Luke Burgis.
31. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen.
32. Dead Poets Society -- Peter Weir.
33. Amusing Ourselves to Death — Neil Postman.
34. Deep Work — Cal Newport.
35. Ira Glass on the Creative Process.
36. The Parable of the Pottery Class.
37. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky.
38. The Biology of Good and Evil -- Robert Sapolsky speaks to Sam Harris in episode 91 of The Making Sense Podcast.
39. Robert Sapolsky's biology lectures on YouTube.
40. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.
41. The Overconfidence Game -- Episode 6 of Against the Rules with Michael Lewis.
42. Men Explain Things to Me -- Rebecca Solnit.
43. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein.
44. Free Will on Wikipedia, Brittanica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
45. Free Will -- Sam Harris.
46. The Blind Watchmaker -- Richard Dawkins.
47. The CBS 60 Minutes documentary on the Indian Institute of Technology.
48. Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.
49. A Student's Guide to Startups -- Paul Graham.
50. Paul Graham's essays.
51. Coursera and Udacity.
52. The Last Lecture -- Randy Pausch.
53. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.
54. The Blank Slate — Steven Pinker.
55. The Moral Animal -- Robert Wright.
56. Ezra Klein Interviews Noam Chomsky.
57. Dhanya Rajendran Fights the Gaze -- Episode 267 of The Seen and the Unseen.
58. Tamasha -- Imtiaz Ali.
59. The Turn of the Tortoise -- TN Ninan.
60. Bad Blood -- John Carreyrou.
61. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on Demonetisation).
62. Enabled by technology, young Indians show what it means to be a citizen -- Amit Varma.
63. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Aakar Patel: 1, 2.
64. Adults in the Room -- Yanis Varoufakis.
65. Larry Summers at Harvard, Wikipedia, Twitter and his own website.
66. India's 50 Most Powerful People of 2009 -- List by Business Week including, heh, Amit Varma.
67. The theory of the interlocking public.
68. CRISPR gene editing.
69. Genetic Engineering -- Episode 165 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shambhavi Naik).
70. The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz -- Brian Knappenberger.
71. I Hate the News -- Aaron Swartz.
72. Everybody Loves a Good Drought -- P Sainath.
73. Why everyone hates the mainstream media -- Andrew Potter.
74. Income Tax department raids Dainik Bhaskar premises across the country -- The Hindu.
75. Apar Gupta and Internet Freedom Foundation.
76. The Revolt of the Public -- Martin Gurri.
77. The best stats you've ever seen -- Hans Rosling.
79. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma.
80. Introduction to the Human Brain -- Nancy Kanwisher.
81. Future Shock -- Alvin Toffler.
82. The Trial of the Chicago 7 -- Aaron Sorkin.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: ‘Reflection’ by Simahina.
Her pioneering work has helped us understand how caste and gender remain huge problems in India. But her past goes beyond numbers, into a rich history of aajobas and aajis and theatre and song. Ashwini Deshpande joins Amit Varma in episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how she used her economist's gaze to understand our social problems -- and how films and music also played their part.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Ashwini Deshpande on Twitter, Ashoka, Google Scholar, Amazon and her own website.
2. The Grammar of Caste -- Ashwini Deshpande.
3. Why are Indian Women not employed? -- Ashwini Deshpande's talk for Manthan.
4. What Women Do: Is it even "work"? -- A seminar by Ashwini Deshpande at Ashoka.
5. The New Grammar of Caste -- Ashwini Deshpande's talk at JNU.
6. Gender and Caste Discrimination and Affirmative Action in India -- Ashwini Deshpande speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on the Ideas of India podcast.
7. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
8. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Mahima Vashisht and Alice Evans.
9. Amit Varma's tweet with Ashwini Deshpande's viral and potentially award-winning vocal performance.
10. Archaeology and the Public Purpose -- Nayanjot Lahiri.
11. Rahimatpur: Town along the Kamandalu -- GP Deshpande.
12. Satyashodhak (out-of-print book) (YouTube) -- GP Deshpande.
13. Uddhwasta Dharmashala (Marathi) (English)-- GP Deshpande.
14. Thelma and Louise -- Ridley Scott.
15. Jyoti Subhash, Amruta Subhash, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Ebrahim Alkazi, Rohini Hattangadi, Jayadev Hattangadi, Manohar Singh, Sai Paranjpye, Arun Joglekar, Shriram Lagoo and Amol Palekar.
16. Ghashiram Kotwal -- Vijay Tendulkar.
17. Jai Santoshi Maa -- Vijay Sharma.
18. English Vinglish -- Gauri Shinde.
19. Satyajit Ray and Manmohan Desai.
20. Qurbani -- Feroz Khan.
21. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala -- Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty).
22. Dance Dance — Babbar Subhash.
23. Aagaya Aagaya Halwa Wala — Song from Dance Dance.
24. Ek Aur Ek Gyarah -- David Dhawan.
25. Baba Sehgal and ML Sondhi.
26. The Man Who Resides in Music -- PL Deshpande on Malikarjun Mansur, translated by Ashwini Deshpande.
27. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
28. Chhoti Si Baat -- Basu Chatterjee.
29. Raj Kumar's famous dialogue from Waqt.
30. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande and Manik Bhide.
31. Yuval Noah Harari on Amazon.
32. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.
33. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen.
34. Kaushik Basu and Amazon, Twitter, Wikipedia and his own website.
35. Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? -- Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan.
36. Race At Work: Realities of Race and Criminal Record in the NYC Job Market -- Devah Pager and Bruce Western.
37. Walking the Talk? What Employers Say Versus What They Do -- Devah Pager and Lincoln Quillian.
38. The Economics of Discrimination -- Gary Becker.
39. How Gary Becker Saw the Scourge of Discrimination -- Kevin Murphy.
40. The Theory of Discrimination -- Kenneth Arrow.
41. What Has Economics to Say About Racial Discrimination? -- Kenneth Arrow.
42. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher.
43. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi.
44. Who is the Identifiable Victim?: Caste Interacts with Sympathy in India -- Ashwini Deshpande and Dean Spears.
45. Identifiable victim effect.
46. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study -- Thomas Sowell.
47. Dominant or Backward? Political Economy of the Demand for Quotas by Jats, Patels and Marathas -- Ashwini Deshpande and Rajesh Ramachandran.
48. (In)Visibility, Care and Cultural Barriers: The Size and Shape of Women's Work in India -- Ashwini Deshpande and Naila Kabeer.
49. Norms that matter -- Ashwini Deshpande and Naila Kabeer.
50. The gendered effects of droughts -- Farzana Afridi, Kanika Mahajan and Nikita Sangwan.
51. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Gendered Division of Paid and Unpaid Work -- Ashwini Deshpande.
52. Women’s Work in India: Evidence from changes in time use between 1998 and 2019 -- Nicholas Li.
53. Dropping Out, Being Pushed Out or Can’t Get in? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women -- Ashwini Deshpande and Jitendra Singh.
54. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare).
55. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
56. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
57. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan).
58. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma.
59. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
60. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
61. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
62. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen.
63. Ret Samadhi -- Geetanjali Shree.
64. Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya -- Mohammed Rafi song from Hum Dono.
65. Court — Chaitanya Tamhane.
66. The Disciple — Chaitanya Tamhane.
67. Line of Duty, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton, Shetland, The Good Wife, The Good Fight and Giri/Haji.
68. The Good Doctor -- Damon Galgut.
69. Gangubai Kathiawadi -- Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art: 'Patriarchy' by Simahina.
We're in the 21st century, and it would seem that the world is finally moving towards gender equality, right? Not so fast. Alice Evans joins Amit Varma in episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss why some parts of the world are crawling slower than others.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Alice Evans on her blog, website, YouTube, podcast, Google Scholar, King's College and Twitter.
2. Rocking Our Priors -- Alice Evans's podcast.
3. Ten Thousand Years of Patriarchy, Updated! -- Alice Evans.
4. An Intellectual History of the Patriarchy -- Alice Evans.
5. Friendships and Women's Liberation -- Alice Evans.
6. 3 Things I Got Wrong About Patriarchy -- Alice Evans.
7. What Don't We Know About Patriarchy? -- Alice Evans.
8. Overcoming the Global Despondency Trap -- Alice Evans.
9. Ideas of India: The Great Gender Divergence -- Alice Evans on Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast.
10. Ideas of India: Female Friendships and Fraternal Capital -- Alice Evans on Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast.
11. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya and Mahima Vashisht.
12. Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome.
13. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma.
14. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan).
15. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
16. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya.
17. Chup: Breaking the Silence About India’s Women -- Deepa Narayan.
18. Terror as a Bargaining Instrument -- Francis Bloch and Vijayendra Rao.
19. Russia: Bill to Decriminalize Domestic Violence -- Human Rights Watch.
20. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen.
21. Climate Change and Our Power Sector -- Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah).
22. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker.
23. Emergent Ventures prizes for best new and recent blogs -- Tyler Cowen.
24. Zotero -- Your Personal Research Assistant.
25. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
26. On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough -- Alberto Alesina, Paola Giuliano, Nathan Nunn.
27. The Ties That Bound -- Barbara A Hanawalt.
28. Jared Diamond and Paul Collier on Amazon.
29. Pseudoerasmus.-- Blog about economic history & comparative development.
30. Daron Acemoglu on Amazon.
31. Naila Kabeer on Twitter, LSE, her own website.and Google Scholar.
32. Sylvia Chant at LSE and Google Scholar.
33. Claudia Goldin at Harvard and Google Scholar.
34. Early Indians — Tony Joseph.
35. Tony Joseph’s episode of The Seen and the Unseen.
36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich.
37. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
38. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
39. On the Economic Origins of Restricting Women’s Promiscuity -- Anke Becker.
40. Herding, Warfare, and a Culture of Honor: Global Evidence -- Yiming Cao, Benjamin Enke, Armin Falk, Paola Giuliano and Nathan Nunn.
41. The Politics of Marriage in Medieval India: Gender and Alliance in Rajasthan -- Sabita Singh.
42. The Ulema-State Alliance: A Barrier to Democracy and Development in the Muslim World -- Ahmet T Kuru.
43. Gendered Morality -- Zahra Ayubi.
44. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson.
45. Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare speak to Alice Evans on her podcast.
46. Structural Transformation and Employment Generation in India -- Amit Basole.
47. Networks and Misallocation: Insurance, Migration, and the Rural-Urban Wage Gap -- Kaivan Munshi and Mark Rosenzweig.
48. Curse of the Mummy‐Ji: The Influence of Mothers‐In‐Law on Women in India -- S Anukriti, Catalina Herrera‐Almanza, Praveen Pathak and Mahesh Karra.
49. Gender, Intersectionality and Smartphones in Rural West Bengal -- Sirpa Tenhunen.
50. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
51. The Rise and Fall of Imperial China: The Social Origins of State Development -- Yuhua Wang.
52. Penis pins.
53. Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa -- Nwando Achebe.
54. The Enlightened Economy: Britain and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1850 -- Joel Mokyr.
55. The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa -- Nathan Nunn and Leonard Wantchekon.
56. Michael Pollan on coffee.
57. Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions -- Alberto Alesina, Reza Baqir and William Easterly.
58. The Progress of Humanity -- Episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Steven Pinker).
59. Claiming the State -- Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner.
60. Capable Women, Incapable States -- Poulami Roychowdhury.
61. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg.
62. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma.
63. Honour and Shame: Women in Modern Iraq -- Sana Al-Khayyat.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art by Simahina.
The evil of caste will be solved not by deliverance from up top but empowerment from down below. Dalit scholar and writer Chandra Bhan Prasad joins Amit Varma in episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why the cure for caste lies in capitalism -- and why his two great heroes are Babasaheb Ambedkar and Adam Smith.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Chandra Bhan Prasad on Twitter, Amazon, Wikipedia. Mercatus, Times of India and Google Scholar.
2. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs -- Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad.
3. What is Ambedkarism? -- Chandra Bhan Prasad.
4. Dalit Phobia: Why Do They Hate Us -- Chandra Bhan Prasad.
5. When Adam Smith entered an Ambedkar village -- Chandra Bhan Prasad.
6. In defence of suit, boot -- Chandra Bhan Prasad.
7. How Piketty got it wrong -- Chandra Bhan Prasad.
8. Who was the real Ambedkar? -- Chandra Bhan Prasad.
9. On Ambedkarism, Caste and Dalit Capitalism -- Chandra Bhan Prasad in conversation with Shruti Rajagopalan in the Ideas of India podcast.
10. 'Indian languages carry the legacy of caste' -- Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt.
11. Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era -- Devesh Kapur, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett and D Shyam Babu.
12. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
13. The Dalit Emancipation Manifesto of 1951 -- Babasaheb Ambedkar.
14. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed caste with TM Krishna, Shruti Rajagopalan and Manu Pillai.
15. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed the 1991 reforms with Shruti Rajagopalan+Ajay Shah, Vinay Sitapati and Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
16. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya and Mahima Vashisht.
17. Ramchandra Keh Gaye Siya Se -- Song from Gopi.
18. The Laws of Manu (Manu Smriti) -- The Penguin edition & the Buhler translation.
19. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
20. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
21. Devesh Kapur at University of Pennsylvania.
22. Crusader Sees Wealth as Cure for Caste Bias -- The New York Times profile of Chandra Bhan Prasad by Somini Sengupta.
23. In an Indian Village, Signs of the Loosening Grip of Caste -- The Washington Post piece on Chandra Bhan Prasad by Emily Wax.
24. Small Holdings in India and Their Remedies -- Babasaheb Ambedkar.
25. Aims and Objects of the Republican Party of India -- Babasaheb Ambedkar.
26. Ambedkar's memorandum to the British (in Volume 10 of his collected works).
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art by Simahina, in a homage to Gond painting.
Imagine being a young girl growing up in a world of constant curfews, occasional raids, army bunkers outside homes, and the fear that whoever leaves home may not return. Farah Bashir joins Amit Varma in episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about her childhood in Kashmir — and the act of writing about it.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Farah Bashir on Twitter and Instagram.
2. Rumours of Spring: A Girlhood in Kashmir -- Farah Bashir.
3. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
4. Curfewed Night -- Basharat Peer.
5. The Good Women Of China -- Xinran.
6. Svetlana Alexievich on Amazon.
7. Portrait of a Turkish Family -- Irfan Orga.
8. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. Sharon and My Mother-in-Law -- Suad Amiry.
10. Derry Girls on Netflix and Wikipedia.
11. Nazia Hasan on Spotify.
12. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott.
13. Nikaah -- BR Chopra.
14. Things Fall Apart -- Chinua Achebe.
15. Sonnets -- William Shakespeare.
16. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen.
17. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen.
18. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen.
19. Ghazal -- Agha Shahid Ali.
20. Farah Bashir on the Raw Mango campaign.
21. The Wretched of the Earth -- Frantz Fanon.
22. Kaabil: That Old Regressive Bollywood Strikes Again -- Amit Varma.
23. Georges Simenon on Amazon.
24. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen.
25. Masaan — Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover.
26. Against White Feminism -- Rafia Zakaria.
27. Another Birth and Other Poems -- Forugh Farrokhzad.
28. The Late Bourgeois World -- Nadine Gordimer.
29. Telling Times -- Nadine Gordimer.
30. Kashmir ki Kali -- The Shakti Samanta film starring a Bengali!
31. Territory of Desire -- Ananya Jahanara Kabir.
32. Mahjoor and Habba Khatoon.
33. Ali Saffuddin and Parvaaz on Spotify.
34. Toni Morrison on Amazon.
35. The Patience Stone -- Atiq Rahimi.
36. Elena Ferrante on Amazon.
37. Milkman -- Anna Burns.
38. Paradise Lost -- John Milton.
39. Macbeth -- William Shakespeare.
40. Greta Gerwig on IMDb, Wikipedia and Mubi.
41. Hisham Matar on Amazon.
42. Museum of Innocence -- Orhan Pamuk.
43. Bell Hooks and WG Sebald on Amazon.
44. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
45. Vivian Gornick on Amazon.
46. The Odd Woman and the City — Vivian Gornick.
47. Fierce Attachments -- Vivian Gornick.
48. Shame On Me -- Tessa McWatt.
49. Home Fire -- Kamila Shamsie.
50. Joan Didion and Jane Austen on Amazon.
This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art by Simahina, in a homage to Madhubani painting.
You can lose yourself in cinema -- and you can find yourself in it. Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty join Amit Varma in episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the films in their lives, why we should watch old films, why we should watch new films, why Bollywood and Hollywood and other woods are all great, and why we live in a wonderful technicolor world. This episode is a celebration of cinema!
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Jai Arjun Singh on Twitter and Instagram.
2. Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai -- Subrat Mohanty and Pavan Jha's podcast.
3. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies -- Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen.
4. Jabberwock — Jai Arjun Singh’s blog.
5. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron: Seriously Funny Since 1983 — Jai Arjun Singh.
6. The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee -- Jai Arjun Singh.
7. Popcorn Essayists: What Movies do to Writers -- Edited by Jai Arjun Singh.
8. The Golden Era -- Subrat Mohanty's YouTube playlist of 100 lesser-known songs from the golden era of Hindi film music (mostly 1935-65).
9. The Unseen Lata -- Subrat Mohanty's YouTube playlist of 54 lesser-heard songs from Lata Mangeshkar, from 1948 to 1976.
10. Old posts by Subrat Mohanty from the Passion For Cinema web archives.
11. Some Spotify playlists, courtesy Nishant Shah, from Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai episodes: 1, 2, 3, 4.
12. Pavan Jha's YouTube channel.
13. The only 1980s Maltova Mum commercial I could locate from the 1980s. (Couldn't find Singer.)
14. Kashmir Ki Kali -- Shakti Samanta.
15. Mughal-E-Azam -- K Asif.
16. Khuda Nigehbaan Ho -- Song from Mughal-E-Azam, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni.
17. Cinema Paradiso -- Giuseppe Tornatore.
18. Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan -- talk show by Tabassum.
19. Old episodes of Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan with RD Burman, Deepti Naval, Anand Bakshi and Bhupinder.
20. The Indiana Jones and Superman franchises.
21. The Evil Dead -- Sam Raimi.
22. Sam Raimi, Wes Craven and John Carpenter.
23. The Fugitive and The Bodyguard.
24. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Milan Kundera.
25. The Antichrist -- Friedrich Nietzsche.
26. The 400 Blows -- Francois Truffaut.
27. Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom -- Pier Paolo Pasolini.
28. Łódź Film School and Andrzej Wajda.
29. Do the Right Thing -- Spike Lee.
30. On Exactitude in Science (Wikipedia) -- Jorge Luis Borges.
31. Titus Andronicus -- William Shakespeare.
32. A Chess Story (previously published as The Royal Game) -- Stefan Zweig.
33. The World of Yesterday -- Stefan Zweig.
34. The Friday the 13th franchise.
35. Tracy and Hepburn -- Garson Kanin.
36. Bhimsen Joshi, Mallikarjun Mansur, Kumar Gandharva and Lata Mangeshkar on Spotify.
37. Vijay Anand, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
38. Guide -- Vijay Anand.
39. Kaagaz Ke Phool -- Guru Dutt.
40. Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini.
41. Shankar–Jaikishan, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra, Mukesh, KA Abbas, Ramanand Sagar and Kidar Sharma.
42. Aag, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Awaara, Barsaat and Shree 420.43. Nargis and Nadira.
44. Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh -- Song from Shree 420, sung by Asha Bhosle and Manna Dey, music by Shankar-Jaikishan, lyrics by Shailendra.
45. Orson Welles.
46. Squid Game on Netflix.
47. The Immediate Experience -- Robert Warshow.
48. Dil Dhadakne Do, Luck by Chance and Gully Boy -- Zoya Akhtar.
49. Casablanca -- Michael Curtiz.
50. Yudh and Tridev -- Rajiv Rai.
51. Amit Varma’s Twitter threads on the MAMI festival from 2018 and 2019.
52. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha).
53. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir.
54. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo.
55. Pauline Kael on Amazon.
56. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. (And Roger Ebert’s essay on it.)
57. The Dead — John Huston.
58. In the Bedroom -- Todd Field.
59. Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) and Parineeta (Pradeep Sarkar).
60. Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Vikram Seth.
61. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla.
62. PG Wodehouse on Amazon and Wikipedia.
63. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra).
64. Dharmyug and Dharamvir Bharati.
65. Andha Yug (Hindi) (English) -- Dharamvir Bharati.
66. Suraj ka Satvaan Ghoda -- Dharamvir Bharati.
67. Gunahon Ka Devta — Dharamvir Bharati.
68. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
69. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
70. Anil Biswas, SD Burman, Chitragupt, Roshan, C Ramchandra and Madan Mohan.
71. Naushad and Aan.
72. Maan Mera Ehsan -- Song from Aan, sung by Mohammad Rafi, music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni.
73. Sebastian D'Souza, Anthony Gonsalves, Ghulam Mohammed and Mohammed Shafi.
74. Khayyam and RD Burman.
75. The Long Tail -- Chris Anderson.
76. The Sound of Music -- Robert Wise.
77. Do-Re-Mi -- Song from The Sound of Music.
78. Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi on Spotify.
79. Tosca -- Giacomo Puccini -- performed at Arena di Verona.
80. Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Lizzo and Billie Eilish on Spotify.
81. About That Time -- Lizzo.
82. Renaissance -- Beyoncé.
83. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil -- Karan Johar.
84. Aar Paar, Geeta Dutt and Eminem.
85. Pet Shop Boys, Guns N' Roses, U2, REM and Stone Temple Pilots on Spotify.
86. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.
87. How This Nobel Has Redefined Literature -- Amit Varma.
88. Mera Joota Hai Japani -- Song from Shree 420, sung by Mukesh, music by Shankar-Jaikishen, lyrics by Shailendra.
89. Sahir Ludhianvi and Majrooh Sultanpuri.
90. Do Bigha Zamin -- Bimal Roy.
91. Dharti Kahe Pukaar Ke -- Song from Do Bigha Zamin, sung by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Shailendra.
92. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen.
93. Mondegreen.
94. Tragedy -- Bee Gees.
95. Aap Jaisa Koi -- Song from Qurbani, sung by Nazia Hassan, music by Biddu Appaiah, lyrics by Masth Ali & Shashi Pritam.
96. Ek Akela Is Shaher Mein -- Song from Gharaonda, sung by Bhupinder Singh, music by Jaidev, lyrics by Gulzar.
97. Jonathan Haidt on Amazon.
98. Amar Akbar Anthony and Andrei Tarkovsky.
99. 2001: A Space Odyssey -- Stanley Kubrick.
100. Mirza Ghalib (and the show on him by Gulzar).
101. Roy Lichtenstein, Drowning Girl, Jackson Pollock, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso and the Pre-Raphaelites.
102. The Wire, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
103. Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorcese, Quentin Tarantino, Coen Brothers and Preston Sturges.
104. Ball of Fire -- Howard Hawks.
105. The Lady Eve -- Preston Sturges.
106. Barbara Stanwyck and Lawrence Olivier.
107. Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma and Alfred Hitchcock.
108. How to Read and Why -- Harold Bloom.
109. Malayankunju -- Sajimon Prabhakar.
110. Muqaddar Ka Sikandar -- Prakash Mehra.
111. Agatha Christie on Amazon and Wikipedia.
112. Nayak -- Satyajit Ray.
113. Prakash Mehra and Kader Khan.
114. Laawaris -- Prakash Mehra.
115. Don and Majboor.
116. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive!
117. David Cronenberg.
118. Masaan — Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover.
119. Moonlight — Barry Jenkins.
120. Chacha Bhatija, Parvarish, Amar Akbar Anthony and Dharam Veer -- Manmohan Desai.
121. Man, Woman and Child -- Erich Segal.
122. Man, Woman and Child (1983 film) -- Dick Richards.
123. Masoom -- Shekhar Kapoor.
124. Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Mrinal Sen and Robert Bresson.
125. Au Hasard Balthazar -- Robert Bresson.
126. Uski Roti -- Mani Kaul.
127. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
128. Calcutta 71 -- Mrinal Sen.
129. Ivan's Childhood, Solaris and Andrei Rublev -- Andrei Tarkovsky.
130. Stanislaw Lem on Amazon and Wikipedia.
131. Cahiers du Cinéma and Mayapuri.
132. Black Friday and Paanch -- Anurag Kashyap.
133. Navdeep Singh, Sudhir Mishra, Neeraj Ghaywan, Raj Kumar Gupta and Rajkumar Kohli.
134. Nagin and Nagina.
135. Jaani Dushman -- Rajkumar Kohli.
136. Three Colors: Blue -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
137. Three Colors: Red -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
138. Three Colors: White -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
139. The Double Life of Veronique -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
140. The legendary Babbar Subhash.
141. Dance Dance -- Babbar Subhash.
142. Aagaya Aagaya Halwa Wala -- Song from Dance Dance.
143. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro -- Kundan Shah.
144. Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar -- Song from CID, sung by Shamshad Begum, Asha Bhosle and Mohammad Rafi., music by OP Nayyar, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri.
145. Rote Hue Aate Hain Sab -- Song from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, sung by Kishore Kumar, music by Kalyani-Anandji, lyrics by Anjaan.
146. Kai Baar Yun Bhi Dekha Hai -- Song from Rajnigandha, sung by Mukesh, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Yogesh.
147. Rim Jhim Gire Saawan -- Song from Manzil, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by RD Burman, lyrics by Yogesh.
148. Andrew Sarris and André Bazin.
149. Sergei Eisenstein and the Odessa Steps sequence.
150. Court — Chaitanya Tamhane.
151. Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Shanghai and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! -- Dibakar Banerjee.
152. Jean Renoir.
153. Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu.
154. Tokyo Story -- Yasujirō Ozu.
155. Rashomon -- Akira Kurosawa.
156. The 2012 Sight and Sound poll of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time.
157. Early Summer -- Yasujirō Ozu.
158. Make Way for Tomorrow -- Leo McCarey.
159. Citizen Kane -- Orson Welles.
160. Vertigo -- Alfred Hitchcock.
161. Setsuko Hara.
162. Sara Akash -- Basu Chatterjee.
163. Bhuvan Shome -- Mrinal Sen.
164. KK Mahajan.
165. One Cut of the Dead -- Shin'ichirō Ueda.
166. Unsane -- Steven Soderbergh.
167. Promising Young Woman -- Emerald Fennell.
168. Psycho -- Alfred Hitchcock.
169. Hitchcock's Films Revisited -- Robin Wood.
170. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, Witness, Dead Poet's Society and The Truman Show -- Peter Weir.
171. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
172. John Ford and Girish Shahane.
173. Everything is Cinema -- Don Palathara.
174. Hi Mom! -- Brian De Palma.
175. Taxi Driver -- Martin Scorcese.
176. Joyful Mystery -- Don Palathara.
177. The Postman Always Rings Twice -- Tay Garnett.
178. Treasure of the Sierra Madre -- John Huston.
179. Noir’s arc - notes on an excellent anthology -- Jai Arjun Singh.
180. Key Largo -- John Huston.
181. Gun Crazy -- Joseph H Lewis.
182. Sullivan's Travels -- Preston Sturges.
183. O Brother, Where Art Thou? -- Coen Brothers.
184. Winchester '73 and Bend of the River -- Anthony Mann.
185. Shaheed (1948) -- Ramesh Saigal, starring Dilip Kumar.
186. Andaz -- Mehboob Khan.
187. Duniya Na Mane -- V Shantaram.
188. Some Like it Hot and Ace in the Hole -- Billy Wilder.
189. Ernst Lubitsch and James Wong Howe.
190. Sweet Smell of Success -- Alexander Mackendrick.
191. Mere Apne -- Gulzar.
192. Haal Chaal Thik Thak Hai -- Song from Mere Apne, sung by Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Gulzar.
193. Mr Sampat -- SS Vasan.
194. Miss Malini -- Kothamangalam Subbu.
195. Mr. Sampath: The Printer Of Malgudi -- RK Narayan.
196. Achhe Din Aa Rahe Hain -- Song from Mr Sampat, sung by Shamshad Begum and ML Vasantakumari, music by Balkrishna Kalla, lyrics by Pandit Indra Chander.
197. Parakh -- Bimal Roy.
198. O Sajna Barkha Bahaar Aayee -- Song from Parakh, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Shailendra.
199. Oonche Log -- Phani Majumdar.
200. Major Chandrakanth -- K Balachander.
201. Jaag Dil-E-Deewana -- Song from Oonche Log, sung by Mohammad Rafi, music by Chitragupt, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri.
202. Birendranath Sircar, RC Boral and Timir Baran.
203. PC Barua, Bimal Roy and KL Saigal.
204. Devdas (1936) -- PC Barua.
205. President -- Nitin Bose.
206. Ek Bangla Bane Nyara -- Song from President, sung by KL Saigal, music by RC Boral, lyrcs by Kidar Sharma.
207. Street Singer -- Phani Majumdar.
208. Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Hi Jaye -- Song from Street Singer, sung by KL Saigal, music by RC Boral, lyrics by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.
209. Wajid Ali Shah.
210. Shatranj Ke Khilari -- Satyajit Ray.
211. Duniya, Yeh Duniya, Toofan Mail-- Song from Jawab, sung by Kanan Devi, music by Kamal Dasgupta, lyrics by Pandit Madhur.
212. Rajnigandha -- Basu Chatterjee.
213. Rajnigandha/राजनीगंधा -- Mannu Bhandari.
214. The Conversation -- Francis Ford Coppola.
215. Deer Hunter -- Michael Cimino.
216. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola.
217. The Godfather: Part 2 -- Francis Ford Coppola.
218. Sisters -- Brian De Palma.
219. Blow Out -- Brian De Palma.
220. Blowup -- Michelangelo Antonioni.
221. The Long Goodbye and Nashville -- Robert Altman.
222. The Missouri Breaks -- Arthur Penn.
223. The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, What's Up, Doc? and Targets -- Peter Bogdanovich.
224. This is Orson Welles -- Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich.
225. Hitchcock -- Francois Truffaut.
226. Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep and To Have and Have Not -- Howard Hawks.
227. The Big Sleep -- Raymond Chandler.
228. William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway on Amazon.
229. Johny Mera Naam and Jewel Thief -- Vijay Anand.
230. Sholay -- Ramesh Sippy.
231. Back to the Future -- Robert Zemeckis.
232. Mr India -- Shekhar Kapoor.
233. Rahul Rawail, JP Dutta, Mukul Anand and Rajiv Rai.
234. Hathyar and Ghulami -- JP Dutta.
235. Raat Bhat Jaam Se Jaam Takrayega -- Song from Tridev with galaxy of villains.
236. Naseeb -- Manmohan Desai.
237. Dan Dhanoa, Mahesh Anand, Dalip Tahil and Tej Sapru.
238. The Ramsay Brothers!
239. Don't Disturb the Dead: The Story of the Ramsay Brothers -- Shamya Dasgupta.
240. Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche -- Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay.
241. Veerana -- Ramsay Brothers.
242. Purana Mandir -- Ramsay Brothers.
243. Govinda!
244. Ilzaam -- Shibu Mitra.
245. I am a Street Dancer and Main Aaya Tere Liye from Ilzaam.
246. Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction -- Quentin Tarantino.
247. Halloween -- John Carpenter.
248. A Nightmare on Elm Street -- Wes Craven.
249. Scream -- Wes Craven.
250. Terminator 2: Judgment Day -- James Cameron.
251. Mad Max: Fury Road -- George Miller.
252. Nicholas Cage and Keanu Reeves.
253. Wild at Heart -- David Lynch.
254. Red Rock West -- John Dahl.
255. The Last Seduction -- John Dahl.
256. Edward Norton in American History X and Rounders.
257. New Delhi Times -- Ramesh Sharma.
258. Drohkaal -- Govind Niahalani.
259. Gupt and Mohra by Rajiv Rai.
260. Sonam!
261. Wild -- Nicolette Krebitz.
262. Waves -- Trey Edward Shults.
263. Climax -- Gaspar Noé.
264. Mother! -- Darren Aronofsky.
265 Eho — Dren Zherka.
266. The Magic Mountain -- Thomas Mann.
267. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino.
268. Cosmicomics -- Itali Calvino.
269. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller -- Italo Calvino.
270. A House For Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul.
271. A Bend in the River -- VS Naipaul.
272. Middlemarch -- George Eliot.
273. Mrs Dalloway -- Virginia Woolf.
274. To the Lighthouse -- Virginia Woolf.
275. Decline and Fall -- Evelyn Waugh.
276. Scoop -- Evelyn Waugh.
277. Brighton Rock -- Graham Greene.
278. Brighton Rock (1948 film) -- John Boulting.
279. Kingsley Amis and Martin Amis.
280. Lucky Jim -- Kingsley Amis.
281. The Siege Of Krishnapur -- JG Farrell.
282. Alfie -- Lewis Gilbert.
283. Get Carter -- Mike Hodges.
284. Blame it on Rio -- Stanley Donen.
285. Gangs of Wasseypur -- Anurag Kashyap.
286. Tamas -- Govind Nihalani.
This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Episode art by Simahina, in a homage to Jackson Pollock.
The world we live in is designed by men for men. What is it like to be a woman in this world? Mahima Vashisht joins Amit Varma in episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her experiences documenting all that is unseen by men and lived by women.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Mahima Vashisht on Twitter and her own website.
2. Womaning in India -- Mahima Vashisht's newsletter.
3. The Womaning in India podcast.
4. The All-Powerful Female Imposter Syndrome -- Mahima Vashisht.
5. Maternity Discrimination is killing women's careers -- Mahima Vashisht.
6. Body shaming women is our favourite national pastime -- Mahima Vashisht.
7. Let's talk about Office Toilets -- Mahima Vashisht.
8. The Raja Beta Syndrome -- Mahima Vashisht.
9. Fabulous Lives of Indian Housewives -- Mahima Vashisht.
10. What is obstetric violence? (Aka my birth story) -- Mahima Vashisht.
11. Women face selective deafness in meetings -- Mahima Vashisht.
12. Lessons from the Tarun Tejpal judgment -- Mahima Vashisht.
13. The Great Indian Dhakosla -- Mahima Vashisht.
14. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen.
15. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri).
16. Nobody Told Me -- John Lennon.
17. The Sunk Cost Fallacy.
18. Koffee With Karan.
19. An Unsuitable Boy -- Karan Johar.
20. The Nurture Assumption -- Judith Rich Harris.
21. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.
22. Dunning-Kruger Effect (Wikipedia).
23. Poker at Lake Wobegon — Amit Varma.
24. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
25. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe.
26. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
27. The Road to Freedom -- Arthur C Brooks.
28. Clarification Regarding Release of Funds to Prasar Bharti -- I&B Ministry press release.
29. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
30. The Darwaza Band campaign with Amitabh Bachchan and Anushka Sharma.
31. The Vidya Balan Swachh Bharat commercial.
32. The Good Girls — Sonia Faleiro.
33. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree — Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro).
34. Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.
35. Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar's Swachh Bharat commercial.
36. Twin Peaks -- David Lynch.
37. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen.
38. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma.
39. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena).
40. Inside Bill's Brain -- Decoding Bill Gates.
41. Daily Rituals — Mason Currey.
42. Daily Rituals: Women at Work — Mason Currey.
43. The tweet Mahima referred to about Albert Einstein's wife.
44. Eileen Mary O’Connell's tweet about Marie Curie and Mariah Carey.
45. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
46. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen.
47. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee -- Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen.
48. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why — Amit Varma.
49. Men Must Step Up Now — Amit Varma.
50. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock & Dan Gardner.
51. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher.
52. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi.
53. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin.
54. Deep Work — Cal Newport.
55. Invisible Women -- Caroline Criado Perez.
56. The controversy over the woman with an oxygen cylinder cooking in the kitchen.
57. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) -- Amit Varma.
58. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen.
59. Fearless Freedom — Kavita Krishnan.
60. Why Loiter? — Shilpa Phadke.
61. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions.
62. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen.
63. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen.
64. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S.
65. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
66. How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings -- Sarah Cooper.
67. Untamed -- Glennon Doyle.
68. Shrill -- Lindy West.
69. Steal Like an Artist -- Austin Kleon.
70. Show Your Work -- Austin Kleon.
71. Keep Going -- Austin Kleon.
72. Hannah Gadsby, Tig Notaro, James Acaster and Karunesh Talwar.
This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
He's one of our finest writers, lyricists, comedians, dissenters -- and the breadth of his work is matched by the depth of his insights. Varun Grover joins Amit Varma in episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and work so far.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Varun Grover on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and IMDb.
2. Masaan -- Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover.
3. Aisi Taisi Democracy on YouTube. Twitter and Instagram.
4. Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar -- Directed by Dibakar Banerjee and co-written by Varun Grover.
5. Biksu -- Raj Kumari (illustrations) and Varun Grover (words).
6. Learn Screen Writing -- Varun Grover's course on Front Row.
7. Varun Grover interviewed on Slow Cafe by Neelesh Misra.
8. Guftagoo with Varun Grover.
9. Moh Moh Ke Dhaage -- Lyrics by Varun Grover.
10. Tu Kisi Rail Si -- Lyrics by Varun Grover.
11. Mann Kasturi -- Lyrics by Varun Grover.
12. Network -- Sidney Lumet.
13. Hot Drinks Equal Warm Feelings.
14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
15. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
16. Massive fire breaks out at Chitrakoot ground in Andheri.
17. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
18. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read.
19. Uski Roti -- Mani Kaul.
20. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind — Gustave le Bon.
21. Crowds and Power — Elias Canetti.
22. Nikaah -- BR Chopra.
23. Masoom -- Shekhar Kapur.
24. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
25. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
26. Stage.in.
27. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
28. Blowin' in the Wind -- Bob Dylan.
29. You're Missing -- Bruce Springsteen.
30. Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh and Dushyant Kumar.
31. M Indicator.
32. Range -- David Epstein.
33. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo.
34. Georges Simenon on Amazon.
35. Fast Car -- Tracy Chapman.
36. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
37. Aadha Gaon -- Rahi Masoom Raza.
38. Biba Sada Dil Morr De -- Nusrat Fatek Ali Khan.
39. Mirza Ghalib on Rekhta.
40. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
41. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph.
42. Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, SD Burman, RD Burman and Abida Parveen on Spotify.
43. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck -- Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen.
44. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino.
45. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju -- Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen.
46. Songs of Life -- Puneet Aghi.
47. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! -- Sooraj Barjatya.
48. Surabhi.
49. Forrest Gump, Notting Hill and Rambo.
50. Majid Majidi, Abbas Kiorastami and Jafar Panahi.
51. Loha, Farishtay, Border and Gadar.
52. Babel and Amores Perros.
53. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie -- John Cassavetes.
54. Mean Streets and Taxi Driver by Martin Scorcese.
55. Flow: The Psychology of Happiness -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
56. Ellevoro on Instagram and Trip Advisor.
57. Wanting — Luke Burgis.
58. Gunahon Ka Devta -- Dharamvir Bharati.
59. It is Immoral to Have Children. Here’s Why — Amit Varma.
60. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham.
61. The Importance of Satya -- Episode 241 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Uday Bhatia).
62. The Great Man Theory of History.
63. Gaata Rahe Mera Dil -- Lyrics by Shailendra.
64. Surinder Kaur, Asa Singh Mastana, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Parveen Sultana and Noor Jehan on Spotify.
65. Satyajit Ray on Wikipedia, IMDb and Amazon.
66. Agantuk -- Satyajit Ray.
67. The Wind Rises -- Hayao Miyazaki
68. Michael Haneke on Wikipedia and IMDb.
69. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski.
70. The Three Colours Trilogy -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
71. A Short Film About Love -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
72. A Short Film About Killing -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
73. The God of Small Things -- Arundhati Roy.
74. Dharamvir Bharati, Harishankar Parsai, Uday Prakash and Manohar Shyam Joshi.
75. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla.
76. Naiyer Masud on Wikipedia, Rekhta and Amazon.
77. Collected Stories -- Naiyer Masud.
78. Shamsur Rahman Faruqi on Wikipedia, Rekhta and Amazon.
79. Kai Chaand The Sar-e-aasman -- Shamsur Rahman Faruqi.
80. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
81. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire — Luis Buñuel.
82. The Dead -- John Huston.
This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
He was born in a small village in Haryana, built and lost one of the biggest viral sites in the world, and is now building a Netflix for India's dialects. Vinay Singhal joins Amit Varma in episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about what he learnt from Witty Feed, the philosophy behind his new venture Stage, and how India lives, truly lives, in its dialects.
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Vinay Singhal on Twitter and LinkedIn.
2. Stage.in.
3. Building Netflix for Bharat (2020) -- Vinay Singhal.
4. What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur (2016) -- Vinay Singhal.
5. 5 Ways to keep people before business (2017) -- Vinay Singhal.
6. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World -- Snigdha Poonam.
7. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
8. SuperSiblings -- Prachi Garg.
9. Wanting -- Luke Burgis.
10. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma.
11. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel.
12. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative.
13. Paper Menagerie -- Ken Liu.
14. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World -- Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai).
15. The Indus Valley Playbook -- Sajith Pai.
16. India2, English Tax and Building for the Next Billion Users -- Sajith Pai.
17. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
18. Real Steel -- Shawn Levy.
19. The Rocky series.
20. The Martian -- Ridley Scott.
21. The Good Doctor on Netflix.
22. The Hard Thing About Hard Things -- Ben Horowitz.
23. The Infinite Game -- Simon Sinek.
24. Zero to One -- Peter Thiel.
25. The Lean Startup -- Eric Ries.
26. Startup School.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
In 1947, few people gave us 75 years. Bloody hell, here we are! And it is up to us now to make this country the best version of itself. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss one of our problem areas: the Indian state. Can we fix it? Yes we can!
(For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.)
Also check out:
1. Karthik Muralidharan on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and UCSD.
2. Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS)
3. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
4. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
5. General equilibrium effects of (improving) public employment programs: experimental evidence from India -- The paper on NREGA by Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukhtankar.
6. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
7. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
8. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
9. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
10. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah).
11. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism -- Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pramit Bhattacharya).
12. The Paradox of Narendra Modi — Episode 102 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shashi Tharoor).
13. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Montek Singh Ahluwalia).
14. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri.
15. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes.
16. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz.
17. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
18. The Macroeconomist as Scientist and Engineer -- N Gregory Mankiw.
19. The Gated Republic -- Shankkar Aiyar.
20. Despite the State — M Rajshekhar.
21. The Power Broker— Robert Caro.
22. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs.
23. India’s Security State -- Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph).
24. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
25. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
26. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
27. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama.
28. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama.
29. Political Order and Political Decay — Francis Fukuyama.
30. Computer Nahi Monitor -- Episode 5 of season 1 of Panchayat.
31. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India -- Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen.
32. Courts Redux: Micro-Evidence from India -- Manaswini Rao.
33. The Checklist Manifesto -- Atul Gawande.
34. Annie Hall -- Woody Allen.
35. The Politics Limerick -- Amit Varma.
36. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
37. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
38. A Theory of Clientelistic Politics versus Programmatic Politics -- Pranab Bardhan and Dilip Mookherjee.
39. Power and Prosperity — Mancur Olson.
40. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh).
41. Premature load bearing: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock.
42. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma.
43. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai).
44. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
45. India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy -- Ramachandra Guha.
46. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
47. Cities and Citizens -- Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
48. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic -- Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
49. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope -- Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen.
50. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world -- Amit Varma on Viswanathan Anand.
51. Running to Stand Still -- U2.
52. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
53. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla.
54. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
55. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia -- Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen.
56. Pitfalls of Participatory Programs -- Abhijit Banerjee, Rukmini Banerji, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster and Stuti Khemani.
57. Our Parliament and Our Democracy -- Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan).
58. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
59. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
60. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri).
61. The Tiebout Model.
62. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma.
63. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma.
64. The Effects of Democratization on Public Goods and Redistribution: Evidence from China -- Nancy Qian, Gerard Padró i Miquel, Monica Martinez-Bravo and Yang Yao.
65. Sneaky Artist Sees the World -- Episode 260 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nishant Jain).
66. Science and Covid-19 -- Episode 221 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anirban Mahapatra).
66. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes -- Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane.).
67. India's states can be laboratories for policy innovation and reform -- Karthik Muralidharan.
68. Clientelism in Indian Villages -- Siwan Anderson, Patrick Francois, and Ashok Kotwal.
69. Patching Development -- Rajesh Veeraraghavan. 70. Opportunity, Choice and the IPL (2008) — Amit Varma.
71. The IPL is Here and Here Are Six Reasons to Celebrate It (2019) — Amit Varma.
72. Climate Change and Our Power Sector -- Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah).
73. The Delhi Smog -- Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
74. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen.
75. The Life and Times of Nirupama Rao -- Episode 269 of The Seen and the Unseen.
76. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
77. Objects Speak to Annapurna Garimella -- Episode 257 of The Seen and the Unseen.
78. Letters for a Nation: From Jawaharlal Nehru to His Chief Ministers 1947-1963 -- Edited by Madhav Khosla.
79. To Raise a Fallen People -- Rahul Sagar.
80. The Progressive Maharaja -- Rahul Sagar.
81. India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
82. India: A Sacred Geography -- Diana Eck.
83. Unlikely is Inevitable — Amit Varma.
84. The Law of Truly Large Numbers.
85. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
She's skated down tekdis, played volleyball for her state, run through deserts and wrestled a bear with her bare hands. Ok, not the last one. Shruti Jahagirdar joins Amit Varma in episode 289 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss women's sports in India, fitness, nutrition and a world without limits.
Also check out:
1. Shruti Jahagirdar on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
2. Halomi Fitness, Shruti Jahagirdar's startup.
3. The Evolution of Cricket -- Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle).
4. Building Sports Ecosystems -- Episode 126 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya).
5. The State of Indian Sport -- Episode 238 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya and Nandan Kamath).
6. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on sport with Ram Guha, Prem Panicker, Sharda Ugra, Ayaz Memon, Snehal Pradhan and Pradeep Magazine.
7. Wait But Why by Tim Urban.
8. This Ramesh Nagdev was a blazing bat -- Makarand Waingankar.
9. Chak De! India -- Shimit Amin.
10. The Sporting Spirit — George Orwell.
11. Allah Ke Bande -- Kailash Kher.
12. Kusha Kapila and the B-Plus Baccha..
13. Wanting — Luke Burgis.
14. Atomic Habits -- James Clear.
15. Barefoot in the Park -- Neil Simon.
16. Tiger Muay Thai.
17. Former British Boxing Champ Julius Francis knocks out troublemaker.
18. Gimme Mo -- Mohit Satyanand's newsletter.
19. The Bell Hooks quote posted by Shruti Jahagirdar.
20. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
21. The Mary Oliver quote posted by Shruti Jahagirdar.
22. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes.
23. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz.
24. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung.
25. Nina Teicholz on The Joe Rogan Experience.
26. Wheat Belly -- William Davis..
27. The Four Quadrants of Conformism -- Paul Graham.
28. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma.
29. The Diabetes Code -- Jason Fung.
30. Hikikomori.
31. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.
32. Everything is Illuminated -- Liev Schreiber, based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.
33. The White Balloon -- Jafar Panahi.
34. Majid Majidi on Wikipedia and IMDb.
35. Panchayat, Season 2.
36. Schitt's Creek.
37. This is Us.
38. The Playbook- A Coach's Rules for Life.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
To immerse yourself in literature is to immerse yourself in the world. Chandrahas Choudhury joins Amit Varma in episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about reading, writing, friendship, Mumbai and the guests at his fantasy dinner table.
Also check out:
1. Chandrahas Choudhury on Instagram and Amazon.
2. The Middle Stage -- Chandrahas Choudhury's blog.
3. My Country Is Literature -- Chandrahas Choudhury.
4. Days of My China Dragon -- Chandrahas Choudhury.
5. Clouds -- Chandrahas Choudhury.
6. Arzee The Dwarf -- Chandrahas Choudhury.
7. Bamana Arzee -- Chandrahas Choudhury, translated by Sindhubala Choudhury.
8. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. Two Men Who Left Third Man Alone -- Amit Varma and Chandrahas Choudhury.
10. The Curse of Knowledge.
11. Eunice De Souza on Amazon.
12. House of the Dead — Fyodor Dostoevsky.
13. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
14. The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist -- Orhan Pamuk.
15. The Ferment of Our Founders -- Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
16. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies -- Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen.
17. Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert.
18. How Fiction Works -- James Wood.
19. Marcel Proust and Karl Ove Knausgaard on Amazon.
20. Six and a Third Acres -- Fakir Mohan Senapati.
21. Is There an Indian Way of Thinking? -- AK Ramanujan.
22. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
23. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
24. Cuckold -- Kiran Nagarkar.
25. Robert Bly on Amazon.
26. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma.
27. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
28. Georges Simenon on Amazon.
29. Beautiful Thing — Sonia Faleiro.
30. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree — Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro).
31. Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay on Amazon.
32. The Business of Books -- Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika).
33. The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- Alice Munro.
34. Against Rang De Basanti -- Chandrahas Choudhury.
35. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
36. A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma.
37. Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek.
38. The City -- CP Cavafy.
39. Junoon on Spotify.
40. Verrier Elwin on Amazon.
41. The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin: An Autobiography.
42. Suite Francaise -- Irène Némirovsky.
43. Taking Stock of Our Republic — Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
She helped generations of women in India find a voice. She expanded the worldview of countless people. She confronted the horrors of our past and the fissures of our present. Urvashi Butalia joins Amit Varma in episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings.
Also check out:
1. Urvashi Butalia at Zubaan and Amazon.
2. The Other Side of Silence -- Urvashi Butalia.
3. Zubaan Books and Kali for Women.
4. Turning the Page for Feminism -- Nilanjana Roy on Urvashi Butalia.
5. Episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya and Nilanjana Roy.
6. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen.
7. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
8. Tales from the Kathasaritsagara -- Somadeva (translated by Arshia Sattar).
9. The Auschwitz Memorial Twitter account.
10. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
11. The Will to Change — Bell Hooks.
12. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma.
13. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow -- Washington Irving.
14. Mahadevi Varma and Sheila Bhatia.
15. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
17. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
18. The Verdict: Decoding India's Elections -- Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala.
19. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
20. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
21. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri).
22. Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on Status of Women in India (1974).
23. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen.
24. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist -- Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen.
25. Kamla Bhasin on Wikipedia.
26. Division of Hearts -- Satti Khanna and Peter Chappell.
27. Heer Ranjha.
28. Kumar Gandharva sings Nirgun Bhajans.
29. Reshma sings Bulle Shah.
30. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Spotify.
31. Ek Onkar -- Harshdeep Kaur.
32. Chaudhvin Ka Chand -- Guru Dutt.
33. Pyaasa -- Guru Dutt.
34. A Question of Silence -- Marleen Gorris.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
He wrote about cricket for decades -- and also turned his piercing gaze on society and himself. Pradeep Magazine joins Amit Varma in episode 286 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his journey, and how it changed him.
Also check out:
1. Pradeep Magazine on Twitter, Amazon and Hindustan Times.
2. Not Just Cricket: A Reporter's Journey through Modern India -- Pradeep Magazine.
3. Not Quite Cricket: The Xplosive Story of How Bookmakers Influence the Game Today -- Pradeep Magazine.
4. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
5. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
6. Some of Satyajit Ray's masterpieces: Pratidwandi, Seemabaddha, Agantuk and Ghare Bhaire.
7. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
8. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll.
9. Adam Smith and John Locke.
10. The Art of Cricket -- Donald Bradman.
11. Ray Robinson and Neville Cardus.
12. Rahul Bhattacharya, Siddhartha Vaidyanathan and Anand Vasu.
13. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket -- Bill Frindall.
14. Rashomon -- Akira Kurosawa.
15. Sourav Ganguly and the Politburo -- Amit Varma.
16. Opportunity, Choice and the IPL (2008) — Amit Varma.
17. The IPL is Here and Here Are Six Reasons to Celebrate It (2019) — Amit Varma.
18. The Sporting Spirit -- George Orwell.
19. War Minus The Shooting -- Mike Marquesee.
20. Annihilation of Caste -- BR Ambedkar.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
Our real heroes are often backstage. Montek Singh Ahluwalia joins Amit Varma in episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his learnings and the liberalisation of 1991.
Also check out:
1. Backstage: The Story behind India’s High Growth Years -- Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
2. Breaking Through: A Memoir -- Isher Judge Ahluwalia.
3. The M Document -- Montek Singh Ahluwalia's legendary note from 1990.
4. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
5. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
6. Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen.
7. Principles of Economics -- Alfred Marshall.
8. Alexandre Dumas on Amazon.
9. Gurbani and Heer Ranjha.
10. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
11. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
12. On Inequality — Harry Frankfurt.
13. The Cantillon Effect: Because of Inflation, We’re Financing the Financiers -- Jessica Schultz.
14. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
15. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama.
16. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama.
17. Political Order and Political Decay — Francis Fukuyama.
18. James Buchanan on Amazon.
19. Jawaharlal Nehru's speech about our "tryst with destiny."
20. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
21. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
22. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma.
23. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma.
24. The Beautiful Tree — James Tooley.
25. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
26. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
27. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh).
28. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
29. Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma
30. Minoo Masani, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Isaiah Berlin, John Hicks and Ian Little.
31. Spontaneous Order.
32. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley).
33. Jagdish Bhagwati and Padma Desai on Amazon.
34. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
35. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
36. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mrinal Pande).
37. Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma.
38. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra.
39. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
40. Managing Climate Change: A Strategy for India -- Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Utkarsh Patel.
41. Mahabharata.
42. Ingmar Bergman, Vittorio de Sica, Federico Fellini and Roman Polanski.
43. Amit Varma's tweet on velociraptors and turkeys.
44. The James Bond films.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
A lifetime spent reading, writing and reflecting teaches you a lot. Nilanjana Roy joins Amit Varma in episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about books, feminism, family, memory and the state of the world.
Also check out:1. Nilanjana Roy on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, Financial Times, Business Standard and her own website.
2. The Girl Who Ate Books: Adventures in Reading -- Nilanjana Roy.
3. The Wildings -- Nilanjana Roy.
4. The Hundred Names of Darkness -- Nilanjana Roy.
5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discuss reading and writing with Sara Rai, Amitava Kumar, VK Karthika, Sugata Srinivasaraju, Mrinal Pande, Sonia Faleiro, Vivek Tejuja, Samanth Subramanian, Annie Zaidi and Prem Panicker.
6. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri.
7. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
8. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma.
9. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. Jonathan Haidt on Amazon.
11. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
12. The Ranga-Billa Case.
13. Sarojini Naidu on Amazon.
14. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.
15. The Mahatma and the Poet — The letters between Gandhi and Tagore, compiled by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya.
16. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
17. Margaret Mascarenhas on Amazon.
18. The Web We Have to Save -- Hossein Derakhshan.
19. The Country Without a Post Office -- Agha Shahid Ali.
20. Wanting — Luke Burgis.
21. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia.
22. The Silence of Scheherazade -- Defne Suman.
23. Silver -- Walter de la Mare.
24. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma.
25. George Saunders and Barack Obama on Amazon.
26. A life in 5,000 books -- Nilanjana Roy.
27. Surender Mohan Pathak, Ibne Safi and Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Amazon.
28. The Power Broker — Robert Caro.
29. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs.
30. JRR Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin and Terry Pratchett on Amazon.
31. Forget reading Thomas Piketty. Try a bit of Terry Pratchett -- Robert Shrimsley.
32. Fifty Shades of Grey -- EL James.
33. Ankur Warikoo, Aanchal Malhotra, Manu Pillai and Ira Mukhoty on Amazon.
34. Mahashweta Devi and Naiyer Masud on Amazon.
35. The former homes of Hurree Babu and Putu the Cat.
36. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
37. Om Namah Volume -- Amit Varma.
38. Salman's Sea of Stories -- Salman Rushdie's Substack newsletter.
39. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel.
40. The Hidden Life of Trees -- Peter Wohlleben.
41. An Immense World -- Ed Yong.
42. The Twitter thread by Sergej Sumlenny that Nilanjana mentioned.
43. The Inheritance of Loss -- Kiran Desai.
44. The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck.
45. Pather Panchali -- Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay.
46. Gora -- Rabindranath Tagore.
47. William Shakespeare, Kalidasa, Geoffrey Chaucer and Krishna Sobti on Amazon.
48. The Cult of Authenticity -- Vikram Chandra.
49. Meenakshi Mukherjee: The Death of a Critic -- Nilanjana Roy.
50. Field Notes from a Waterborne Land: Bengal Beyond the Bhadralok -- Parimal Bhattacharya.
51. Patriots, Poets and Prisoners: Selections from Ramananda Chatterjee's The Modern Review, 1907-1947 -- Edited by Anikendra Sen, Devangshu Datta and Nilanjana Rao.
52. The City Inside -- Samit Basu.
53. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
54. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
55. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
56. Manjula Padmanathan on Amazon.
57. The Life and Letters of Raja Rammohun Roy.
58. If No One Ever Marries Me -- Lawrence Alma-Tadema.
59. If No One Ever Marries Me -- Natalie Merchant.
60. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen.
61. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao.
62. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri).
63. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare).
64. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
65. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra).
66. The Kavita Krishnan Files — Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen.
67. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist -- Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen.
68. I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd -- Translated by Ranjit Hoskote.
69. Lal Ded's poem on wrestling with a tiger.
70. Anarchy is a likelier future for the west than tyranny -- Janan Ganesh.
71. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker.
72. The Ferment of Our Founders -- Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
73. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
74. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
75. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
76. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
77. Manohar Malgonkar, Mulk Raj Anand and Kamala Das on Amazon.
78. Kanthapura -- Raja Rao.
79. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
80. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
81. Alice Munro on Amazon.
82. The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- Amit Varma's favourite Alice Munro story.
83. The Median Voter Theorem.
84. The Ice Cream Vendors.
85. Mohammad Zubair’s Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad.
86. The Will to Change -- Bell Hooks.
87. Paul Holdengraber, Maria Popova, Rana Safvi and Rabih Alameddine on Twitter.
88. The hounding of author Kate Clanchy has been a witch-hunt without mercy -- Sonia Sodha.
89. Democrats have stopped listening to America’s voters -- Edward Luce.
90. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck -- Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen.
91. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
92. GN Devy.
93. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha).
94. Alipura -- Gyan Chaturvedi (translated by Salil Yusufji).
95. Tomb of Sand -- Geetanjali Shree (translated by Daisy Rockwell).
96. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya -- Akshaya Mukul.
97. Ashapurna Devi, Agyeya, Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chugtai, Qurratulain Hyder, Amrita Pritam and Girish Karnad on Amazon.
98. The Adventures of Dennis -- Viktor Dragunsky.
99. Toni Morrison on Amazon.
100. Haroun and the Sea of Stories -- Salman Rushdie.
101. The Penguin Book Of Indian Poets -- Edited by Jeet Thayil.
102. These My Words: The Penguin Book of Indian Poetry -- Edited by Eunice de Souza and Melanie Silgardo.
103. The Autobiography of a Goddess -- Andal (translated by Priya Sarrukai Chabria and Ravi Shankar).
104. Ghachar Ghochar — Vivek Shanbhag (translated by Srinath Perur).
105. Amit Varma talks about Ghachar Ghochar in episode 13 of The Book Club on Storytel.
106. River of Fire -- Qurratulain Hyder.
107. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas -- Ursula K Le Guin.
108. The Left Hand of Darkness -- Ursula K Le Guin.
109. Mother of 1084 -- Mahashweta Devi.
110. Jejuri -- Arun Kolatkar.
111. The Collected Essays of AK Ramanujan -- Edited by Vinay Dharwadker.
112. The Collected Poems of AK Ramanujan.
113. Folktales From India -- Edited by AK Ramanujan.
114. The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Love Poems -- Edited and translated by AK Ramanujan.
115. The Essential Kabir -- Translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
If leaders are to be judged by their actions, PV Narasimha Rao was our tallest leader. Vinay Sitapati joins Amit Varma in episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how Rao showed conviction and political skill in going against the tides of the day to enable the 1991 reforms, which brought hundreds of millions of Indians out of poverty
Also check out:
1. Half-Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India -- Vinay Sitapati.
2. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi -- Vinay Sitapati.
3. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
4. The Insider -- PV Narasimha Rao.
5. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
6. Gandhi's Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India -- Dhirendra Jha.
7. Ascetic Games and Ayodhya: A Dark Night.
8. How the BJP wins: Inside India’s Greatest Election Machine -- Prashant Jha.
9. The BJP’s Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
10. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
11. On Inequality — Harry Frankfurt.
12. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen.
13. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
15. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. The Clash of Civilizations? (the article) -- Samuel Huntington.
17. The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order -- Samuel Huntington.
18. Cut the Clutter with Shekhar Gupta.
19. Headley And I -- S Hussain Zaidi and Rahul Bhatt.
20. Wanting -- Luke Burgis.
21. Abhijit Bhaduri Breaks the Algorithm -- Episode 279 of The Seen and the Unseen.
22. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia.
23. Amit Varma's tweet on winning the Asian Championships of Match Poker.
24. The Blue Bedspread -- Raj Kamal Jha.
25. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda's Road to 9/11 -- Lawrence Wright.
26. Modi’s Domination – What We Often Overlook — Keshava Guha.
27. India’s Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
28. The Alchemy of Finance -- George Soros.
29. Sturgeon's Law and Survivorship Bias.
30. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Libertarian -- Amit Varma.
31. Ancient India: Culture of Contradictions -- Upinder Singh.
32. Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History -- Romila Thapar.
33. Romila Thapar, DD Kosambi and Irfan Habib.
34. A Culture of Discrimination Or A Culture Of Emancipation? -- Aravindan Neelakandan on Romila Thapar.
35. The Wire -- David Simon etc.
36. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski.
37. The Fissures of Modern Hinduism -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta delivers the DD Kosambi Memorial Lecture.
38. Upinder Singh, Nayanjot Lahiri and Iravatham Mahadevan on Amazon.
39. The Power Broker -- Robert A Caro.
40. Robert A Caro on Amazon.
41. The World Is What It Is -- Patrick French.
42. Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China -- Ezra Vogel.
43. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma.
44. Sex tape: Andhra Governor N D Tiwari resigns.
45. Bad liver and a broken heart -- Sunil Murthy on Leela Naidu.
46. The Law of Truly Large Numbers.
47. Unlikely is Inevitable -- Amit Varma.
48. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln -- Doris Kearns Goodwin.
49. To the Brink and Back: India’s 1991 Story -- Jairam Ramesh.
50. Brideshead Revisited -- Evelyn Waugh.
51. Brideshead Revisited, the TV series.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
He's been an academic who's studied the country, and a businessman who's created wealth and jobs. Now he wants to help India achieve its potential. Naushad Forbes joins Amit Varma in episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings -- and the roadmap that can help India lift its citizens.
Also check out:
- The Struggle And The Promise: Restoring India's Potential -- Naushad Forbes.
- Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope -- Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- PG Wodehouse on Amazon.
- The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
- Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
- The Great Redistribution -- Amit Varma.
- Early Indians — Tony Joseph.
- Tony Joseph's episode of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich.
- Two-and-a-Half Bengalis Have an Economics Adda -- Episode 274 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswaro Sengupta and Shrayana Bhattacharya).
- India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
- On Inequality — Harry Frankfurt.
- Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma.
- Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma.
- The Beautiful Tree -- James Tooley.
- Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
- The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
- Black Beauty -- Anne Sewell.
- Enid Blyton and Gerald Durrell on Amazon.
- Leave it to Psmith -- PG Wodehouse.
- Survival In Auschwitz -- Primo Levi.
- Homage to Catalonia -- George Orwell.
- Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden.
- Marginal Revolution.
- Econ Talk — Russ Roberts’s podcast.
- Conversations With Tyler — Tyler Cowen’s podcast.
- Deirdre McCloskey on Amazon.
- Manmohan Singh's budget speech on July 24, 1991.
- Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working -- Jonathan Rauch.
- The oddest entry in Business Week's 2009 list of the 50 Most Powerful People in India.
- India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
- The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra.
- State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century -- Francis Fukuyama.
- The Origins of Political Order -- Francis Fukuyama.
- Political Order and Political Decay -- Francis Fukuyama.
- James Buchanan on Amazon.
- Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Public Choice: A Primer — Eomonn Butler.
- Wonder Woman, the God of War and Public Choice Economics -- Amit Varma and Kumar Anand.
- Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
- Why Children Labour (2007) -- Amit Varma.
- Becoming Modern -- Alex Inkeles and David H Smith.
- The Overton Window.
- Exit, Voice, and Loyalty — Albert O Hirschman.
- India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy -- Ramachandra Guha.
- Wealth And Poverty Of Nations -- David S Landes.
- The Uncommon Reader -- Alan Bennett.
- On Liberty -- John Stuart Mill.
- Patriots and Partisans -- Ramachandra Guha.
- Democrats and Dissenters -- Ramachandra Guha.
- 1984 -- George Orwell.
- The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph -- Albert O Hirschman.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Frédéric Chopin on Spotify.
- Brahms: Second Piano Concerto in B Flat.
- Beethoven: The Piano Concertos.
- Beethoven: Symphonies 1 to 9.
- Schubert: Impromptus.
- The Philadelphia Story -- George Cukor.
- Casablanca -- Michael Curtiz.
Check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
He grew up in Cairo, spent many years writing on the Middle East, saw the Arab Spring coming, and was bureau chief of the Economist in South Asia. Max Rodenbeck joins Amit Varma in episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his experiences in journalism, the lessons he learnt in India, and the troubling ways in which it resembles Egypt.
Also check out:
1. Max Rodenbeck on Twitter, The New York Review of Books and Wikipedia.
2. Cairo: The City Victorious -- Max Rodenbeck.
3. Selected stories on India by the Economist: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
4. The Power of Arabic -- Max Rodenbeck.
5. The Father of Violent Islamism -- Max Rodenbeck.
6. How She Wants to Modify Muslims -- Max Rodenbeck.
7. Bin Laden’s Death: Why the Arab World Shrugs -- Max Rodenbeck.
8. The Long Wait -- Max Rodenbeck.
9. Max Rodenbeck interviewed on What I Did Next.
10. Top Gun -- Tony Scott.
11. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola.
12. Once Upon a Time in the West -- Sergio Leone.
13. Creature Features.
14. Godzilla and Creature From the Black Lagoon.
15. Agatha Christie on Amazon.
16. Tintin on Amazon.
17. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
18. Enid Blyton on Amazon.
19. The Golden Age of Murder -- Martin Edwards.
20. $41,754,153! -- Brandon Sanderson.
21. Brandon Sanderson's record-breaking Kickstarter campaign ends with $41.7 million -- K Holt.
22. Brandon Sanderson on Amazon and YouTube.
23. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones — Pradip Krishen.
24. Gell-Mann Amnesia.
25. A Nile Journal -- Thomas Gold Appleton.
26. Lawrence Wright on Amazon.
27. Roam Research — and Zettelkasten.
28. US-Bangladesh blogger Avijit Roy hacked to death -- BBC.
29. Inside Bangladesh’s killing fields: bloggers and outsiders targeted by fanatics -- Emma Graham-Harrison and Saad Hammadi.
30. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
31. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
32. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee -- Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee.)
33. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee.
34. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
35. Nehru’s Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.)
36. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
37. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
38. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
39. The Generation of Rage in Kashmir — David Devadas.
40. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
41. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
42. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
43. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
44. Njáls saga.
45. Honoré de Balzac on Amazon.
46. The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee -- Honoré de Balzac.
47. Michael Pollan on how coffee enabled the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.
48. The Lives of Others -- Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
49. Yol -- Şerif Gören and Yılmaz Güney.
50. Baden Powell on Spotify.
51. Le Bureau.
52. The Anchoring Effect.
53. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
This episode is sponsored by Paradigm Shift, a new podcast by Microsoft India, produced by ATS Studios and hosted by Harsha Bhogle..Listen to it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or any podcast app of your choice.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
The world is changing for women -- but is it getting better? Manjima Bhattacharjya joins Amit Varma in episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her journey as a feminist and why she believes in the long arc. She also talks about her book Intimate City, and the changing face of sex work in India.
Also check out:
1. Manjima Bhattacharjya on Twitter, YouTube and Google Scholar.
2. Intimate City -- Manjima Bhattacharjya.
3. Mannequin: Working Women in India's Glamour Industry -- Manjima Bhattacharjya.
4. Jhumpa Lahiri on Amazon.
5. Empire of the Sun -- Steven Spielberg.
6. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones — Pradip Krishen.
7. Farouk Abdul-Aziz and Kuwait Cine Club.
8. Nancy Drew on Wikipedia and Amazon.
9. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. Some episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare and Shrayana Bhattacharjya,
11. Kali For Women.
12. Jagori.
13. Mrityudand -- Prakash Jha.
14. The Ferment of Our Founders -- Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
15. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
16. Bargaining with Patriarchy -- Deniz Kandiyoti.
17. On the Road to Change -- A conversation between Kavita Krishnan and Amit Varma.
18. If It’s Monday It Must Be Madurai — Srinath Perur.
19. One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second-Class Citizens -- Amit Varma.
20. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
21. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? -- Devika Kher.
22. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act -- Suman Joshi.
23. Why Children Labour (2007) -- Amit Varma.
24. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta and Hamsini Hariharan).
25. The #MeToo Movement -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena).
26. An Economist Looks at #MeToo -- Episode 92 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
27. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock & Dan Gardner.
28. The Problem that Has No Name -- Betty Friedan.
29. Kamla Bhasin and Abha Bhaiya.
30. Live Sex Acts -- Wendy Chapkis.
31. Beautiful Thing — Sonia Faleiro.
32. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree -- Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro).
33. Daily Rituals — Mason Currey.
34. Daily Rituals: Women at Work — Mason Currey.
35. Thin Places -- Ann Armbrecht.
36. Cheryl Strayed on Amazon.
37. Mahanagar — Satyajit Ray.
38. India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
39. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe.
40. Abhimaan -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
41. Natasha Badhwar on Amazon.
42. Parenthood -- Episode 43 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Natasha Badhwar).
43. Yuzvendra Chahal's bullying.
44. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
45. Temporarily Yours – Intimacy, Authenticity and the Commerce of Sex -- Elizabeth Bernstein.
46. The Girlfriend Experience.
47. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
48. The Truth About Ourselves — Amit Varma.
49. Literotica stories archive.
50. The news article about a journalist and some artists forced to strip to their underwear.
51. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator economy with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri.
52. 11th Lane: Kamathipura -- Sudharak Olwe.
53. Tawaif -- Episode 174 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Saba Dewan).
54. Notting Hill and Pretty Woman.
55. An Educated Woman In Prostitution -- Manada Devi.
56. Factory Girls -- Leslie T Chang.
57. Gangubai Kathiawadi -- Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
58. Elles -- Malgoska Szumowska.
59. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Philip Kaufman.
60. Roger Ebert's review of Unbearable Lightness.
61. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire — Luis Buñuel.
62. The Discreet Charm of the Savarnas -- Rajesh Rajamani.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
If you make space for serendipity in your life, good things happen. Abhijit Bhaduri joins Amit Varma in episode 279 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey from the corporate life to the creator economy -- and the lessons he learnt along the way.
Also check out:
1. Abhijit Bhaduri on Amazon, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and his own website.
2. Dreamers and Unicorns -- Abhijit Bhaduri.
3. The Digital Tsunami -- Abhijit Bhaduri.
4, Selected talks on YouTube by Abhijit Bhaduri: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain and Deepak Shenoy.
6. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma.
7. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
8. The Curse of Knowledge.
9. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. The Invisible Gorilla.
11. When Daddy Was a Little Boy -- Alexander Raskin and Lev Tokamakov. (Original cover.)
12. Tuntunir Galpa/The tale of The Tailer-Bird -- Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury.
13. The Complete Adventures of Feluda -- Satyajit Ray.
14. Mukh Chai Mukh -- Milan Mukhopadhyay.
15. Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Ashapurna Devi, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, Banaphul, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Shivani and Munshi Premchand.
16. Ravi Shankar, Bhimsen Joshi and Kishori Amonkar on Spotify.
17. Haré Rama Haré Krishna -- Dev Anand.
18. The Charm of Raga Des - Abhijit Bhaduri.
19. SD Burman and Nikhil Banerjee on Spotify.
20. Is Old Music Killing New Music? -- Ted Gioia.
21. The Universe of Chuck Gopal -- Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen.
22. Brave New World -- Episode 203 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vasant Dhar).
23. Wanting -- Luke Burgis.
24. Khushwant Singh and Mulkraj Anand on Amazon.
25. RK Laxman, Mario Miranda and Ajit Ninan.
26. In Search of Excellence -- Tom Peters.
27. Mirch Masala -- Ketan Mehta.
28. Ek Ruka Hua Faisla -- Basu Chatterjee.
29. 12 Angry Men -- Sidney Lumet.
30. Housefull Economics.
31. Manu Pillai and Ramachandra Guha on Amazon.
32. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen w Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4.
33. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
34. The Hedgehog And The Fox — Isaiah Berlin.
35. Are you a career3.0 person stuck in a career1.0 Job? -- Abhijit Bhaduri.
36. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok.
37. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day — Nilay Patel.
38. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones -- Pradip Krishen.
39. How Social Media Threatens Society — Episode 8 of Brave New World (Jonathan Haidt speaking to host Vasant Dhar).
40. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (on isomorphic mimicry, with Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
41. Skeuomorphic Design.
42. The New World Upon Us -- Amit Varma on Alpha Zero.
43. Google's AlphaZero Destroys Stockfish In 100-Game Match -- Mike Klein.
44. Dicing An Onion -- Gordon Ramsey.
45. Satyajit Ray on Amazon.
46. Feluda @ 50 -- Edited by Boria Mazumdar.
47. Days & Nights In The Forest -- Sunil Gangopadhyay.
48. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha).
49. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
50. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
This episode is sponsored by Knest Manufacturers, India’s largest and the world’s fastest-growing formwork company, which has made real estate development in India more efficient, sustainable and scalable.
This episode is so-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
To fight climate change, we need to reform the power sector. Right now, it's dysfunctional. Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah join Amit Varma in episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their roadmap for change.
Also check out:
1. Akshay Jaitly on Twitter, Linkedin, Nicheless and Substack. Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack.
2. The lowest hanging fruit on the coconut tree: India's climate transition through the price system in the power sector -- Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah.
3. Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah's aggregated pieces on energy and climate.
4. The Time To Privatise India’s Electricity Sector Is Now -- Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah.
5. Root cause analysis for the electricity crisis -- Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah.
6. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
7. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah).
8. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
9. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
10. Naren Shenoy's fancy dress competition.
11. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
12. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
13. The Chronicles of Narnia -- CS Lewis.
14. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- Roald Dahl.
15. Alistair MacLean and John Steinbeck on Amazon.
16. Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck.
17. Of Mice and Men -- John Steinbeck.
18. André Gide and Albert Camus on Amazon.
19. Another Country -- James Baldwin.
20. Warren Mendonsa Plays the Universal Pentatonic -- Episode 273 of The Seen and the Unseen.
21. Jonathan Haidt on Amazon.
22. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
23. Hind Swaraj -- Mohandas Gandhi.
24. Politics and the Sociopath -- Amit Varma.
25. Google Scholar.
26. Roam Research and Zettelkasten.
27. Discom Privatisation Challenged (Dec 2020) -- Akshay Jaitly.
28. Regulation in India: Design, Capacity, Performance -- Edited by Devesh Kapur and Madhav Khosla.
29. The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek.
30. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
31. History of UN Climate Talks.
32. The Evolution of the UNFCCC -- Jonathan Kuyper, Heike Schroeder and Björn-Ola Linnér.
33. The COP List.
34. The Road From Rio (1993) -- Prodipto Ghosh and Akshay Jaitly.
35. William Nordhaus versus the United Nations on Climate Change Economics -- Robert P Murphy.
36. Hotter than the human body can handle: Pakistan city broils in world’s highest temperatures -- Ben Farmer.
37. Price Controls Lead to Shortages and Harm the Poor -- Amit Varma.
38. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
39. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma.
40. Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All -- Michael Shellenberger.
41. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker.
42. Kim Stanley Robinson on Amazon.
43. Death at Intervals -- José Saramago.
44. The Shape of Water -- Andrea Camilleri.
45. The Terracotta Dog -- Andrea Camilleri.
46. 12 Bytes: How artificial intelligence will change the way we live and love -- Jeanette Winterson.
47. The Singularity Is Near -- Ray Kurzweil.
48. Report to Greco -- Nikos Kazantzakis.
49. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics -- Carlo Rovelli.
50. Michael Dibdin on Amazon.
This episode is sponsored by Knest Manufacturers, India's largest and the world's fastest-growing formwork company, which has made real estate development in India more efficient, sustainable and scalable.
This episode is so-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
He grew up breathing Kannada literature -- and he also embraced the globalised world. Sugata Srinivasaraju joins Amit Varma in episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss this confluence of the old and the new, the near and the far, his society and the world.
Also check out:
1. Sugata Srinivasaraju in Outlook, ToI/Mumbai Mirror, New Indian Express, The Wire, Mint, Twitter and his own website.
2. Furrows in a Field -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
3. Pickles from Home: The Worlds of a Bilingual -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
4. Keeping Faith with the Mother Tongue -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
5. Sugata Srinivasaraju on his father, Chi Srinivasaraju: 1, 2, 3.
6. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled -- Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujata Anandan).
7. Dodda Alada Mara (Big Banyan Tree).
8. GP Rajarathnam, AR Krishnashastry, P Lankesh and KS Nissar Ahmed on Wikipedia.
9. The Tell Me Why series of encyclopedias -- Arkady Leokum.
10. Stendhal, Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo and Charles Baudelaire on Amazon.
11. Rayaru Bandaru Mavana Manege -- The KS Narasimhaswamy poem Sugata translated.
12. Phoenix and Four Other Mime Plays -- Chi Srinivasaraju (translated by Sugata Srinivasaraju, who tweeted about it here.).
13. Ahobala Shankara, V Seetharamaiah, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, KV Narayana, Noam Chomsky, DR Nagaraj, Jorge Luis Borges and Tejaswini Niranjana.
14. Lawrence Weschler on how Akumal Ramachander discovered Harold Shapinsky.
15. AK Ramanujan and Gopalakrishna Adiga.
16. The Penguin Book of Socialist Verse -- Edited by Alan Bold.
17. Gandhi as Mahatma: Gorakhpur District, Eastern UP, 1921-22 -- Shahid Amin.
18. Kraurya -- Girish Kasaravalli.
19. Deconstructing Derrida -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
20. Yaava Mohana Murali -- Gopalakrishna Adiga's poem turned into a song.
21. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen.
22. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
23. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
24. Modern South India: A History from the 17th Century to our Times -- Rajmohan Gandhi.
25. Ki Ram Nagaraja at Book Brahma.
26. A Map of Misreading -- Harold Bloom.
27. The Singer of Tales -- Albert Lord and David Elmer.
28. ಪಂಪ ಭಾರತ ದೀಪಿಕೆ: Pampa Bharatha Deepike -- DL Narasimhachar.
29. The Open Eyes: A Journey Through Karnakata -- Dom Moraes.
30. Dom Moraes on DR Bendre's love for numbers.
31. DR Bendre, Kuvempu, Shamba Joshi, MM Kalburgi, Shivaram Karanth, VK Gokak and Chandrashekhar Patil.
32. Da Baa Kulkarni, Sriranga, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Bhisham Sahni, Kartar Singh Duggal and HY Sharada Prasad.
33. His Will Was His God -- Sugata Srinivasaraju on HY Sharada Prasad.
34. Jeremy Seabrook on Amazon.
35. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope -- Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen.
36. The Rise and Fall of the Bilingual Intellectual — Ramachandra Guha.
37. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
38. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
39. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha).
40. Negotiating Two Worlds, Bilingualism As A Cultural Idea -- Sugata Srinivasaraju delivers the HY Sharada Prasad Memorial Lecture.
41. Karunaalu Baa Belake -- A Kannada version of 'Lead, Kindly Light'.
42. Liberal impulses of our regional languages -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
43. Why Resisting Hindi is No Longer Enough -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
44, The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
- Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden.
- Roam Research and Zettelkasten.
- Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh.
- The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
- Nehru’s Debates -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain).
- Speaking of Siva -- Ak Ramanujan's translations of the Vacanas.
- Not Waving but Drowning -- Stevie Smith.
- Pictures on a Page -- Harold Evans.
- Notes From Another India -- Jeremy Seabrook.
- Good Times, Bad Times -- Harold Evans.
- John Pilger on Amazon.
- Sugata Srinivasaraju's pieces in Outlook in 2005 on the Infosys land scam: 1, 2.
- ‘Bellary Is Mine’ -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
- Deca Log: 1995-2005. A history in ten-and-a-half chapters, through the eyes of Outlook -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
- The Sanjay Story: From Anand Bhavan To Amethi -- Vinod Mehta.
- Lucknow Boy: A Memoir -- Vinod Mehta.
- Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker -- Ved Mehta.
- Off the Record: Untold Stories from a Reporter's Diary -- Ajith Pillai.
- A Town Offers Its Shoulder -- Sugata Srinivasaraju.
- Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction -- Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
- Dhanya Rajendran Fights the Gaze -- Episode 267 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- The Story of an Income Tax Search — Dhanya Rajendran on Instagram.
- George Plimpton, 76; 'Paper Lion' author, longtime literary editor, amateur athlete -- David Mehegan.
- Does The Paris Review Get a Second Act? -- Charles McGrath on literary magazines as "showcases of idealism."
- My Father's Suitcase -- Orhan Pamuk's Nobel Prize lecture.
- Gandhi's Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India -- Dhirendra K Jha.
- Harmony in the Boudoir -- Mark Strand.
- Of Human Bondage -- W Somerset Maugham.
- Man’s Worldly Goods -- Leo Huberman.
- Autobiography -- Bertrand Russell.
- Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens and George Orwell on Amazon.
- Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert.
- Reflections on Gandhi -- George Orwell.
- The Tyranny of Merit -- Michael Sandel.
- Home in the World: A Memoir -- Amartya Sen.
- Living to Tell the Tale -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
- Ayodhya - The Dark Night and Ascetic Games by Dhirendra Jha.
- Team of Rivals -- Doris Kearns Goodwin.
- My Last Sigh -- Luis Bunuel.
- Interview with History -- Oriana Fallaci.
- Ryszard Kapuscinski on Amazon.
- Journalism as Literature -- Salman Rushdie on Ryszard Kapuscinski.
- Mallikarjun Mansur, Bhimsen Joshi and Kumar Gandharva on Spotify.
- Vachanas sung by Mallikarjun Mansur and Basavaraja Rajguru.
- Outlander, Knightfall and Money Heist on Netflix.
- Sugata Srinivasaraju's Twitter thread on the songs of DR Bendre.
This episode is sponsored by The Desi Crime Podcast. You’ll find them on all podcast apps.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
How did one of the greatest nonviolent movements in history emerge from within the supposedly violent Pathans of the wild frontier? Why do poor people in India vote even though there seems to be no point to it? Why does an ancient garment like the sari endure -- but democracy seem in peril? Mukulika Banerjee joins Amit Varma in episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the questions that kept her up at night -- and the lessons they hold for us.
Also check out:1. Mukulika Banerjee at LSE, Google Scholar, Amazon and Twitter.
2. The Pathan Unarmed -- Mukulika Banerjee.
3. Why India Votes -- Mukulika Banerjee.
4. Cultivating Democracy -- Mukulika Banerjee.
5. The Sari -- Mukulika Banerjee and Daniel Miller.
6. Muslim Portraits: Everyday Lives in India -- Edited by Mukulika Banerjee.
7. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
8. Thomas Hardy on Amazon.
9. Maxim Gorky, Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov on Amazon.
10. The Proposal -- Anton Chekhov.
11. Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew on Amazon.
12. The House of the Dead -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
13. An American Werewolf in London -- John Landis.
14. The Emergency: A Personal History -- Coomi Kapoor.
15. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
16. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
17. The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett.
18. Abdul Ghaffar Khan: Faith Is A Battle -- DG Tendulkar.
19. Kabuliwala -- Rabindranath Tagore.
20. Kabuliwala (1961 film) -- Hemen Gupta.
21. 'That Killed Cat Lives With Me' -- Isaac Asimov's quote.
22. The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock -- TS Eliot.
23. The Life and Times of Nirupama Rao -- Episode 269 of The Seen and the Unseen.
24. The #MeToo Movement -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena).
25. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
26. 'Tell a Sanghi/Bhakt at a job interview...' -- SirKazamJeevi's tweet.
27. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
28. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
29. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
30. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
31. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope -- Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen.
32. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon).
33. Can the Subaltern Speak? -- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.
34. Gangubai Kathiawadi -- Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
35. Nehru’s Debates -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain).
36. Mahanagar -- Satyajit Ray.
37. Everybody Lies -- Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
38. The Truth About Ourselves -- Amit Varma.
39. Electoral Politics in the Time of Change -- Yogendra Yadav
40. The Economics of Voting -- Amit Varma on Rational Ignorance.
41. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking -- Amit Varma on Lal Bihari Mritak.
42. Well Done, Abba -- Shyam Benegal.
43. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
44. The Ferment of Our Founders -- Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
45. Women in Rajniti and Lokniti -- Mukulika Banerjee (Go to page 19 to read).
46. Nick Hornby on Amazon.
47. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh).
48. Collective Effervescence on Wikipedia.
49. The Manchester School of Anthropology.
50. Desert Island Discs on BBC.
51. Deshe Bideshe (Bengali) (English) -- Syed Mujtaba Ali.
52. Uday Bhawalkar performs Raag Bhairav.
53. Dhrupad by Ustad Mohiuddin Dagar.
54. Songs of the Earth -- Soumik Datta.
55. Messengers -- Soumik Datta.
This episode is sponsored by Paradigm Shift, a new podcast by Microsoft India, produced by ATS Studios and hosted by Harsha Bhogle..Listen to it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or any podcast app of your choice.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Illustration by Khyati Pathak.
We live in times when all Indian Muslims are forced to be aware of their Muslimness. Hussain Haidry joins Amit Varma in episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his art and these difficult times we live in.
Also check out:
1. Hussain Haidry on Twitter, Instagram and IMDb.
2. Hindustani Musalmaan -- Hussain Haidry.
3. Lat -- Hussain Haidry.
4. 10 Poems recommended by Hussain Haidry -- Chalchitra Talks.
5. Being Muslim in India -- Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab).
6. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
7. The City and the City -- China Miéville.
8. Nida Fazli and Dushyant Kumar at Rekhta.
9. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta.
10. Shantaram -- Gregory David Roberts.
11. A Fine Balance -- Rohinton Mistry.
12. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
13. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope -- Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
14. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul.
15. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
16. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran.
17. Muslim Portraits: Everyday Lives in India -- Edited by Mukulika Banerjee.
18. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen (w RSJ).
19. Mohammad Zubair's Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad.
20. Malevolent Republic -- Kapil Komireddi.
21. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
22. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
23. Arvind Kejriwal's tweet after the abrogation of Article 370.
24. The tweets by Atishi Marlena and Raghav Chadha.
25. Sangham Sharanam Gachchami -- Vijai Trivedi.
26. Ranga Hari on Amazon.
27. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De.
28. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma.
29. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
30. Hussain Haidry's Twitter thread on blocking.
31. Alishan Jafri on Twitter.
32. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
33. Aadha Gaon -- Rahi Masoom Raza.
34. Chai Coffee -- Hussain Haidry.
35. You're Missing -- Bruce Springsteen.
36. Hussain Haidry interviewed by Ravish Kumar.
37. Imtiaz Dharker on Amazon.
38. Dugg Duggi Dugg -- Song from Jugni. Lyrics by Shellee, music by Clinton Cerejo.
39. Qarib Qarib Singlle on Spotify.
40. Tanha Begum -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Rochak Kohli.
41. Mukkabaaz on Spotify.
42. Haathapai -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Rachita Arora.
43. Blond Balma -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Rachita Arora.
44. Tu Kahaan Hai -- Song from Tripling. Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Nilotpal Bora.
45. Patang -- Song from Tripling. Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Nilotpal Bora.
46. Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Vishal Dadlani.
47. Bandar Baant -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Bandish Projekt.
48. Bahut Hua Samman -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Rachita Arora.
49. Ankahi Kahaniya -- Amnibus film that includes Madhyantara, with a screenplay by Hussain Haidry, and directed by Abhishek Chaubey.
50. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie -- Luis Buñuel.
51. Laakhon Mein Ek, Season 2 -- Written by Hussain Haidry.
52. लोहे के स्वाद -- Hussain Haidry.
53. Talkhiyan -- Sahir Ludhianvi.
54. Sahir Ludhianvi, Nida Fazli, Ahmad Faraz, Jaun Eliya, Rahat Indori, Waseem Barelvi, Munawwar Rana, Abbas Tabish, Rehman Faris, Azhar Faragh, Ameer Imam, Naeem Sarmad, Nomaan Shauque, Ali Zaryoun, Tehzeeb Hafi and Umair Najmi on Rekhta.
55. Fahrenheit 451 -- Ray Bradbury.
56. Rangeela -- Ram Gopal Varma.
57. Ghulam -- Vikram Bhatt
58. On the Waterfront -- Elia Kazan.
59. Get Out -- Jordan Peele.
60. Fandry -- Nagraj Manjule.
61. Where is the Friend's Home? -- Abbas Kiarostami.
62. Soiyega Mat - Hussain Haidry.
This episode is sponsored by The Desi Crime Podcast. You’ll find them on all podcast apps.
The illustration for this episode is one-off offering by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram, Substack and episode 260 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
India is in bad shape. Bad economics is one reason why. Economists Rajeswari Sengupta and Shrayana Bhattacharya join Amit Varma in episode 274 of The Seen and the Unseen to take stock of the mess. You don't like dissent? Too bad. We're Bongs, and you cannot shut us up.
Also check out:
1. Shrayana Bhattacharya on Twitter, Instagram and Google Scholar.
2. Rajeswari Sengupta on Google Scholar and her own site.
3. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
4. Twelve Dream Reforms -- Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta & Vivek Kaul).
5. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
6. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh -- Shrayana Bhattacharya.
7. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
8. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
9. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra.
10. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
11. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
12. The State of Our Economy (Nov 2021) -- Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand.)
13. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) — Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik).
14. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand).
15. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
16. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
17. Everything That Was Broken -- Mary Oliver (from Felicity).
18. I Boiled My Buttocks for a Week -- Amit Varma on how we normalize everything.
19. Dekalog -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
20. What the Economy Needs Now -- Various authors.
21. Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma.
22. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain and Deepak Shenoy.
23. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
24. Our Parliament and Our Democracy -- Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan).
25. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
26. Emergent Ventures.
27. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
28. On Inequality -- Harry Frankfurt.
29. We Must Save Our Farmers — Amit Varma.
30. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
31. Intent to Implementation : Tracking India's Social Protection Response to COVID-19 -- Shrayana Bhattacharya and Sutirtha Sinha Roy.
32. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.
33. Modi’s Lost Opportunity — Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz).
34. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
35. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been — Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian).
36. The Median Voter Theorem.
37. The 'bloated and grotesque' tweet by @mrjohndarby.
38. ASER, CMIE and SWAN.
39. The Billion Prices Project.
40. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen.
41. In Bollywood, women get screen time but very little talk time -- Mohua Das.
42. A Woman, Thinking -- Paromita Vohra.
43. Lost in the Shallows -- Amit Varma on Dear Zindagi.
44. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
45. Mrinal Pande’s pieces for Pragati on women in Indian agriculture: 1, 2.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
He's that Blackstratblues guy. He's done rock, blues, sessions work for Bollywood, and you can't put him in a box. Indie music legend Warren Mendonsa joins Amit Varma and guest co-host Chuck Gopal in episode 273 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his career, how he only aims to make music that makes him happy, and the common thread that binds us all.
Also check out:
1. Warren Mendonsa on Instagram and Twitter.
2. Blackstratblues music and community. Also, on YouTube and Spotify.
3. Anuva's Sky and Ode to a Sunny Day.
4. The therapy that is Blackstratblues -- Deepak 'Chuck' Gopalakrishnan.
5. Warren interviewed by Chuck and Varad Wategaonkar: Part 1 & Part 2.
6. Warren Mendonsa: The Universe Has The Blues -- Interview by Michael Limnios.
7. 2018 interview of Warren by EveryoneLovesGuitar.
8. The Universe of Chuck Gopal -- Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. Ted Gioia on Music as Cultural Cloud Storage -- Episode 79 of Conversations With Tyler.
10. The Great Man Theory.
11. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden.
12. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
13. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin.
14. What is Internet? -- Bill Gates on the David Letterman Show.
15. Why Old Music is Killing New Music -- Rick Beato.
16. The viral TikTok video by doggface208 featuring Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams.'
17. The Volkswagen commercial featuring Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon.'
18. The Time a Stiff Caught Fire -- Keith Yates on Billy Joel.
19. PSP 12" -- Zero.
20. Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale.
21. Derek Trucks talks guitar and plays incredible slide.
22. Turbo Killer -- Carpenter Brut.
23. Afrique Victime -- Mdou Moctar.
24. Tinariwen on Spotify.
25. Dungen on Spotify.
26. The Dungen albums, Ta Det Lugnt and 4, with the song Mina Damer Och Fasaner.
27. Josh Fix on Spotify.
28. This Town Is Making Me Angry -- Josh Fix.
29. The Formula Behind Every Perfect Pop Song -- Seeker.
30. Why We Choke -- Amit Varma (on the Yips).
31. This is Your Brain on Music -- Daniel Levitin.
32. Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality -- TED Talk by Anil Seth.
33. What Colour Is Your Raindrop -- Tajdar Junaid.
34. Dastaan -- Tajdar Junaid.
35. 10 Things I Wish I Knew when I started playing Guitar -- Warren Mendonsa.
36. This Is Spinal Tap -- Rob Reiner.
37. Monty Python's Life of Brian.
38. Masala Lab on Instagram.
39. Krish Ashok on Spotify and Apple Music.
40. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
41. Bill McClintock on YouTube.
42. Derek Trucks and Michael Landau on Spotify.
43. Nadia - Nitin Sawhney with Jeff Beck live.
44. Where Were You? -- Jeff Beck.
45. Arinjoy Sarkar and Rudi Wallang on YouTube.
46. Achint on Instagram and YouTube.
47. Tejas, Komorebi, Rohan Rajadhyaksha and Sandunes.
Also, do check out Chuck Gopal's specially curated playlist of Indian rock and metal for listeners of The Seen and the Unseen. (Here's a YouTube version.)
This episode is sponsored by The Desi Crime Podcast. You'll find them on all podcast apps.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Our freedom fighters didn't just fight the British. They also grappled with each other in the marketplace of ideas and actions. Shruti Kapila joins Amit Varma in episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how so many of our founders were also innovative political philosophers -- and how we still fight their battles today.
Also check out:
1. Shruti Kapila at Cambridge, The Print and Twitter.
2. Violent Fraternity: Indian Political Thought in the Global Age -- Shruti Kapila.
3. An Intellectual History for India -- Edited by Shruti Kapila.
4. Political Thought in Action: The Bhagavad Gita and Modern India -- Edited by Shruti Kapila and Faisal Devji.
5. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs.
6. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
7. Nehru’s Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.)
8. Tryst With Destiny (Text) (Video) -- Jawaharlal Nehru's speech at Independence.
9. Jawaharlal Nehru on Amazon.
10. Carl Schmitt on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica.
11. Junoon (1978) on IMDb and Wikipedia.
12. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul.
13. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
14. Hindutva -- VD Savarkar.
15. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
16. Malevolent Republic — Kapil Komireddi.
17. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
18. The Multitudes of Our Maharajahs -- Episode 244 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
19. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
20. Sigmund Freud on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica.
21. An Anthropologist Among Historians -- Bernard S Cohn.
22. The Birth of the Modern World -- CA Bayly.
23. CA Bayly on Amazon.
24. Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar on Amazon.
25. Hilary Mantel on Amazon.
26. Song of Myself, 51 -- Walt Whitman.
27. Indian Unrest -- Valentine Chirol.
28. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
29. Shrimad Bhagwad Gita Rahasya -- Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
30. The Indian War of Independence, 1857 -- Veer Savarkar.
31. Hind Swaraj -- Mahatma Gandhi.
32. Meatless Days -- Sara Suleri.
33. Rohinton Mistry and Salman Rushdie on Amazon.
34. Aguirre, the Wrath of God -- Werner Herzog.
35. Masaan -- Neeraj Ghaywan.
36. Khayal Gatha -- Kumar Shahani.
37. Mirzapur on Prime Video.
38. Paatal Lok on Prime Video.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Deepak Shenoy wants to ask Amit Varma about the creator economy. Amit wants to talk to Deepak about finance and his new book. Episode 271 of The Seen and the Unseen is a crossover episode with the Capital Mind Podcast in which Amit and Deepak get a jugalbandi going.
Also check out:
1. Deepak Shenoy on LinkedIn and Twitter.
2. Money Wise: Timeless Lessons on Building Wealth -- Deepak Shenoy.
3. Capitalmind, Deepak Shenoy’s investment research and wealth management company.
4. The Capitalmind Podcast and YouTube channel.
5. Lessons in Investing (and Life) -- Episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Deepak Shenoy).
6. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma.
7. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal and Nishant Jain.
8. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty -- James Thurber.
9. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne (on Wikipedia and YouTube).
10. The Truman Show -- Peter Weir.
11. Losing My Religion -- REM.
12. With or Without You -- U2.
13. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
14. Econ Talk (by Russ Roberts) and Conversations with Tyler (by Tyler Cowen).
15. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker).
16. The Connell Guide to How to Write Well -- Tim de Lisle.
17. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
18. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
19. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
20. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll.
21. When Harry Met Sally -- Rob Reiner.
22. Dil Dhoondhta Hai Phir Wohi Fursat Ke Raat Din -- Bhupinder Singh.
23. Dave Barry on Amazon.
24. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai).
25. Gurpriya Sidhu's tweet thread on sitting alone at cafes.
26. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) -- Amit Varma's post with Douglas Adams's puddle quote.
27. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen.
28. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus -- John Gray.
29. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker.
30. $800,000 to Zero - The FASCINATING History of DaVinci Resolve -- Alex Jordan of Learn Color Grading.
31. Casey Neistat and MrBeast on YouTube.
32. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
33. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin.
34. Sinocism -- Bill BIshop's Newsletter.
35. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden.
36. Blueprint for Armageddon -- Episode 50-55 of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.
37. The Universe of Chuck Gopal -- Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen.
38. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok.
39. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day — Nilay Patel.
40. AR Rahman on Spotify.
41. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker.
42. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health -- Amit Varma.
43. Dave Chappelle on Netflix.
44. Ideas of India -- Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast.
45. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
46. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
47. Dunbar's Number.
48. Poker and Stock Markets -- Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand).
49. So it’s now 20,000, is it a big deal? -- Deepak Shenoy's famous ghazals post from 2007.
50. Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya -- Jagjit Singh, from Sarfarosh.
51. Tum Ko Dekha Toh Ye Khayal Aaya -- Jagjit Singh, from Saath Saath.
52. La Pila De Sharab Ai Saqi -- Jagjit Singh.
53. How I Made $4,790,000 in 2021 -- Ali Abdaal.
54. The Power of Imagination — Mohammed Salim Khan.
55. Don't Get Fooled By Success (2005) -- Amit Varma.
56. The Life and Times of Nirupama Rao -- Episode 269 of The Seen and the Unseen.
57. Zerodha Varsity.
58. The Motley Fool.
59. The YouTube Channels of Rachana Ranade and Ishmohit Arora.
60. Stock Market For Beginners (Hindi) -- Pranjal Kamra.
61. Everything You Need to Know About Finance and Investing in Under an Hour -- William Ackman.
62. Liar's Poker -- Michael Lewis.
63. Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist -- Roger Lowenstein.
64. When Genius Failed -- Roger Lowenstein.
65. Peter Lynch on Amazon.
66. Market Wizards & The New Market Wizards by Jack D Schwager.
67. The Complete TurtleTrader: How 23 Novice Investors Became Overnight Millionaires -- Michael W Covel.
68. Invest Like the Best — Patrick O’Shaughnessy’s podcast.
69. Books we Like: On Investing, Trading & More — The Capitalmind team.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Things are bad -- so bad that he's written two books about it. Aakar Patel joins Amit Varma in episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss politics, the media and his reasons for being hopeful in spite of all the doom and gloom.
Also check out:
1. Aakar Patel on Twitter, Amazon, Deccan Chronicle, Business Standard and the Times of India.
2. Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here -- Aakar Patel.
3. Price of the Modi Years -- Aakar Patel.
4. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
5. The Tank Man video. (And the Wikipedia page.)
6. August Landmesser, who may have been the man who didn't salute.
7. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
8. Amit Varma's Twitter thread on Westland shutting down.
9. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty -- Albert O. Hirschman.
10. Selected episode of The Seen and the Unseen on the economy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
11. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
12. Nehru's Debates -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.)
13. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
15. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De.
16. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma on Demonetisation.
17. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
18. India's Undeclared Emergency -- Arvind Narrain.
19. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph.
20. India’s Security State -- Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph).
21. Colours of the Cage: A Prison Memoir -- Arun Ferreira.
22. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh.
23. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
24. Integral Humanism -- Deendayal Upadhyaya.
25. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind -- Gustave le Bon.
26. Crowds and Power -- Elias Canetti.
27. The Life and Times of Nirupama Rao -- Episode 269 of The Seen and the Unseen.
28. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
29. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden.
30. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century -- Francis Fukuyama.
31. The Origins of Political Order -- Francis Fukuyama.
32. Political Order and Political Decay -- Francis Fukuyama.
33. The Great Man Theory of History.
34. Modi’s Domination – What We Often Overlook — Keshava Guha.
35. My Country, My Life -- LK Advani.
36. Modi’s Lost Opportunity -- Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz).
37. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi.
38. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
39. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati.
40. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
41. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma.
42. Excerpts from Narendra Modi's interview by Madhu Kishwar.
43. Obituary of a Culture -- Ashis Nandy.
44. The Second Coming — William Butler Yeats.
45. Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma.
46. Joy Das's tweet thread about Indian Muslims being called Pakistanis.
47. Television Price Controls -- Episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashok Malik).
48. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha).
49. Dhanya Rajendran Fights the Gaze -- Episode 267 of The Seen and the Unseen.
50. Aakar Patel's tweet on protests as a craft.
51. Here Comes The Groom: A Conservative Case for Gay Marriage -- Andrew Sullivan.
52. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
53. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Kumar Gandharva on Spotify.
54. The Histories -- Herodotus.
55. Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Julius Caesar on Amazon.
56. Baburnama: A Memoir -- Babur.
57. The Life of the Bee -- Maurice Maeterlinck.
58. Edward O Wilson on Amazon.
59. NASASpaceflight on YouTube.
60. Ludwig van Beethoven on Spotify.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
A lifetime in diplomacy gave Nirupama Rao an inside view of the making of the first draft of history. She joins Amit Varma in episode 269 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her life lessons -- and what still keeps her buzzing every day.
Also check out:
1. Nirupama Rao on Twitter, Substack, Instagram and her own website. Her bio and work are here.
2. The Fractured Himalaya -- Nirupama Rao.
3. A Life in Diplomacy -- Nirupama Rao's talk at Claremont McKenna College.
- Selected episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on China: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
- Selected episode of The Seen and the Unseen on Foreign Policy: 1, 2.
- Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- The Glass Cliff.
- Philip Tetlock on the Art of Forecasting -- Episode 31 of Brave New World (hosted by Vasant Dhar).
- The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.
- Democracy in Pakistan — Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Hamsini Hariharan.)
- The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh).
- Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
- Nehru’s Debates -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (with Tripurdaman Singh & Adeel Hussain.)
- Talking South Asia: Can Identity Be Crafted Through the Medium of Music? -- A conversation between Nirupama Rao and Ali Sethi.
- The Tirukkural -- Tiruvalluvar.
- Collected Poems -- AK Ramanujan.
- I Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer -- Joan Baez.
- Joan Baez, Maria Callas, Renée Fleming and Marian Anderson on Spotify.
- The Collected Tintin.
- Ekla Chalo Re.
- A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
- The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- In Praise of Shadows -- Junichiro Tanizaki.
- Some Prefer Nettles -- Junichiro Tanizaki.
- The Book of Tea -- Kakuzo Okakura.
- MS Subbulakshmi on Spotify.
- The Country without a Post Office -- Agha Shahid Ali.
- The Lark Ascending -- Vaughan Williams.
- Norma -- Vincenzo Bellini.
- Casta Diva -- Maria Callas.
- Connais-Tu Le Pays -- Ambroise Thomas.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not just a seminal moment in world history, but a teachable one. Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai join Amit Varma in episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss concepts and frameworks of foreign policy that can help us make sense of this turmoil.
If this subject interests you, consider signing up for Takashshila's GCPP: Defence & Foreign Affairs course. Registration is open for the May Cohort.
Also check out:
1. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy -- Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen.
2. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
3. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
4. Democracy in Pakistan -- Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Hamsini Hariharan.)
5. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
6. Understanding Foreign Policy — Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai).
7. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane’s newsletter (with RSJ).
8. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra).
9. Selected episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on China: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
10. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen.
11. Dhanya Rajendran Fights the Gaze -- Episode 267 of The Seen and the Unseen.
12. The End of History? -- Francis Fukuyama's essay.
13. The End of History and the Last Man -- Francis Fukuyama's book.
14. The Great Man Theory of History.
15. Russia's War on Ukraine: A Roundtable -- Bari Weiss speaks to Niall Ferguson, Walter Russell Mead and Francis Fukuyama.
16. Around the halls: Implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine -- Brookings roundup of expert views, including from Marvin Kalb.
17. Modi’s Domination – What We Often Overlook — Keshava Guha.
18. The Median Voter Theorem.
19. Social Theory of International Politics -- Alexander Wendt on constructivism in international relations.
20. Hindutva -- VD Savarkar.
21. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel, discussing Hindutva among other things).
22. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
23. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
24. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S.
25. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
26. Why I am a Hindu -- Shashi Tharoor.
27. The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of A Nation -- Granville Austin.
28. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De.
29. Three Conundrums -- Anticipating the Unintended #159 by RSJ and Pranay Kotasthane.
30. Through The Looking Glass -- Anticipating the Unintended #160 by RSJ and Pranay Kotasthane.
31. No man is an island entire of itself... -- Anticipating the Unintended #161 by RSJ and Pranay Kotasthane.
32. The Overton Window.
33. India's Strategies for a New World Order -- Anirudh Kanisetti, Anupam Manur, Pranay Kotasthane and Akshay Alladi.
34. The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence -- Daniel Drezner, Henry Farrell and Abraham L Newman.
35. Nuclear Power Can Save the World -- Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker.
36. Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen.
37. The Idiot -- Fyodor Dostoevsky.
38. 'Stop the war.' 44 Top Russian Players Publish Open Letter To Putin -- Sam Copeland.
39. Alexander Grischuk's emotional press conference after Russia invaded Ukraine. (Watch from 4:20.)
40. Power and International Relations -- David A Baldwin.
41. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers -- Paul M Kennedy.
42. The Power of Nations: Measuring What Matters -- Michael Beckley.
43. The game theory concept of Chicken.
44. India in the Nuclear Age -- Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon).
45. National Power After AI -- Matthew Daniels and Ben Chang.
46. Why liberal democracies have a distinct edge on cyber capability -- Nitin Pai.
47. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh.)
48. Can Democracy Survive in the Information Age? -- Eric Rosenbach and Katherine Mansted on the Authoritarian Information Paradox.
49. The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek.
50. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek.)
51. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas -- Natasha Dow Schüll.
52. Irresistible: Why We Can’t Stop Checking, Scrolling, Clicking and Watching -- Adam Alter.
53. The Dark Psychology of Social Networks -- Jonathan Haidt and Tobias Rose-Stockwell.
54. The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium -- Martin Gurri.
55. Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture -- The Economist.
56. America in South Asia -- Episode 93 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
57. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
58. The India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
59. Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy -- Richard Hanania.
60. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
61. The Lessons of History -- Will and Ariel Durant.
62. Fallout of the Ukraine-Russia Conflict + -- A constantly evolving note by the Takshashila Institution.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Indian mainstream media tends to see our country with the gaze of a privileged North Indian man. That is changing. Dhanya Rajendran joins Amit Varma in episode 267 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her journey in setting up The News Minute, and in deepening our journalism and the conversations we have.
Also check out:
1. Dhanya Rajendran on Twitter, Instagram and The News Minute.
2. Support The News Minute.
3. Cut the Clutter.
4. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
5. The death of Savita Halappanavar.
6. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden.
7. Some regional publications: Newsmeter, The Cue and Truecopythink.
8. 7 Indians are hostages in a conflict between Houthi rebels and Saudi coalition in Yemen -- Sanyukta Dharmadhikari.
9. The Story of an Income Tax Search -- Dhanya Rajendran on Instagram.
10. TV Newsance -- Manisha Pande -- YouTube Playlist.
11. 10,000 people charged with sedition in one Jharkhand district -- Supriya Sharma for Scroll.
12. Manju and the Mommy Wars: Why should women conform to 'ideal mother' stereotype? -- Sowmya Rajendran.
13. Superforecasting -- Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
14. The Mallu Analyst on YouTube.
15. Get Roast with Gaya3 on YouTube.
16. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
17. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma on Demonetisation.
18. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen.
19. Tweets on the Bharat Biotech court case by Siddharth Varadarajan and Dhanya Rajendran. (See who got trolled more!)
20. Does India take its national symbols too seriously? — Jan 2008 episode of We the People.
21. Our Hindu Rashtra -- Aakar Patel.
22. Price of the Modi Years -- Aakar Patel.
23. Whole Numbers and Half Truths -- Rukmini S.
24. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
25. Malare -- Song from Premam.
26. Missing: Half the Story: Journalism as if Gender Matters -- Kalpana Sharma and others.
27. The Anatomy of Hate -- Revati Laul.
28. The Seasons of Trouble -- Rohini Mohan.
29. Notting Hill.
30. And once again, support The News Minute!
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Historians write about the lives of others -- but what about their own journeys? Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen to reflect on his notion of home, how he got from there to here, and the strange dreams that sometimes come.
Also check out:
1. Rebels Against the Raj -- Ramachandra Guha.
2. Savaging the Civilized -- Ramachandra Guha.
3. A Functioning Anarchy?: Essays for Ramachandra Guha -- Nandini Sundar and Srinath Raghavan.
4. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon.
5. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
6. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
7. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
8. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
9. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. Aadha Gaon -- Rahi Masoom Raza.
11. Jamuna Kinare Mera Gaon -- Kumar Gandharva.
- What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
- A Fish in the Water -- Mario Vargas Llosa.
- Subaltern and Bhadralok Studies -- Ramachandra Guha.
- MN Srinivas on Amazon.
- Manu Pillai on Amazon.
- Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4.
- Sanjay Subrahmanyam on Amazon.
- The Gun, the Ship and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World -- Linda Colley.
- Linda Colley on Amazon.
- Upinder Singh and Nayanjot Lahiri on Amazon.
- Sturgeon's Law.
- David Gilmour on Amazon.
- The Autobiography of Charles Darwin -- Charles Darwin.
- Of Gifted Voice: The Life and Art of MS Subbulakshmi -- Keshav Desiraju.
- Finding The Raga: An Improvisation on Indian Music -- Amit Chaudhuri.
- Symphony No.3, Op.36 — Henryk Gorecki.
- Mallikarjun Mansur, Bhimsen Joshi, Kumar Gandharva, Kishori Amonkar, Basavraj Rajguru, Sharafat Hussain Khan, DV Paluskar, Faiyaz Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, Bismillah Khan, Vilayat Khan, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Arvind Parikh, Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Veena Sahasrabuddhe, Rashid Khan, Venkatesh Kumar and Priya Purushothaman on YouTube.
- Raju Asokan and Subrata Chowdhury on YouTube.
- Veena Doreswamy Iyengar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in Jugalbandi, 1962-62.
- Hamsadhvani -- Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, 1950s in Bangalore.
- Dhano Dhanne -- Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir.
- The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do -- Judith Rich Harris.
- The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
- In Absentia: Where are India’s conservative intellectuals? -- Ramachandra Guha.
- The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
- Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai).
- Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
- Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- The Chipko Movement -- Shekhar Pathak.
- DR Nagaraj, Meenakshi Mukherjee, Sujit Mukherjee, Tridip Suhrud, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Girish Karnad and Mahasweta Devi on Amazon.
- Marxvaad aur Ram Rajya -- Karpatri Maharaj.
- The Rise and Fall of the Bilingual Intellectual -- Ramachandra Guha.
- Yuganta -- Irawati Karve.
- Arvind Krishna Mehrotra on Amazon.
- Reconcling the Nagas -- Ramachandra Guha.
- The State of Our Farmers -- Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil).
- KT Achaya on Amazon.
- Shiv Visvanathan on Amazon.
- Manthan -- Shyam Benegal.
- Science as a Vocation -- Max Weber.
- AA Thomson on Wikipedia.
- Ernest Hemingway, W Somerset Maugham, Penelope Fitzgerald, Barbara Pym and Leo Tolstoy on Amazon.
- The Kingdom of God Is Within You -- Leo Tolstoy.
- Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy.
- War and Peace -- Leo Tolstoy.
- Father Sergius -- Leo Tolstoy (translated by Aylmer and Louise Maude).
- Middlemarch -- George Eliot.
- Limonov -- Emmanuel Carrère.
- The Netanyahus -- Joshua Cohen.
- The Gate of Angels -- Penelope Fitzgerald.
- The Knox Brothers -- Penelope Fitzgerald.
- Nicholas Boyle on Amazon.
- Gandhi’s Formative Years -- Ramachandra Guha's essay that mentions Boyle's Laws of Biography.
- Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography -- Sarvepalli Gopal.
- The Wire -- David Simon etc.
- The Second Coming -- William Butler Yeats.
- Ramachandra Guha interviewed by Madhu Trehan.
- Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul.
- Granville Austin on Amazon.
- The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
- The Multiple Tragedies of the Kashmiri Pandit -- Ramachandra Guha.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Life is beautiful, but we are too busy to notice. Writing is one way to capture the world, and to make our journey memorable. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey as an author, journalist, artist, Instagrammer -- and to explain the joys of slow-jamming the news.
Also check out:1. Amitava Kumar on Instagram, Twitter, Amazon, Vassar and his own website.
2. The Blue Book: A Writer's Journal -- Amitava Kumar.
3. Husband Of A Fanatic -- Amitava Kumar.
4. A Matter of Rats -- Amitava Kumar.
5. Writing Badly is Easy -- Amitava Kumar.
6. Pyre -- Amitava Kumar.
7. Beautiful World, Where Are You -- Sally Rooney.
8. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. Susan Sontag and Joan Didion on Amazon.
10. Dom Moraes, Khushwant Singh and Suketu Mehta on Amazon.
11. Despatches 15: A World of Stopped Watches -- Amit Varma.
12. A Picture of Hell, and No Kerosene -- Amit Varma.
13. Why I Write -- George Orwell.
14. John Berger and William Maxwell on Amazon.
15. Austerlitz -- WG Sebald.
16. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha).
17. Jejuri -- Arun Kolatkar.
18. Jhumpa Lahiri on Writing, Translation, and Crossing Between Cultures — Episode 17 of Conversations With Tyler.
19. The Notebook Trilogy — Agota Kristof.
20. Ved Mehta and VS Naipaul on Amazon.
21. India: A Million Mutinies Now -- VS Naipaul.
22. JM Coetzee, Janet Malcolm, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Pankaj Mishra and Amit Chaudhuri on Amazon.
23. Chandrahas Choudhury at The Middle Stage and Instagram..
24. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
25. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma.
26. Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell.
27. Letters from a Father to his Daughter -- Jawaharlal Nehru.
28. The Mahatma and the Poet — The letters between Gandhi and Tagore, compiled by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya.
29. Zadie Smith and Teju Cole on Amazon.
30. Symphony No.3, Op.36 -- Henryk Gorecki.
31. Nehru’s Debates -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.)
32. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
33. Tess of the d'Urbervilles -- Thomas Hardy.
34. Martin Amis on Amazon.
35. The Remains of the Day -- Kazuo Ishiguro.
36. Court -- Chaitanya Tamhane.
37. The Disciple -- Chaitanya Tamhane.
38. Ted Hughes and Colm Toibin on Amazon.
39. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
40. How Social Media Threatens Society — Episode 8 of Brave New World (Jonathan Haidt speaking to host Vasant Dhar).
41. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
42. Rahul Roy (documentary filmmaker) on IMDb.
43. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on Demonetisation, collected in one Twitter thread.
44. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
45. The Odd Woman and the City — Vivian Gornick.
46. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
47. Amit Varma's tweet thread about AI writing fiction.
48. I Vitelloni and Amarcord by Federico Fellini.
49. Eho -- Dren Zherka.
50. Charulata and Aranyer Din Ratri by Satyajit Ray.
51. Ashis Nandy on Amazon.
52. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
53. Prem Panicker in The Windowpane Sessions.
54. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal and Nishant Jain.
55. Hermit in Paris -- Italo Calvino.
56. Sophie Calle on Wikipedia.
57. Sophie Calle and the Art of Leaving a Trace -- Lili Owen Rowlands.
58. Sankarshan Thakur on Amazon and Twitter.
59. Penelope Fitzgerald on Amazon.
60. So Long, See You Tomorrow -- William Maxwell.
61. Citizen: An American Lyric -- Claudia Rankine.
62. Waiting for the Barbarians -- JM Coetzee.
63. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee.
64. Voices From Chernobyl -- Svetlana Alexievich.
65. A Suitable Boy -- Vikram Seth.
66. English, August: An Indian Story -- Upamanyu Chatterjee.
67. Raag Darbari -- Shrilal Shukla.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Intellectuals need to get out of their ivory towers and take their ideas to the people, learning from them in the process. Barun Mitra joins Amit Varma in episode 264 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss what he learnt from his decades combining reflection and activism.
Also check out:
1. Barun Mitra on Twitter, and at The Print, Indian Express and Pragati. Also, a bio.
2. India's Agriculture Crisis -- Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra and Kumar Anand).
3. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
4. Sell the Tiger to Save It -- Barun Mitra.
5. Lessons From an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma.
6. Nehru’s Debates -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain).
7. The State of Our Farmers -- Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil).
8. Farmers, Technology and Freedom of Choice: A Tale of Two Satyagrahas -- Amit Varma.
9. Down to Earth -- Sharad Joshi.
10. The Ultimate Resource -- Julian Simon.
11. The Simon-Ehrlich Wager.
12. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
13. Too Many People? -- Nicholas Eberstadt.
14. Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand.
15. Ayn Rand on Amazon.
16. ARCH-Vahini and ARCH Gujarat.
17. The Double 'Thank-You' Moment -- John Stossel.
18. Spontaneous Order.
19. The Emergency: A Personal History -- Coomi Kapoor.
20. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
21. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
22. Romulus Whitaker on Wikipedia, YouTube and Amazon.
23. The Skeptical Environmentalist -- Bjorn Lomborg.
24. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker.
25. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling.
26. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World (Vasant Dhar in conversation with Jonathan Haidt).
27. Online Disinhibition Effect.
28. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
29. Think Again -- Adam Grant.
30. Democracy in Pakistan -- Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Hamsini Hariharan).
31. The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek.
32. The Trees -- Philip Larkin.
33. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.
34. The Mahatma and the Poet -- The letters between Gandhi and Tagore, compiled by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya.
35. Gora -- Rabindranath Tagore.
36. The Home and the World -- Rabindranath Tagore.
37. The Miracle of Calcutta -- Manubehn Gandhi.
38. Lakshmi: An Introduction -- Devdutt Pattanaik.
39. A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma.
40. Hind Swaraj -- MK Gandhi.
41. Flying Spaghetti Monster.
42. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma.
43. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma.
44. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
45. India Awakes.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Mrinal Pande, older than our republic, was writing from a time when it was felt that "a woman writing was like a dog walking on two hind legs." She joins Amit Varma in episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her learnings from a life in literature. Subjects discussed include our society, our languages, gender, politics and the state of our media.
Also check out:
1. Mrinal Pande on Twitter, Amazon, Indian Express and Scroll.
2. The Other Country -- Mrinal Pande.
3. A Conservative Rebel: Memories of an Unusual Mother -- Ira Pande.
4. Amader Shantiniketan -- Shivani (translated by Ira Pande).
5. Mahadevi Verma and Amrit Lal Nagar on Amazon.
6. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
7. A House Divided: Origin and Development of Hindi/Urdu — Amrit Rai.
8. Hindi Nationalism — Alok Rai.
9. The Second Sex -- Simone de Beauvoir.
10. Bechan Sharma 'Ugra' on Amazon.
11. Search For My Tongue -- Sujata Bhatt.
12. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
13. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
14. Folktales from India -- AK Ramanujan.
15. Clever Wives and Happy Idiots: Folktales from the Kumaon Himalayas -- Ivan Minayev.
16. Maya Ne Ghumayo -- Mrinal Pande.
17. The Odyssey: A Stage Version -- Derek Walcott.
18. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
19. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
20. The Truth About Us — Sanjoy Chakravorty.
21. Mrinal Pande's pieces for Pragati on women in Indian agriculture: 1, 2.
22. The controversy over the misogynist CBSE paper.
23. Vijaydhan Detha on Amazon.
24. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
25. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
26. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
27. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen.
28. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
There was a time when our leaders dived into the public discourse and embraced the world of ideas. Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain join Amit Varma in episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe four debates that Jawaharlal Nehru entered with Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sardar Patel and Syama Prasad Mookerjee. These old debates matter today, because those ideas are still being contested.
Also check out:
1. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India -- Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
2. Sixteen Stormy Days -- Tripurdaman Singh.
3. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
4. Jawaharlal Nehru on Amazon.
5. Shruti Rajagopalan's talk on the many amendments in our constitution.
6. Karl May on Amazon.
7. Christopher Bayly on Amazon.
8. Violent Fraternity -- Shruti Kapila.
9. Amit Varma's tweet about books read, a snarky response, and a, um, weird comment.
10. Jürgen Habermas on Amazon and Wikipedia.
11. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
12. On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians -- Vladimir Putin.
13. Roam Research -- and Zettelkasten.
14. Niklas Luhmann and his use of Zettelkasten.
15. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Volumes 1 to 98.
16. Emily Hahn on Amazon.
17. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon.
18. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4.
19. Nehru: The Invention of India -- Shashi Tharoor.
20. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Ep 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
21. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
22. William Hazlitt on Amazon.
23. Ernst Cassirer.
24. The Last Mughal -- William Dalrymple.
25. Zygmunt Bauman and Perry Anderson on Amazon.
26. The Clash of Economic Ideas -- Lawrence H White.
27. Hind Swaraj -- MK Gandhi.
28. Meghnad Desai on Amazon.
29. Nehru: A Contemporary's Estimate -- Walter Crocker.
30. Ayodhya - The Dark Night -- Krishna Jha and Dhirendra K Jha.
31. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
32. Being Muslim in India -- Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab).
33. The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence -- Faisal Devji.
34. Creating a New Medina -- Venkar Dhulipala.
35. Swami Shraddhanand.
36. Modi's Domination - What We Often Overlook -- Keshava Guha.
37. Selected episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on China: 1, 2, 3, 4.
38. China’s Good War -- Rana Mitter.
39. Sturgeon's Law.
40. Characters of Shakespeare's Plays -- William Hazlitt.
41. Preface to Shakespeare -- Samuel Johnson.
42. The Soong Sisters -- Emily Hahn.
43. Empire of Pain -- Patrick Radden Keefe.
44. Kings of Shanghai -- Jonathan Kaufman.
45. Collected Works of Ram Manohar Lohia.
46. Liquid Modernity -- Zygmunt Bauman.
47. The Anarchy -- William Dalrymple.
48. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph.
49. India’s Security State -- Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph).
50. Great Expectations -- Charles Dickens.
51. The Rabbit and the Squirrel: A Love Story about Friendship -- Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi.
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
You may think you have India figured out -- but do you? Rukmini S joins Amit Varma in episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about the many layers of India she has uncovered by looking closely at data, and the stories that lie beneath.
Also check out:
1. Whole Numbers and Half Truths -- Rukmini S.
2. The Importance of Data Journalism -- Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
3. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya).
4. The White Album -- Joan Didion.
5. The world’s most expensive coffee, made from poop of civet cat, is made in India -- Hindustan Times news report.
6. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
7. What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
8. The Business of Books -- Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika).
9. Munni Badnaam Hui.
10. Beautiful Thing -- Sonia Faleiro.
11. The Good Girls -- Sonia Faleiro.
12. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree -- Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro).
13. Daily Rituals -- Mason Currey.
14. Daily Rituals: Women at Work -- Mason Currey.
15. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism -- Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. Food and Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations -- Angus Deaton and Jean Dreze.
17. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling.
18. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon).
19. The Practice of Medicine -- Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto).
20. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive!
21. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes.
22. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz.
23. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung.
24. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal and Nishant Jain.
25. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden.
26. Ravish Kumar's Instagram post on Rukmini's book.
27. Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking) -- Christian Rudder.
28. Everybody Lies -- Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
29. The Truth About Ourselves -- Amit Varma.
30. Posts by Amit Varma on Mahindra Watsa: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
31. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen.
32. One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second-Class Citizens -- Amit Varma.
33. The papers on declining labour force participation of Indian women by Ashwini Deshpande and Sonalde Desai.
34. Amit Varma's provocative tweet on Urdu poetry.
35. If It's Monday It Must Be Madurai -- Srinath Perur.
36. Ghachar Ghochar -- Vivek Shanbhag (translated by Srinath Perur).
37. Girl No.166: Will this retired cop ever stop looking for Pooja? -- Smita Nair.
38. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
39. Group Polarization on Wikipedia.
40. Where Anna Hazare Gets It Wrong -- Amit Varma.
41. Superforecasting -- Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
42. Think Again -- Adam Grant.
43. Ideology and Identity — Pradeep K Chhibber and Rahul Verma.
44. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
45. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
46. The Ultimate Resource -- Julian Simon.
47. The Simon-Ehrlich Wager.
48. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe.
49. India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
50. Unemployment rate at four-decade high of 6.1% in 2017-18: NSSO survey -- Somesh Jha.
51. Consumer spend sees first fall in 4 decades on weak rural demand: NSO data -- Somesh Jha.
52. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla.
53. The Competent Authority -- Shovon Chowdhury.
54. Despite the State -- M Rajshekhar.
55. Ponniyin Selvan (Tamil) (English) (English audio) -- Kalki R Krishnamurthy.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
What we mean by art has changed in modern times -- and there has never been a better time to be an artist. Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist joins Amit Varma in episode 260 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his journey, and to share his insights on the creator economy.
Also check out:
1. The Sneaky Artist -- Nishant Jain's website.
2. The Sneaky Art Post -- Nishant Jain's newsletter.
3. The Sneaky Art Podcast on Apple and Spotify.
4. Nishant Jain on Twitter, Instagram and Linktree.
5. Earlier episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan and Chuck Gopal.
6. The Story of Art -- EH Gombrich.
7. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
8. The Time a Stiff Caught Fire — Keith Yates.
9. Random BOOMER Journalist Says WHAT About Paul Simon??? — Rick Beato’s magnificent rant.
10. Puneet Superstar interviewed on Dostcast.
11. Only Fans.
12. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
13. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin.
14. XKCD -- Webcomic by Randall Munroe.
15. Objects Speak to Annapurna Garimella -- Episode 257 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. Roam Research.
17. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia.
18. PG Wodehouse and Agatha Christie on Amazon.
19. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
20. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
21. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
22. The Importance of Being Earnest -- Nishant Jain.
23. Shantaram -- Gregory David Roberts.
24. Supermen of Malegaon.
25. The Existentialism of Tiny People -- Nishant Jain.
26. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.
27. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
28. Reddit Gets Drawn.
29. Imaginary Number -- Vijay Seshadri.
30. A path to infinity, and beyond -- Nishant Jain.
31. Art is for everyone -- Nishant Jain.
32. At The Existentialist Café -- Sarah Bakewell.
33. Levon Aronian interviewed by Sagar Shah.
34. After the End of Art -- Arthur Danto.
35. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte -- Georges Seurat
36. Kya Surat Hai -- Bombay Vikings.
37. Fountain -- Marcel Duchamp.
38. The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci.
39. Cat's Cradle -- Kurt Vonnegut.
40. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
41. The Multitudes of Our Maharajahs -- Episode 244 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
42. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
43. r/vancouver, r/mildlyinteresting and r/interestingasfuck.
44. Some Reddit posts by Nishant Jain: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
45. David Letterman and Bill Gates talk about the Internet.
46. Exhalation -- Ted Chiang.
47. Kurt Vonnegut on Amazon.
48. Catch 22 -- Joseph Heller.
49. V for Vendetta -- Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
50. Watchmen -- Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
51. Alan Moore on Amazon.
52. Identity -- Francis Fukuyama.
53. The Anarchy -- William Dalrymple.
54. Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar -- Tom Holland.
55. The Origins of Political Order -- Francis Fukuyama.
56. Political Order and Political Decay -- Francis Fukuyama.
57. Bluebird -- Charles Bukowsky.
Check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Indian women are lonely in the bedroom, lonely in the kitchen, lonely in the workplace. Shrayana Bhattacharya joins Amit Varma in episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the interior and exterior lives of these unseen millions.
Also check out
1. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence -- Shrayana Bhattacharya.
2. Select Shah Rukh Khan films: Baazigar, DDLJ, Dil Tho Pagal Hai, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Dilwale, Mohabbatein.
3. Shar Rukh Khan interviews selected by Shrayana: 1, 2, 3, 4.
4. The Power to Choose -- Naila Kabeer.
5. Naila Kabeer on Amazon.
6. Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women are Worth -- Marilyn Waring.
7. The Odd Woman and the City -- Vivian Gornick.
8. Vivian Gornick on Amazon.
9. Future Sex -- Emily Witt.
10. Kamala Das's autobiography, poems and stories.
11. Deborah Levy and Bell Hooks on Amazon.
12. Poor Economics -- Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.
13. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty -- Albert O Hirschman.
14. The Art of Loving -- Erich Fromm.
15. The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford.
16. Selected Satire: Fifty Years of Ignorance -- Shrilal Shukla.
17. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
18. Dani Rodrik's tweet thread about the 'jerk quotient' in economics.
19. The Hidden Taxes on Women -- Sendhil Mullainathan.
20. "Academia is a giant circlejerk" -- Amit Varma's tweet.
21. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
22. The Universe of Chuck Gopal -- Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen.
23. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok.
24. Bahujan Economics.
25. Raghuram Rajan at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2018. (Minute 5 onwards.)
26. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
27. Superforecasting -- Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
28. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma.
29. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film -- Amit Varma.
30. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking -- Amit Varma.
31. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist -- Bruce Yandle.
32. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Jai Arjun Singh and Uday Bhatia.
33. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
34. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra).
35. Modi’s Lost Opportunity -- Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz).
36. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare).
37. What explains the decline in female labour force participation in India? -- Urmila Chatterjee, Rinku Murgai and Martin Rama.
38. Why Are Fewer Married Women Joining the Work Force in India? -- Farzana Afridi, Taryn Dinkelman and Kanika Mahajan.
39. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe.
40. India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
41. House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths.
42. The Right to Sex -- Amia Srinivasan.
43. 'Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence' -- New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein.
44. The Confidence Gap -- Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.
45. The Ugliness of the Indian Male -- Mukul Kesavan.
46. The Blank Noise Project by Jasmeen Patheja.
47. Why Loiter? -- Shilpa Phadke.
48. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions.
49. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen.
50. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta and Hamsini Hariharan).
51. Jane Austen and Pico Iyer on Amazon.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
There has never been a better time to be a creator -- but you need to be productive to make use of it! Deepak Gopalakrishnan aka Chuck Gopal joins Amit Varma in episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his journey, and to share his learnings on creation and productivity.
Also check out:
1. Earlier episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra and Snehal Pradhan.
2. Chuck Gopal on Twitter, Instagram, LinkTree and his own website.
3. Chuck's podcasts: Simblified, The Origin of Things and Getting Meta.
4. Chuck's newsletter: Things of Internet.
5. Chuck on Spotify where he shares his playlists.
6. Agency Trash Talk -- Instagram account c-authored by Chuck that used cat pictures to make fun of advertising.
7. The Telegram Channel where Chuck and Berty Ashley share a song every day.
8. Chucks comics for Pagalguy.
9. Some of Chuck's writing on Music:
a) Making live-streamed concerts better
b) The therapy that is Blackstratblues
c) The story & evolution of Pink Floyd: A playlist
d) Underrated Tracks by Legendary Bands
e) Stream of consciousness: Dream Theater live!
10. Chuck's Medium post recommending podcasts and newsletters.
11. Chuck's legendary Twitter thread on freelancing.
12. Episode 1 of Getting Meta (w Amit Varma).
13. Episode 2 of Getting Meta (w Rohan Joshi).
14. Episode 4 of Getting Meta (w Utsav Mamoria).
15. The Beatles: Get Back.
16. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band -- The Beatles.
17. The Dark Side of the Moon -- Pink Floyd.
18. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden.
19. Ne Obliviscaris on Spotify, Bandcamp, Instagram, Twitter, Wikipedia and Patreon.
20. Ongoing History of New Music -- Podcast by Alan Cross.
21. DivyaG's YouTube channel. (She's the Nepali graphic designer mentioned by Chuck).
22. Girl With The Dogs -- The YouTube channel of the pet groomer mentioned by Chuck).
23. Yesterday, the film.
24. Ed Sheeran on the Van Morrison influence on 'Thinking Out Loud'.
25. Dave Gilmour performs Sonnet 18.
26. Hip-Hop and Shakespeare -- Akala at TEDxAldeburgh.
27. The New Basement Tapes on Spotify.
28. Kansas City -- Marcus Mumford for The New Basement Tapes.
29. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
30. The Pocket Gods on Spotify. (This is the band Chuck mentioned that does songs just over 30 seconds.)
31. Video games have replaced music as the most important aspect of youth culture -- Sean Monahan.
32. Roblox.
33. How I Gained 1 MILLION Subscribers — Ali Abdaal.
34. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers — Ali Abdaal.
35. The Bugle.
36. Freakonomics Radio.
37. Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman.
38. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok.
39. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day -- Nilay Patel.
40. Galaxy Brain -- Charlie Warzen's newsletter.
41. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.
42. Persuasion -- Founded by Yascha Mounk.
43. Faye D'Souza on Instagram. And also on YouTube and Twitter.
44. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
45. Bad Thinking Requires Bad Writing -- Amit Varma.
46. An Adman Reflects on Society & the Self -- Episode 199 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ambi Parameswaran).
47. Blackstratblues and Zero on Spotify.
48. Anuva's Sky -- Blackstratblues.
49. Son of Bosey -- Anand Ramachandran.
50. Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure.
51. Marketing Management: A South Asian Perspective -- Philip Kotler, Abraham Koshy & others.
52. Louie -- Louis CK.
53. George Carlin at his website and on YouTube.
54. Zakir Khan on YouTube.
55. Gaurav Kapoor's vlog.
56. Star Boyz, with Kenny Sebastian, Naveen Richard and Mani Prasad.
57. Alchemy -- Rory Sutherland.
58. Irresistible -- Adam Alter.
59. How We Are Enslaved -- Amit Varma.
60. Disregard Work, Acquire Hobbies -- Krish Ashok's TEDx talk.
61. Roam Research.
62. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World -- Fareed Zakaria.
63. Scott Galloway: No Mercy/No Malice, Pivot and The Prof G Pod.
64. Rest of World.
65. This is Your Brain on Music -- Daniel J Levitin.
66. Sum: Tales from the Afterlives -- David Eagleman.
67. The Complete Asterix Box set -- René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.
68. Sapiens -- Yuval Noah Harari. (Also, the graphic adaptation: 1, 2.)
69. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker.
70. Cosmicomics -- Italo Calvino.
71. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The world is what it is -- but no one knows what that is, and we all see different worlds. Designer and art historian Annapurna Garimella joins Amit Varma in episode 257 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her passage of seeing, remembering, reflecting.
Also check out:1. Annapurna Garimella on Amazon.
2. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen.
3. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
4. Lord of the Flies -- William Golding.
5. Human Behavioral Biology -- 25 Lectures by Robert Sapolsky.
6. On Children -- Kahlil Gibran.
7. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker.
8. Mamta -- Directed by Asit Sen.
9. 'Rahen Na Rahen Hum' -- Song from Mamta.
10. 'Rahte The Kabhi Jinke' -- Song from Mamta.
11. 'Chupa Lo Yun Dil Mein Pyar Mera' -- Song from Mamta.
12. 'Kuchh Tho Log Kahenge' -- Song from Amar Prem.
13. Clara Barton, Margaret Mead and Florence Nightingale on Wikipedia.
14. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
15. Coming of Age in Samoa -- Margaret Mead.
16. Six Persimmons.
17. Paper Menagerie (the story) -- Ken Liu.
18. The Paper Menagerie (the book) -- Ken Liu.
19. David Shulman, Velcheru Narayana Rao and Arik Moran.
20. Ogata Kenzan on Wikipedia.
21. Sardar Gurcharan Singh: Father of Studio Pottery in India -- Sumita Dutta.
22. A Poetry Handbook -- Mary Oliver.
23. The Red Wheelbarrow -- William Carlos Williams.
24. The Time a Stiff Caught Fire -- Keith Yates.
25. You Can’t Please All -- Bhupen Khakhar.
26. Openly In Total: Bhupen Khakhar’s experiments with truth -- Nakul Krishna.
27. Selected writings of Bhupen Khakhar.
28. Creative Confession -- Paul Klee.
29. KG Subramanyan and Rabindranath Tagore on Amazon.
30. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor, mentioning Cavendish Bananas).
31. Chhaap Tilak Sab Chheeni -- Ghazal by Amir Khusro.
32. Think Again -- Adam Grant.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
Data has no ideology, and journalists should always be guided by skepticism. Pramit Bhattacharya joins Amit Varma in episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey learning the craft and the values of analytical journalism.
Also check out:
1. Pramit Bhattacharya's writings in Mint.
2. The Importance of Data Journalism -- Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
3. Data Journalism and Indian Politics — Episode 136 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Roshan Kishore).
4. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu).
5. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
6. Growth in a Time of Debt -- The Reinhart–Rogoff paper.
7. Fear the Boom and Bust: Keynes vs. Hayek - The Original Economics Rap Battle!
8. Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek - Economics Rap Battle Round Two.
9. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
10. The Literature Machine -- Italo Calvino.
11. Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson on Amazon.
12. Farmers, Technology and Freedom of Choice: A Tale of Two Satyagrahas -- Amit Varma.
13. Vidarbha's Tryst With BT Cotton -- Pramit Bhattacharya.
14. The State of Our Farmers — Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi).
15. India’s Agriculture Crisis -- Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra and Kumar Anand).
16. Thinking it Through -- The archives of Amit Varma's weekly column for Mint in 2007-8.
17. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri).
18. Elena Ferrante's interview about her writing process.
19. Niranjan Rajadhayaksha and Manas Chakravarty in Mint.20. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India -- Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel).
21. Pramit Bhattacharya in conversation with Milan Vaishnav in Grand Tamasha.
22. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
23. The Economic Consequences of the Peace -- John Maynard Keynes.
24. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world -- Amit Varma
25. The Man of System — Adam Smith (excerpted from The Theory of Moral Sentiments).
26. Mohit Satyanand's newsletter.
27. GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History -- Diane Coyle.
28. Dunbar's number on Wikipedia.
29. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon).
30. Zeynep Tufekci, Eric Topol, Bhramar Mukherjee and Gautam Menon on Twitter.
31. How to Make the World Add Up -- Tim Harford.
32. Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India -- Rukmini S.
33. Anti-Intellectualism in American Life -- Richard Hofstadter.
34. Understanding Statistics -- Antony Davies.
35. Anthills of the Savannah -- Chinua Achebe.
36. Elena Ferrante on Amazon.
37. A Gentleman in Moscow — Amor Towles.
38. Our Parliament and Our Democracy -- Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan).
Check out Amit's online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
In India, we inhabit many worlds, and we live in many languages, many literatures. Sara Rai joins Amit Varma in episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her rich life learning to write, learning to read, learning to live.
Also check out:
1. Sara Rai on Amazon.
2. “You will be the Katherine Mansfield of Hindi” -- Sara Rai's essay in Caravan.
3. Other Skies -- Sara Rai.
4. Wilderness -- Sara Rai.
5. Premchand's Kazaki And Other Marvellous Tales -- Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by Sara Rai).
6. The City -- CP Cavafy.
7. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
8. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories -- Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin).
9. Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions From South Asia -- Sheldon Pollock.
10. Blue Is Like Blue -- Vinod Kumar Shukla (translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai).
11. Vinod Kumar Shukla on Amazon.
12. Collected Stories -- Naiyer Masud.
13. Naiyer Masud on Amazon.
14. Georges Simenon, Charles Dickens and Guy de Maupassant on Amazon.
15. The Aim of Literature -- Munshi Premchand. (Another version.)
16. Testaments Betrayed -- Milan Kundera.
17. Jealousy -- Marcel Proust.
18. The Abyss and Other Stories -- Leonid Andreyev.
19. So Much Water So Close To Home -- Raymond Carver.
20. Short Cuts -- Robert Altman.
21. Limits -- Raymond Carver. (Scroll down on that link to find the poem.)
22. Cathedral -- Raymond Carver.
23. Raymond Carver on Amazon.
24. Jean-Paul Sartre, Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka and WG Sebald on Amazon.
25. Rings of Saturn -- WG Sebald.
26. Umrao Jaan Ada (English, Urdu, Hindi) -- Mirza Hadi Ruswa.
27. Jyotsna Milan on Amazon.
28. In Absentia: Where are India’s conservative intellectuals? -- Ramachandra Guha.
29. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
30. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam.
31. Meghadutam -- Kalidasa.
32. Humans of New York.
33. Sturgeon's Law on Wikipedia.
34. Random BOOMER Journalist Says WHAT About Paul Simon??? -- Rick Beato's magnificent rant.
35. The Time a Stiff Caught Fire -- Keith Yates.
36. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai.
37. A House Divided: Origin and Development of Hindi/Urdu -- Amrit Rai.
38. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
39. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
40. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
41. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
42. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul.
43. East West Street -- Philippe Sands.
44. Group Polarization on Wikipedia.
45. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind -- Gustave le Bon (on crowd psychology).
46. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran.
47. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan.)
48. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident -- Amit Varma.
49. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao).
50. The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy -- Michael McCarthy.
51. H is for Hawk -- Helen Macdonald.
52. The Genius of Birds -- Jennifer Ackerman.
53. Nirmal Verma and Ismat Chugtai on Amazon.
54. The Hidden Life of Trees -- Peter Wohlleben.
This episode is sponsored by Intel.
This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
He carried cables on a film set. He teamed up with friends named Arvind and Manish to save Delhi. He started a media company that said Boo to advertisers. Abhinandan Sekhri joins Amit Varma in episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about the many things he's learned during his rich and unconventional life.
Also check out:
1. Abhinandan Sekhri on Twitter, Instagram and Newslaundry.
2. Subscribe to Newslaundry.
3. PG Wodehouse on Amazon.
4. War and Peace and The Thorn Birds.
5. The Return of the Native -- Thomas Hardy.
6. Far From the Madding Crowd -- Thomas Hardy.
7. Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare on Amazon.
8. Mills and Boon on Amazon.
9. Rang De Basanti.
10. Amusing Ourselves to Death -- Neil Postman.
11. It is Obscene -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
12. Highway on My Plate.
13. Gustakhi Maaf on NDTV.
14. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barkha Dutt).
15. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma -- Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur).
16. Dinesh Thakur interviewed by Madhu Trehan.
17. Monsoon Wedding -- Mira Nair.
18. Uday Mahurkar's books on Savarkar and Modi.
19. MSK Vlogs -- Mohammed Salim Khan's YouTube channel.
20. The Power of Imagination -- Mohammed Salim Khan.
21. Public Opinion -- Walter Lippmann.
22. Filhaal -- Meghna Gulzar.
23. Luck is All Around -- Amit Varma.
24. Luck by Chance -- Zoya Akhtar.
25. Accident on the Sets of Devdas. (And then another one.)
26. 'Journalism is a Combat Sport' -- Abhinandan Sekhri.
27. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan.)
28. Our Parliament and Our Democracy -- Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan).
29. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha.
30. Em and the Big Hoom -- Jerry Pinto.
31. Shame -- Salman Rushdie.
32. The Ground Beneath Her Feet -- Salman Rushdie.
33. Shalimar the Clown -- Salman Rushdie.
34. Brighton Rock -- Graham Greene.
35. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald.
36. Real Dictators.
This episode is sponsored by Intel.
This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
A democracy is not just about voting, The rules of the game have to protect individuals, and institutions have to keep the government accountable. MR Madhavan joins Amit Varma in episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his efforts at empowering MPs and MLAs with knowledge -- and why we should not lose hope in our nation.
Also check out:
1. PRS Legislative Research.
2. When You Could Only Buy Two Litres of Milk -- MR Madhavan.
3. The Functioning of the Indian Parliament -- MR Madhavan.
4. Dilli Door Nahin: Engaging With the Policy Process -- MR Madhavan.
5. Ulysses and Dubliners -- James Joyce.
6. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
7. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
8. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma.
9. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma.
10. Battles Half Won: India's Improbable Democracy -- Ashutosh Varshney.
11. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
12. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De.
13. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
14. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
15. The Federalist Papers -- Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison.
16. The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution -- Sujit Choudhry, Madhav Khosla and Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
17. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
18. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla.
19. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu).
20. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
21. Speech to the Electors of Bristol -- Edmund Burke.
22. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
23. Bindra's Wishlist -- Amit Varma.
24. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh).
25. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know -- Adam Grant.
26. The Gray Man -- Mark Greaney.
27. PG Wodehouse on Amazon.
28. The Three-Body Problem -- Cixin Liu.
29. Project Hail Mary -- Andy Weir.
30. A Gentleman in Moscow -- Amor Towles.
31. The Lincoln Highway -- Amor Towles.
32. The Paper Menagerie -- Ken Liu.
This episode is sponsored by Intel.
This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Winter is here.The pandemic has receded, but our economy was already in bad shape before Covid struck, which made it plummet further. Where do we stand now? Can we recover? Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand join Amit Varma in episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen to take stock.
Also check out:
1. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra.
2. Gimme Mo -- Mohit Satyanand's newsletter.
3. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
4. This is All Because of Rupal Ben -- Episode 5 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand.)
5. Poker and Stock Markets -- Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand).
6. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) -- Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand).
7. India’s Start-Up Ecosystem -- Episode 171 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand).
8. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
9. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
10. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
11. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
12. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) -- Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik).
13. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
14. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
15. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
16. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
17. The City and the City -- China Miéville.
18. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.
19. On Bullshit -- Harry Frankfurt.
20. India: Redeeming the Economic Pledge -- Bibek Debroy.
21. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
22. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh).
23. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
24. Pandemonium in India’s Banks -- Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay.)
25. Goodbye Solo -- Ramin Bahrani.
26. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped -- Roger Ebert's review of Goodbye Solo.
27. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
28. Fooled by Randomness -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
29. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare).
30. Kashi Ka Assi -- Kashinath Singh.
31. The Dharma Forest -- Keerthik Sasidharan.
32. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker.
33. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker.
This episode is sponsored by Intel.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
History is often told in such a boring way that it might as well not have happened. And then, there are those who bring it so alive that the present seems so much clearer. Amit Schandillia joins Amit Varma in episode 251 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how his historical storytelling made him a Twitter sensation -- and why both history and storytelling matter in these times.
Also check out:
1. Select Twitter threads by Amit Schandillia: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
2. Amit Schandillia on Storytel.
3. Nina’s Journey -- Nina Markovna.
4. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4.
5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
6. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
7. Early Indians — Tony Joseph.
8. Who We Are and How We Got Here -- David Reich.
9. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
10. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
- The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 12. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati.
- Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi)
- Churchill's Secret War -- Madhusree Mukerjee.
- Churchill and the genocide myth -- Zareer Masani.
- Churchill: Walking with Destiny -- Andrew Roberts.
- The Expanding Circle -- Amit Varma.
- A History of European Morals -- WEH Lecky.
- The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress -- Peter Singer.
- Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America -- John McWhorter. 21. John McWhorter interviewed by Bill Maher and Vasant Dhar.
- PN Oak on Wikipedia.
- Tawaif -- Episode 174 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Saba Dewan).
- The Seen and the Unseen episodes with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma and Rana Safvi.
- Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao).
- Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao.
- The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri).
- The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
- Archive.org, Google Books, Jstor and ResearchGate.
- The Big Deal About Blogging -- Amit Varma.
- The Book Club -- Amit Varma's old show on Storytel.
- Two Girls Hanging From a Tree -- Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro).
- Typefully.
- Sake Dean Mohamed at Internet Archive and Wikipedia.
- The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
- Public Opinion -- Walter Lippmann.
- The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads -- Walter Lippmann.
- Irfan Habib on Amazon.
- Pilgrim Nation: The Making of Bharatvarsh -- Devdutt Pattanaik.
- History of Western Philosophy -- Bertrand Russell.
- The Gulag Archipelago -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
- Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire -- Alex von Tunzelmann.
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich -- William L Shirer.
- Hardcore History by Dan Carlin.
This episode is sponsored by Intel.
This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy are cult figures who transcend the universe of ordinary podcast guests. One of them, a renowned storyteller, joins Amit Varma in episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. Which one? Who knows? Schrödinger's Shenoy.
Also check out:
1. Simblified, co-hosted by Narendra Shenoy.
2. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma.
3. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen.
4. EconTalk (hosted by Russ Roberts) and Conversations With Tyler (hosted by Tyler Cowen).
5. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
6. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
7. Getting Meta, hosted by Deepak Gopalakrishnan.
8. Why I Am Not a Christian -- Bertrand Russell.
9. A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma.
10. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why -- Amit Varma.
11. The Paperclip Maximiser.
12. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) -- Amit Varma.
13. Dekalog -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. (And Roger Ebert's essay on it.)
14. Restaurant Regulations in India -- Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon).
15. We want Narendra Shenoy to write a book.
16. Masala Lab -- Krish Ashok.
17. Deep Work -- Cal Newport.
18. How to Escape From the Shallows -- Amit Varma.
19. Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative.
20. Collected Poems -- Mark Strand.
21. Duty Calls -- XKCD.
22. Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity.
23. On Bullshit -- Harry G Frankfurt.
24. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive!
25. Kashi Ka Assi -- Kashinath Singh.
26. Sam Harris on Amazon.
27. 3Blue1Brown on YouTube.
28. TheBackyardScientist on YouTube.
29. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
30. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
31. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
32. Early Indians -- Tony Joseph.
33. Thinking Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman.
34. PG Wodehouse on Amazon.
This episode is sponsored by Intel.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
C is for Cricket. C is also for Creator. Snehal Pradhan, former fast bowler for the Indian team and current superstar creator, joins Amit Varma in episode 249 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights on both these ecosystems.
Also check out:
1. Snehal Pradhan's website, newsletter, YouTube Channel, Instagram and Twitter.
2. An Equal Hue -- Senhal Pradhan, Karunya Keshav and Sidhanta Patnaik.
3. The Fire Burns Blue: A History of Women's Cricket in India -- Karunya Keshav and Sidhanta Patnaik.
4. A Day in the Life of an IPL Cricket Commentator -- Snehal Pradhan.
5. The Writing Habit behind the Spirit of Cricket -- Snehal Pradhan.
6. Why I regret my Cricket Coaching Journey -- Snehal Pradhan.
7. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
8. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World, featuring Jonathan Haidt in conversation with Vasant Dhar.
9. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. India Women v Pakistan Women, May 9, 2008 -- Snehal Pradhan's official ODI debut.
11. How to Film the Most Epic Coffee B Roll -- Peter McKinnon.
12. Why Virat Kohli is right to leave out Ravichandran Ashwin -- Snehal Pradhan.
13. Trainer Tips -- Nicholas Oyzon's Pokemon Go Vlog.
14. The State of Indian Sport -- Episode 238 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya & Nandan Kamath).
15. The Sports, Law and Policy Centre.
16. Ladies and Lords: A History of Women’s Cricket in Britain -- Rafaelle Nicholson.
17. Opportunity, Choice and the IPL (2008) — Amit Varma.
18. Double Trouble with Smriti and Jemi -- YouTube playlist of Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues's talk show.
19. Earlier sports-related episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Harsha Bhogle, Sharda Ugra, Joy Bhattacharjya, Ramachandra Guha, Prem Panicker, Gideon Haigh+Prem Panicker, Joy Bhattacharjya+Nandan Kamath and Ayaz Memon.
20. Earlier episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala and Neelesh Misra.
This episode is sponsored by Intel.
This episode is co-sponsored by CricHeroes, the national app of Cricketistan.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The Congress Party once dominated Indian politics. Today, it's on the outside looking in. Rahul Verma joins Amit Varma in episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the complex social and political factors behind this massive decline.
Also check out:
1. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
2. Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India -- Pradeep K Chhibber and Rahul Verma.
3. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
4. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
5. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai).
6. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
7. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
8. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
9. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
10. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
11. The Emergency of 1975 -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash).
12. India’s Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
13. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh).
14. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
15. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking -- Amit Varma.
16. Caste in Indian Politics -- Rajni Kothari.
17. Politics In India -- Rajni Kothari.
18. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma.
19. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
20. Myron Weiner, Saadat Hasan Manto, Shivani and Harishankar Parsai on Amazon.
21. Murdahiya -- Dr Tulsiram.
22. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) -- Shrilal Shukla.
23. Dynastic parties: Organization, finance and impact -- Pradeep Chhibber.
24. 24 Akbar Road -- Rashid Kidwai.
25. Congress after Indira: Policy, Power, Political Change -- Zoya Hasan.
26. The future of the Congress party -- A Conversation between Yamini Aiyar, Zoya Hasan and Rahul Verma.
27. Why big companies squander brilliant ideas -- Tim Harford.
28. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? -- Amit Varma.
29. Mahua Moitra interviewed by Barkha Dutt.
30. Democracy without Associations -- Pradeep K Chibber.
31. Are You Anchored to the Past? -- Amit Varma.
This episode is sponsored by Intel.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Our political parties suck at governance but excel at narratives, as that's what wins them elections. Shivam Shankar Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his experiences at the heart of different political machines.
Also check out: 1. How to Win an Indian Election -- Shivam Shankar Singh.
2. The Art Of Conjuring Alternate Realities -- Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan.
3. LAMP Fellowships.
4. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites.
5. Why I Am Resigning From the BJP -- Shivam Shankar Singh.
6. Is Parliament’s questions system broken? — Here’s how to fix it! -- Shivam Shankar Singh.
7. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on China, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
8. In Absentia: Where are India’s conservative intellectuals? -- Ramachandra Guha.
9. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
10. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
11. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam.
12. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
13. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled -- Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan).
14. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra.
15. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
16. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
17. Hamsini Hariharan's tweet on 'Indic'.
18. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran.
19. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma.
20. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive!
21. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha).
22. Range Rover -- The archives of Amit Varma's poker columns for the Economic Times.
23. A Tale Of Two Bandits: Naxals And The Indian State -- Amit Varma
24. Power and Prosperity -- Mancur Olson.
25. When Crime Pays — Milan Vaishnav.
26. Crime in Indian Politics -- Episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Milan Vaishnav).
27. Politics -- A limerick by Amit Varma.
28. Government's End -- Jonathan Rauch.
29. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
30. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barkha Dutt).
31. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
32. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
33. How the BJP wins: Inside India’s Greatest Election Machine -- Prashant Jha.
34. The BJP’s Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
35. Politics and the Sociopath -- Amit Varma.
36. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
37. The Dictator's Handbook -- Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith.
38. The Psychology of Money -- Morgan Housel.
39. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph.
40. India’s Security State -- Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph).
41. Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus on Amazon.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Over the last few decades, India has changed, cricket has changed, our media has changed -- and one man has seen it all. Ayaz Memon joins Amit Varma in episode 246 of The Seen and the Unseen to reflect on some of what he has seen and learnt.
Also check out:
1. Indian Innings: The Journey of Indian Cricket from 1947 -- Edited by Ayaz Memon.
2. Cricket-related episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Harsha Bhogle, Sharda Ugra, Ramachandra Guha, Prem Panicker and Gideon Haigh+Prem Panicker.
3. The Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
4. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (1877-1977) -- Compiled & edited by Bill Frindall.
5. The Test where India beat Australia at Brabourne Stadium, 1964.
6. Sachin Tendulkar's first Test, Sunil Gavaskar's last Test, Kapil Dev's 175 and the 1983 World Cup final.
7. Opportunity, Choice and the IPL (2008) -- Amit Varma.
8. What cricket can learn from poker -- Amit Varma.
9. The Tamasha All Purists Should Love -- Amit Varma.
10. Beyond a Boundary -- CLR James.
11. Neville Cardus and Jack Fingleton on Amazon.
12. The Picador Book of Cricket -- Edited by Ramachandra Guha.
13. Hardcore History -- Dan Carlin.
14. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World.
15. Kicking Schoolbags (2006) -- Amit Varma.
16. The Jubilee Test, 1980.
17. My Cricketing Years -- Ajit Wadekar.
18. Sunny Days -- Sunil Gavaskar.
19. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
20. Deep Work -- Cal Newport.
21. Unlikely is Inevitable -- Amit Varma.
22. The abandoned ODI at Sialkot, October 31, 1984.
23. Mankad's Test, India's first Test win, Gavaskar's 29th, Gavaskar's 30th.
24. R Ashwin's YouTube channel.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
When we pick up medicine from our nearby chemist, we assume that we are getting what we pay for. That trust may be misplaced. Dinesh Thakur joins Amit Varma in episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen to share the story of the Ranbaxy fraud, and the shoddy state of Indian pharma today.
Also check out:
1. Dinesh Thakur's foundation, blog and Twitter.
2. Bottle of Lies : Ranbaxy and the Dark Side of Indian Pharma -- Katherine Eban.
3. The Impact of Regulatory Structure on Quality of Medicines in India -- Talk by Dinesh Thakur.
4. Dinesh Thakur interviewed by News Laundry, Lallantop and The Accad and Koka Report.
5. The Indian pharmaceutical industry is in denial over drug-quality charges -- Dinesh Thakur.
6. Pharma industry’s playbook on low-quality drugs -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy Thikkavarapu.
7. India’s drug regulator has failed the pandemic stress test -- Dinesh Thakur.
8. In generic drug plants in China and India, data falsification is still a problem -- Katherine Eban and Sony Salzman.
9. Healing the Pharmacy of the World -- KL Sharma.
10. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
11. Science and Covid-19 -- Episode 221 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anirban Mahapatra).
12. Slow Ideas -- Atul Gawande.
13. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
14. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines -- Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
15. We Must Save Our Farmers -- Amit Varma.
16. ‘Killer cough syrup’ maker failed quality tests several times -- Times of India report on the Jammu deaths.
17. Why lethal cough syrup slipped past the law -- Prabha Raghavan and Arun Sharma.
18. COVID-19: Hundreds Of Clinical Trials Under Way In India, Many Lack Rigour, Say Experts -- Anoo Bhuyan.
19. Clinical trial database hole -- GS Mudur.
20. CDSCO faces CIC ire over ‘misplaced’ 2013 report on ‘irregular’ approval to drugs -- Prabha Raghavan.
21. A Report on Drug Regulator CDSCO’s ‘Irregular’ Approvals Has Gone ‘Missing’ -- The Wire staff.
22. New CDSCO Disclosure Reveals Quality of Medicines Sold in India -- Samir Malhotra.
23. On US blacklist, in India they are in the grey zone -- Ritu Sarin, Kaunain Sheriff M and Jaz Mazoomdar.
24. Poor quality drugs caused Niloufer maternal deaths: Doctors' panel -- Syed Akbar.
25. 2014 Bilaspur tubectomy deaths: Absconding pharma firm director held -- PTI news report.
26. Clinical Trials in India Need Better Regulations -- Shah Alam Khan.
27. Mozambique raises quality concerns on Indian drug exports -- Deepak Patel.
28. Drug regulation: 27 medicines sold by top firms ‘fail’ quality tests in seven states -- Deepak Patel.
29. 39 Indian drug companies blacklisted by Vietnam -- Pranshu Rathi.
30. Drugs with carcinogenic toxins: banned elsewhere, sold in India -- Priyanka Pulla.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
India's Maharajahs get a bad rap. Both the British empire and our freedom fighters pushed wrong stereotypes about them. Manu Pillai joins Amit Varma in episode 244 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about the multitudes of our maharajahs -- and much else that matters.
Also check out:
1. Manu Pillai's Website, Twitter and Instagram.
2. False Allies: India’s Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma -- Manu Pillai.
3. Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore -- Manu Pillai.
4. Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji -- Manu Pillai.
5. The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin -- Manu Pillai.
6. Kerala and the Ivory Throne -- Episode 156 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
7. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
8. The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
9. Sudhir Sarnobat's epic tweet summing up the first 200 episodes of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen.
11. A Matter of Rats -- Amitava Kumar.
12. Piercing -- Ryu Murakami.
13. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil -- Hannah Arendt.
14. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome -- Mary Beard.
15. The Mapilla Rebellion of Malabar -- Manu Pillai.
16. The many shades of the Mappila insurrection -- Manu Pillai.
17. Malevolent Republic — Kapil Komireddi.
18. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
19. Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation -- The Pew Center Research survey of religion in India. (Also: 1, 2.)
20. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
21. Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism — Dinyar Patel.
22. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India -- Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel).
23. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Peggy Mohan.
24. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
25. Royals and Rebels: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire -- Priya Atwal.
26. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu.
27. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu).
28. India’s Security State -- Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph).
29. Lessons from 1975 -- Amit Varma (2015 piece).
30. There Comes Papa.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
In the last 25 years, India has changed, journalism has changed and Barkha Dutt has been at the frontlines. She joins Amit Varma in episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about how we got here, and the lessons of these years.
Also check out:
1. Barkha Dutt on Twitter, Instagram and the Washington Post.
2. Mojo Story on YouTube.
3. This Unquiet Land: Stories from India's Fault Lines -- Barkha Dutt.
4. The Nurture Assumption -- Judith Rich Harris.
5. Barkha Dutt's conversation with Deep Sidhu.
6. What They Did Yesterday Afternoon -- Warsan Shire.
7. We The Women on Facebook.
8. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
9. Little Crazy Love Song -- Mary Oliver.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
We are subjects, not citizens -- and India's state is designed to keep us that way. Josy Joseph joins Amit Varma in episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the astonishing ways in which India's security state misuses its powers.
Also check out:
1. The Silent Coup: A History of India's Deep State -- Josy Joseph.
2. A Feast of Vultures: The Hidden Business of Democracy in India -- Josy Joseph.
3. Investigative Journalism: Silence is an Expensive Commodity -- Josy Joseph's TedX talk.
4. Vultures of Modern India -- Josy Joseph at Manthan Samvaad 2016.
5. The Geography of Genius -- Eric Weiner.
6. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
7. Franz Kafka, George Orwell and Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Amazon.
8. Poland -- James A Michener.
9. Curfewed Night -- Basharat Peer.
10. Our Moon Has Blood Clots -- Rahul Pandita.
11. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
12. Afghanistan: The Bear Trap -- Mohammad Yousaf and Mark Adkin.
13. The Looming Tower -- Lawrence Wright.
14. Jhumpa Lahiri on Writing, Translation, and Crossing Between Cultures — Episode 17 of Conversations With Tyler.
15. The Notebook Trilogy — Agota Kristof.
16. Prem Panicker on writing -- Episode 3 of The Windowpane Sessions.
17. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh.
18. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
19. Emergency Chronicles -- Gyan Prakash.
20. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen.
21. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
22. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
23. India, Pakistan, Kashmir: We Won’t Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace -- Amit Varma.
24. Counterinsurgency Warfare — David Galula.
25. The Insurgents — Fred Kaplan.
26. Seven Pillars of Wisdom -- TE Lawrence.
27. The Generation of Rage in Kashmir — David Devadas.
28. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
29. The Cobra Effect.
30. KP Raghuvanshi interrogated by Arnab Goswami.
31. The Streetlight Effect.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The gangster film and the city film are two genres that took a while to evolve in Bollywood. Uday Bhatia joins Amit Varma in episode 241 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why Ram Gopal Varma's Satya was a seminal moment, shaped by what came before it, and changing the course of Hindi cinema.
Also check out:
1. Satya -- Ram Gopal Varma.
2. Bullets Over Bombay -- Uday Bhatia.
3. Uday Bhatia's Twitter, Blog and author page at Mint Lounge.
4. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies -- Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen.
5. Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, David Fricke and Peter Guralnick.
6. Lester Bangs on The Stooges.
7. Pauline Kael on Bonnie and Clyde.
8. Pauline Kael, Lester Bangs and the Twitter Age -- Uday Bhatia.
9. Have You Seen?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films -- David Thomson.
10. Risen From the Depths -- Uday Bhatia on Neecha Nagar.
11. The First Picture Show -- Uday Bhatia.
12. So Many Cinemas -- BD Garga.
13. Jawaharlal Nehru : Rebel and Statesman -- BR Nanda. (More easily available in this omnibus volume.)
14. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma.
15. Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai -- Podcast co-hosted by Subrat Mohanty.
16. O Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar -- Song from CID.
17. The vlogs of Devdutt Dani, Mohammad Salim Khan and Satya Saggar.
Films mentioned in this episode:
1. Early Indian crime films: Kismet, Pocket Maar, Awaara.
2. Early Indian noir by Navketan films and others: Baazi, CID, Aar Paar, Kala Bazaar.
3. Some post-noir Bollywood: Teesri Manzil, Johny Mera Naam, Blackmail, Zanjeer, Deewar.
4. Ardh Satya.
5. A selection from the 1980s: Vidhaata, Karz, Arjun, Tezaab, Parinda, Hathyaar.
6. Films showcasing Bombay or Bambaiyya: Taxi Driver, Aar Paar, Aakhri Khat, Bombay to Goa, Gharaonda, Guddi, Salaam Bombay and much of the work of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
7. Two key precursers: Is Raat Ki Subaah Nahin, Bandit Queen.
8. Ram Gopal Varma's key past films: Rangeela, Shiva, Daud, Company.
9. Miscellaneous mentions: Raakh, Haasil, Munna Bhai MBBS, Gangs of Wasseypur, Aankhon Dekhi.
9. Uday Bhatia's recommendations: China Town, 27 Down, Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan, Sehar.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
You can learn life lessons by actually living life -- or you can take a short cut and learn them from those who have done the living for you. Prakash Iyer joins Amit Varma in episode 240 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his journey rising to the top of the corporate world, and then sharing the lessons he learnt.
Also check out:
1. Prakash Iyer on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Amazon and his own website.
2. How Come No One Told Me That? -- Prakash Iyer.
3. Some talks on YouTube by Prakash Iyer: 1, 2, 3, 4.
4. Luck is All Around -- Amit Varma.
5. The Answer is 42 -- Amit Varma.
6. The Numbers Game -- Amit Varma.
7. Poker at Lake Wobegon -- Amit Varma.
8. Range Rover -- The Archives of Amit Varma's poker column for Economic Times.
9. Air India Express ousts 'Sir' from cockpit, brings in 'Captain.'
10. Defending the Indefensible -- Episode 55 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Yazad Jal).
11. Where Are the Jobs? -- Episode 87 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Yazad Jal).
12. Metrics of Empowerment -- Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta and Hamsini Hariharan).
13. The #MeToo Movement -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena).
14. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma.
15. Ranveer Brar's YouTube channel.
16. Brian Tracy on Amazon, YouTube and his own website.
17. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy -- Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen.
18. How I Gained 1 MILLION Subscribers — Ali Abdaal.
19. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers — Ali Abdaal.
20. Art & Fear -- David Bayles and Ted Orland.
21. Georges Simenon on Amazon.
22. Malcolm Gladwell on Amazon.
23. Dan Ariely on Amazon.
24. Fraudulent data raise questions about superstar honesty researcher.
25. Behram Contractor (aka Busybee) on Amazon.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
If you're a creative person, there is no better time to be alive. Roshan Abbas joins Amit Varma in episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his remarkable journey as a creator -- and to explain why the best is yet to come.
Also check out:
1. Roshan Abbas on Twitter, Instagram and his own homepage.
2. Kommune on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
3. Speechless: What would you say if your life depended on it? A Pocket-Guide to Public Speaking -- Roshan Abbas and Siddharth Banerjee.
4. Always Kabhi Kabhi, directed by Roshan Abbas, on ErosNow, JioCinema, Amazon (DVD) and Amazon Prime (outside India).
5. A Road Less Travelled -- Roshan Abbas's TedX talk.
6. Roshan Abbas interviewed by Vishal Gondal, Varun Duggirala and Cyrus Broacha.
7. Tom Peters on Amazon -- and VUCA in Wikipedia.
8. A Creator of the Floating World -- Episode 218 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Varun Duggirala).
9. Dreamy Dutch Coffee -- Prahniika Borkar | The Storytellers
10. Storytelling and Conversation -- Episode 197 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Neelesh Misra).
11. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
12. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin.
13. How I Gained 1 MILLION Subscribers -- Ali Abdaal.
14. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers -- Ali Abdaal.
15. Amit Varma's session on podcasting for Chalchitra Talks with Varun Duggirala & others.
16. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Indian agriculture: 1, 2, 3, 4.
17. Osho Jain on Instagram, and Prateek Kuhad and Ankur Tiwari on YouTube.
18. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
19. Twitter and Tear Gas — Zeynep Tufekci.
20. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
21. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen.
22. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
23. Biology - A Functional Approach -- MBV Roberts.
24. Confluence of Cultures -- Saiyed Anwer Abbas.
25. Amit Varma on the Getting Meta podcast, hosted by Deepak Gopalakrishnan.
26. An Adman Reflects on Society & the Self -- Episode 199 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ambi Parameswaran).
27. Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything -- Elizabeth Gilbert.
28. The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity -- Julia Cameron.
29. All You Who Sleep Tonight -- Vikram Seth.
30. Everybody Hurts -- REM.
31. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen, in which Amit Varma talks about his own creator journey.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Indian sport has never been healthier. Joy Bhattacharjya and Nandan Kamath join Amit Varma in episode 238 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their inside view on what has happened behind the scenes to bring us here.
Also check out:1. GoSports Foundation.
2. Building Sports Ecosystems -- Episode 126 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya).
3. Go!: India's Sporting Transformation -- Edited by Nandan Kamath & Aparna Ravichandran.
4. Great sporting nations are built on collaborative efforts -- Nandan Kamath.
5. Some print interviews of Nandan Kamath, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
6. Nandan Kamath on sports governance (YouTube talk).
7. 87.58 for 1.3 bn: Will Neeraj Chopra's javelin hurl spearhead a turn in India's Olympic medal-hauling capabilities? -- Joy Bhattacharjya.
8. Winning medals wasn’t always so serious, whisky-swilling shooters and café-stopping runners were once Olympians too -- Joy Bhattacharjya.
9. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan & Ajay Shah).
10. A Shot At History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold -- Abhinav Bindra and Rohit Brijnath.
11. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
12. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world -- Amit Varma.
13. The Girl From Haryana -- Amit Varma.
14. Relative Age Effect (Wikipedia).
15. Outliers: The Story of Success -- Malcolm Gladwell.
16. The Psychological Impact of the Partition of India -- Edited by Sanjeev Jain and Alok Sarin.
Do follow Joy Bhattacharjya and Nandan Kamath on Twitter.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The liberalisation of 1991 lifted more than a quarter of a billion people in India out of poverty. And yet, we often don't recognise their importance, and have gone backwards in the last decade. Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah join Amit Varma in episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss what life was like before 1991, where we had gone wrong, what we put right and what remains to be done.
Also check out:
1. The 1991 Project.
2. The quest for economic freedom in India -- Shruti Rajagopalan.
3. Ideas and Origins of the Planning Commission in India -- Shruti Rajagopalan.
4. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah).
5. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines -- Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
6. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
7. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3.
8. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah
9. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
10. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
11. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley).
12. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter.
13. The Dark Side of the Moon -- Pink Floyd.
14. Wish You Were Here -- Pink Floyd.
15. Free to Choose -- Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman.
16. The Road to Serfdom -- Friedrich Hayek.
17. The Fatal Conceit -- Friedrich Hayek.
18. The Clash of Economic Ideas -- Lawrence H White.
19. Pandit's Mind -- The 1951 Time magazine cover story on Jawaharlal Nehru.
20. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma.
21. An Autobiography -- Jawaharlal Nehru.
22. The Discovery of India -- Jawaharlal Nehru.
23. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
24. Profit = Philanthropy -- Amit Varma.
25. India Unbound -- Gurcharan Das.
26. India Transformed: 25 Years of Economic Reforms -- Edited by Rakesh Mohan.
27. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
28. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
29. Modi's Lost Opportunity -- Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz).
30. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist — Bruce Yandle.
31. Pigs Don’t Fly: The Economic Way of Thinking about Politics — Russell Roberts.
32. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film — Amit Varma.
33. The White Man's Burden -- William Easterly.
34. The Tyranny of Experts -- William Easterly.
35. Planners vs. Searchers in Foreign Aid -- William Easterly.
36. We, the People -- Nani Palikhiwala.
37. India’s Agriculture Crisis — Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand).
38. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
39. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
40. Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma
41. Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma.
42. Restaurant Regulations in India -- Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon).
43. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
44. On Inequality -- Harry Frankfurt.
45. Breaking the Caste Barrier: Intergenerational Mobility in India -- Viktoria Hnatkovska, Amartya Lahiri and Sourabh B Paul.
46. Intergenerational Mobility in India: New Methods and Estimates Across Time, Space, and Communities -- Sam Asher, Paul Novosad and Charlie Rafkin.
47. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs -- Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad.
48. Taking Stock of Our Economy -- Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik).
49. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
50. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's books on Amazon.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The task of a journalist is to document the present moment. And there have been plenty of crazy present moments in India in the last 40 years. Vir Sanghvi joins Amit Varma in episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights on how our society, politics and media have been transformed over the course of his career. He also looks inwards.
Also check out:
1. A Rude Life -- Vir Sanghvi.
2. Vir Sanghvi's books on Amazon.
3. Vir Sanghvi's homepage, Twitter and Instagram.
4. Travelling in the Time of Covid -- Vir Sanghvi.
5. Biryani Was Always Meant for the Masses and Not the Kings -- Vir Sanghvi.
6. Don’t Think Too Much of Yourself. You’re an Accident -- Amit Varma.
7. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald.
8. Kanti Bajpai on India vs China -- Episode 234 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
10. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
11. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
12. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
13. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran.
14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
15. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
16. The Business of Books -- Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika).
17. Newsman's English -- Harold Evans.
18. Pictures on a Page -- Harold Evans.
19. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid -- Richard Purden.
20. Persuasion -- The newsletter founded by Yascha Mounk.
21. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
22. Econ Talk — Russ Roberts’s podcast.
23. Conversations With Tyler -- Tyler Cowen's podcast.
24. Making Sense -- Sam Harris's podcast.
25. Politics and the Sociopath -- Amit Varma.
26. Public Opinion -- Walter Lippmann.
27. On Bullshit -- Harry Frankfurt.
28. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma.
29. Religion, Food, Indian Society -- Episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shoba Narayan).
30. The Saffron Trail -- Episode 222 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nandita Iyer).
31. Imaginary Number -- Vijay Seshadri.
32. Sacred Games -- Vikram Chandra.
33. The Powers That Be -- David Halberstam.
34. Ramachandra Guha's books on Amazon.
35. Imagining India -- Nandan Nilekani.
36. Rebooting India -- Nandan Nilekani.
37. An Era of Darkness -- Shashi Tharoor (also published outside India as Inglorious Empire).
This episode is sponsored by MapMyGenome. Use the code UNSEEN to get 50% off on their groundbreaking product, Genomepatri.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Back in the 19th century, women were supposed to stay home and learn cooking and needlework -- but some dared to fight the odds and get an education. Some even became doctors. Kavitha Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her new book on six pioneering lady doctors. Also discussed: the craft of writing and storytelling, and the endless possibility for late bloomers.
Also check out:
1. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India's First Women in Medicine -- Kavitha Rao.
2. Kavitha Rao's other books on Amazon.
3. I grew up as an Indian expat in Iran, before the revolution -- Kavitha Rao.
4. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen -- Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri).
5. Crossing Thresholds -- Meera Kosambi.
6. A Fragmented Feminism -- Meera Kosambi.
7. The Art of Narrative Nonfiction -- Episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Samanth Subramanian).
8. Following Fish -- Samanth Subramanian.
9. A Dominant Character -- Samanth Subramanian.
10. Killers of the Flower Moon -- David Grann.
11. The Squid Hunter -- David Grann.
12. David Grann in the New Yorker.
13. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
14. Kerala and the Ivory Throne -- Episode 156 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
15. The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
16. Manu Pillai's books on Amazon.
17. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty).
18. Ira Mukhoty's books on Amazon.
19. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
20. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World -- Snigdha Poonam.
21. Bad Blood -- John Carreyrou.
22. 52..
23. Collision -- Bhavya Dore.
24. The #MeToo Movement -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena).
25. Yentl -- Directed by Barbra Streisand (Wikipedia link).
26. The Gate of Angels -- Penelope Fitzgerald.
27. The Blue Flower -- Penelope Fitzgerald.
28. The Bookshop -- Penelope Fitzgerald.
29. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar, featuring Jonathan Haidt.
30. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
31. Superior -- Angela Saini.
32. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon).
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
What exactly is going on between India and China? When cooperation would lead to a win-win game, why is there conflict? Kanti Bajpai joins Amit Varma in episode 234 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his Four Ps framework for understanding this conflict. Also discussed: academia, public intellectuals, how one learns, and why writing and teaching make you a better thinker
Also check out:
1. India Versus China : Why They Are Not Friends -- Kanti Bajpai.
2. Roots of Terrorism -- Kanti Bajpai.
3. Kanti Bajpai on Amazon.
4. The China Dude Is in the House -- Episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
5. The Dragon and the Elephant — Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharan & Shibani Mehta).
6. What Does China Want? — Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
7. Understanding Terrorism -- Amit Varma's 2007 review of Alan Krueger's What Makes a Terorrist.8. Soft Power: The Means To Success In World Politics -- Joseph Nye.
9. The Future of Power -- Joseph Nye.
10. Roam Research.
11. Why India and China Are Not Friends -- Kanti Bajpai on The Grand Tamasha podcast, hosted by Milan Vaishnav.
12. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
13. The Hedgehog And The Fox -- Isaiah Berlin.
14. Kishore Mahbubani on Amazon.
15. Imagined Communities -- Benedict Anderson.
16. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
17. The Mahatma and the Poet — The Tagore-Gandhi debates.
18. From Heaven Lake -- Vikram Seth.
19. Finding India in China -- Anurag Viswanath.
20. Strangers across the Border -- Reshma Patil.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Public policy may seem like a dull subject fit only for wonks, but it matters: our lives are deeply affected by what our governments do. Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma in episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about his intellectual journey, his private beach and why public policy can be so stimulating. He also answers racy questions from the Twitterverse.
If you share Pranay's interest in public policy, you should check out Takshashila's Graduate Certificate in Public Policy (GCPP).
Also check out:
1. Anticipating the Unintended -- Pranay Kotasthane's newsletter (with RSJ).
2. Puliyabaazi -- Pranay Kotasthane's podcast (with Saurabh Chandra).
3. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal -- Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
4. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
5. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
6. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley).
7. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? -- Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma).
8. Amit Varma's tweet thread soliciting questions for this episode.
9. Examples of Pranay Kotasthane's Mind Maps of books: 1, 2, 3.
10. Coggle.
11. The Lessons of History -- Will Durant.
12. Raj Comics.
13. The China Dude Is in the House -- Episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
14. A Case For Societism -- Pranay Kotasthane.
15. Pranay Kotasthane's Manthan talk on societism.
16. The Indian Dream Podcast episode with Amit Varma.
17. 8 things to unlearn before learning public policy -- Pranay Kotasthane.
18. The Double 'Thank-You' Moment -- John Stossel.
19. Opportunity Cost Neglect in Public Policy -- Emil Persson and Gustav Tinghög.
20. Whose Money is it Anyway? -- Amit Varma.
21. The 4 Ways to Spend Money -- Milton Friedman.
22. Discover Your Inner Economist -- Tyler Cowen.
23. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
24. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah).
25. Amit Varma's prescient 2017 tweet on the price caps on stents.
26. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen on GST with Devangshu Datta, Vivek Kaul and Shruti Rajagopalan.
26. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
27. Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma
28. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Demonetisation with Suyash Rai and Shruti Rajagopalan.
29. The Delhi Smog -- Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
30. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist -- Bruce Yandle.
31. Pigs Don't Fly: The Economic Way of Thinking about Politics -- Russell Roberts.
32. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film -- Amit Varma.
33. Shubhra Gupta's review about which Tapsee Pannu kicked up such a fuss.
34. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
35. Wilson's Interest Group Matrix -- Charles Cameron from The Political Analyst’s Toolkit.
36. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working -- Jonathan Rauch.
37. The Great Redistribution -- Amit Varma.
38. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky.
39. Robert Sapolsky's lectures on YouTube.
40. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan & Alex Tabarrok).
41. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma.
42. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma.
43. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
44. The Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash).
45. How the BJP Wins -- Prashant Jha.
46. The BJP's Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
47. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
48. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ashwin Mahesh: 1, 2.
49. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
50. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
51. Governing the Commons -- Elinor Ostrom.
52. Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen.
53. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
54. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
55. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines -- Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
56. The Indian Conservative -- Episode 145 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jaithirth Rao).
57. How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time -- Hal Varian.
58. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
59. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon).
60. Narratives on Exchange Rates in India -- Pranay Kotasthane.
61. Taking Stock of Our Economy -- Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik).
62. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro.
63. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs.
64. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma (on the importance of reading).
65. Selling Solutions vs Solving Problems -- Lant Pritchett.
66. Policy Paradox -- Deborah Stone.
67. The Mahatma and the Poet -- The Tagore-Gandhi debates.
68. Factfulness -- Hans Rosling.
69. Humankind: A Hopeful History -- Rutger Bregman.
70. A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis -- Eugene Bardach.
71. Essence of Decision -- Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow.
72. Banishing Bureaucracy -- David Osborne.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The problem with the past is that it's over. How can we enter distant history and understand what happened? Language is one way. Peggy Mohan joins Amit Varma in episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights on what the evolution of our languages reveals about how we got here.
Also check out:
1. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages -- Peggy Mohan.
2. Peggy Mohan's books on Amazon.
3. Amit Varma's Twitter thread on episodes of The Seen and the Unseen about India.
4. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
5. India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
6. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha).
7. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
8. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish) (English) -- Gabriel García Márquez.
9. Songs of Kabir -- Translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.
10. Essential Kabir -- Translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.
11. I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd -- Translated by Ranjit Hoskote.
12. On Language -- Noam Chomsky.
13. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language -- Steven Pinker.
14. The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor -- Translated by WM Thackston Jr.
15. Guns, Germs and Steel: Jared Diamond.
16. Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism -- Niles Eldredge & Steven Jay Gould. (Also, criticism of it.)
17. Genesis of Ṛgvedic Retroflexion -- Madhav Deshpande.
18. Linguistics, Style and Writing in the 21st Century -- A talk by Steven Pinker.
19. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai.
20. A House Divided: Origin and Development of Hindi/Hindavi -- Amrit Rai.
21. Hindustani Musalmaan - Hussain Haidry.
22. Hum Kagaz Nahin Dikhayenge -- Varun Grover.
23. The Emperor of All Maladies -- Siddhartha Mukherjee.
24. The Song of the Dodo -- David Quammen.
25. The Tangled Tree -- David Quammen.
26. Spillover -- David Quammen.
27. Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib on Amazon.
This episode is sponsored by Wondrium. Check out their series, The Story of Human Language. For free unlimited access for 14 days, click here.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Bollywood lost him, journalism wasted him, and thank goodness for that. Manoj Kewalramani, the foreign policy analyst also known as The China Dude, joins Amit Varma in episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his brilliant new book on post-Covid China, Smokeless War. Also discussed: Lokhandwala Cafes and the art of building narratives.
Also check out:
1. Smokeless War: China's Quest for Geopolitical Dominance -- Manoj Kewalramani.
2. Eye on China -- Manoj Kewalramani's newsletter. (+ older archives at Pragati.)
3. The Takshashila Institution.
4. What Does China Want? -- Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
5. Chinese Foreign Policy -- Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
6. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal -- Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
7. The Dragon and the Elephant -- Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharan & Shibani Mehta).
8. Keeping India Safe -- Episode 219 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sushant Singh).
9. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
10. Profit = Philanthropy -- Amit Varma.
11. Under the Dome -- Documentary by Chai Jing.
12. The Invention of China -- Bill Hayton.
13. China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy -- Peter Martin.
14. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker).
15. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
16. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma (on Mao, sparrows, great leaps etc).
17. Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice — David Galula.
18. We Won’t Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace — Amit Varma.
19. Policy Paradox – The Art of Political Decision Making -- Deborah Stone.
20. Homeopathic Faith (2010) -- Amit Varma.
21. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
22. Where Anna Hazare Gets It Wrong -- Amit Varma.
23. Sample SSR consipracy theory: He's alive!
24. NCovMemory repository in English.
25. Terminus 2049.
26. Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City -- Fang Fang.
27. COVID-19, China and Anatomy of Fang Fang Phenomenon -- Hemant Adlakha.
28. Wealth and Power: China's Long March to the Twenty-first Century -- Orville Schell & John Delury.
29. Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism -- Maria Repnikova.
30. The China Questions – Critical Insights into a Rising Power -- Edited by Jennifer Rudolph & Michael Szonyi.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
His writing is self-reflective, his humour is self-deprecatory, and he's one of our finest writers on cinema. Jai Arjun Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how he to came to love cinema -- and how that love changed shape as he did.
Also check out:
1. Jabberwock -- Jai Arjun Singh's blog.
2. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron: Seriously Funny Since 1983 -- Jai Arjun Singh.
3. The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee -- Jai Arjun Singh.
4. Popcorn Essayists -- Edited by Jai Arjun Singh.
5. Seeing is believing? An essay about encounters with religious cinema -- Jai Arjun Singh.
6. Meandering thoughts on the consumer-art relationship, glorification vs depiction, etc -- Jai Arjun Singh.
7. In praise of “commercial” acting -- Jai Arjun Singh.
8. One Moment Please -- Jai Arjun Singh's column for the Hindu.
9. Jai Arjun Singh at Mint Lounge, Scroll and First Post.
10. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
11. Lessons in Investing (and Life) -- Episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Deepak Shenoy).
12. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree -- Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro).
13. A Writer Learns to See -- Episode 215 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Annie Zaidi).
14. Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide 1991.
15. Amit Varma's Twitter threads on the MAMI festival from 2018 and 2019.
16. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
17. The House of the Dead -- Fyodor Dostoevsky.
18. Psycho -- Alfred Hitchcock.
19. The 1980s films mentioned in this episode: Meri Jung, Mr India, Parinda, Tezaab, Eeshwar, Awaargi, Karma, Chameli Ki Shaadi, Saaheb, Teri Meherbaniya, Ghulami, Hathyar, Arjun. 20. Dogme 95 (on Wikipedia).
21. Sholay -- Ramesh Sippy.22. Jai Arjun Singh's many writings on Sholay.
23. We all live in a Cannibal Holocaust -- Amit Varma.
24. Ghost Stories -- Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee & Karan Johar.
25. Eyes Without a Face -- Georges Franju.
26. Amarcord & I Vitelloni -- Federico Fellini.
27. Moonlight -- Barry Jenkins.
28. David Dhawan and Krzysztof Kieślowski on Wikipedia.
29. Piku -- Shoojit Sirkar.
30. Jai Arjun Singh's writings on Piku.
31. Jai Arjun Singh's talk at TEDxNSIT.
32. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir.
33. Louie -- Louis CK.
34. Kabir Singh, Leni Riefenstahl & The Birth of a Nation.
35. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra).
36. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavita Krishnan).
37. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar, featuring Jonathan Haidt.
38. The Philadelphia Story -- George Cukor.
39. The Wire -- created by David Simon.
40. Dekalog -- Krzysztof Kieślowski.
41. Casey Neistat on YouTube.
42. Alan Moore's books on Amazon.
43. Biwi aur Makan -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
44. Ace in the Hole -- Billy Wilder.
45. The Magic Faraway Tree Collecton -- Enid Blyton.
46. Mrutyunjay -- Shivaji Sawant.
47. The Unconsoled -- Kazuo Ishiguro.
48. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire -- Luis Buñuel.
49. Cinefan diary: Jean-Claude Carriere -- Jai Arjun Singh.
50. Pauline Kael on Amazon.
This episode is sponsored by Wondrium. Check out their series, How to Look at and Understand Great Art. For free unlimited access for 14 days, click here.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
In these difficult times, no one's had a harder time than our medical professionals. They see death every day, and they fight it. What is it like to be a doctor in India? Lancelot Pinto joins Amit Varma in episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the practice of medicine in general, and the battle against Covid-19 in particular. Also discussed: the incentives of doctors, the importance of sleep, how to quit smoking, and the Epidemic of Sighing.
Also check out:
1. Past episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19, featuring (in reverse chronological order) Ashwin Mahesh, Gautam Menon, Ajay Shah, Anirban Mahapatra, Ruben Mascarenhas, Chinmay Tumbe, Rukmini S, Vaidehi Tandel, Vivek Kaul, Anup Malani and Shruti Rajagopalan.
2. Robin Cook on Amazon.
3. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes.
4. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz.
5. UpToDate.
6. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
7. Money for nothing: The dire straits of medical practice in Delhi, India (2007) — Jishnu Das and Jeffrey Hammer.
8. Dunning-Kruger Effect (Wikipedia).
9. Poker at Lake Wobegon -- Amit Varma.
10. Bad Science -- Ben Goldacre.
11. Homeopathic Faith (2010) -- Amit Varma.
12. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health -- Amit Varma.
13. Is it risky to push alternative medicine in Covid pandemic? -- Lancelot Pinto.
14. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen.
15. Amit Varma’s episode of The Book Club on Mary Wollstonecraft.
16. Being Mortal -- Atul Gawande.
17. How Doctors Die -- Ken Murray.
18. Do not go gentle into that good night -- Dylan Thomas.
19. 24 & Ready to Die -- Economist documentary on euthanasia.
20. Complications -- Atul Gawande.
21. My Own Country -- Abraham Verghese.
22. Deep Medicine -- Eric Topol.
23. Other books by Gawande and Verghese.
24. The Looming Tower -- Lawrence Wright.
25. Do No Harm -- Henry Marsh.
26. The Rules of Contagion -- Adam Kucharski.
27. What Cricket Can Learn From Poker -- Amit Varma's essay on probabilistic thinking.
28. The Cochrane Collaboration.
Links on Sleep
29. Lancelot Pinto's talk on sleep.
30. Lancelot Pinto on Sleep Apnea
31. What’s keeping you up at night? -- Lancelot Pinto.
32. Are you terrified of falling asleep? -- Lancelot Pinto.
33. Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams -- Matthew Walker.
34. Tetris Dreams.
Links on Tobacco Cessation
35. Lancelot Pinto's Twitter thread on stopping smoking.
36. Global Adult Tobacco Survey.
37. The Odds of Ceasing to Smoke Tobacco -- A visual aid
Links on Tuberculosis
38. Tuberculosis Management by Private Practitioners in Mumbai, India: Has Anything Changed in Two Decades? -- Zarir Udwadia, Lancelot Pinto & Mukund Uplekar.
39. Private patient perceptions about a public programme -- Lancelot Pinto & Zareer Udwadia.
40. Mismanagement of tuberculosis in India: Causes, consequences, and the way forward -- Anurag Bhargava, Lancelot Pinto & Madhukar Pai.
41. A study on telemedicine during Covid-19 co-written by Lancelot Pinto.
Links on Covid-19
42. An interview of Lancelot Pinto & Rajani Bhat by Govindraj Ethiraj.
43. India Covid SOS
44. Lancelot Pinto and others interviewed by Barkha Dutt on changed Covid protocols..
45. Lancelot Pinto and others interviewed by Barkha Dutt on the use of steroids for Covid treatment.
46. Lancelot Pinto & Sumit Ray interviewed by Govindraj Ethirah on the need to update guidelines.
47. A CT scan for COVID merits a word of caution -- Lancelot Pinto.
48. Lancelot Pinto interviewed by Smitha Nair.
49. Comprehensive Guidelines for Management of COVID-19 patients.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
We're well into the 21st century, but Indian society seems stuck in ages past -- especially when it comes to the state of our women. Kavita Krishnan joins Amit Varma in episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her evolution as a feminist, and what she has learned from her activism.
Also check out:
1. Fearless Freedom -- Kavita Krishnan.
2. Kavita Krishnan's speech in the anti-rape protests of 2012.
3. Kavita Krishnan on the Tarun Tejpal verdict.
4. Kavita Krishnan's Facebook posts on stalking and marital rape.
5. Gendered Discipline in Globalising India -- Kavita Krishnan.
6. Kavita Krishnan's Twitter thread on the Mahmood Farooqui case.
7. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra).
8. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare).
9. Metrics of Empowerment -- Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta and Hamsini Hariharan).
10. The #MeToo Movement -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena).
11. An Economist Looks at #MeToo -- Episode 92 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
12. Misogyny is the Oldest Indian Tradition -- Amit Varma.
13. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma.
14. Over 1600 Teachers Died of COVID-19 After Poll Duty for Panchayat Elections -- Manoj Singh.
15. Enid Blyton on Amazon.
16. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott.
17. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee.
18. The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories -- Kate Chopin.
19. Max Beerbohm and James Thurber on Amazon.
20. Crime and Punishment -- Fyodor Dostoevsky.
21. House of the Dead -- Fyodor Dostoevsky.
22. Leaves From the Jungle -- Verrier Elwin.
23. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran.
24. Ram Ke Naam -- Documentary by Anand Patwardhan.
25. The City & the City -- China Miéville.
26. Remembering Chandu, Friend and Comrade -- Kavita Krishnan.
27. Revolutionary Desires: Women, Communism, and Feminism in India -- Ania Loomba.
28. Song of Myself -- Walt Whitman.
29. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman -- Mary Wollstonecraft.
30. Amit Varma's episode of The Book Club on Wollstonecraft's book.
31. Who Stole Feminism? -- Chistina Hoff Sommers.
32. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker.
33. Feminism for the 99% -- Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya & Nancy Fraser.
34. Resisting State Injustice -- Episode 120 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jason Brennan).
35. Marxvaad Aur Ram Rajya -- Karpatri Maharaj.
36. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul.
37. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
38. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De.
39. Does India take its national symbols too seriously? -- Jan 2008 episode of We the People.
40. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
41. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
42. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon).
43. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
44. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
45. Love jihad laws are a backlash to India’s own progress -- Shruti Rajagopalan.
46. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The Indian economy has been going downhill for a decade now. How has Covid-19 affected it? Ila Patnaik joins Amit Varma in episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen to take stock of where we are today, and where we go from here.
Also check out:
1. Ila Patnaik at NIPFP, The Print, YouTube, Indian Express & Business Standard.
2. Asia Confronts the Impossible Trinity -- Ila Patnaik & Ajay Shah.
3. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines -- Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
4. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
5. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
6. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
7. India’s Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
8. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra.
9. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian).
10. The Fight of the Central Banker -- Episode 193 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Viral Acharya).
11. Pandemonium in India’s Banks -- Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay.)
12. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
13. The Indian Economy in 2019 -- Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
14. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) -- Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand).
15. Twelve Dream Reforms -- Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta and Vivek Kaul.)
16. The Seen and the Unseen episodes on Demonetisation and GST.
17. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
18. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
19. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare).
20. Past episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19, featuring (in reverse chronological order) Ashwin Mahesh, Gautam Menon, Ajay Shah, Anirban Mahapatra, Ruben Mascarenhas, Chinmay Tumbe, Rukmini S, Vaidehi Tandel, Vivek Kaul, Anup Malani and Shruti Rajagopalan.
21. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
22. Anup Malani on India’s COVID Second Wave — Episode 13 of Season 5 of Grand Tamasha, hosted by Milan Vaishnav.
23. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott.
24. Milton Friedman and PJ O'Rourke on Amazon.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Does shared suffering lead to greater empathy? There has been an outpouring of relief work during this pandemic, with citizens rushing to help other citizens where the state has failed. But there are complexities and moral dilemmas involved. Ashwin Mahesh joins Amit Varma in episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his experiences of organising relief at scale, and the importance of working with the state.
Also check out:
1. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
2. Cities and Citizens -- Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
3. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
4. Past episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19, featuring (in reverse chronological order) Gautam Menon, Ajay Shah, Anirban Mahapatra, Ruben Mascarenhas, Chinmay Tumbe, Rukmini S, Vaidehi Tandel, Vivek Kaul, Anup Malani and Shruti Rajagopalan.
5. Despatches 36: The broader, continuing disaster -- Amit Varma.
6. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
7. Community: The Structure of Belonging -- Peter Block.
8. History of European Morals -- WEH Lecky.
9. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress -- Peter Singer.
10. Tolstoy’s Chicken and the Expanding Circle -- Amit Varma.
11. The Astonishing Hypothesis -- Francis Crick.
12. Resisting State Injustice -- Episode 120 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jason Brennan).
13. The Lake Wobegon Effect.
14. Poker at Lake Wobegon -- Amit Varma.
15. The Second Coming -- William Butler Yeats.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, The Great Revolutions of Modern History, taught by Lynne Ann Hartnett. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
We may have been in denial earlier, but no more. Covid-19 has laid bare how badly India's healthcare system is broken. Before we can fix it, we must understand it. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on his many years of studying this field. The discussion also contains thoughts on whether GDP is edible, and a bout of antakshiri right at the end.
Also check out:
1. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
2. Past episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19, featuring (in reverse chronological order) Gautam Menon, Ajay Shah, Anirban Mahapatra, Ruben Mascarenhas, Chinmay Tumbe, Rukmini S, Vaidehi Tandel, Vivek Kaul, Anup Malani and Shruti Rajagopalan.
3. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
4. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
5. Cities and Citizens -- Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
6. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
7. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
8. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
9. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah).
10. The Ultimate Resource -- Julian L Simon.
11. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
12. Do Firms Underinvest in Long-term Research? -- Eric Budish, Benjamin N Roin & Heidi Williams.
13. Fortress and Frontier in American Health Care -- Robert F Graboyes.
14. Patents are Not the Problem! -- Alex Tabarrok.
15. The Tabarrok Curve.
16. The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development -- Michael Kremer.
17. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory -- Amit Varma.
18. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen -- Frédéric Bastiat.
19. Lancelot Pinto's reply (about Asthma patients) to Amit Varma's tweet.
20. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
And now, for some foundational papers:
21. Which doctor? Combining vignettes and item response to measure clinical competence (2005)-- Jishnu Das & Jeffrey Hammer.
22. Money for nothing: The dire straits of medical practice in Delhi, India (2007) -- Jishnu Das and Jeffrey Hammer.
23. Is There a Doctor in the House?: Medical Worker Absence in India (2011) -- Karthik Muralidharanan, Nazmul Chaudhury, Jeffrey Hammer, Michael Kremer & F Halsey Rogers.
24. Quality and Accountability in Health Care Delivery: Audit-Study Evidence from Primary Care in India (2016) -- Jishnu Das, Alaka Holla, Aakash Mohpal & Karthik Muralidharan.
25. The impact of training informal health care providers in India: A randomized controlled trial (2016)-- Jishnu Das, Abhijit Chowdhury, Reshmaan Hussam & Abhihit Banerjee.
26. Two Indias: The structure of primary health care markets in rural Indian villages with implications for policy (2020)-- Jishnu Das, Benjamin Daniels, Monisha Ashok, Eun-Young Shim & Karthik Muralidharan.
27. Augmenting State Capacity for Child Development: Experimental Evidence from India -- Alejandro J. Ganimian, Karthik Muralidharan & Christopher R Walters.
Back to regular links to stuff discussed in the episode!
28. The Girl From Haryana -- Amit Varma (on Sakshi Malik and women wrestlers in Haryana).
29. The IndiaSpend interview of Rajani Bhat & Lancelot Pinto by Govindraj Ethiraj, (Also in Hindi.)
30. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health -- Amit Varma.
31. Homeopathic Faith -- Amit Varma.
32. Deep Medicine -- Eric Topol.
33. The Market for Lemons -- George Akerloff.
34. The Medical Council of India -- Episode 8 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath).
35. The Life and Times of Amit Varma -- Amit Varma's appearance on The Grand Tamasha, hosted by Milan Vaishnav.
36. Over 1000 teachers on UP panchayat poll duty died of Covid-19 -- Deccan Herald.
37. India's Power Elite: Class, Caste and Cultural Revolution -- Sanjaya Baru.
38. What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
39. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
40. Muhafiz -- Ismail Merchant's adaptation of Anita Desai's In Custody.
41. Aaj Ek Harf Ko Phir Dhundhta Phirta Hain Khayal -- from Muhafiz.
42. Kabhi Khud Pe Kabhi Haalaat Pe Rona Aaya -- from Hum Dono.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
How do we make sense of the madness around us? Well, there's the rational, scientific approach: gather data, build models, keep refining and iterating, get closer and closer to the truth. Gautam Menon joins Amit Varma in episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the exciting field of biophysics and his work in building mathematical models of infectious diseases -- especially Covid-19. Also discussed: the joys of science, and how Indian music is the best embodiment of the idea of India. Kumar Gandharva FTW!
Also check out:
1. Gautam Menon on Twitter, Ashoka, IMSc and Google Scholar.
2. The Novel Coronavirus Variants and India’s Uncertain Future -- Gautam Menon.
3. How Do Scientists Model the Spread of an Infectious Disease? -- Gautam Menon.
4. Control, Consensus, Chaos: The Global Response to the Pandemic -- A talk on YouTube by Sheila Jasanoff.
5. The Big Question: Can India Find a Way Out of Its Covid Nightmare? -- Shahid Jameel interviewed by Bobby Ghosh.
6. Past episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19, featuring (in reverse chronological order) Ajay Shah, Anirban Mahapatra, Ruben Mascarenhas, Chinmay Tumbe, Rukmini S, Vaidehi Tandel, Vivek Kaul, Anup Malani and Shruti Rajagopalan.
7. My Family and Other Animals -- Gerald Durrell.
8. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
9. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction -- Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
10. We Are All Gamblers -- Amit Varma.
11. Range Rover -- Amit Varma's column on poker for the Economic Times.
12. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
13. The New World Upon Us -- Amit Varma (on Alpha Zero).
14. Why Does the Pandemic Seem to Be Hitting Some Countries Harder Than Others? -- Siddhartha Mukherjee.
15. Episode Zero: The preview episode of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. Indian Scientists’ Response to CoViD-19.
17. A state-level epidemiological model for India: INDSCI-SIM.
18. Anup Malani on India’s COVID Second Wave -- Episode 13 of Season 5 of Grand Tamasha, hosted by Milan Vaishnav.
Books recommended by Gautam Menon
- Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic -- David Quammen.
- The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop -- Adam Kucharski.
3, Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From -- Tony Joseph, who also appeared on Seen/Unseen. - Lilavati's Daughters -- Edited by Rohini Godbole and Ram Ramaswamy,
- The Man Who Knew Infinity -- Robert Kanigel.
- Never Let Me Go -- Kazuo Ishiguro.
- Half of a Yellow Sun -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, Mysteries of the Microscopic World, taught by Bruce E Fleury. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The second wave in India could have been avoided. We should not have been suffering like this. Vaccines were the answer. Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how our thinking about vaccines was fundamentally flawed -- and what we should do now. Also discussed: why Indian healthcare is in such a mess.
Also check out:
1. Indian Health Policy in Light of COVID-19 -- Ajay Shah's paper from July 14, 2020.
2. How the Vaccine Story Will Play Out -- Ajay Shah (Nov 30, 2020).
3. SARS-Cov-2 Vaccines for India -- Ajay Shah's presentation from December 29, 2020.
4. Price Controls for Vaccines? -- Ajay Shah (March 8, 2021).
5. Responding to the Second Wave -- Ajay Shah (April 5, 2021).
6. An Important Change of Course by Policy in Indian Covid-19 Vaccination -- Amrita Agarwal & Ajay Shah.
7. Vaccination in India: How Will Demand Change When Persons Above Age 18 Are Eligible? -- Renuka Sane & Ajay Shah.
8. The Best Way to Vaccinate Most Indians in the Least Time -- Shruti Rajagopalan (Sep 14, 2020).
9. Vaccinating India: What Next? -- Naushad Forbes (March 16, 2021).
10. India’s Covid Crisis Has a Familiar Culprit -- Mihir Sharma (April 13, 2021).
11. Biden Admin Remakes Vaccine Strategy -- Erin Banco (March 29, 2021).
12. NYT Covid Vaccinations Tracker.
13. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
14. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
15. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah)
16. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
17. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3.
18. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
19. Capital -- Rana Dasgupta.
20. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
21. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Education: 1, 2, 3.
22. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Agriculture: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
23. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
24. Building State Capability -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock.
25. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma.
26. The Man of System -- From Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
27. The Fatal Conceit -- Friedrich Hayek.
28: How the BJP Wins -- Prashant Jha.
29. The BJP’s Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
30. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
31. Price Controls Lead to Shortages and Harm the Poor -- Amit Varma.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Trained as a medical doctor, Nandita Iyer has blazed a trail in the last 15 years creating content about food in media as diverse as blogs, Instagram, YouTube and even good old-fashioned columns and books. She joins Amit Varma in episode 222 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her journey in food, what we can learn from our grandparents and the fine art of dissecting cadavers.
Also check out:
1. Everyday Superfoods -- Nandita Iyer.
2. The Everyday Healthy Vegetarian -- Nandita Iyer.
3. Nandita Iyer's website, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube channel and Substack newsletter.
4. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
5. The Sharda Ugra Files -- Episode 220 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sharda Ugra).
6. Luis Buñuel on IMDB and Wikipedia.
7. The last scene of Hostel 2. (Trigger warning: extreme violence.)
8. The Case Against Sugar -- Gary Taubes.
9. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet -- Nina Teicholz.
10. The Obesity Code -- Jason Fung.
11. Nina Teicholz on The Joe Rogan Experience.
12. Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Under-Rated Organ -- Giulia Enders.
13. The Way We Eat Now -- Bee Wilson.
14. Steve Jobs and his Black Turtleneck -- Amit Varma.
15. Atomic Habits -- James Clear.
16. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky.
16. Nandita Iyer's Covid Nutrition Tips on Twitter and Instagram.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, Biology and Human Behavior, taught by Robert Sapolsky. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And hey, registration is now open for Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
These are difficult times. How do we make sense of what is happening around us? Well, there is science. Anirban Mahapatra joins Amit Varma in episode 221 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights on the science of Covid-19 -- and on the state of science and scientific writing in general.
Also check out:
1. Covid-19: Separating Fact from Fiction -- Anirban Mahapatra.
2. Anirban Mahapatra on Twitter and Google Scholar.
3. The Age of Pandemics -- Chinmay Tumbe.
4. India's Tryst With Pandemics -- Episode 205 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
5. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the pandemic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
6. Publish and Perish -- Agnes Callard.
7. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
8. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
9. Gell-Mann Amnesia.
10. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker).
11. How Zeynep Tufekci Keeps Getting the Big Things Right -- Ben Smith.
12. Zeynep Tufekci's newsletter, Twitter and column archive.
13. Mendelay.
14. Marginal Revolution.
15. Human and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare -- Episode 4 of Brave New World (Vasant Dhar in conversation with Eric Topol.)
16. Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again -- Eric Topol.
17. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Scepticism in a Data-Driven World -- Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom.
18. The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop -- Adam Kucharski.
19. Eric Topol, Dr Angela Rasmussen, Natalie Dean, Carl Bergstrom, Adam Kucharski, Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, Helen Branswell, News From Science and Nature News & Comment on Twitter.
20. The Nature Newsletter.
21. The Scientist.
22. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark -- Carl Sagan.
23. The World According to Physics -- Jim Al-Khalili.
24. Brian Greene, Michio Kaku and Michael Benton on Amazon.
25. Feeding the Hungry in the Pandemic -- Episode 210 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ruben Mascarenhas).
26. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
27. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
28. The Selfish Gene -- Richard Dawkins.
29. Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett on Amazon.
30. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
31 Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From -- Tony Joseph.
32. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health -- Amit Varma.
33. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) -- Amit Varma.
34. Unlikely is Inevitable -- Amit Varma.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
India has changed so much in the last 30 years -- and so has Indian sport. One of our finest chroniclers, Sharda Ugra, joins Amit Varma in episode 220 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about sports journalism, cricket, other Indian sports, and how she has embraced both the sublime and the shady. Also discussed: the eternal charm of Sion, Atul Bedade, gorillas and paagal kuttas.
Also check out:
1. Sharda Ugra at ESPN Cricinfo (1, 2) and India Today.
2. Sharda Ugra's books for John Wright and Yuvraj Singh.
3. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
4. Building Sports Ecosystems -- Episode 126 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya).
5. The Evolution of Cricket -- Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle).
6. Money in Cricket -- Episode 41 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gideon Haigh and Prem Panicker).
7. Summertime -- The Miles Davis version. (Other iconic versions here.)
8. Ghachar Ghochar -- Vivek Shanbhag, translated by Srinath Perur.
9. Amit Varma talks about Ghachar Ghochar in episode 13 of The Book Club on Storytel.
10. Anil Kumble delivers the second Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi Memorial lecture.
11. Rahul Dravid's guide for haters to enjoy the IPL -- Sharda Ugra.
12. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker).
13. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
14. The Tamilian Gentleman Who Took on the World -- Amit Varma.
15. The Girl From Haryana -- Amit Varma.
16. The Connell Guide to How to Write Well -- Tim de Lisle.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, The Psychology of Performance. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
There are many things that threaten our nation, both internal and external, both seen and unseen. Our armed forces protect us from some of them. Sushant Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 219 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the state of our military, his experiences in Kashmir, the threats from Pakistan and China, and the danger of politics to national security.
Also check out:
1. Sushant Singh at CPR and Indian Express.
2. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
3. The India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
4. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
5. The Indian Armed Forces -- Episode 175 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon).
6. India in the Nuclear Age -- Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon).
7. The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton on Amazon.
8. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
9. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
10. Being Muslim in India -- Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab)
11. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
12. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
13. What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
14. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
15. A Call to Honour -- Jaswant Singh.
16. We Won’t Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace -- Amit Varma.
17. Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice -- David Galula.
18. Seven Pillars of Wisdom -- TE Lawrence.
19. The Insurgents -- Fred Kaplan.
20. The Generation of Rage in Kashmir -- David Devadas.
21. The Lost Rebellion: Kashmir in the Nineties -- Manoj Joshi.
22. First They Came... -- Martin Niemöller.
23. Army and Nation: The Military and Indian Democracy -- Steven I Wilkinson.
24. The Strategy Trap: India and Pakistan Under the Nuclear Shadow -- Lt Gen Prakash Menon.
25. Thoughts on Pakistan -- BR Ambedkar.
26. The Promise of Power -- Maya Tudor.
27. War and Peace in Modern India -- Srinath Raghavan.
28. The Battle for Money -- Sushant Singh.
29. The World of Yesterday -- Stefan Zweig.
30. The End of History? -- Francis Fukuyama.
31. Why China Is Winning Against India -- Sushant Singh.
32. Guns Fall Silent on the LoC -- Sushant Singh.
33. Line of Narrative Control -- Sushant Sngh.
34. Looking Ahead After the Ladakh Walk Back -- Sushant Singh.
35. Why China Is Winning Against India -- Sushant Singh.
36. India Can’t Say It Wants U.S. Help Against China -- Sushant Singh.
37. India's China Challenge -- Ananth Krishnan.
38. The Dragon and the Elephant -- Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharam & Shibani Mehta).
39. What Does China Want? -- Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
40. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal -- Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
41. Understanding Foreign Policy -- Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai).
42. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams.
43. China’s Influence in South Asia -- Episode 22 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
The world of creators has changed in the last few years -- and maybe advertising is dead? Varun Duggirala joins Amit Varma in episode 218 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey as a creator in the world of advertising -- and the time he kidnapped people for reality television.
Also check out:
1. Varun Duggirala's website, Linktree, Instagram and Twitter.
2. Advertising is Dead -- Varun Duggirala.
3. The Varun Duggi Show.
4. Unschooled by Varun Duggirala.
5. Amit Varma on Podcasting on The Varun Duggi Show.
6. Flipped Script -- Episode 112 of Advertising is Dead (w Pooja Jauhari).
7. The Jungle Book (1967 film).
8. This Be The Verse -- Philip Larkin.
9. Small Town Mindset -- TEDx talk by Varun Duggirala.
10. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World (Jonathan Haidt speaking to host Vasant Dhar).
11. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker).
12. An Adman Reflects on Society & the Self -- Episode 199 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ambi Paramaeswaran).
13. Success, Legacy, Our Moral Compass & Taking the Plunge -- Varun Duggirala.
14. Frameworks, Tough Decisions and the Force -- Varun Duggirala.
15. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
16. The Seen and the Unseen with Ghazala Wahab and Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
17. How it Feels to Reach 1 MILLION Subscribers -- Ali Abdaal.
18. Staying Ahead of the Content Curve -- Episode 85 of Advertising is Dead (w Tanmay Bhatt).
19. Future Focus: The Intimate Content Ecosystem -- Varun Duggirala.
20. Pivot -- Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway.
21. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
22. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin.
23. The Balanced Information Diet -- Varun Duggirala.
24. Stillness is the Key -- Ryan Holiday.
25. The Ride of a Lifetime -- Robert Iger.
26. Inside Voices.
27. Blockbuster.
28. The Defiant Ones on Netflix.
29. The Minimalists.
Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free!
Prem Panicker has been raising hell in Indian journalism for over 30 years: A muckraker and a pioneer, a maverick and an elder statesman, he is loved by fans and feared by the establishment. Prem joins Amit Varma in episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen for a raw and intimate account of the wounds he got from living, and the lessons he learnt while healing.
Also check out:
1. Smoke Signals -- Prem Panicker's blog.
2. The Peepli Project -- Edited by Prem Panicker
3. The State of the Media -- Episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker).
4. Money in Cricket -- Episode 41 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gideon Haigh and Prem Panicker).
5. The New World Upon Us -- Amit Varma.
6. The Glimpse -- Trilok Gurtu.
7. The Out of Eden Walk -- Paul Salopek.
8. A Picture of Hell, and No Kerosene -- Amit Varma.
9. A World of Stopped Watches -- Amit Varma.
10. Being Muslim in India -- Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab).
11. One Way Ticket -- Neil Sedaka.
12. The House of the Dead -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
13. Kettyolaanu Ente Malakha -- Directed by Nissam Basheer.
14. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen.
15. The Seen and the Unseen episodes with Deepak Shenoy and Sonia Faleiro.
16. Bhimsen -- Prem Panicker (adapted from Randaamoozham by MT Vasudevan Nair).
17. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World (Vasant Dhar chatting with Jonathan Haidt).
18. The Windowpane channel and newsletter.
19. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
20. Gell-Mann Amnesia.
21. It's Hard to Build and Easy to Destroy -- Amit Varma.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, Life Lessons from the Great Books. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
What is it like to be Muslim in India? Ghazala Wahab joins Amit Varma in episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss.the history of Islam in the subcontinent -- and how, at this present moment, we may be trapped in a vicious circle.
Also check out:
1. Born a Muslim: Some Truths About Islam in India -- Ghazala Wahab.
2. Dragon On Our Doorstep -- Pravin Sawhney and Ghazala Wahab.
3. Force -- The magazine edited by Ghazala Wahab.
4. Ghubar-e-Khatir -- Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
5. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
6. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
7. The Notebook Trilogy -- Agota Kristof.
8. Jhumpa Lahiri on Writing, Translation, and Crossing Between Cultures -- Episode 17 of Conversations With Tyler.
9. A Writer Learns to See -- Episode 215 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Annie Zaidi).
10. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran.
11. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
12. Influence of Islam on Indian Culture -- Tara Chand.
13. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
14. Nanak Was Here -- Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh).
15. The Two Faces of Islam -- Stephen Schwartz.
16. India Wins Freedom -- Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
17. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
18. Hum Dekhenge -- Written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz and sung by Iqbal Bano.
19. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty -- James Thurber.
20. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
21. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
22. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, The Joy of Mathematics. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
There is so much about India that is unseen to us, hidden behind layers of blindness. If only we could peel them off. Annie Zaidi joins Amit Varma in episode 215 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how her many years as a writer, blogger, journalist, playwright and filmmaker deepened her vision of our world.
Also check out:
1. Bread, Cement, Cactus -- Annie Zaidi.
2. Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian Women's Writing -- Annie Zaidi (editor).
3. Prelude to a Riot -- Annie Zaidi.
4. Annie Zaidi's author page on Amazon.in.
5. Known Turf -- Annie Zaidi's blog.
6. History, Fear and the Role of the Writer -- A talk by Annie Zaidi for Mumbai Local.
7. Ek Red Color Ki Love Story -- A short film by Annie Zaidi.
8. Annie Zaidi's films.
9. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha).
10. राधा सौंदर्य -- Beni Prasad Beni.
11. Thandi Hawayein Lehrake Aaye.
12. Aakar Patel at The Windowpane Sessions.
13. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
14. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
15. Jackson Katz's TedX talk about violence against women and the passive voice. (Also, this quote.)
16. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
17. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
18. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
19. Our Colourful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
20. Early Indians -- Tony Joseph. (And the Seen/Unseen episode with him.)
21. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
22. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking -- Amit Varma's column on the Uttar Pradesh Mritak Sangh.
23. India Awakes.
24. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
25. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
26. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul.
27. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
28. 'Understand the Chronology' -- Rohan Venkataramakrishnan's piece on how Amit Shah linked CAA to NRC.
29. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
30. Our Hindu Rashtra -- Aakar Patel.
31. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley).
32. Misogyny and our Legal System -- Episode 58 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Chandavarkar and Hamsini Hariharan).
33. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon).
34. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty).
35. Sultana's Dream -- Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain.
36. The Mothers of Maya Diip -- Suniti Namjoshi.
37. The Prisons We Broke -- Baby Kamble.
38. The High Caste Hindu Woman -- Pandita Ramabai.
39. Speeches and Writings of Sarojini Naidu.
40. The Story of My Experiments With Truth -- Mahatma Gandhi.
41. I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd -- Lal Dĕd (translated by Ranjit Hoskote).
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
The India Uncut Newsletter has resumed. So do subscribe, it’s free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
India is a complex country. The last few decades have been full of tumult. How does one make sense of it all? Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley joins Amit Varma in episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the many frames he uses to look at our politics, economics, culture and Dilip Kumar.
Also check out:
1. Anticipating the Unintended -- Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley's newsletter.
2. Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, featuring Raghu Jaitley.
3. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, featuring Sanjay Lal.
4. It Happened One Night.
5. Persuasion -- Yascha Mounk's newsletter.
6. The Coddling of the American Mind -- Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt.
7. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
8. Public Opinion -- Walter Lippman.
9. The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads -- Walter Lippman.
10. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World -- Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai).
11. Puliyabaazi -- Saurabh Chandra and Pranay Kotasthane's podcast.
12. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? -- Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma).
13. Remembering Frédéric Bastiat (2007) -- Amit Varma.
14. The Candemakers' Petition -- Frédéric Bastiat.
15. Frédéric Bastiat's writings at Bastiat.org and Amazon.
16. Also on Amazon, the books of Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.
17. Imagined Communities -- Benedict Anderson.
18. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
19. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
20. The Emotional Dog and its Rational Tail -- Jonathan Haidt.
21. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
22. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling.
23. Naya Daur, the anti-Nehruvian film from 1957.
24. Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar In The Life Of India -- Meghnad Desai.
25. The Twitter threads on Mahmood Farooqui by Kavita Krishnan and Audrey Truschke.
26. Misogyny and our Legal System -- Episode 58 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Chandavarkar and Hamsini Hariharan).
27. The Harshacharita of Banabhatta.
28. Murty Classical Library of India.
29. The End of History and the Last Man -- Francis Fukuyama.
30. The Light that Failed -- Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes.
31. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
32. What Really Happened? — Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis.
33. Range Rover -- Archives of Amit Varma's poker column for the Times of India.
34. The BJP’s Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
35. How the BJP Wins -- Prashant Jha.
36. The Concept of the Political -- Carl Schmitt.
37. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on Demonetisation, collected in one Twitter thread.
38. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma.
39. Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma.
40. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
41. Fun Home -- Alison Bechdel.
42. Restaurant Regulations in India -- Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon).
43. Kalyug -- Shyam Benegal's 1981 film.
44. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha.
45. Ramachandra Guha on The Seen and the Unseen: 1, 2, 3, 4.
46. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
47. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla.
48. Jadunath Sarkar, Jagdish Bhagwati and Amartya Sen on Amazon.
49. The Idea of India -- Sunil Khilnani.
50. The Indian Trilogy -- VS Naipaul.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compunds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
Amit has promised to resume The India Uncut Newsletter. So do subscribe, it's free!
And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
VCs have a crazy job description. They need to understand society, figure out what people will want tomorrow and bet on the future. Sajith Pai joins Amit Varma in episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his frames of looking at the world -- and what he has learnt about media, entrepreneurship and this country of ours.
Also check out:
1. The Indus Valley Playbook -- Sajith Pai.
2. Understand Startups, Metrics and Valuations -- Twitter thread by Sajith Pai.
3. India2, English Tax and Building for the Next Billion Users -- Sajith Pai.
4. India1, Avocado Startups & Product-Market Fit -- Sajith Pai.
5. Indo-Anglians: The newest and fastest-growing caste in India -- Sajith Pai.
6. MERIT colleges, national track India, & privilege blindness -- Sajith Pai.
7. Deconstructing Indian Startups & VCs -- YouTube talk by Sajith Pai.
8. India’s Start-Up Ecosystem -- Episode 171 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand).
9. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai).
10. An Adman Reflects on Society & the Self -- Episode 199 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ambi Parameswaran).
11. Essays -- Paul Graham.
12. Ali Abdaal on reaching one million subscribers and staying patient for the long haul.
13. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
14. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect.
15. Finite and Infinite Games -- James Carse.
16. It Happened in India -- Kishore Biyani.
17. TikTok and the Sorting Hat -- Eugene Wei.
18. The Art of Narrative Nonfiction (+ JBS Haldane) -- Episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Samanth Subramanian).
19. Lessons in Investing (and Life) -- Episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Deepak Shenoy).
20. The tweets by Benedict Evans and Pomp.
21. VCs should play bridge -- Alex Danco.
22. The only thing that matters -- Marc Andreessen.
23. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, Introduction to Machine Learning. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
India's financial system has been in crisis for more than a decade -- and it affects all of us. Tamal Bandyopadhyay joins Amit Varma in episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen to make sense of all the turbulence.
Also check out:
1. Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy -- Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
2. Tamal Bandyopadhyay's books on Amazon.
3. Tamal Bandyopadhyay's website.
4. Tamal Bandyopadhyay's columns in Mint and Business Standard.5. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
6. The Fight of the Central Banker -- Episode 193 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Viral Acharya).
7. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
8. Zombie Firms and Creative Destruction -- 118 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
9. Easy Money -- Episode 56 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
10. IL&FS and the Indian Financial System -- Episode 91 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul and Ashutosh Datar).
11. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on public sector banks and NPAs..
12. What Really Happened? — Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis.
13. Politics and the English Language -- George Orwell.
14. Lady Chatterley's Lover -- DH Lawrence.
15. Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and its Lessons -- Ben S Bernanke, Timothy F Geithner and Henry M Paulson Jr.
16. Code Name God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science -- Mani Bhaumik.
17. Ispat Bhi Hum Banate Hain -- The Tata Steel commercial. (Also this.)
18. Complan Boy and Girl (w Shahid Kapoor and Ayesha Takia).
19. Maltova Mum.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Our agriculture needs reform -- but we should be wary that our attempt to get there is not at the cost of our democracy. Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights on the process, content and implication of the farm bills. Also discussed: knowledge assimilation, public health, how we tackled the pandemic and what we can do going forward.
Also check out:
1. Ajay Shah's homepage.
2. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen.
3. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
4. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3.
5. The State of Our Farmers — Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi).
6. India's Agriculture Crisis -- Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand).
7. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Agricultire: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
8. We Must Save Our Farmers — Amit Varma.
9. The Indian State is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer — Amit Varma.
10. A Tale of Two Satyagrahas — Amit Varma.
11. Economic Freedom in Agriculture -- Ajay Shah.
12. India: An Agricultural Trade Powerhouse -- Ajay Shah.
13. Enabling a National Market for Food -- Anirudh Burman, Ila Patnaik, Shubho Roy & Ajay Shah.
14. Feeding the Hungry in the Pandemic -- Episode 210 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ruben Mascarenhas).
15. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the pandemic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
16. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State — Amit Varma.
17. Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen.
18. Analysing the 2021 budget -- Ajay Shah.
19. The Theatre of the Budget (2020) -- Episode 159 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah and Vivek Kaul).
20. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
21. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
22. India's Water Crisis -- Episode 60 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vishwanath S aka Zenrainman).
23. The Delhi Smog -- Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
24. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on GST: 1, 2, 3.
25. Pratap Bhanu Mehta on the farm bills & what followed: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
A virus can kill you -- and so can hunger. The lockdown last year led to an explosion of hunger around the country. Where the state failed, civil society stepped in. Ruben Mascarenhas joins Amit Varma in episode 210 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his initiative, Khaana Chahiye, that fed lakhs of people in Mumbai. Also discussed: activism, local politics and the clash between principles and the will to power.
Also check out:
1. Khaana Chahiya. (also on Twitter.)
2. Litmus Test Project.
3. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
4. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
5. Cities and Citizens -- Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh.)
6. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the pandemic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
7. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
8. Reforming Urban Governance -- Episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen (w V Ravichandar).
9. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
10. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
11. AAP and Down -- Mayank Gandhi and Shrey Shah.
12. Politics and the Sociopath (2014) -- Amit Varma.
13. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan)
14. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
15. Our Unlucky Children (2008) -- Amit Varma.
16. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) -- Amit Varma.
17. Where Anna Hazare Gets It Wrong (2011) -- Amit Varma.
Also, registration is now open for Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
In 2014, a photograph of two girls hanging from a tree in an Indian village went viral. Sonia Faleiro joins Amit Varma in episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the years she spent researching their story, and the complex layers of truth she uncovered. And also, how the larger crime is the one our society commits on itself.
Also check out:
1. The Good Girls -- Sonia Faleiro.
2. Beautiful Thing -- Sonia Faleiro.
3. 13 Men -- Sonia Faleiro.
4. Sonia Faleiro's website.
5. Lessons in Investing (and Life) -- Episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Deepak Shenoy).
6. The Art of Narrative Nonfiction (+ JBS Haldane) -- Episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Samanth Subramanian).
7. Random Family -- Adrian Nicole LeBlanc.
8. Yuganta -- Irawati Karve.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, How Digital Technology Shapes Us. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Is the stock market an engine of our economy or a casino disconnected from reality? Does it require deep thinking or mad gambling? Deepak Shenoy joins Amit Varma in episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the lessons he has learnt about the markets -- and about life.
Also check out:
1. Capitalmind, Deepak Shenoy's investment research and wealth management company,
2. The Capitalmind Podcast.
3. Cats in the Cradle -- Ugly Kid Joe (Also, the Harry Chapin original.)
4. Midnight in Chernobyl -- Adam Higginbotham.
5. Nuclear Power Can Save the World -- Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker.
6. Poker and Stock Markets -- Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand).
7. Luck is All Around -- Amit Varma.
8. Range Rover -- Archives of Amit Varma's poker column for the Economic Times.
9. Variants of chess on chess.com.
10. The Dichotomy of Markets -- Deepak Shenoy.
11. Brave New World -- Episode 203 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vasant Dhar).
12. Alpha Zero -- Episode 51 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devangshu Datta).
13. The New World Upon Us -- Amit Varma.
14. Trading Places on Wikipedia.
15. Our Unlucky Children -- Amit Varma.
16. The State of Financial Advice in India -- Episode 4 of the Capitalmind Podcast.
17. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
18. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai).
19. An Adman Reflects on Society & the Self -- Episode 199 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ambi Parameswaran).
20. Doris 'Tanta' Dungey at Calculated Risk.
21. Invest Like the Best -- Patrick O'Shaughnessy's podcast.
22. Market Wizards & The New Market Wizards by Jack D Schwager.
23. What Goes Up -- Eric J Weiner.
24. The Scam: From Harshad Mehta To Ketan Parekh -- Debashish Basu & Sucheta Dalal.
25. The Intelligent Investor -- Benjamin Graham.
26. Rich Dad Poor Dad -- Robert Kiyosaki.
27. The books of Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Steven Pinker, Philip Tetlock, Nate Silver and Per Bylund.
28. Buffet and When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein.
29. Books we Like: On Investing, Trading & More -- The Capitalmind team.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, The Art of Investing. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
God is a controversial subject, but we can all agree that food exists, and is often divine. Shoba Narayan joins Amit Varma in episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her explorations of religion and food in India.
Also check out:
- Food and Faith: A Pilgrim's Journey through India -- Shoba Narayan.
- Shoba Narayan's books on Amazon.
- Shoba Narayan's website and columns.
- The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
- A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok).
- The God of Small Feasts -- Shoba Narayan.
- Meenakshi Ammal's Cook and See: Volumes one, two and three.
- Vikram Doctor's columns and KT Achaya's books.
- Harold McGee's books.
- Fuchsia Dunlop's books.
- Michael Pollan's books.
- The Man Who Ate Everything -- Jeffrey Steingarten.
- Feast: Food of the Islamic World -- Anissa Helou.
- Feast and Fasts: A History of Food in India -- Colleen Taylor Sen.
- The Suriani Kitchen -- Lathika George.
- A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma.
- The Big Questions -- Steven E Landsburg.
- Diana Eck's books.
- Writers at Work in the Paris Review & and Amazon (1, 2, 3).
- The Paris Review interview of Ernest Hemingway.
- Yuganta -- Irawati Karve.
- Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music -- Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna).
- The Making Sense Podcast by Sam Harris.
- Waking Up: Searching for Spirituality Without Religion -- Sam Harris.
- Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
- Kerala and the Ivory Throne -- Episode 156 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
- A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
- A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Finally, 2020 is behind us. It changed our world, the way we live our lives, and how we relate to each other and to ourselves. Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok join Amit Varma in episode 206 of The Seen and the Unseen to take stock of the year gone by, with each of them picking five lessons they feel 2020 holds for us. Because they can't count, though, they end up with more than 15 -- here they are, below. (Listen to the episode for the elaborations and arguments.)
The Lessons:
0. Don't take anything for granted. (Amit) 1. Don't make the mistake of Omission, Commission, Distinction. (Alex) 2. We should pay more attention to tail risks. (Shruti) 3. Art and Entertainment can be intimate and personal. (Amit) 4. People care more about narratives to explain the world than the world itself. (Amit) 5. We should think more about inter-generational tradeoffs, and consider lowering the voting age. (Shruti) 6. Software is eating the biological world. (Alex) 7. Science is not the problem. The problem is economic illiteracy. (Shruti) 7.5. We should move from collectivized decision-making to respecting individual choice. (Alex) 8. We need to rethink education. Not just the delivery of it, but how we think of education itself. (Amit) 9. A bigger problem than state capacity is state will. (Alex) 10. Politicians don't always behave in a rational, self-interested way. (Shruti)
11. Politics is driven only by tribalism. (Amit)
12. The internet is even better than we thought. (Alex)
13. Markets don't solve everything. (Shruti)
14. We should worry more about computer viruses. (Alex)
15. We should take a closer look at how we relate to other people. (Amit)
15.5 Be like dogs. Live in the moment. (Shruti)
Also check out: 1. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
2. Previous episodes with Shruti and Alex.
3. Previous episodes on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4.
4. The Omission-Commission Error is Deadly -- Alex Tabarrok.
5. Asteroid Deflection as a Public Good -- Alex Tabarrok. (And some other Marginal Revolution posts on asteroids.)
6. The Day the Dinosaurs Died -- Douglas Preston.
7. Unlikely is Inevitable -- Amit Varma.
8. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. The YouTube channels of Samay Raina and ChessBase India.
10. Only Fans.
11. 1000 True Fans -- Kevin Kelly.
12. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 -- Li Jin.
13. Marginal Revolution University.
14. ParentData -- Emily Oster's newsletter on Substack.
15. Profit = Philanthropy -- Amit Varma.
16. Modern Principles of Microeconomics -- Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok. (And Macroeconomics.) 17. Collective Action Kills Innovation -- Alex Tabarrok.18. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
19. The Case Against Education -- Bryan Caplan.
20. Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma.
21. Khaana Chahiya.
22. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
This episode is sponsored by the podcast, Think Like an Economist, hosted by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Pandemic, lockdown, masks, vaccine, state failure, state overreach: India's been here before, and it's been worse. Chinmay Tumbe joins Amit Varma in episode 205 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how 40 million lives were lost in the subcontinent between 1817 and 1920 in the cholera, plague and influenza pandemics -- and the lessons we need to learn from them.
Also check out:
1. Age of Pandemics -- Chinmay Tumbe.
2. India Moving -- Chinmay Tumbe.
3. India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
4. Everyday Technology: Machines and the Making of India's Modernity -- David Arnold.
5. Cholera and Colonialism in British India -- David Arnold.
6. Smritichitre: The Memoirs of a Spirited Wife -- Lakshmibai Tilak (translated by Shanta Gokhale).
7. The British in India: A Social History of the Raj -- David Gilmour.
8. The Great Escape -- Angus Deaton.
9. The Birth of the Modern World -- CA Bayly.
10. Eric Hobsbawm's books on Amazon.
11. Harsh Mander’s Near-Death Covid Experience In Delhi’s Hospitals -- Natasha Badhwar.
12. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha).
13. Plague Ports -- Myron Echenberg.
14. A Life Misspent -- Suryakant Tripathi aka Nirala.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, An Introduction to Infectious Diseases. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Indian cooking is often treated as a mystical art -- but it is the science behind it that should fill us with wonder. Krish Ashok joins Amit Varma in episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about Masala Lab, his effort at explaining this great art from scientific first principles. Every meal of yours can now be a romantic adventure filled with the ecstasy of insight -- whether you cook it, eat or or do both while playing the violin.
Also check out:
1. Masala Lab -- Krish Ashok.
2. Krish Ashok's website, blog, YouTube, Soundcloud & columns.
3. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
4. Neurogastronomy -- Gordon M Shepherd.
5. Hot Ones (the spicy wings show) on Wikipedia and YouTube.
6. The Botany of Desire -- Michael Pollan.
7. Ganesh Bagler's homepage, Wikipedia, academic papers and YouTube Channel.
8. Shukto (Ekla Cholo Re). Bloody hell!
9. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat -- Samin Nosrat.
10. Nisha Madhulika on YouTube.
11. The Ketchup Conundrum -- Malcolm Gladwell.
12. Toddy Chicken -- Vahchef.
13. The Food Lab -- J Kenji López–alt.
14. Modernist Cusine -- Nathan Myhrvold.
15. Modernist Cusine at Home -- Nathan Myhrvold.
16. Bong Eats on YouTube.
17. Saffron Trail -- Nandita Iyer's blog.
18. Salu Kitchen on YouTube.
19. Madras Samayal on YouTube.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, Cooking Across the Ages. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
If someone from the year 1990 visited the world of 2020, it would seem magical, even fictional. Vasant Dhar joins Amit Varma in episode 203 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how technology will continue to change our world in ways we cannot imagine. Will the future upgrade us -- or will it make us obsolete?
Also check out:
1. Vasant Dhar at NYU Stern.
2. Brave New World -- hosted by Vasant Dhar.
3. When Should We Trust Machines? -- Vasant Dhar at TEDxHamilton.
4. Vasant Dhar on machine learning and investing.
5. Vasant Dhar on the Commercialisation of Big Data.
6. The New World Upon Us -- Amit Varma.
7. The Interpreter -- Amit Varma.
8. Human -- Michael S Gazzaniga.
9. My Stroke of Insight -- Jill Bolte Taylor.
10. Why Nations Fail -- Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson.
11. Here's Why Aadhaar is a Big Deal -- Episode 61 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Pahwa).
12. The Future of the Internet -- Episode 65 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Pahwa & Amit Doshi).
13. Data Factories -- Ben Thompson.
14. What Really Happened? — Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis.
15. 3 Ways to Increase Social Media Platforms’ Transparency — Vasant Dhar.
16. Who Controls Your Data? — Vasant Dhar.
17. In the AI era, privacy and democracy are in peril -- Vasant Dhar.
18. Social-media platforms are undermining our democracy -- Helena Rosenblatt & Vasant Dhar.
19. Paperclip Maximizer.
20. The Three Laws of Robotics.
This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Upgrade yourself for the future -- and get your reading habit back in gear!
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
The dominance of Hindu nationalism in Indian politics is so complete that it seems like it was inevitable. Was it? Vinay Sitapati joins Amit Varma in episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the BJP's long journey to this point, as reflected in the jugalbandi of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.
Also check out:
1. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi -- Vinay Sitapati.
2. Half-Lion: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Transformed India -- Vinay Sitapati.
3. The BJP's Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
4. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
5. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
6. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
7. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
8. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
9. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai).
10. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
11. Vinay Sitapati interviewed by Rohan Venkat.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, Games People Play: Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Cricket has a unique place in Indian society, and has touched and shaped millions of lives. Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how he came to love, play and even administer the 'most subtle and sophisticated game known to humankind.'
Also check out:
1. The Commonwealth of Cricket -- Ramachandra Guha.
2. A Corner of a Foreign Field -- Ramachandra Guha.
3. The Picador Book of Cricket -- Edited by Ramachandra Guha.
4. Ramachandra Guha's books on Amazon.
5. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
6. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
7. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
8. Autobiography of an Unknown Cricketer -- Sujit Mukherjee.
9. Beyond a Boundary -- CLR James.
10. The Tao of Cricket -- Ashis Nandy.
11. Money in Cricket -- Episode 41 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gideon Haigh & Prem Panicker).
12. The Evolution of Cricket -- Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle).
13. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
14. Who Will Bell the Congress cat? -- Amit Varma.
15. Indian Cricket's Conflict-of-Interest Problem -- Mukul Kesavan.
16. The Sporting Spirit -- George Orwell.
17. Amit Varma on the IPL.
18. Of Gifted Voice -- Keshav Desiraju.
19. Yele Suhabashini -- TM Krishna.
20. S Gopalakrishnan (@gopalears) on Twitter.
21. The Lost World of Hindustani Music -- Kumar Prasad Mukherji.
22. Raga'n Josh -- Sheila Dhar.
This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills. Click here for free unlimited access for a month.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag.
Registrations are now open for Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
The tables are turned in episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. Host Amit Varma is in the firing line, replying to questions from 22 of his past guests and fans as Shruti Rajagopalan plays proctor. They talk about poker, podcasting, politics, policy and the personal.
Show Notes
1. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Shruti Rajagopalan (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Manu Pillai (98, 127, 156), VK Karthika, Rajat Ubhaykar, Chinmay Tumbe, Prem Panicker (41, 46), Joy Bhattacharjya, Akshaya Mukul, Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma, Manimugdha Sharma, Supriya Gandhi, Harsha Bhogle, Karthik Muralidharan, Srinath Raghavan (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Pranay Kotasthane (1, 2), Hamsini Hariharan (1, 2, 3, 4), Russ Roberts, Arvind Subramanian, Ram Guha (1, 2, 3), Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Narayani Basu, Amardeep Singh, Aakar Patel, Rahul Verma, Ashok Malik, Barun Mitra+Kumar Anand, Matt Ridley, Neelesh Misra, Puja Mehra, Rajeswari Sengupta (1, 2), Aanchal Malhotra, Alex Tabarrok (1, 2, 3), Madhavi Menon and Mohit Satyanand (1, 2, 3, 4)
2. A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma.
3. Agarkar’s Donkeys: A Meditation on God -- Amit Varma.
4. Luck is All Around -- Amit Varma.
5. Why I Loved and Left Poker -- Amit Varma.
6. The archives of Amit Varma's poker column for the Economic Times, Range Rover.
7. Selected works by George Orwell: Essays, 1984, Animal Farm.
8. Selected Works by Frédéric Bastiat: The Law, That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen.
9. A World of Stopped Watches — Amit Varma.
10. A Picture of Hell, and No Kerosene -- Amit Varma.
11. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? -- Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi, featuring Amit Varma discussing Friedrich Hayek.
12. Facts Don’t Matter. Stories Do -- Amit Varma.
13. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma.
14. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
15. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker.
16. Almost Invisible -- Mark Strand.
17. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro.
18. The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkien.
19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon.
20. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? -- Thomas Nagel.
21. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt.
22. Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai -- Subrat and Pavan.
23. The Road to Serfdom -- Friedrich Hayek.
24. The Intellectuals and Socialism -- Friedrich Hayek.
Also check out Amit Varma being interviewed on libertarianism, public choice theory, the math of sports, IPL & T20 cricket, and assorted subjects.
You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag. And a four-volume anthology is on the way.
And ah, registrations are now open for Amit's online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Figuring out what consumers want is pretty similar to figuring out what society wants. Adman and author Ambi Parameswaran joins Amit Varma in episode 199 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights from his decades in advertising, and the many books he has written.
Also check out:
1. Spring: Bouncing Back From Rejection -- Ambi Parameswaran.
2. Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles: India through 50 Years of Advertising -- Ambi Parameswaran.
3. Sponge: Leadership Lessons I Learnt From My Clients -- Ambi Parameswaran.
4. For God's Sake: An Adman on the Business of Religion -- Ambi Parameswaran.
5. Ambi Parameswaran's talk at Godrej India Culture Lab.
6. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai).
7. Gender Advertisements -- Erving Goffman.
8. Airtel -- The Boss TVC.
9. Fair and Lovely -- The Air Hostess TVC.
10. Santoor -- The Aerobics & Flute TVCs.
11. Titan Fastrack 'Come out of the Closet' TVC.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
As our cities are growing, our citizens are growing apathetic. Can we reassert our rights and reform our governance? Ashwin Mahesh joins Amit Varma in episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen for a wide-ranging conversation on urban governance, citizenship, education and much more.
Also check out: 1. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh).
2. Ashwin Mahesh's website.
3. A New, Urban India -- Ashwin Mahesh.
4. The Publicly Managed City -- Ashwin Mahesh.
5. The tweets by Sabyasachi Kar and Naval Ravikant.
6. Tiago Forte's Second Brain, & videos on Roam Research by Thomas Frank & Ali Abdaal.
7. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
8. Our Unlucky Children (2008) -- Amit Varma.
9. The Element -- Ken Robinson.
10. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
11. Reforming Urban Governance -- Episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen (w V Ravichandar).
12. Is India a Flailing State? -- Lant Pritchett.
13. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
14. Prisoners of Geography -- Tim Marshall.
15. The Importance of Cities -- Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani.)
16. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro.
17. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs.
18. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
19. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian).
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Stories and conversations can shape the world, and ourselves, in ways that we often don't appreciate. Neelesh Misra joins Amit Varma in episode 197 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about his journey as a storyteller and interviewer.
Also check out:
1. Neelesh Misra's YouTube page.
2. Gaon Connection.
3. Slow.
4. Neelesh Misra's interviews with Pankaj Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sanjay Mishra, Piyush Mishra, Vishal Bhardwaj, Ayushmann Khurrana, Anurag Kashyap, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tapsee Pannu, Manoj Bajpayee, Swanand Kirkire and Varun Grover.
5. Neelesh Misra's books on Amazon.
6. Papa Se Shart -- Neelesh Misra.
7. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa -- Neelesh Misra.
8. Maine Dil Se Kaha Dhoond Laana Khushi.
9. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
10. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
11. A World of Stopped Watches -- Amit Varma.
12. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
13. Story -- Robert McKee.
14. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker.
And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.
Good data journalism can reveal otherwise unseen truths about our society. Pioneering journalist Rukmini S joins Amit Varma in episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the insights data brought to her journalism, and her groundbreaking podcast on Covid-19, The Moving Curve.
Also check out:
1. The Moving Curve -- Rukmini S's podcast, also on all podcast apps.
2. Rukmini S at HuffPost, Hindu, Scroll, Mint,Times of India (1, 2) and India Spend.
3. Canary -- Amy Brittain's podcast.
4. How the Coronavirus Could Take Over Your Body (Before You Ever Feel It) -- Jeff Wise. (This is the piece mistakenly referred to in this episode as an Atlantic article.)
5. Muslim Population Growth Slows -- Rukmini S & Vijaita Singh (2015).
6. The Art of Narrative Nonfiction -- Episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Samanth Subramanian).
7. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) -- Shrilal Shukla
8. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
9. India’s coronavirus lockdown takes toll on migrant workers -- Rukmini S.
10. The First 100 -- The ProPublica investigation in Chicago.
11. Ideology and Identity -- Pradeep K Chhibber and Rahul Verma.
12. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
13. Somesh Jha at Business Standard.14. Covid19india.org.
15. Taking Stock of Covid-19 -- Episode 169 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
16. The Nuances of Lockdown -- Episode 176 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anup Malani).
17. India’s Economy in the Time of Covid-19 -- Episode 177 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
18. Our Cities After Covid-19 -- Episode 191 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vaidehi Tandel).
19. Data Journalism and Indian Politics -- Episode 136 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Roshan Kishore).
20. The State of the Media -- Episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker).
21. The State of the Media 2 -- Episode 89 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sidharth Bhatia & Peter Griffin).
22. What Happened to Our Journalism? -- Episode 178 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nidhi Razdan).
And do check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
Decades after the trauma of separation, Partition remains with us. Aanchal Malhotra joins Amit Varma in episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her work in excavating the memories of Partition survivors through the objects they carried with them -- and their resonance in these modern times.
Also check out:
1. Aanchal Malhotra's website.
2. Remnants of a Separation -- Aanchal Malhotra.
3. Museum of Material Memory.
4. Profile of Aanchal Malhotra by Mayank Austen Soofi, 2010.
5. Nanak Was Here -- Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh).
6. Imaginary Number -- Vijay Seshadri.
7. Punjabi Tappe on YouTube.
8. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Trucker -- Episode 192 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajat Ubhaykar).
And do check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The constitution of India, it has been said, is not a book but a periodical. Starting with Jawaharlal Nehru, every prime minister who wanted to do something unconstitutional simply amended the constitution. Tripurdaman Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss India's First Amendment, which began a rot that never ended.
Also check out:
1. Sixteen Stormy Days -- Tripurdaman Singh.
2. Imperial Sovereignty and Local Politics -- Tripurdaman Singh.
3. The books of CA Bayly.
4. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments.
5. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
6. 'Not murder but mimicry' -- Kapil Komireddi's tweet.
7. Modi's Lost Opportunity -- Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz).
8. India's Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu).
9. India's Founding Moment -- Madhav Khosla.
10. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
11. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
12. The Emergency of 1975 -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash).
13. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
14. Dark Days Lie Ahead -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
And do check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The conflict between the government and the central bank seems like an arcane one that only wonks care about -- but it affects the lives of all of us. Viral Acharya joins Amit Varma in episode 193 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why we should all join him in the battle against Fiscal Dominance.
Also check out:
1. Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India -- Viral Acharya.
2. Viral Acharya at NYU Stern.
2. Guaranteed to Fail -- Viral Acharya et al.
3. Indian Banks: A Time to Reform? -- Viral Acharya and Raghuram Rajan.
4. On the Importance of Independent Regulatory Institutions –The Case of the Central Bank -- Viral Acharya's AD Shroff Memorial lecture 2018.
5. Yaadon Ke Silsile -- Viral Acharya.
6. Viral Acharya interviewed by Ira Dugal, Mitali Mukherjee, Vivek Kaul and Anantha Narayan.
7. Lakshya Ko har Haal Mein Paana Hai.
8. Rahul Dravid at Headingley, Adelaide and Rawalpindi.
9. What Really Happened? -- Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis.
10. Zombie Firms and Creative Destruction -- Episode 118 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
And do check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
There is much romance in being on the open road, always on the move. But not for the long-distance trucker, trapped in a moving cocoon, always travelling but getting nowhere slowly. Rajat Ubhaykar joins Amit Varma in episode 192 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his insights from hitchhiking around India on trucks.
Also check out:
1. Truck de India!: A Hitchhiker's guide to Hindustan -- Rajat Ubhaykar.
2. A Free Man -- Aman Sethi.
3. English, August -- Upamanyu Chatterjee.
4. Bird on the Wire -- Leonard Cohen.
5. Why Children Labour -- Amit Varma.
6. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
7. Dreamers -- Snigdha Poonam.
8. Aloo Posto recipes: 1, 2, 3, 4.
9. Amit Varma's India Uncut posts from Peshawar (2006): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
10. A Tale Of Two Bandits: Naxals And The Indian State -- Amit Varma.
11. Power and Prosperity -- Mancur Olson.
12. The Roving Bandits of Uttar Pradesh -- Episode 4 of Econ Central.
13. Jeevan Ke Safar Mein Rahi.
Also check out Amit Varma's online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
In normal times, cities are an engine of prosperity. In these strange times, they are also an engine of pandemic. Vaidehi Tandel joins Amit Varma in episode 191 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how important cities are to civilisation, and how Covid-19 will affect the way we live.
Also check out:
1. COVID-19 a Grim Reminder for Govts -- Vaidehi Tandel.
2. Don’t Blame Dense Cities. They Have Been Resilient -- Reuben Abraham and Vaidehi Tandel.
3. Why India Has the Fastest-Growing Cities -- Kadambari Shah, Vaidehi Tandel and Harshita Agarwal.
4. Cities and Pandemics Have a Long History -- Edward L Glaeser
5. A World of Cities: The Causes and Consequences of Urbanisation in Poorer Countries -- Edward L Glaeser.
6. Cities After Coronavirus: How Covid-19 Could Radically Alter Urban Life -- Jack Shenker.
7. Spatial Economics: The Declining Cost of Distance -- Karen Harris, Andrew Schwedel and Austin Kimson.
8. Triumph of the City -- Edward L Glaeser.
9. Order Without Design – How Markets Shape Cities -- Alain Bertaud.
10. The Importance of Cities -- Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani.)
11. The Seen and the Unseen episodes with Alex Tabarrok on FSI and Rent Control.
12. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
13. Taking Stock of Covid-19 -- Episode 169 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
14. The Nuances of Lockdown -- Episode 176 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anup Malani).
15. India’s Economy in the Time of Covid-19 -- Episode 177 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
16. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
17. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian).
18. Rajesh Jain and Dhan Vapasi -- Episode 94 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajesh Jain).
19. Publish and Perish -- Agnes Callard.
20. Young Rural Women in India Chase Big-City Dreams -- Ellen Barry.
21. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
Whatever you say of India, an old cliche goes, the opposite is also true. India has always been homophobic -- but it also contains Queeristan. Parmesh Shahani joins Amit Varma in episode 190 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his long ongoing battle for LGBTQ inclusion in corporate India -- and much beyond.
Also check out:
1. Queeristan -- Parmesh Shahani.
2. Gay Bombay -- Parmesh Shahani.
3. Godrej India Culture Lab.
4. Being Gay, Loving Books -- Episode 141 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Tejuja).
5. Being Gay in India -- Episode 84 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Navin Noronha).
6. Habiba -- Bappi Lahiri.
7. Blank Noise.
8. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
9. On Inequality -- Harry Frankfurt.
10. On Bullshit -- Harry Frankfurt.
11. An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film -- Amit Varma's review of Raees.12. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra).
13. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare).
14. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
15. Project Bolo with Parmesh Shahani.
These are exciting times for Indian cinema, as multiple worlds and sensibilities collide in the streets and studios of Mumbai. Actors Rasika Dugal and Mukul Chadda join Amit Varma in episode 189 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe their journeys in this brave new world.
Rasika's films:1. Kshay (Amazon Prime).
2. Qissa (Mubi).
3. Manto (Netflix).
4. Hamid (Netflix).
5. Lootcase (Hotstar).
6. Tu Hai Mera Sunday (Netflix). Rasika's shows:1. Delhi Crime (Netflix).
2. Mirzapur (Amazon Prime).
3. Made in Heaven (Amazon Prime).
4. Out of Love (Hotstar).
5. Humorously Yours (TVF).
6. A Suitable Boy (BBC).
Rasika's short films:
1. Banana Bread (with Mukul, on YouTube).
2. Chutney (YouTube).
3. The School Bag (YouTube).
Selected work by Mukul:
1. The Office (Hotstar).
2. Banana Bread (with Rasika, on YouTube).
3. Ek Bahut Choti Si Love Story (YouTube).
4. Pressure Cooker (YouTube).
5. Butnama (YouTube).
Also check out:
1. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha).
2. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
3. Range Rover -- The archives of Amit Varma's poker column for the Economic Times.
The Indian economy has been on a wild ride, traumatic in parts, for the last 73 years. And Arvind Subramanian was on a wild ride of his own as Chief Economic Advisor in the Indian government between 2014 and 2018. Arvind joins Amit Varma in episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss both these journeys.
Also check out:
1. Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy -- Arvind Subramanian.
2. India's Turn: Understanding the Economic Transformation -- Arvind Subramanian.
3. Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance -- Arvind Subramanian.
4. Remembering Arun Jaitley -- Arvind Subramanian.
5. From "Hindu Growth" to Productivity Surge: The Mystery of the Indian Growth Transition -- Arvind Subramanian & Dani Rodrik (2004).
6. India's Great Slowdown: What's Happened? What's the Way Out? -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman (Dec 2019).
7. Arvind Subramanian interviewed by Karthik Muralidharan -- I4I Conversations (2015).
8. 'Not Just Any Ordinary Slowdown': Arvind Subramanian interviewed by Prannoy Roy (2019).
9. Walk the Talk -- Arvind Subramanian interviewed by Shekhar Gupta (2016).
10. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families -- Philip Gourevitch.
11. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
12. What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
13. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
14. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
15. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra.
16. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
17. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on GST with Devangshu Datta, Vivek Kaul and Shruti Rajagopalan.
18. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
19. ‘Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards’ -- Amit Varma.
20. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.
21. Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy -- Mihir Sharma.
22. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
23. The State of Our Farmers -- Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil).
24. India's Agriculture Crisis -- Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra and Kumar Anand).
25. We Must Save Our Farmers — Amit Varma.
26. The Indian State is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer — Amit Varma.
27. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
And do check out Amit's online writing course, The Art of Clear Writing. Registration for the September batches is now open.
Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India
Description: In the 19th century, when the Idea of India was so nebulous, what did it mean to be a freedom fighter? Dinyar Patel joins Amit Varma in episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe Dadabhai Naoroji's battle to transform India from within the British empire.
Also check out:
1. Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism -- Dinyar Patel.
2. Dadabhai Naoroji's books on Amazon.
3. Dadabhai Naoroji -- RP Masani.
4. Three Statesmen: Gokhale, Gandhi and Nehru -- BR Nanda.
5. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
6. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha).
7. The Art of Narrative Nonfiction (+ JBS Haldane) -- Episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Samanth Subramanian).
And do check out Amit's writing course, The Art of Clear Writing.
As India completes 73 years, it's worth taking stock of our journey so far. Pratap Bhanu Mehta joins Amit Varma in episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen, an Independence Day Special that takes a discursive look at the political and social currents that made us what we are.
Also check out:
1. Pratap Bhanu Mehta's writing in the Indian Express.
2. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
3. On Politics -- Alan Ryan.
4. The Making of Modern Liberalism -- Alan Ryan.
5. Human Dignity -- George Kateb.
6. Patriotism and Other Mistakes -- George Kateb.
7. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
8. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
9. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling.
10. The Dark Side of Democracy -- Michael Mann.
11. The Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash).
12. The Ideas of our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
13. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma.
14. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma.
15. An Indian Political Life: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1937 to 1961 -- Paul R Brass.
16. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
17. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi)
18. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh.)
19. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
20. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
21. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
22. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai).
23. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
24. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
25. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai).
26. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
27. Crime in Indian Politics -- Episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Milan Vaishnav).
Do also check out Amit's writing course, The Art of Clear Writing, and subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter.
It is a humanitarian and moral failure that 73 years after Independence, our education system remains broken. We have failed our children through all this time. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights from years of research on the ground. We can fix this. Is the NEP part of the solution? Also check out:
1. Karthik Muralidharan's bio at UCSD.
2. Walking the Talk -- Inga Kiderra's profile of Karthik Muralidharan.
3. Reforming the Indian School Education System -- Karthik Muralidharan's chapter from What the Economy Needs Now.
4. The State and the Market in Education Provision -- Karthik Muralidharan.
5. Karthik Muralidharan interview by Pranav Kothari for EI Dialogues.
6. Charting a Course for the Indian Economy -- Karthik Muralidharan in conversation with Arvind Subramanian.
7. Karthik Muralidharan's archived research and articles.
8. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
9. The Profit Motive in Education -- Episode 9 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parth Shah).
10. The Right to Education Act -- Episode 19 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
11. Our Unlucky Children (2008) -- Amit Varma.
12. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) -- Amit Varma.
13. A Prize for Evidence-Based Policy -- Karthik Muralidharan.
14. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory -- Amit Varma.
15. Poverty and Famines -- Amartya Sen.
16. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
17. On Inequality -- Harry Frankfurt.
18. A Theory of Justice -- John Rawls.
19. Anarchy, State and Utopia -- Robert Nozick.
20. Arguments for Liberty -- Aaron Ross Powell and Grant Babcock.
21. Saving Capitalism From the Capitalists -- Raghuram Rajan.
22. Out-Arnabing Arnab -- Episode 8 of Econ Central.
23. Parkinson's Law -- Cyril Northkote Parkinson.
24. Myths of Official Measurement -- Abhijeet Singh.
25. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes -- Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
26. The Aggregate Effect of School Choice -- Karthik Muralidharan and Venkatesh Sundararaman.
27. The Private Schooling Phenomenon in India: A Review -- Geeta G Kingdon.
28. Extending access to low-cost private schools through vouchers: an alternative interpretation -- James Tooley.
Also, do check out Amit's writing course, The Art of Clear Writing.
The rivalry between Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb is often considered a foundational one for Islam in India. Good Muslim vs Bad Muslim. But it's not quite that simple. Historian Supriya Gandhi joins Amit Varma in episode 184 of The Seen and the Unseen to point out that the truth is complex, and there are no easy binaries. Also check out:
1. The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India -- Supriya Gandhi.
2. City of Djinns -- William Dalrymple.
3. Jill Lepore and Shamsur Rahman Faruqi on Amazon.
4. Dara Shukoh -- Kalika Ranjan Qanungo (full text).
5. Dārā S̲h̲ikūh: Life and Works -- Bikrama Jit Hasrat (full text).
6. Mysteries of Selflessness: Rumuz-i Bekhudi -- Muhammad Iqbal.
7. The Month We Lost Dara -- Ashok Malik.
8. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty).
9. Jahangir the Curious -- Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma).
10. The Resonance of Akbar -- Episode 173 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manimugdha Sharma).
11. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
12. Secularism and Hindutva Histories -- Supriya Gandhi.
13. The Truth About Us -- Sanjoy Chakravorty.
14. Supriya Gandhi interviewed by Ira Mukhoty.
15. Supriya Gandhi interviewed by Rana Safvi.
In a complex world where the truth is up for grabs, we need narrative nonfiction. Samanth Subramanian joins Amit Varma in episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the art and craft of this form of literature. Also discussed: A Dominant Character, Samanth's book on JBS Haldane, and the intersection of science and politics.
Also check out:
1. A Dominant Character -- Samanth Subramanian.
2. Samanth Subramanian's website, Amazon page and his work at the Guardian and the New Yorker.
3. The Intersection -- the podcast hosted by Padmaparna Ghosh and Samanth Subramanian.
4. Psmith, Journalist -- PG Wodehouse.
5. Question Time: My Life as a Quiz Obsessive -- Samanth Subramanian.
6. Quizzing is Not Just a Trivial Pursuit -- Amit Varma.
7. Neville Cardus on Amazon.
8. Darwin's Dangerous Idea -- Daniel Dennett.
9. The Perfect Murder -- HRF Keating.
10. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
11. Cricket as a novelty, an obsession, and as literature -- Samanth Subramanian on Siddhartha Vaidyanathan's podcast, 81 all out.
12. On Writing Well -- Sarah Farooqui's interview with Samanth Subramanian.
13. The Complete New Yorker.
14. AJ Liebling, Calvin Trillin and Joan Didion on Amazon.
15. The Confidence Man -- Samanth Subramanian (on Lalit Modi).
15. The New New Journalism -- Robert Boynton.
16. The Secret of Excess -- Bill Buford (on Mario Batali).
17. The Power Broker -- Robert A Caro.
18. Robert A Caro on Amazon.
19. What Ails Indian Science -- JBS Haldane.
20. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley).
21. The Man of System -- Adam Smith (excerpted from The Theory of Moral Sentiments).
22. The Papers of JBS Haldane -- Samanth Subramanian.
23. A talk by Samanth Subramanian on JBS Haldane at Archives@NCBS. And hey, do check out Amit Varma's writing course, The Art of Clear Writing.
We live in an age of competing monologues. We talk, but we do not listen. Russ Roberts joins Amit Varma for a wide-ranging conversation in episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen. Also check out:
1. Econ Talk -- Russ Roberts's podcast.
2. Russ Roberts's website, archived writing and books.
3. How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life -- Russ Roberts.
4. The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Adam Smith.
5. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling.
6. The Three Blind Sports of Politics -- Russ Roberts.
7. Tribe -- Sebastian Junger.
8. The Economics of the Chilling Effect -- Episode 5 of Econ Central.
9. You’re From the Mutton Lobby — Transcript of episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (solo episode on political discourse).
10. A Letter on Justice and Open Debate -- Various authors (in Harper's).
11. My Twelve Rules for Life -- Russ Roberts.
12. Shallow -- A Star is Born.
13. Shallow -- Lady Gaga and Bradely Cooper at the Oscars.
14. Shallow -- Cover by Jessica Reinl and Christopher Halligan of the Mount Sion Choir.
15. Everything Flows -- Vasily Grossman.
16. The Story of My Life -- Russ Roberts.
17. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley).
18. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai).
Also check out these Econ Talk episodes that Russ mentioned with Dan Klein, Arnold Kling and Ryan Holiday.
New batches for Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing, begin soon.
Why is there this tension between China and India? To understand that, we must uncover many layers of the past. Foreign Policy scholars Hamsini Hariharan and Shibani Mehta join Amit Varma in episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their insights on the rich history of the interactions between these two great civilizations.
Also check out:
1. What Does China Want? -- Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
2. Chinese Foreign Policy -- Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
3. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal -- Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
4. Understanding Foreign Policy -- Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai).
5. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
6. The India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
7. War and Peace in Modern India -- Srinath Raghavan.
8. China's Influence in South Asia -- Episode 22 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
9. India's Maldives Dilemma -- Episode 57 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
10. India's China War -- Neville Maxwell.
11. China's Indian War -- Bertil Lintner.
12. Strong Borders, Secure Nation -- M Taylor Fravel.
13. From Frontier Policy to Foreign Policy -- Matthew Mosca.
14. Watershed 1967 -- Prabal Dasgupta.
15. Making it Count -- Arunabh Ghosh.
16. The Stories Behind the Numbers -- Episode 52 of States of Anarchy.
17. A Tale of Two Kingdoms -- Episode 32 of States of Anarchy.
18. China Through Indian Eyes -- Episode 361 of All Things Policy.
19. China's Ambitions in the Subcontinent -- Episode 359 of All Things Policy.
20. Should We Be Aatma Nirbhar? -- Episode 1 of Econ Central.
21. Ban on Chinese apps: Sending a strong message to ourselves -- Hamsini Hariharan.
22. Ladakh's position in the Sino-India border issue -- Hamsini Hariharan.
23. What India Can Learn From China -- Hamsini Hariharan.
24. Wilson Center Digital Archive (and the Mao-Nehru conversation).
25. Eye on China -- Manoj Kewalramani's newsletter.
Indian decision makers often blindly copy public policy from abroad, without considering whether it would work in local conditions. Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok join Amit Varma in episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the damage caused by such 'isomorphic mimicry,' and why it happens in the first place.
Also check out:
1. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State -- Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok.
2. Modern Principles of Macroeconomics -- Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok.
3. Modern Principles of Microeconomics -- Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok.
4. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
5. The Delhi Smog -- Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
6. Is India a Flailing State? -- Lant Pritchett.
7. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.
8. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
9. Ideology and Identity -- Pradeep Chhibber & Rahul Verma.
10. Understanding Gandhi. Part One: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
11. Understanding Gandhi. Part Two: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
12. Akhil Katyal's poem on caste.
13. Caste in Modern India -- Episode 52 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
14. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare).
15. Metrics of Empowerment -- Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan).
16. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act -- Suman Joshi.
17. FSI in India -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok).
18. Twelve Dream Reforms -- Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta & Vivek Kaul).
19. Slums in India -- Episode 21 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath).
20. Order Without Design -- Alain Bertaud.
21. The Power Broker — Robert Caro.
22. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs.
23. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
24. Swachh Bharat -- Episode 82 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
25. Modi's Lost Opportunity -- Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz).
26. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
27. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
28. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
29. The Importance of Cities -- Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani).
India suffers from a predatory state, and nothing illustrates this better than the sorry state of our street vendors. Prashant Narang joins Amit Varma in episode 179 of The Seen and the Unseen to elaborate on this unseen tragedy of the streets around us. Also check out:
1. Street Vendor Act 2014: Progress Report -- 2017, 2018-19, 2020.
2. Do Street Vendors Have a Right to the City? -- Prashant Narang & Vidushi Sabharwal.
3. The Ease of Doing Business on the Streets of India -- Bhuvana Anand, Prashant Narang, Riktika Shah, Vidushi Sabharwal.
4. Suboptimal vendor enumeration practices in Gurugram -- Prashant Narang & Vidushi Sabharwal.
5. Enumerating Street Vendors in Mumbai -- Prashant Narang.
6. Street Vendors Act 2014: Allocating Certificates of Vending -- Prashant Narang & Bhuvana Anand.
7. Vendors Need Ease of Doing Business to Become Atmanirbhar -- Bhuvana Anand, Jayana Bedi & Prashant Narang.
8. Modi govt will count hawkers in job data but must improve their Ease of Doing Business too -- Prashant Narang and Jayana Bedi.
9. Third Wheel -- A documentary on auto-rickshaws.
10. Manushi Sangathan v GNCT of Delhi -- Judgement on cycle rickshaw pullers.
11. Time For Manushi-II -- Prashant Narang.
12. Formal versus Informal Allocation of Land in a Commons -- Gregg W Kettles.
13. What About 'Unlock' For Vendors? -- Bhuvana Anand, Jayana Bedi & Prashant Narang.
14. A People's Constitution-- Rohit De.
15. The Mystery of Capital -- Hernando De Soto.
16. The Power Broker-- Robert Caro.
17. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs.
Also, do check out The Art of Clear Writing. Note: This episode was recorded in February 2020.
Journalism used to be a quest to establish the truth. It has now become a battle of conflicting narratives. We have gone from seeking to shouting. What went wrong? Nidhi Razdan joins Amit Varma in episode 178 of The Seen and the Unseen to share insights from her eventful career. Also check out:
1. Left, Right and Centre: The Idea of India -- Nidhi Razdan (editor).
2. Special: Inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Dec 2004) -- NDTV/Nidhi Razdan.
3. Best in the Field (w Nidhi Razdan) -- NDTV.
4. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma.
5. The State of the Media -- Episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker).
6. The State of the Media 2 -- Episode 89 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sidharth Bhatia & Peter Griffin).
7. You're From the Mutton Lobby -- Episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (solo ep with transcript).
8. Television Price Controls -- Episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashok Malik).
9. Jon Stewart Is Back to Weigh In -- David Marchese.
10. Hold On, Mr President! -- Sam Donaldson.
Our economy was going down, down, down well before Covid-19 struck. And now? Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma in episode 177 of The Seen and the Unseen to spread his usual quota of sunshine and joy. Also check out:
1. TikTok and Indian Society — An online course by Amit Varma.
2. Bad Money — Vivek Kaul.
3. Taking Stock of Covid-19 — Episode 169 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
4. The Nuances of Lockdown — Episode 176 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anup Malani).
5. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
6. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
7. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
8. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
9. Ponzi Schemes — Episode 142 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
10. The State of Our Farmers — Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil).
11. India’s Agriculture Crisis — Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand).
12. Rajesh Jain and Dhan Vapasi — Episode 94 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajesh Jain).
13. Economy bears burden as goods trains travel light — Vivek Kaul.
14. As people act in their self-interest, India is getting into a recession — Vivek Kaul.
15. RBI’s moves may not snap banks’ wariness to lend — Vivek Kaul.
16. Six reasons why the fiscal package is more about putting people’s own money into their hands than actually kickstarting crippled economy — Vivek Kaul.
17. Explained: RBI’s negative role in the government’s Rs 20 lakh crore package — Vivek Kaul’
18. Should the RBI print money to revive the economy? It’s not as simple as it sounds — Vivek Kaul.
19. Why India needs more than liquidity dreams — Vivek Kaul.
20. How India’s soaring fiscal deficit affects you — Vivek Kaul.
21. Easynomics: Why State Bank of India is not lending — Vivek Kaul.
22. A GST cut can put auto sales on fast track to revival — Vivek Kaul.
23. 10 things you need to know about Indian real estate in the aftermath of coronavirus — Vivek Kaul.
24. India’s economy was in a rut even before Covid-19 struck — Vivek Kaul.
25. The Forgotten Man — Amity Shlaes.
26. Modern Money Theory — L Randall Wray.
27. Monetization: Neither Game Changer not Catastrophe Today — Raghuram Rajan.
What do past epidemics teach us about Covid-19? What do past disasters teach us about politics and the state? Is there a false binary between lockdown and no-lockdown? Anup Malani joins Amit Varma in episode 176 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights on these subjects and more. Also check out:
1. Anup Malani's homepage.
2. Taking Stock of Covid-19 -- Episode 169 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
3. We Are Fighting Two Disasters -- Amit Varma.
4. The Economic Approach to Human Behaviour -- Gary Becker.
5. Learning During a Crisis: the SARS Epidemic in Taiwan -- Daniel Bennett, Chun-Fang Chiang, Anup Malani.
6. Identifying Placebo Effects with Data from Clinical Trials -- Anup Malani.
7. FSI (Floor Space Index) -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok).
8. Rent Control -- Episode 14 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok).
9. Slums -- Episode 21 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath).
As institutions wither around us, the Indian Armed Forces have retained their credibility. But is there a risk of politicization there as well? Lt Gen Prakash Menon joins Amit Varma in episode 175 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the evolution of our armed forces through the decades, and the challenges they face today. Also check out:
1. India in the Nuclear Age -- Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon).
2. The Strategy Trap -- Lt Gen Prakash Menon.
3. The India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
4. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
5. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
6. Army and Nation -- Steven I Wilkinson.
7. Rommel: The Desert Fox -- Desmond Young.
8. To Serve With Honour -- SD Verma.
9. The Battle for Money -- Sushant Singh.
10. The Insurgents -- Fred Kaplan.
11. Counterinsurgency Warfare -- David Galula.
12. The Generation of Rage in Kashmir -- David Devadas.
13. We Won’t Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace -- Amit Varma.
Tawaifs played a unique role in Indian society and culture in the 19th century, but have since been either vilified or romanticized. Filmmaker and author Saba Dewan joins Amit Varma in episode 174 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the fascinating human stories behind this lost community. Also check out:
1. Tawaifnama -- Saba Dewan
2. The Other Song -- Saba Dewan
3. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra)
4. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon)
5. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty)
6. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul)
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So much of our history has been weaponized by politics -- especially the Mughal period. Manimugdha Sharma joins Amit Varma in episode 173 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on the tug of war around Emperor Akbar -- and why that history remains relevant even today. Also check out:
1. Allahu Akbar: Understanding the Great Mughal in Today's India -- Manimugdha Sharma.
2. Parthian Shot -- Manimugdha Sharma's column archives.
3. Manimugdha Sharma's reporting in Times of India.
4. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi).
5. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla),
6. The Many Cities of Delhi -- Episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rana Safvi).
7. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty).
8. Jahangir the Curious -- Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma).
9. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
10. The BJP's Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
11. Essential Kabir -- Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.
12. White Mughals -- William Dalrymple.
13. Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jehan -- Ruby Lal.
14. The Bhagvad Gita in Urdu, recited by Ahmed Rashid Shervani at Manthan Samvaad.
15. The Early History of India -- Vincent Smith.
16. The Mughal Empire -- JF Richards.
17. The Agrarian System of Mughal India -- Irfan Habib.
18. Akbar and His India -- Irfan Habib.
19. The Western Way of War -- Victor Davis Hanson.
20. The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India -- Randolph GS Cooper.
21. Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India -- Iqtidar Alam Khan.
22. The Millennial Sovereign -- A Azfar Moin.
23. The German Way of War -- Robert Citino
24. When Titans Clashed -- David M Glantz & Jonathan M House.
There is much more to Delhi than Old Delhi and New Delhi. The stones bear witness to a rich history, with much drama and tumult. Rana Safvi joins Amit Varma in episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how the forgotten past of Delhi continues to shape its present. Also check out:1. Where Stones Speak -- Rana Safvi
2. The Forgotten Cities of Delhi -- Rana Safvi
3. Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi -- Rana Safvi
4. City of My Heart -- Rana Safvi
5. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon)
6. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
7. The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
8. Kerala and the Ivory Throne -- Episode 156 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
9. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty)
10. Jahangir the Curious -- Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma)
11. Rebel Sultans -- Manu Pillai
12. Daughters of the Sun -- Ira Mukhoty 13. India in the Persianate Age -- Richard Eaton
Many entrepreneurs aim to plug a hole in the world. Some try to expand the universe. Mohit Satyanand joins Amit Varma in episode 171 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about why these are exciting times to be an angel investor. Also check out:1. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) -- Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand)
2. Poker and Stock Markets -- Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand)
3. Entrepreneurship: If You Love Them, Set Them Free -- Mohit Satyanand
4. Where Angels Fear to Tread -- Mohit Satyanand
5. Mohit Satyanand in conversation with Amitabh Kant at JLF.
So much of the lives of common people depends on the relationships between nations. But is foreign policy an arcane subject, meant only for wonks and elites? No! Pranay Kotasthane and Manoj Kewalramani join Amit Varma in episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen to demystify international relations.
Note: This episode contains an update about how foreign policy will be affected by Covid-19. That sections begins at around 1 hr 57 minutes. Also check out:
1. Foreign Policy -- Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai)
2. What Does China Want? -- Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani)
3. Chinese Foreign Policy -- Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani)
4. China's Influence in South Asia -- Episode 22 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane)
5. Democracy in Pakistan -- Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Hamsini Hariharan)
6. India's Maldives Dilemma -- Episode 57 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane)
7. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane)
8. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan)
9. Libertarianism -- Episode 64 of The Seen and the Unseen
10. Foreign Policy: Time to Be a Major Player -- Pranay Kotasthane
11. We Live in Multiple Neighbourhoods -- Pranay Kotasthane
12. All That's Not New in Naya Pakistan -- Pranay Kotasthane
13. Ingredients of a New World Order -- Pranay Kotasthane
14. Pranay Kotasthane's newsletter, Anticipating the Unintended.
15. Manoj Kewalramani's newsletter, Eye on China.
How should India handle Covid-19? Every option on the table carries huge costs, and will take countless lives. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 169 of The Seen and the Unseen to help navigate the complex decisions that policy makers are being forced to make with little information. Also check out:
1. India must shut itself down to contain the coronavirus -- Shruti Rajagopalan (Mar 16)
2. Shruti Rajagopalan on India and the coronavirus -- Marginal Revolution (Mar 25)
3. The lockdown may be doing us more harm than good -- Shruti Rajagopalan (Mar 30)
4. Assessing Healthcare Capacity in India -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Abishek Choutagunta
5. Pandemic Policy in Developing Countries: Recommendations for India -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok
6. We have miles of roadblocks to remove before we sleep (Apr 13) -- Shruti Rajagopalan
7. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma
8. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
9.Swachh Bharat -- Episode 82 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
10. Caste in Modern India -- Episode 52 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
11. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
12. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan)
13. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan)
14. Demonetisation -- Episode 2 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai)
15. The State of Our Farmers -- Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil)
16. India's Agriculture Crisis -- Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand)
17. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah)
18. The Great Redistribution -- Amit Varma
19. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen -- Frédéric Bastiat
20. The Law -- Frédéric Bastiat
There are over 6000 languages in the world. How can we possibly understand one another? Arunava Sinha joins Amit Varma in episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the importance of translation, and literature itself, in these divisive times.. Select books translated by Arunava: 1. Chowringhee -- Sankar
2. When the Time is Right -- Buddhadeva Bose
3. Shake the Bottle and Other Stories -- Ashapurna Debi
4. Seventeen -- Anita Agnihotri
5. Harbart -- Nabarun Bhattacharya
6.. The Greatest Bengali Stories Ever Told -- Arunava Sinha (ed)
7, The Moving Shadow: Electrifying Bengali Pulp Fiction -- Arunava Singa (ed)
Also check out:
1. Why Translation Matters -- Edith Grossman
2. Through the Language Glass -- Guy Deutscher
3. Translating Neruda -- John Felstiner
4. The Task of the Translator -- Walter Benjamin
5. The Impossibility of Translating Homer into English -- Emily Watson Twitter thread
6. The Odyssey -- Homer (Trans. Emily Watson)
7. The Way by Swann's -- Marcel Proust (trans. Lydia Davis)
8. The Vegetarian -- Han Kang (trans. Deborah Smith)
9. The Business of Books -- Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika)
In 1906, a 13-year-old boy burnt down his school in a village in Kerala and ran away from home to work in the gold mines of Kolar. Decades later, he put this country together. Narayani Basu joins Amit Varma in episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the extraordinary life of VP Menon. Also check out:
1. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India -- Narayani Basu
2. Integration of the Indian States -- VP Menon
3. The Transfer of Power in India -- VP Menon
4. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan)
The man known as Guru Nanak was one of the great travellers of his time, passing through lands that are today spread across nine countries. Amardeep Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how he retraced Nanak's path -- and also about his efforts at documenting the Sikh heritage of Pakistan. Also check out: 1. Lost Heritage: The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan -- Amardeep Singh. 2. The Quest Continues: Lost Heritage -- Amardeep Singh.
3. Peering Soul -- A documentary by Amardeep Singh. 4. Peering Warrior -- A documentary by Amardeep Singh. 5. The Lost Heritage website. 6. Amardeep Singh on Facebook (Lost Heritage, Tapestry), Instagram and Twitter. 7. Hindu, Sufi or Sikh -- Steven W Ramey. 8. Our Colourful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 9. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon). 10. The Truth About Us -- Sanjoy Chakravorty. You can email Amardeep at amardeepsinghranghar@yahoo.com.sg and whatsapp him at +65 9832 6508.
Humans are the only bots with the ability to reprogram themselves. Shambhavi Naik joins Amit Varma in episode 165 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the science, ethics, politics and policy implications of genetic engineering. Also check out:
1. A Framework for Governing Gene Editing -- Takshashika Discussion Document.
2. Gene Drives in Infectious Diseases -- Takshashila Discussion Slidedoc
3. Chinese gene-edited baby row rekindles need for guidelines in India -- Shambhavi Naik.
4. The scientific argument for marrying outside your caste
-- Shambhavi Naik.
5. The gene of prejudice in gender determination -- Shambhavi Naik.
6. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley).
7. The Selfish Gene -- Richard Dawkins.
8. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker.
9. Politics and the Sociopath -- Amit Varma.
10. Farmers, Technology and Freedom of Choice: A Tale of Two Satyagrahas -- Amit Varma.
11. Let's Rethink Doping -- Amit Varma.
12. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
13. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Ep 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah).
14. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
15. Hacking Darwin -- Jamie Metzl.
16. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
Contrary to popular belief, the Indian constitution was not a copy-paste job without a vision. It emerged from decades of intellectual ferment. Madhav Khosla joins Amit Varma in episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the history of the key ideas that drove our founders and shaped our constitution. Also check out:
1. India's Founding Moment -- Madhav Khosla
2. The Indian Constitution (Oxford Short Introductions) -- Madhav Khosla
3. The Idea of India -- Sunil Khilnani
4. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan)
5. Citizenship and its Discontents -- Niraja Gopal Jayal
6. Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma
7. India's Sedition Law -- Episode 146 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chitranshul Sinha)
8. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi)
9. The Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash)
10. Democracies of the East -- Radhakamal Mukerjee
11. Why I am Not a Conservative -- Friedrich Hayek
12. The Indian Conservative -- Episode 145 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jaithirth Rao)
13. Pakistan or the Partition of India -- BR Ambedkar.
Seven decades after Independence, India is still wracked by poverty and strife. Who is responsible? Kapil Komireddi joins Amit Varma in episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen to excoriate every political player of Independent India. No prisoners taken.
Also check out:
1. Malevolent Republic -- Kapil Komireddi.
2. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
3. Understanding Gandhi. Part One: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
4. Understanding Gandhi. Part Two: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
5. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
6. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul.
7. India's Founding Moment -- Madhav Khosla.
8. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma.
9. Democracy in Pakistan -- Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Hamsini Hariharan).
10. The 2019 Elections -- Episode 122 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sadanand Dhume).
11. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
12. The Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash).
13. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
14. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? -- Amit Varma.
15. An Area of Darkness -- VS Naipaul.
16. India: A Wounded Civilization -- VS Naipaul.
17. The Discovery of India -- Jawaharlal Nehru.
So much of our culture is shaped by our social fault lines. TM Krishna joins Amit Varma in episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen to peel the layers off the development of Karnatik music -- and Indian society itself. Also check out:
1. Sebastian and Sons -- TM Krishna
2. A Southern Music -- TM Krishna
3. Reshaping Art -- TM Krishna
4. TM Krishna singing on a bus.
5. Superforecasting -- Philip Tetlock & Dan Gardner
6. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul)
We may be a sexually repressed country today, but it wasn't always like this. Madhavi Menon joins Amit Varma in episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen to elaborate on the infinite variety of our desires all through history,
Also check out:
1. Infinite Variety -- Madhavi Menon
2. Madhavi Menon's Amazon page.
3. Masala Shakespeare -- Jonathan Gil Harris
4. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker
5. The Ascetic of Desire -- Sudhir Kakar
6. Early Indians -- Tony Joseph
7. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph)
8. Being Gay, Loving Books -- Episode 141 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Tejuja)
9. It is Immoral to Have Children. Here’s Why -- Amit Varma
10. Everybody Lies -- Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
11. The Truth About Ourselves -- Amit Varma
12. Lihaaf -- Ismat Chugtai
In India, we have government of the people and for the people, but not by the people. How can we fix this? Polymath thinker Ashwin Mahesh joins Amit Varma in episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about participatory democracy, India Against Corruption, the Aam Aadmi Party and what makes a Good Indian. Also check out:
1. Ashwin Mahesh's homepage.
2. With the Government, Within the Government, As the Government -- Ashwin Mahesh
3. The State of our Farmers -- Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil)
4. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan)
5. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane)
6. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra)
7. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra)
Budgets matter more than they should -- and the process of making them matters more than their contents. Ajay Shah and Vivek Kaul join Amit Varma in episode 159 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss both journey & destination, strategy & tactics. Also check out:
1. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah)
2. Analysing the February 2020 budget -- Ajay Shah
3. India budget raises more questions than answers -- Vivek Kaul
4. What the budget says and how it impacts you -- Vivek Kaul
5. Long on Talk, Short on Ideas -- Vivek Kaul
6. Bae, look how I shrank the Budget -- Vivek Kaul
7. Budget 2020: Tactics Over Strategy -- Suyash Rai
8. TN Ninan and AK Bhattacharya dissect Budget 2020
9. The Indian Economy in 2019 -- Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul)
10. Budget, Bollywood, Badmaashi -- Episode 129 of The Seen and the Unseen (on the 2019 budget, w Vivek Kaul)
11. Twelve Dream Reforms -- Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w three guests)
12. Zombie Firms and Creative Destruction -- Episode 118 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah)
13. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah)
14. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha)
From the Arab Spring to Shaheen Bagh, radically networked societies are rising up to express themselves. What do they have in common? How will a hierarchical state deal with a networked society? Pranay Kotasthane shares his insights with Amit Varma in episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen. Also check out: 1. Individual Liberty vs Public Security in a Radically Networked Society -- Nitin Pai and Pranay Kotasthane.
2. Networked Societies and Hierarchical States: The Emerging Challenge to Political Order -- Nitin Pai and Sneha Shankar
3. Twitter and Tear Gas -- Zeynep Tufekci
4. Serdar Akinan's picture of the procession of coffins
5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Pranay Kotasthane
6. Protesters Are United by Something Other Than Politics -- Tyler Cowen
7. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra)
8. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha)
9. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma
10. Pranay Kotasthane's newsletter.
India has endured -- but as we celebrate another Republic Day, we must remember that we cannot take this for granted. Historian Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen to examine some of the currents of history that brought us here, and are still in flux.
Also check out:
1. The books of Ramachandra Guha on Amazon.
2. Ramachandra Guha's columns in the Telegraph.
3. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas: Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
4. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma: Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
5. Patriotism vs Jingoism -- Ram Guha's speech at the Kerala Lit Fest.
6. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
7. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
8. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
9. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai).
10. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma).
11. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
12. The Indian Conservative -- Episode 145 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jaithirth Rao).
13. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
14. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma
15. We Must Reclaim Nationalism From the BJP -- Amit Varma
16. Where Have All the Leaders Gone -- Amit Varma
17. Why Nationalism -- Yael Tamir
18. Notes on Nationalism -- George Orwell
19. The Flaming Feet and Other Essays -- DR Nagaraj
20. Becoming the Mahatma -- Sunil Khilnani's review of Ram Guha's biography.
Kerala has a madly interesting history. It was a hub of globalisation centuries ago, an exemplar of tolerance. Almost in contrast, it took casteism to an extreme. It also had a matrilineal system, a tradition of empowered women, and some badass queens. Historian Manu Pillai joins Amit Varma in episode 156 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss all this and more.
Also check out: 1. The Ivory Throne -- Manu Pillai
2. Our Colourful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
3. The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
4. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor)
For complete archives, do visit seenunseen.in.
Immense changes have swept through our lives in the last three decades. Filmmaker and writer Paromita Vohra joins Amit Varma in episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen, and turns her unique gaze both inwards and outwards. Also check out:
1. Agents of Ishq
1. Unlimited Girls (95 mins)
2. Cosmopolis: Two Tales of a City (13 mins)
3. Where's Sandra (18 mins)
4. Morality TV (32 mins)
5. Partners in Crime (95 mins)
6. A Love Latika (Trailer)
7. Interview of Paromita Vohra by Anuradha Sengupta
8. A Lover's Argument -- Talk by Paromita Vohra
9. Paromita Vohra on Shah Rukh Khan
10.My True North: All Renewal Starts With the Self -- Paromita Vohra
11. On My First Data, My True Love Gave To Me -- Paromita Vohra
12. The Mystery of The Half-Girlfriend and the Double Chetan -- Paromita Vohra
13. Automatic Bodies -- Paromita Vohra
14. Indian Society: The Last 30 years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai)
15. The Dialect of a Cricket Writer -- Amit Varma
16. Reading India Now -- Ulka Anjaria
Economic policy affects each of us -- and yet, India has gotten it wrong for decades. In their groundbreaking new book, Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah write not just how to do policy, but how to think about policy. They join Amit Varma in episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their learnings, first principles onwards. Also check out:
1. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah
2. Zombie Firms and Creative Destruction -- Ep 118 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah)
3. The Importance of Finance -- Ep 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah)
4. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma
5. The Delhi Smog -- Ep 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul)
6. Public Choice Theory -- Ep 121 of The Seen and the Unseen
7. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma
8. Three Reasons Why A Cashless Society Would Be A Disaster -- Amit Varma
9. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma
10. India's Agriculture Crisis -- Ep 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand)
11. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State -- Shruti Rajagopalan & Alex Tabarrok (pdf link)
12. Our Political Discourse -- Ep 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (w transcript)
13. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma
Alongside much social unrest, the Indian economy went to hell in 2019. Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma in episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen to survey the damage, and to demystify the rubble.
For detailed show notes, head on over to seenunseen.in.
Why is India burning over the Citizenship Amendment Bill? Why does the NRC matter? What is happening in Assam? Srinath Raghavan joins Amit Varma in episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen to give historical perspective on our current ferments.
For detailed show notes, head on over to seenunseen.in.
Politics in Maharashtra is deeply complicated. Its themes and fault lines have been formed over decades. Veteran journalist and author Sujata Anandan joins Amit Varma in episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen to unravel some of the mysteries behind its fascinating dramas. Also check out: 1. Hindu Hriday Samrat -- Sujata Anandan
2. Maharashtra Maximus -- Sujata Anandan
3. Marathi Manoos -- Sujata Anandan.
How has Indian publishing evolved in the last few decades? What does India read, and why? Publisher VK Karthika joins Amit Varma in episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about what she learnt in her years in Penguin, Harper Collins and (now) Westland.
Also check out:
- Death of the Author -- Roland Barthes (pdf link)
- How to Read and Why -- Harold Bloom
- A Poetry Handbook -- Mary Oliver
- Roseanna -- Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö
- The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Akshaya Mukul
Jayaprakash Narayan was trained as a physician, served in the IAS, and went on to start a political movement. JP joins Amit Varma in episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights on Indian politics, the nature of the state and what we need to do to change India for the better.
Also check out:
- The State of Indian Politics -- Episode 50 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan)
- What Is It Like to Be a Bat? -- Thomas Nagel (pdf link)
- Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister
-- Amit Varma - Where Have All The Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma
- Government's End -- Jon Rauch
- The Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash)
- Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- Crime in Indian Politics -- Episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Milan Vaishnav)
- The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
In episode 148 of The Seen and the Unseen, host Amit Varma invokes a fictional super-weapon to build an argument against gun rights in India. Guests Shubho Roy and Sudhanshu Neema disagree with him, and each other, most vigorously.
Also check out:
- The Bombzooka Question -- Amit Varma on India Uncut
- Resisting State Injustice -- Episode 120 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jason Brennan)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Jahangir is often considered a lightweight Mughal emperor, an ineffectual drunkard sandwiched between his father and his son, Akbar and Shah Jahan. But this is an unfair view. Parvati Sharma joins Amit Varma in episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on not just Jahangir as an emperor, but on his human side, endearing and infuriating in equal measure.
Also check out:
- Jahangir: An Intimate Portrait of a Great Mughal -- Parvati Sharma
- Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mokhoty)
- Our Colouful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
- The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
- Talk by Parvati Sharma at The Loft
- Shī‘Ī polemics at the Mughal court -- Sajjad Rizvi
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code is an archaic law and needs to go. But what is the historical background of our sedition law? What are the political and social contexts in which it evolved and thrived? Chitranshul Sinha joins Amit Varma in episode 146 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his book on the subject, The Great Repression.
Also check out:
- The Great Repression -- Chitranshul Sinha
- Don't Insult Pasta (2007) -- Amit Varma
- Hardcore History by Dan Carlin
- Archive.org
- The Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Is there such a thing as Indian conservatism? What does it mean and where did it come from? Jaithirth Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 145 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his latest book.
Also check out:
- The Indian Conservative -- Jaithirth Rao
- Conservatism: Ideas in Profile -- Roger Scruton
- Why I am Not a Conservative -- Friedrich Hayek
- The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel)
- Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai)
- Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma)
- The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul)
- Our Colourful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
- The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- Marching for Salt -- Amit Varma
- The works of Edmund Burke on Amazon.
- The column archives of Jaithirth Rao in Indian Express.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
The history of humanity is more than just the history of men. Historian Ira Mukhoty joins Amit Varma in episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about going beyond the male gaze to write history. She also discusses Daughters of the Sun, her account of the rich and complex world of Mughal women.
Also check out:
- Daughters of the Sun -- Ira Mukhoty
- Heroines -- Ira Mukhoty
- Yuganta -- Irawati Karve
- Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World -- Ruby Lal
- Empress: -- Ruby Lal
- Wolf Hall -- Hilary Mantel
- Rebel Sultans -- Manu Pillai
- India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe)
- Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph)
- The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
- Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
The geopolitics of the West is reasonably well-understood -- but China remains a mystery to many. What drives China? How does it look at India? China expert Manoj Kewalramani joins Amit Varma in episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen to provide historical context and strategic perspective.
Also check out:
- Modi-Xi Informal Summit: An Indian Interests Agenda -- Manoj Kewalramani
- Chinese Foreign Policy -- Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Myths About China -- Episode 66 of The Pragati Podcast
- No, China Isn’t Taking Over the World -- Episode 67 of The Pragati Podcast
- A Meeting in Mamallapuram -- Episode 179 of All Things Policy
- Protracted Contest -- John W Garver
- The India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen
- India in the Nuclear Age -- Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Eye on China: Manoj Kewalramani's weekly newsletter on China
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
We are surrounded by frauds, and are dying to believe them. Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma in episode 142 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss ponzi schemes, both in India and outside, both by private actors and the government. Also discussed: chit funds and kitty parties, and why we are wired to be deceived.
Also check out:
- Real Estate Prices: Episode 30 of The Seen and the Unseen
- The Anti-Defection Law: Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen
- 12 Dream Reforms: Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Ponzi's Scheme -- Mitchell Zuckoff
- Anatomy of a Ponzi Scheme -- Colleen Cross
- Irrational Exuberance -- Robert Shiller
- Narrative Economics -- Robert Shiller
- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds -- Charles Mackay
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Vivek Tejuja, known for his writing on books, has just released his memoir of growing up gay in India. He joins Amit Varma in episode 141 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how he -- and those around him -- came to terms with his sexuality. In the second half of the episode, Vivek and Amit discuss writers they like, and read out their favourite poetry.
Also check out:
- So Now You Know -- Vivek Tejuja
- Being Gay in India -- Episode 84 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Navin Noronha)
- Keeping it Queer
- The Matunga Racket -- Amit Varma
- Amit Varma's Twitter thread on 'The Lass of Aughrim' and The Dead
- Almost Invisible -- Mark Strand
- Sputnik Sweetheart -- Haruki Murakami
- The Elephant Vanishes -- Haruki Murakami
- The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- Alice Munro
- The Man Who Loved Children -- Christina Stead
- The Notebook -- Agota Kristof
- Jhumpa Lahiri on Conversations With Tyler
- Paper Menagerie -- Ken Liu
- A Poetry Handbook -- Mary Oliver
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
What exactly is wrong with Indian agriculture? How can we help our farmers? Barun Mitra and Kumar Anand join Amit Varma in episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the root causes and remedies of this decades-long problem.
Also check out:
- The State of Our Farmers -- Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi).
- Entry and Exit in Indian Agriculture -- Ep 1 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath & Karthik Shashidhar)
- Futures Markets in Agriculture -- Ep 12 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Shashidhar)
- The Unseen Effects of Farm-Loan Waivers -- Ep 25 of The Seen and the Unseen
- The Right to Property -- Ep 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- The Delhi Smog -- Ep 40 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul)
- Free the Farmers -- Barun Mitra
- Where are the Markets? -- Kumar Anand
- The Crisis in Indian Agriculture -- Brainstorm on Pragati
- We Must Save Our Farmers -- Amit Varma
- The Indian State is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer -- Amit Varma
- A Tale of Two Satyagrahas -- Amit Varma
- Down to Earth -- Sharad Joshi
- The Mystery of Capital -- Hernando De Soto
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
The recent victories of political Hindutva were enabled by a century-long cultural movement spearheaded by a publishing house based in Gorakhpur. Akshaya Mukul, author of Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India, joins Amit Varma in episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen. Themes discussed include the relationship between society and the state, Marwari history, cow, temple, gender, caste, Muslims, Communism, and the spontaneous combustion of virtuous Hindu women.
Also check out:
- Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul
- The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel)
- Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma)
- Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai)
- The 2019 Elections -- Episode 122 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sadanand Dhume)
- The BJP's Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Times are bad -- but pessimists can dream! Tired of only talking about problems, Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta and Vivek Kaul join Amit Varma in episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen, to propose solutions! Three each. Many bad jokes and Bollywood songs are thrown in.
Also check out:
- Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
- Alone in the City -- Amit Varma
- Where Are the Jobs? -- Ep 87 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Yazad Jal)
- Education in India -- Ep 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra)
- Urban Governance in India -- Ep 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- The Bad and Complex Tax -- Ep 74 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- GST Revisited -- Ep 28 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul)
- Early Indians -- Ep 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph)
- Immigration -- Ep 4 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shikha Dalmia)
- Rent Control -- Ep 14 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok)
- FSI -- Ep 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok)
- Women at Work -- Ep 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare)
- IL&FS and the Indian Financial System -- Ep 91 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul & Ashutosh Datar)
- The DNA of the NPA -- Ep 32 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul & Kumar Anand)
- Demystifying GDP -- Ep 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta)
- India's Lost Decade -- Ep 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
The India of 2019 is a different country from the India of 1989. Social commentator Santosh Desai joins Amit Varma in episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the many ways in which we have been transformed in this time -- not always for the better.
Also check out:
1. Santosh Desai's column archives in The Times of India.
2. Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense of Everyday India -- Santosh Desai
3. The Decline of Collective Trust -- Santosh Desai
4. Surrounded by Screens - Santosh Desai
5. TikTok: Leave Them Kids Alone -- Santosh Desai
6. The Great Indian Rope Trick -- Santosh Desai
7. The Future as Flow -- Santosh Desai
8. Women at Work -- Ep 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare)
9. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Ep 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor)
10. How to Escape From the Shallows -- Amit Varma
This episode is powered by Storytel: https://www.storytel.com/in/en/
Use the link storytel.com/ivm to get a 30 day free trial as opposed to a 14 day free trial.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Data journalism in India is fast coming of age, shedding light on our society and politics. Roshan Kishore joins Amit Varma in episode 136 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about his profession (data journalism), his passion (political economy) and his dark, mysterious past as a student leader in JNU.
Also check out:
- Roshan Kishore's writings in Hindustan Times.
- Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen.
This episode is powered by Storytel: https://www.storytel.com/in/en/
Use the link storytel.com/ivm to get a 30 day free trial as opposed to a 14 day free trial.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Mohit Satyanand saw the 2008 crisis coming and put his money where his mouth was. Now he says we're in the middle of another crisis. He joins Amit Varma in episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain what exactly went wrong in 2008, and what's gone wrong now.
Also check out:
- This is All Because of Rupal Ben -- Episode 5 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Poker and Stock Markets -- Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen
- DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen
- The Bad and Complex Tax -- Episode 75 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Easy Money -- Episode 56 of The Seen and the Unseen
This episode is powered by Storytel: https://www.storytel.com/in/en/
Use the link storytel.com/ivm to get a 30 day free trial as opposed to a 14 day free trial.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
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Kashmir is in lockdown, and Article 370 is history. What does this mean for Kashmir -- and for India? Historian Srinath Raghavan joins Amit Varma in episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the historical, geopolitical, ideological and moral questions at the heart of the Kashmir problem.
Also check out:
- War and Peace in Modern India -- Srinath Raghavan
- The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Understanding the India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Uncle Sam in South Asia -- Episode 93 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- We Won’t Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace -- Amit Varma.
- The Article 370 Amendments: Key Legal Issues -- Gautam Bhatia
- Article 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir -- AG Noorani
- A People's Constitution -- Rohit De
- The Generation of Rage in Kashmir -- David Devadas
This episode is powered by Storytel: https://www.storytel.com/in/en/
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You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
We live in a world besieged by falsehood -- but there is a growing resistance movement. Pratik Sinha of Alt News joins Amit Varma in episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about disinformation, misinformation and why the truth will prevail.
Also check out:
- Alt News
- Truth of Gujarat
- India Misinformed -- Pratik Sinha and co-authors
- The Alt News App for Android
- The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma
- Public Opinion -- Walter Lippmann
This episode is powered by Storytel: https://www.storytel.com/in/en/
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There is a crisis in India today. There are not enough women taking up paying jobs -- and their unpaid labour at home continues to be taken for granted. Journalist Namita Bhandare joins Amit Varma in episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the state of women in India today.
Also check out:
- Namita Bhandare's homepage.
- Namita Bhandare in the Hindustan Times.
- Why Indian Workplaces Are Losing Women -- Namita Bhandare (The IndiaSpend series)
- Namita Bhandare at Sheroes.
- Metrics of Empowerment -- Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen
- The Importance of #MeToo -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen
- An Economist Looks at #MeToo -- Episode 92 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Frailty, Thy Name is Public Policy -- Devika Kher
- The Girl From Haryana (https://indiauncut.com/the-girl-from-haryana/) -- Amit Varma
- Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma
This episode is powered by Storytel: https://www.storytel.com/in/en/
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Political Ideology in India
Description: The usual spectrum of left and right does not apply to Indian politics. But does that mean that our politics is based on identity and patronage, and not ideology? Not quite, says political scientist Rahul Verma, as he joins Amit Varma in episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the two ideological cleavages that divide India.
Also check out:
- Ideology and Identity -- Pradeep K Chhibber and Rahul Verma
- Religious Practice and Democracy in India -- Pradeep K Chhibber
- Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai)
- Imagine No Possessions -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- Crime in Indian Politics -- Episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Milan Vaishnav)
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In recent times, the GDP has become less of an economic measure and more of a political tool. Economist Rajeswari Sengupta joins Amit Varma in episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain what the GDP is, what it is good for, what it is not good for and what the fuss over this figure in India is all about. This episode has immeasurable value.
Also check out:
- Rajeswari Sengupta's writings.
- GDP – A Brief but Affectionate History -- Diane Coyle
- Gross Domestic Problem -- Lorenzo Fioramonti
- The Power of a Single Number -- Philipp Lepenies
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Like cricket and cinema, the annual budget brought out by the central government has become a national obsession. Vivek Kaul. the Shah Rukh Khan of Economics, joins Amit Varma, the Govinda of Podcasting, in episode 129 of The Seen and the Unseen to demystify the budget. Much fun is had. Blockbuster guaranteed.
Also read:
- The Sholay Redux -- Vivek Kaul
- Easynomics: Why high-income tax hurts -- Vivek Kaul
- How ₹1.7 trillion has gone missing -- Vivek Kaul
- The State of Our Farmers -- Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil)
- DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- All Hail Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen
- India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra)
- Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt (free pdf link)
- The Law -- Frédéric Bastiat
- Marginal Revolution University
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
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India is a nation on the move, and migration is in our DNA. Economic historian Chinmay Tumbe joins Amit Varma in episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen to present the rich history of migrations into, out of and within India.
Also check out:
- India Moving -- Chinmay Tumbe
- The Story of Our Ancestors -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph)
- Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon -- Patanga
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
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Indian history is wild fun. Historian Manu Pillai joins Amit Varma in episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen to regale him with stories from his latest book. The subjects discussed include caste, gender, narrative manipulation, mad elephants and men blown out of cannons.
Also check out:
- The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin -- Manu Pillai
- The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai)
- When Gandhi was Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha)
- Being Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha)
- The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel)
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Can India ever be a sporting nation? What will it take to get there? Joy Bhattacharjya, who started up Kolkata Knight Riders, brought the u-17 Football World Cup to India and is CEO of the Pro Volleyball League, sure thinks so. He joins Amit Varma in episode 126 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his passion and vision for Indian sport.
Also check out:
- Bindra's Wishlist (2005) -- Amit Varma
- Opportunity, Choice and the IPL (2008) -- Amit Varma
- The IPL is Here and Here Are Six Reasons to Celebrate It (2019) -- Amit Varma
- Netherland -- Joseph O'Neill
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People often talk of the world of Finance as a giant casino, where sociopathic bankers gamble with the livelihoods of real people. Economist Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why this is a misconception, and why Finance is at the heart of our progress.
Also check out:
- Why I Loved and Left Poker -- Amit Varma, from his poker column, Range Rover.
- Zombie Firms and Creative Destruction -- Episode 118 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- Futures Markets in Agriculture -- Episode 12 of The Seen and the Unseen.
- The Indian Financial Code
- Poker and Stock Markets -- Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen
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What is the role of religion in Indian society? What is conservatism like in India? Suyash Rai joins Amit Varma in episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen for a wide-ranging free-wheeling chat on these subjects.
Also check out:
- The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel)
- What is Libertarianism? -- Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz)
- You're From the Mutton Lobby -- Episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (Amit Varma solo, on our political discourse)
- Every Act of Government is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma
- The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling
- ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? -- Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma on Hayek)
- Ayodhya: The Dark Night -- Dhirendra K Jha and Krishna Jha
- Sacred and Secular -- Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart
- A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma
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As the recent sexual harassment case indicates, all is not well with the Supreme Court of India. Constitutional economist Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 123 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why the Supreme Court has gone wrong on both ends of the tradeoff between Independence and Accountability.
Also read:
- Justice Is Dead, Long Live the Justices -- Shruti Rajagopalan
- Imagine No Possessions -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Fixing Our Judicial System -- Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Ek Baar Jo Maine Commitment Kar Di -- Amit Varma
- Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
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Elections in India are madly complex, and defy simple explanations. Sadanand Dhume joins Amit Varma in episode 122 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the Age of Modi, and what these elections mean for India, the BJP and the Congress party.
Also check out:
1. **Sadanand Dhume's bio and archives**
- The Questions That Election 2019 Leaves Us With -- Amit Varma
- Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma
- Amit Varma's writings+podcasts on DeMon, in one twitter thread
- The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- ep 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel)
- Modi's Lost Opportunity -- ep 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz)
- The BJP's Magic Formula -- ep 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha)
- Rajesh Jain's Journey to Dhan Vapasi -- ep 94 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajesh Jain)
- The Paradox of Narendra Modi -- ep 102 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shashi Tharoor)
- Why Both Modi and Trump are Textbook Populists -- Amit Varma
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Governments consist of people, and people respond to incentives. For this reason, there is no better way to understand government than through the tools of economics. Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen is a rerun of an old episode of The Pragati Podcast, in which Amit Varma introduces Pavan Srinath to the mindblowing insights of Public Choice Theory.
Also check out:
- What Does It Mean to Be Libertarian? -- ep 64 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Public Choice: A Primer -- Eomonn Butler
- Politics Without Romance -- Amit Varma's monthly column on Public Choice for Bloomberg Quint
- Parkinson's Law -- C Northcote Parkinson
- The Calculus of Consent -- James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock
- Bureaucracy and Public Economics -- William A Niskanen
- Urban Governance in India -- ep 31 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Restaurant Regulations in India -- ep 18 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Of Endings and Beginnings -- Amit Varma's goodbye editorial for Pragati
Conventional wisdom holds that there are three ways to respond to injustice by the state: we may leave, complain, or comply. Philosopher Jason Brennan joins Amit Varma in episode 120 of The Seen and the Unseen to argue that there is a fourth option: to resist.
Also check out:
When All Else Fails -- Jason Brennan
The Milgram Experiment
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
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Despite being a Congress spokesperson, economist Salman Soz was hopeful in 2014 that the Modi government would be good for India. As the title of his new book indicates, that turned out to be quite The Great Disappointment. Soz joins Amit Varma in episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen to elaborate on the many economic failures of the Modi government. He also tackles tough questions on the Congress party.
Also check out:
- The Great Disappointment -- Salman Soz
- India's Lost Decade -- Ep 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra)
- DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Ep 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- The Bad and Complex Tax -- ep 74 of The Seen and the Unseen ( w Shruti Rajagopalan)
- The Fraud of Indian Education -- ep 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra)
- The Importance of Cities -- ep 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani)
- The State of Our Farmers -- ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil)
- Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma
- A Manifesto for Progress -- Amit Varma
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
The Indian economy has the seeds of a horror film, with zombies stalking the landscape. Air India is one. Jet could have been another had it been rescued. Economist Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 118 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the importance of creative destruction, and why failing firms should be allowed to die. Also discussed: price controls and market failure.
Do check out:
- Making Sense of Airline Troubles -- Ajay Shah
- Lessons from the RCom Mess -- Ajay Shah
- A Great Churning -- Ajay Shah
- Bankruptcy Process and the Utilisation of Assets -- Ajay Shah
- Using the Bankruptcy Code for Privatisation -- Ajay Shah
- What Happens to Private Airlines When Air India is Privatised? -- Ajay Shah
- The Price is Right -- Amit Varma
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In a sense there have always been but two political philosophies: liberty and power.” David Boaz. author of The Libertarian Mind, joins Amit Varma in episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain what libertarian thinking stands for, and to bust some of the misconceptions around it.
Also check out:
- The Libertarian Mind -- David Boaz
- The Libertarian Reader -- edited by David Boaz
- What Does It Mean to Be Libertarian? -- ep 64 of The Seen and the Unseen (w. Amit Varma)
- Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma
- The Evolution of Everything -- ep 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w. Matt Ridley)
- The World is Getting Better -- ep 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w. Steven Pinker)
- The Right to Property -- ep 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w. Shruti Rajagopalan)
- Public Choice, Voting and Governance -- ep 92 of The Pragati Podcast (w. Amit Varma)
- The Kim Kardashian Liberal -- Amit Varma
- I, Pencil -- Leonard Read
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or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
In 2008, India was growing at 8.8% and was described as a miracle economy. It all went downhill in the next 10 years. Puja Mehra, author of The Lost Decade, joins Amit Varma in episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the random events, political imperatives and human dramas that collided to bring us to the brink of a crisis.
Also check out:
- The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra
- DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- ep 85 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread
- Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma
- Demonetisation -- Ep 2 of The Seen and the Unseen
- The Bad and Complex Tax -- Ep 74 of The Seen and the Unseen (on GST)
- Is KitKat a Chocolate or a Biscuit? -- ep 28 of The Seen and the Unseen (on GST)
- The State of Our Farmers -- ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (in Hindi)
- Where Are the Jobs? -- ep 87 of The Seen and the Unseen
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
The ideology of Hindutva dominates our political and cultural landscape today. How did it begin, and what is it precisely? Aakar Patel, author of the forthcoming book Our Hindu Rashtra, joins Amit Varma in episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on three important Hindutva thinkers.
Also check out:
- Hindutva – VD Savarkar
- Bunch of Thoughts – MS Golwalkar
- Integral Humanism – Deendayal Upadhyay
- Ayodhya: The Dark Night – Dhirendra Jha and Krishna Jha
- The Coffeehouse of Surat – Leo Tolstoy
- Why I Write – Saadat Hasan Manto (translated by Aakar Patel)
- The Story of Our Ancestors – Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen
- The BJP’s Magic Formula – Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Why is crime ubiquitous in Indian politics? Why is your neta also a dada? Political scientist Milan Vaishnav joins Amit Varma in episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about the incentives in play that have brought us to this place.
Also check out:
- When Crime Pays -- Milan Vaishnav
- The Grand Tamasha -- Milan Vaishnav's podcast
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
The formation of Bangladesh was neither inevitable nor a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan. Historian Srinath Raghavan joins Amit Varma in episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the geopolitical forces that shaped those events of 1971.
Also check out:
- 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh -- Srinath Raghavan
- The Blood Telegram -- Gary Bass
- Uncle Sam in South Asia -- episode 93 of The Seen and the Unseen, with Srinath Raghavan
- Understanding the India-Pakistan Conflict - episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen, with Srinath Raghavan
- The formation of the Mujibnagar interim government
- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's speech at the UN
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Who were the first Indians? Where did the Harappans go? Who were the Aryans? Whose descendants are we? Tony Joseph joins Amit Varma in episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how massive scientific advances in the last few years have given us answers to these questions.
Also check out:
Early Indians -- Tony Joseph
Who We Are and How We Got Here -- David Reich
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
What are the hidden dynamics of the India-Pakistan conflict? What are the possible ways of resolving it? Historian and foreign policy analyst Srinath Raghavan joins Amit Varma in episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the game theory and geopolitics of this messy situation.
Also check out:
- Srinath Raghavan's books on Amazon
- Unlike Vajpayee & Manmohan, PM Modi thinks prudence in conflict is a self-imposed fetter -- Srinath Raghavan
- Uncle Sam in South Asia -- ep 93 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Strategy: A History -- Lawrence Freedman
- Not War, Not Peace -- George Perkovich and Toby Dalton
- Images of Terror -- Philip Jenkins
- Posturing For Peace -- Vipin Narang
- To Escalate or Not? This is Modi's Zugzwang Moment -- Amit Varma
Venezuela is a country blessed by nature but cursed by politics. Journalist Alexandra Ulmer joins Amit Varma in episode 110 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights from her years as a reporter there.
Also check out:
- Alexandra Ulmer's homepage
- Alexandra Ulmer for Reuters
- Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela -- Raúl Gallegos
- Hugo Chávez: The Definitive Biography -- Cristina Marcano & Alberto Barrera Tyszka
- Comandante: Inside Hugo Chavez's Venezuela -- Rory Carroll
- Hell of a Fiesta -- Enrique Krauze.
non-gated version here - How to End Venezuela’s Nightmare -- Ricardo Hausmann
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
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Should we care about philosophy in these modern times? Philosopher Rebecca Goldstein joins Amit Varma in episode 109 of The Seen and the Unseen to argue that we should -- and Plato's Dialogues illustrate why.
Also check out:
Plato at the Googleplex -- Rebecca Goldstein
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
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India is rapidly urbanizing – and the Indian state seems to be in denial about it. Reuben Abraham and Pritika Hingorani join Amit Varma in episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss what India needs to do to prepare for its urban future.
Also check out:
India’s a Land of Cities, Not Villages -- Reuben Abraham and Pritika Hingorani
How cities, not states, can solve the world's biggest problems -- Robert Muggah and Reuben Abraham
Reclaim the Sky -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen, on FSI
Why Are Our Cities So Messed Up? -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen, on Urban Governance
The Gateway to Our Cities -- Episode 21 of The Seen and the Unseen, on Slums
The World is Getting Better -- Episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen, on Human Progress
Order Without Design -- Alain Bertaud
Triumph of the City -- Edward Glaeser
Young Rural Women in India Chase Big-City Dreams -- Ellen Barry
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Host Amit Varma is joined by Vivek Kaul and Kumar Anand in episode 107 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the economic landscape of the day. Subjects discussed include the interim budget, the minimum income guarantee, the jobs crisis and how good politics leads to bad economics.
Also check out:
-Here Is Why the Indian Voter Is Saddled With Bad Economics -- Amit Varma
-Politics = Bribery -- Amit Varma and Kumar Anand
-Show us the money: Will Rahul Gandhi’s MIG-19 fly? -- Vivek Kaul
Budget or Fudget?: Read This and Decide -- Vivek Kaul
-India budget: Will India buy Narendra Modi's story of hope again? -- Vivek Kaul
-The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer -- Amit Varma
-The Business of Doing Business -- Reshu Natani and Kumar Anand
-DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- ep 85 of The Seen and the Unseen
-Rajesh Jain's Journey to Dhan Vapasi -- ep 94 of The Seen and the Unseen
-The State of Our Farmers -- ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
In his latest book, Stubborn Attachments, Tyler Cower lays out a moral vision for the future. He joins Amit Varma in episode 106 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why future lives matter as much as present ones, and why our priorities should be centered around sustainable economic growth constrained by negative rights.
Also check out:
Stubborn Attachments by Tyler Cowen.
Marginal Revolution.
The Marginal Revolution University
Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit.
The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
In the second of a two-part series, historian Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about Mohandas Gandhi's transformation into Mahatma Gandhi -- and how that changed the world. Among the subjects discussed: caste, misogyny and Gandhi's personal obsessions
Also check out:
Ramachandra Guha's books on Gandhi, Gandhi Before India and Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android
or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios
Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most fascinating characters in history: complex, misunderstood, deeply impactful. Ramachandra Guha, author of two acclaimed biographies of the man, joins Amit Varma in episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the first 45 years of Gandhi's life, before he returned to India to catalyse the Indian freedom struggle.
Do check out: Ramachandra Guha's books on Gandhi, Gandhi Before India and Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World .
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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The Emergency of 1975 was not an aberration, but was written into the DNA of the Indian state. Historian Gyan Prakash joins Amit Varma in episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on why the framers of the constitution gave such draconian powers to the state -- and why we may not have become so free in 1947 after all.
Also read:
- Emergency Chronicles by Gyan Prakash on Amazon.
- Shruti Rajagopalan on our constantly changing constitution. (Aug 2015)
- The Evil of Family Planning (Dec 2014) -- Amit Varma
- Lessons From 1975 (Sep 2015) -- Amit Varma
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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Shashi Tharoor, author of The Paradoxical Prime Minister, joins Amit Varma in episode 102 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the many faces of Narendra Modi, as well as the nature of politics, the idea of India and his own journey as a politician.
Also read:
The Paradoxical Prime Minister on Amazon, as well as Shashi Tharoor's other books.
The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma
No Free Trade For Horses -- Ep 13 of The Seen and the Unseen, on the Anti-Defection Law.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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We tend to take progress for granted, and are wired to focus on bad news instead of good. Steven Pinker joins Amit Varma in episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about why the world is getting better, and why Enlightenment values are essential for ensuring that the trend continues
Also check out:
Enlightenment Now and The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker.
It is Daft to Worry About Inequality --Amit Varma
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
The Seen and the Unseen reaches 100 episodes! Yea! Economist Shruti Rajagopalan, the most frequent guest on the show, joins host Amit Varma as they shoot the breeze about the 99 episodes before this, the horrors of 2018, and the further horrors of 2019.
Also check out:
These past episodes with Gunvant Patil, Vikram Doctor, Harsha Bhogle, Gideon Haigh+Prem Panicker, Rajesh Jain, Vishwanath S, Parth Shah, Amit Chandra, Alex Tabarrok, Naveen Noronha, Kumar Anand, Vivek Kaul, Ashok Malik, Nikita+Supriya (on #MeToo), Devika+Nidhi+Hamsini and Matt Ridley.
And also with Shruti on the Right to Property, DeMon, GST, #MeToo and Caste.
And ah, The Matunga Racket.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
A democracy is not merely about voting. Those who are voted into power need to be kept in check, and Rules and Institutions are essential for this. Foreign policy analyst Ameya Naik joins Amit Varma in episode 99 of The Seen and the Unseen to elaborate -- and to explain the danger that Donald Trump poses.
Also check out:
- Why Both Modi and Trump are Textbook Populists - Amit Varma
- Ek Baar Jo Maine Commitment Kar Di - Amit Varma
- Trade Deficits (and Trumpism) - Episode 73 of The Seen and the Unseen
- Immigration and Outsourcing - Episode 69 of The Seen and the Unseen
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
When people think of the Deccan, they think Shivaji vs Mughals. But the history of the Deccan is far richer than that -- and far racier. It's full of lust and laughter, murder and madness, sex and senselessness. Historian Manu S Pillai joins Amit Varma in episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen to tell that fascinating story.
Also check out:
Manu S Pillai's book Rebel Sultans, on Amazon and on Juggernaut
The Indianness of Indian Food -- ep 95 of The Seen and the Unseen
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
In his three-decade career covering cricket, Harsha Bhogle has had an inside view on the transformation of the game. He joins Amit Varma in episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how cricket has changed – and why it gives him hope.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com
Also check out:
How Money Changed Cricket -- Ep 41 of The Seen and the Unseen
Opportunity, Choice and the IPL (2008) -- Amit Varma
The Tamasha All Purists Should Love -- Amit Varma
Purists, keep quiet. Cricket is changing, not dying -- Amit Varma
Test Cricket Is Dying, but Cricket Is Not -- Amit Varma
The world evolves in a bottom-up way, despite the top-down beliefs of those who have blind faith in either God or Government. Matt Ridley joins Amit Varma in episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the evolution of the universe, life, culture, language, cities, the economy, our minds, our future and more.
Also check out:
The Evolution of Everything -- Matt Ridley
Other books by Matt Ridley: The Rational Optimist,Genome,The Origins of Virtue
Matt Ridley's Homepage
What Does It Mean to Be Libertarian? -- Ep 64 of The Seen and the Unseen
The Fraud of Indian Education -- Ep 77 of The Seen and the Unseen
The Profit Motive in Education -- Ep 9 of The Seen and the Unseen
What does it mean when we say that something is 'Indian'? Does origin matter? Food writer Vikram Doctor joins Amit Varma in episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how most of what we think of as Indian food originated elsewhere -- and it doesn't matter.
Also check out
The Real Food Podcast on Audiomatic
Rajesh Jain was one of the architects of Narendra Modi's win in 2014 -- and then got buyer's remorse and turned against the BJP. Now, he has launched Dhan Vapasi, an insanely ambitious and innovative attempt at disrupting Indian politics. He joins Amit Varma in episode 94 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain where he's coming from.
Note: The first half of the show is about Jain's political journey before this: supporting Modi, changing his mind etc. The conversation about Dhan Vapasi starts at 1:03:25.
Also check out:
The Dhan Vapasi website
The Dhan Vapasi Manifesto
The Dhan Vapasi Bill
Rajesh Jain's website
DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State-- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (on Demonetisation)
Why Are Our Cities So Messed Up?-- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (on Urban Governance)
The State of Our Farmers -- Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (on Agriculture)
Reclaim the Sky -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (on FSI)
Shruti Rajagopalan's talk on the many changes to our constitution
For over 200 years, America has been interested in South Asia across three separate axes: power, ideology and culture. Historian Srinath Raghavan joins Amit Varma in episode 93 of The Seen and the Unseen to provide a guided tour of this fascinating history.
Also read:
The Most Dangerous Place: A History of the United States in South Asia.
Will the #MeToo movement change behaviour by changing incentives? Economist Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 92 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about Criminal Economics in the context of crimes on women in India.
Also check out:
Changing the Costs for the Rational Sexual Predator: Shruti Rajagopalan in Mint
Men Must Step Up Now: Amit Varma's ediotrial in Pragati
The Importance of #MeToo: Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen
Metrics of Empowerment: Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen
Fixing Our Judicial System: Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen
The crisis at IL&FS reveals just how rotten India's financial system is. Vivek Kaul and Ashutosh Datar join Amit Varma in episode 91 of The Seen and the Unseen to demystify the problem.
Also check out:
DeMon, Morality & the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen
The DNA of the NPA -- Episode 32 of The Seen and the Unseen
It's Time to Stop Buying LIC Policies -- Vivek Kaul
LIC Should Not Rescue IL&FS -- Vivek Kaul
Slay This Indian Hydra -- Andy Mukherjee
How IL&FS Was Enriching Itself at Public Cost -- Sucheta Dalal
IL&FS: The debt pyramid -- Samar Srivastava
MeToo is the most important cultural moment of our lifetimes. Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena join Amit Varma in episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their insights.
Also check out:
Hostile Climate: Nikita Saxena (Feature on RK Pachauri)
#MeToo is anarchic, and that’s a good thing: Supriya Nair
Metrics of Empowerment: Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen
Claiming Your Space: Episode 76 of The Seen and the Unseen
One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second Class Citizens: Amit Varma
I am a Feminist. You should be too: Amit Varma
Are journalists redundant in a world where no one cares about facts any more? Are we to cater to people's imagined realities? And when money and power come together, how are Independent journalists to resist? Sidharth Bhatia of The Wire and Peter Griffin of The Hindu join Amit Varma in episode 89 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Also check out:
The State of the Media: Episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen, with Prem Panicker
The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma
The lives of women in India must be gradually getting better, right? How do we measure this? Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta and Hamsini Hariharan join Amit Varma in episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss a range of possible metrics.
Also check out:
Where Are the Jobs? -- Episode 87 of The Seen and the Unseen, with Yazad Jal
Claiming Your Space -- Episode 76 of The Seen and the Unseen, with Aditi Mittal & Swati Bakshi
Take Cities to the Women -- Devika Kher
Frailty, Thy Name is Public Policy -- Devika Kher
We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates -- Amit Varma
Misogyny is the Oldest Indian Tradition -- Amit Varma
Namita Bhandare’s series on IndiaSpend
India has entered a massive jobs crisis, with more than a million people coming into the workforce every month -- and not enough jobs. Will our Demographic Dividend be a Demographic Disaster? Yazad Jal of the 20 Million Jobs project joins Amit Varma in episode 87 of The Seen and the Unseen to give insight on the scale of the problem.
Also check out:
The Jobscape -- Yazad Jal
20 Million Jobs: Episode 48 of The Pragati Podcast
The Coming Jobs Crisis: Episode 20 of The Seen and the Unseen
Namita Bhandare's series on IndiaSpend
Why India has a Jobs Crisis -- Vivek Kaul
The Agricultural Crisis is a Jobs Crisis -- Nitin Pai
But What About the Jobs Crisis? -- Anupam Manur
India's agricultural crisis has been caused by the state. Farmer leader Gunvant Patil of the Shetkari Sanghatana joins Amit Varma in episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the many ways in which Big Government has created our agricultural crisis.
Also see:
'We Must Save Our Farmers' -- Amit Varma
'Free the Farmers' -- Barun Mitra
'The Crisis in Indian Agriculture' -- Brainstorm discussion on Pragati
'Entry and Exit in Agriculture' -- Episode 1 of The Seen and the Unseen
'The Farmer Rolls the Dice' -- Episode 12 of The Seen and the Unseen
'The Unseen Effects of Farm Loan Waivers' -- Episode 25 of The Seen and the Unseen
Down to Earth -- The collected writings of Sharad Joshi
Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen is about Demonetisation -- and a lot else. First, host Amit Varma launches into an angry monologue about how economic benefits can never justify moral costs. Then he is joined by economist Shruti Rajagopalan, who elaborates on all the things wrong with DeMon. They discuss the predatory Indian state, how Indians are forced into jugaad to cope with it, and that this jugaad might seem to be a good thing, but represents the enormous cost that all of us pay.
Also see:
- Most of Amit Varma's writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread
- 'Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards' -- Amit Varma
3.'The Landscape of Freedom in India' -- Amit Varma
4.'The Humanitarian Cost Trumps Any Economic Argument' -- Amit Varma - 'What the RBI data on demonetization tells us' -- Shruti Rajagopalan
- 'Demonetisation and Welfare' -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Larry White
- 'Formalization of the economy is a form of coercion' -- Shruti Rajagopalan
- Episode 2 of The Seen and the Unseen, on Demonetisation, with Suyash Rai
- Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen, on restaurant regulations, with Madhu Menon
What is it like to grow up gay in a deeply homophobic country? Writer and stand-up comedian Navin Noronha joins Amit Varma in ep 84 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his experience of growing up gay in Bhayandar, and his insights from his podcast, Keeping it Queer.
Also check out
Keeping it Queer -- Navin Noronha's podcast
How I Met My Daddy -- Navin Noronha
The Matunga Racket -- Amit Varma
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
India is a young country, and young Indians today are entitled and angry. Snigdha Poonam joins Amit Varma in episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the turmoil in small-town India.
Also read:
Snigdha's book, Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is short-sighted, and does not achieve its purpose. Why? What can we do? Economist Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 82 of The Seen and the Unseen to break it all down.
Also read
India needs sewage systems, not free toilets -- Shruti Rajagopalan
That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen -- Frédéric Bastiat
The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek
Public Choice: Politics Without Romance -- James Buchanan
Where India Goes -- Diane Coffey and Dean Spears
Why Are Our Cities So Messed Up -- ep 31 of The Seen and the Unseen
How We Messed Up Our Caste Problem -- ep 52 of The Seen and the Unseen
How does China see its place in the world? What are its foreign policy objectives? Should India be worried? China expert Manoj Kewalramani(https://twitter.com/theChinaDude) joins Amit Varma(https://twitter.com/amitvarma) in episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Also check out:
Eye on China(https://www.thinkpragati.com/category/world/china/): Manoj Kewalramani's weekly column in Pragati.
Inside Xi's China(http://takshashila.org.in/special-courses/): Takshashila's online course, conducted by Manoj.
Understanding Foreign Policy(https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/4104/understanding-foreign-policy/): Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
India as a nuclear power is a different force from what it was before we went nuclear. Lt Gen Prakash Menon joins Amit Varma(https://twitter.com/amitvarma) in episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how War and Statecraft have been redefined by nuclear weapons.
Also read:
Lt Gen Menon's book, The Strategy Trap: India and Pakistan Under the Nuclear Shadow(https://www.amazon.in/Strategy-Trap-Pakistan-Nuclear-Shadow/dp/8183285244/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1533201671&sr=1-1&keywords=prakash+menon)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
Is there really democracy in Pakistan? What were these elections all about? Pranay Kotasthane(https://twitter.com/pranaykotas) and Hamsini Hariharan(https://twitter.com/HamsiniH) join Amit Varma(https://twitter.com/amitvarma) in episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the two Pakistans, and what lies ahead.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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More and more, across this country, violent crowds are taking the law into their own hands. What's going on? Legal experts Madhav Chandavarkar and Alok Prasanna Kumar share their insights with Amit Varma in episode 78 of The Seen and the Unseen.
We Don't Need Another Law (https://express.thinkpragati.com/2018/07/18/why-dont-need-another-law/)-- Amit Varma
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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According to education scholar and activist Amit Chandra, education in India is a fraud committed on the people of this country by the state. He joins Amit Varma in episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why.
Also check out:
The Profit Motive in Education: Episode 9 of The Seen and the Unseen
(http://www.seenunseen.in/episodes/2017/3/13/episode-9-the-profit-motive-in-education)
The Right to Screw up Education: Episode 19 of The Seen and the Unseen
(https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/1462/right-screw-education/)
Data on School Closures (http://nisaindia.org/data-on-school-closures)
Our Unlucky Children -- Amit Varma (Jan 2008)(http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/our-unlucky-children/)
Annual Status of Education (ASER) Report 2017
(http://www.asercentre.org/Keywords/p/315.html)
The Aggregate Effect of School Choice -- Karthik Muralidharan & Venkatesh Sundararaman (https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/130/3/1011/1931887)
A political economy of education in India: The case of UP -- Geeta Kingdon & Mohd. Muzammil
(http://ceid.educ.cam.ac.uk/publications/OPI_KingdonMuzammil20081.pdf)
Teacher Absence in India: A Snapshot
(https://academic.oup.com/jeea/article-abstract/3/2-3/658/2281517?redirectedFrom=fulltext)
Misogyny is ubiquitous. Women begin life with the odds stacked against them. Aditi Mittal joins Amit Varma in episode 76 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how hard it was for her to claim her space.
Guest appearance: Swati Bakshi.
Also read:
Misogyny is the Oldest Indian Tradition-Amit Varma (http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/misogyny-is-the-oldest-indian-tradition/)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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"Comedy is tragedy plus time." Aditi Mittal joins Amit Varma to elaborate on this in Episode 75 of The Seen and the Unseen. Abbas Momin sits in as well, as the conversation spins from the evolution of stand-up in India to the challenges it faces.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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GST was supposed to be a Good and Simple Tax, but has ended up as just the opposite. This is hurting the poor the most. Economist Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 74 of The Seen and the Unseen to suggest a way out.
Also check out:
-Simple Rules for a Complex World
(https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/fStxh8vE5vQCW7V1hq1hOK/Simple-rules-for-a-complex-world-GST-classification.html) - Shruti Rajagopalan
-GST -- Episode 3 of The Seen and the Unseen with Devangshu Datta(http://www.seenunseen.in/episodes/2017/1/31/episode-3-gst)
-GST Revisited (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/1847/kitkat-chocolate-biscuit/)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
The US has a trade deficit with China. Trump is worried. Trump is nuts. Vivek Kaul explains why to Amit Varma in episode 73 of The Seen and the Unseen.
You can listen to the episode on 'Protectionism with Anupam Manur here: https://bit.ly/2JEXu1J
You can listen to the 'Easy Money' episode with Vivek Kaul here: https://bit.ly/2yfeS7X
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has just been passed in Europe. What are its Unseen Effects? What can India learn from it? Legal expert Manasa Venkataraman joins Amit Varma in episode 72 of The Seen and the Unseen to demystify this subject.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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The Indian government has a disturbing tendency to cherry-pick data. Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma in episode 71 of The Seen and the Unseen to catch them with their pants down.
Also read:
'How to cherry-pick data, Arvind Panagariya-style'(https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/05/07/population-job-seekers-data-arvind-panagariya-modi-government-unemployment) - Vivek Kaul
'How to Manage Jobs Data, Modi Govt Style'(https://www.equitymaster.com/diary/detail.asp?date=05%2F02%2F2018&story=3&title=How-to-Manage-Jobs-Data-Modi-Govt-Style#.WulTkZgxniU.whatsapp) - Vivek Kaul
'If Tax Collections Have Improved, why is Govt Trying to Tax Free Services of Banks?' (https://www.equitymaster.com/diary/detail.asp?date=04%2F30%2F2018&story=4&title=If-Tax-Collections-Have-Improved-why-is-Govt-Trying-to-Tax-Free-Services-of-Banks#.WucDaLBe2fQ.twitter) - Vivek Kaul
'Budget 2018: India's unpaid subsidies time-bomb just keeps ticking away'(https://www.business-standard.com/budget/article/budget-2018-india-s-unpaid-subsidies-time-bomb-just-keeps-ticking-away-118020100638_1.html) - VIvek Kaul
Beware of the Useful Idiots(https://www.thinkpragati.com/editorial/1971/beware-useful-idiots/) - Amit Varma
You can buy Vivek Kaul's Easy Money trilogy here (https://www.amazon.in/Easy-Money-Evolution-Robinson-Crusoe-ebook/dp/B07BFMJW18/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527766186&sr=8-1&keywords=easy+money)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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The internet was supposed to bring us all together -- but instead, is it driving us apart? Reddit moderator Nikhil,X joins Amit Varma in episode 70 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the changing shape of online conversations -- and society.
Also check out:
You’re From The Mutton Lobby(https://www.thinkpragati.com/opinion/3079/youre-mutton-lobby/) - Amit Varma
What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics(http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-politics/) - Amit Varma
The Future of the Internet (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/4306/the-future-of-the-internet/) - Episode 65 of The Seen and the Unseen
The Regulators Are Coming (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/4485/the-regulators-are-coming/) - Episode 68 of The Seen and the Unseen
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
Donald Trump had two simple answers to everyone who complained about jobs in America. One: Immigrants are taking your jobs. Two: Your jobs are being shipped overseas. Trump was bullshitting. Gaurav Sabnis joins Amit Varma in episode 69 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why.
Also check out:
Facts Don't Matter. Stories do (http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/facts-dont-matter.-stories-do/) -- Amit Varma
Ep.4 of The Seen and the Unseen: Immigration (http://www.seenunseen.in/episodes/2017/2/7/episode-4-immigration)
Ep 59 of The Seen and the Unseen: The 8 Myths of Protectionism (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/3798/the-8-myths-of-protectionism/)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
The government of India recently broached the possibility of regulating online content -- even more than it already does. What does this mean for our freedoms. Nikhil Pahwa joins Amit Varma in episode 68 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Check out the previous episodes where Amit had Nikhil Pahwa as a guest:
Ep. 61: Aadhaar (http://ivmpodcasts.com/the-seen-and-the-unseen-episode-list/2018/3/26/ep-61-adhaar)
Ep. 65: The Future of the Internet (http://ivmpodcasts.com/the-seen-and-the-unseen-episode-list/2018/4/23/ep-65-the-future-of-the-internet)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
This is an AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode, in which host Amit Varma answers questions from both in-studio guests and Twitter and Facebook users.
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/
What does our economy look like today? Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma in episode 66 of The Seen and the Unseen, as they talk about Air India, cash shortages, the jobs crisis and other such miscellanea.
Also check out
Episode 56: The Age of Easy Money (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/3541/age-easy-money/)
Episode 53: A Deep Dive into Pakodanomics(https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/3305/deep-dive-pakodanomics/)
Episode 40: The State of the Economy(https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/2472/the-state-of-the-economy/)
Episode 32: The DNA of the NPA (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/2061/the-dna-of-the-npa/)
Episode 25: Farm Loan Waivers (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/1716/unseen-effects-farm-loan-waivers/)
Episode 23: Public Sector Banks (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/1655/the-banks-of-india/)
Episode 20: The Coming Jobs Crisis (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/1534/coming-jobs-crisis/)
Episode 19: The Right to Education (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/1462/right-screw-education/)
Episode 18: Restaurant Regulations (https://www.thinkpragati.com/podcast/the-seen-and-the-unseen/1421/give-bribe-youre-restaurant-man/)
Episode 2: Demonetisation(http://www.seenunseen.in/episodes/2017/1/24/episode-2-demonetisation)
You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5
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The internet has empowered us all beyond belief -- but is there a flip side to this? Does it need to be regulated? Nikhil Pahwa and Amit Doshi have a lively conversation with Amit Varma in episode 65 of The Seen and the Unseen
Also read: 'Facts. Don't. Matter' (http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/facts.-dont.-matter/) -- Amit Varma
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What does it mean to be free? What is the basis of individual rights? Episode 64 of The Seen and the Unseen is a rerun of an old episode of The Pragati Podcast, as Amit Varma tells Pavan Srinath what it means to be a libertarian, and why it all boils down to one word: Consent.
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We all have our own guidelines for how individuals should treat each other. But how should nations behave with other nations? Foreign Policy Realist Nitin Pai joins Libertarian Amit Varma to explain the evolution of foreign policy through the ages, and its imperatives today.
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India's judicial system is broken. How can we fix it? Legal expert Alok Prasanna Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen.
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According to media commentator Nikhil Pahwa, Aadhaar is a subject on which "what we do will impact generations." Nikhil joins host Amit Varma on episode 61 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain how Aadhaar threatens our freedoms, and why we need to take it seriously.
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We take water for granted, but India might be entering a full-blown water crisis. Water evangelist Vishwanath S (https://twitter.com/zenrainman) joins Amit Varma in episode 60 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on this.
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Protectionism is on the rise across the world, which is bewildering, given how harmful it is. Economist Anupam Manur joins Amit Varma in episode 59 of The Seen and the Unseen to bust eight common myths about protectionism.
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As three recent cases show, misogyny exist not just in our outdated laws, but also in the minds of our lawmakers and the judiciary. Legal expert Madhav Chandavarkar and feminist Hamsini Hariharan join Amit Varma in episode 58 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Triple Talaq, Hadiya and the Mahmood Farooqui case.
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There is turmoil in the Maldives, as a tyrant unfriendly to India cozies up to China. Do we need to intervene? Foreign policy expert Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma to give his point of view in episode 57 of The Seen and the Unseen.
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The turbulence in the world economy today is enabled by the same phenomenon that caused the 2008 financial crisis, and was perversely also a response to that crisis: Easy Money. Vivek Kaul, author of the Easy Money trilogy, joins Amit Varma in episode 56 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the damage irresponsible governments can do to the economy.
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It is important to always question received wisdom. In episode 55 of The Seen and the Unseen, libertarian thinker Yazad Jal joins Amit Varma to challenge the commonly held view on five subjects. Listen in and see if you agree with him.
Also read:
It is Daft to Worry About Inequality -- Amit Varma
Why Children Labour -- Amit Varma
The Price is Right -- Amit Varma
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The Budget presented by the government of India is an annual ritual that millions of people tune in to. What was the 2018 budget like? Pavan Srinath and Pranay Kotasthane, staff writers of Pragati, join Amit Varma to offer their quick analysis, and to supplement the budget coverage at Pragati.
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Narendra Modi famously invoked a pakoda seller last week when he spoke about job creation in India. How apt is that invocation? Columnist Vivek Kaul, who coined the term ‘Pakodanomics’, and economist Shruti Rajagopalan join Amit Varma in episode 53 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the prime minister, the pakoda seller and India’s job problem.
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Modern India's greatest shame is that even after 70 years of Independence, we still haven't solved the problem of caste. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 52 of the Seen and the Unseen to shed light on some of the ways in which we have messed up at an institutional level.
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The chess program Alpha Zero made waves recently when it taught itself chess in four hours -- and then thrashed the strongest chess engine in the world, Stockfish. This illustrated a dramatic advance in Artificial Intelligence. Devangshu Datta joins host Amit Varma in episode 51 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about its impact for both chess and AI.
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Indian politics is complex to the point of being almost unfathomable. JP Narayan, that rare public intellectual who also embraced electoral politics, joins Amit Varma in episode 50 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his learnings.
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Social media has enabled everyone to have a voice -- but no one listens any more. In episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen, Amit Varma examines why our political discourse is so polarised. One particular bugbear of his is the tendency to shift the focus from the argument to the person, and he outlines a few different ways in which people personalise arguments.
Also read:
What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics
The Facts Do Not Matter
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For almost two decades, V Ravichandar has been "a civic evangelist and a patron saint of lost causes" fighting to reform local government in our cities. He joins Amit Varma in episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the lessons he has learnt, and what keeps him going.
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Poker and stock markets are very similar -- and both holds lessons for life. Ace investor Mohit Satyanand joins former poker pro Amit Varma in episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how both disciplines reveal the flawed machinery of the human brain.
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We live in times when media is fragmented and there is no consensus on the truth any more. Journalism has become a race to give people what they want to believe. What are we to do? Prem Panicker joins Amit Varma in episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the State of the Media.
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Over the last few years, the BJP has built the most formidable election machine in human history. Prashant Jha, author of the book 'How the BJP wins', joins Amit Varma in episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen to break down the elements behind their success.
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It is well known that the key cause of Delhi's smog is the 'stubble' burnt every year by Punjab's farmers. Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma to discuss the bad incentives in play, how government sops might have caused this problem, and what can be done about it.
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Natasha Badhwar, the author of a celebrated parenting column, recently released her moving book, 'My Daughter's Mum.' In episode 43 of The Seen and the Unseen, she joins Amit Varma to discuss the process of parenting, writing about it, and the Seen and Unseen Effects of Parenthood.
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To celebrate Richard Thaler's Nobel Prize, behavioural econ geek Nidhi Gupta joins Amit Varma in episode 42 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss key concepts from the field -- all which explain many of the Unseen Effects of our actions, and the way we're wired.
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Cricket has been transformed in the last four decades, first because of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket, and then recently by the IPL. Noted cricket writers Gideon Haigh and Prem Panicker join Amit Varma in episode 41 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the enormous impact of this commercialisation.
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The Seen and the Unseen takes a one-week break for Diwali. But we have one request for you: we want your feedback on the show. Email shows@indusvox.com with any comments or suggestions you might have.
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Many of the things wrong with India's economy today are Unseen Effects of Demonetisation and the botched design of GST. Vivek Kaul join joins Amit Varma in episode 40 of The Seen and the Unseen to take stock.
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Why don't Indians eat out as much as people in other countries do? Karthik Shashidhar joins Amit Varma in episode 39 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain how we landed up in an equilibrium in which our restaurants prefer 'tasty' to 'healthy'.
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The Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 is an example of a policy that harms those it is meant to help. Sudhanshu Neema joins Amit Varma in episode 38 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why.
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Obamacare is almost an article of faith for elite American liberals, but it has had devastating Unseen Effects. Economist Sudhanshu Neema, who joins host Amit Varma on episode 37 of The Seen and the Unseen, believes that it was responsible for Trump coming to power. Listen up!
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Special Economic Zones are usually set up with the best intentions: to attract businesses and create employment. But what are their Unseen Effects? Karthik Shashidhar joins host Amit Varma in episode 36 of The Seen and the Unseen.
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In episode 35 of The Seen and the Unseen, economist and lawyer Shruti Rajagopalan joins host Amit Varma to explain why there were three Bhopal Gas Tragedies, and not just one.
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Isn't surge pricing exploitative? Shouldn't it be banned? Karthik Shashidhar joins Amit Varma to speak about the Unseen Effects of price caps. He also describes how Uber turned an illiquid market into a liquid one.
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How does the football transfer market work? Why do some players command insanely high transfer fees while others get nothing? Karthik Shashidhar joins Amit Varma to demystify this particular market.
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Indian public sector banks have a notorious problem of non-performing assets, or NPAs. Vivek Kaul and Kumar Anand join Amit Varma to discuss the causes of this problem, and what can be done about it.
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Our cities are in a mess. They are not in such bad shape because of corrupt individuals or apathetic citizens, but because our structures of governance are all messed up. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma to explain why.
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Why do real estate prices in India not fall when demand goes down and inventory stops moving? Vivek Kaul plays economic detective to help Amit Varma solve this mystery.
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The government of India often fixes the prices of medicine in India so that poor people can afford them. Pavan Srinath joins Amit Varma to discuss the Unseen Effects of this, and how they can be ameliorated.
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In Episode 3 of The Seen and the Unseen, we had discussed GST -- the Goods and Services Tax. Now that it's actually been implemented, Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma to discuss its Seen and Unseen Effects.
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Indian television is appalling, and the reasons for that go beyond culture. Renowned journalist Ashok Malik joins Amit Varma in episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how government regulation played its part.
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The Right to Property is the underpinning of all our rights -- and yet, the Indian constitution does not consider it a Fundamental Right, though it once did. Constitutional expert Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma to discuss why this right is important, and the consequences of its being weakened in India.
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In episode 25 of The Seen and the Unseen, Kumar Anand and Vivek Kaul join Amit Varma to talk about the part farm-loan waivers play in keeping farmers in PPP: Perpetually Planned Poverty.
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For all practical purposes, prostitution is banned in India, and looked down upon by society. Manasa Venkataraman joins Amit Varma to discuss the legal, moral and economic aspects of criminalising sex work.
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In 1969, Indira Gandhi carried out a wave of bank nationalisations with some excellent stated intentions. But what were the Unseen Effects of that? Mumbai-based economist Kumar Anand joins Amit Varma to discuss the structural flaws in the very concept of public sector banks.
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China has become an influential force in India's neighbourhood recently. Is this something India should be worried about? Foriegn policy expert Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma to allay these fears.
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Slums in India have been both demonized and deified. Some say they are an eyesore to the city; others say they are hotbeds of entrepreneurship. Pavan Srinath joins Amit Varma to take a deeper look at the role slums play in our society.
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Many of the terrible policies followed by our government over the decades have one common unseen effect: a lack of jobs. India is headed for a jobs crisis, and Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma to discuss why it has come about and what we can do to stop the slide.
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he Right to Education Act sounds noble, but has caused devastation in schooling across the country. Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma to discuss its Unseen Effects.
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If you want to see the many ways in which the government resembles a hafta-extorting mafia, look no further than restaurant regulations. They come about with a noble stated intent, but end up harming both consumers and restaurants. Madhu Menon joins Amit Varma to talk about the intended consequences of restaurant regulations.
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Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. All these are centrally sponsored government schemes with good intentions at their heart. But are good intentions enough? Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma to discuss the Unseen Effects of Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes.
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Like all technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will make humanity better off in the long run. But in the short run, it will cause much disruption, including mammoth job losses in India's services industry. Futurist Ramez Naam and policy wonk Pavan Srinath join Amit Varma to talk about the Unseen effects of AI.
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For decades, there has been a stricture in Karnataka that non-Kannada films cannot be dubbed into Kannada. The idea behind this was to protect the local film industry -- but were the unintended consequences just the opposite? Pavan Srinath joins Amit Varma to discuss the Unseen effects of this ban on Kannada dubbing.
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Rent control is a classic example of a regulation meant to help the poor that ends up hurting everyone. Alex Tabarrok joins Amit Varma to discuss how real estate in Mumbai would be so much cheaper if not for such government regulation.
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It is a sad day for any democracy when MPs and MLAs sell themselves to the highest bidder. Horse-trading is monstrous. It was to prevent exactly this that the Anti-Defection Law was passed in 1985. But did it end up doing more harm than good to democracy? Barun Mitra joins Amit Varma to discuss the unseen effects of this famous legislation.
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For decades now, India has either banned or heavily regulated futures markets in agriculture. The conventional wisdom is that futures markets can turn farmers into gamblers. But what if the Unseen Effect of such regulation is exactly the opposite? Karthik Shashidhar joins Amit Varma to chat about the unintended consequences of such well-intentioned but misguided regulation.
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Mumbai is one of the most expensive cities in the world, and one of the reasons is that there is too little land and too much sky. Alex Tabarrok joins Amit Varma to discuss Mumbai's insanely low Floor Space Index (FSI), a key reason why real estate here is at such a premium.
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Big Brother is watching you, and you have no protection. There has been much hype about how 'Digital India' will transform our lives, but there are unseen elements to it that should make you worry. Devangshu Datta joins Amit Varma to discuss why it is so alarming that there are no laws in India to protect privacy and defend against data theft.
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Jawaharlal Nehru once said that profit is a 'dirty word'. He wasn't alone in his distrust of the profit motive, which is effectively banned in education in India. Amit Varma chats with education reformer Parth Shah on why this thinking is misguided, and might be responsible for the pathetic state of education in India.
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Healthcare in India is in a dismal state, and so is the state of medical education. Pavan Srinath joins Amit Varma to discuss the role of the Medical Council of India in this mess. Is it a responsible industry watchdog helping keep standards high -- or is it a part of the problem?
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For any shopper in India, there is no acronym as comforting as MRP: Maximum Retail Price. When you see that on any packaged good, you feel assured that you won't be ripped off. But is it really that simple? Prithwiraj Mukherjee joins Amit Varma to discuss the seen and unseen effects of MRP.
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On September 18, 2016, a group of terrorists attacked an Indian army brigade headquarters near the town of Uri in J&K. Nineteen people died, and there was immense pressure on the Indian government to retaliate. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, eventually launched what he described as 'surgical strikes', meant to be a show of strength and resolve. Defence analyst Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma to discuss the Seen and Unseen effects of these surgical strikes.
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A few years ago, a photo studio in Ahmedabad offered its customers free passport photographs. There was no catch, no small print. It was a free lunch. Amit Varma is joined by Mohit Satyanand, as they explore how this free lunch transformed financial regulation in India. They also discuss how bad incentives can lead to corruption becoming a cultural phenomenon.
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#AmitVarma, #Bastiat #Public #policy #government #MohitSatyanand #IPO #scam #retail #Investment #Financial #regulation
In Episode 4 of The Seen and the Unseen, Amit Varma discusses Immigration with Shikha Dalmia. Are the demagogues right about immigration being a bad thing? Do immigrants take jobs away from locals? Are they a strain on resources? Should we build yuge walls?
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There are two kinds of diversity in India, one good, and one not so good. Our greatest strength is our diversity of people and cultures and languages. But one of our great weaknesses is our diversity of taxes, across states and regions. We have so many different kinds of taxes that the cost of compliance is the most daunting cost for many businesses, and corruption is out of control. Also, taxes create friction in trade, and the costs are borne by consumers and businesses alike. It’s a negative-sum game.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was supposed to the panacea that would get us out of this mess. While India has been one country since 1947, it hasn’t been one market, and the GST was expected to get us to that promised land. It has been many years in the making, though, and has become more and more convoluted in the process of political and bureaucratic negotiation. Thus, while the Seen Effects of a perfect GST would normally be excellent, the potential Unseen Effects of the GST in its evolving form could be quite messy. In Episode 3 of The Seen and the Unseen, Devangshu Datta takes Amit Varma through the nuances of the GST and their possible implications.
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Tags: #AmitVarma, #Bastiat #Public #policy #government #DevanshuDatta #economics #business #Goods #Service #Tax #GST #Bill #FreeMarket #Trade
On November 8, 2016, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi announced that 500- and 100-rupee notes would cease to be legal tender from midnight that day, which removed 86% of the cash from circulation. Demonetisation (aka "DeMon" or "Notebandi") had humanitarian and economic effects that might take years to play out. In Episode 2 of The Seen and the Unseen, Amit Varma is joined by Suyash Rai, an economic analyst from Delhi, as they examine whether demonetisation achieved any of its intended effects, and try to come to terms with some of its unintended (but foreseeable) consequences.
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India has a panoply of laws that prevent corporations from getting into farming, and which prevent farmers from escaping agriculture, by virtue of not being able to sell their farm land for non-agricultural purposes. The Seen Effect of this is that they are protected from exploitation by rapacious capitalists. But are the Unseen Effects much worse?
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All public policies -- indeed, all actions by humans -- have two kinds of effects: the effects that are intended, and visible; and unintended consequences, which are invisible. The Seen and the Unseen is a podcast that aims to examine both the seen and the unseen effects of our actions