BIC TALKS: Recent Episodes
Bangalore International Centre
Bangalore International Centre (BIC) is a non profit, public institution which serves as an inclusive platform for informed conversations, arts and culture. BIC TALKS aims to be a regular bi-weekly podcast that will foster discussions, dialogue, ideas, cultural enterprise and more.
You've received the call. The scam artist trying to get your information. Perhaps you fell for it, perhaps you knew better. In either case, it becomes a story to tell over coffee.
But who are the people on the other end of line?
In her new book, Scamlands, journalist Snidha Poonam explores the vast fraud economies stretching from small-town India to global scam hubs.Nuanced, detailed and above all, personal, Poonam reports on the many lives that run parallel to our own. Tracing the supply chains of fraud, she reveals an economy that's both ruthlessly efficient and heartbreakingly human.
In this talk, she is joined by columnist Aakar Patel to explore the themes of the book. They will examine how scam economies thrive in the gaps of inequality, why trust is collapsing faster than we can rebuild it, and what it means when fraud becomes a viable career path for an entire generation. The session ends with an audience Q&A.
There are no easy answers, but you'll know more when that unknown number calls again.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Snigdha Poonam will be in conversation with Aakar Patel. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
What did the architects of the Republic want our symbols to represent?
Acclaimed musician and public intellectual T M Krishna launches We, the People of India: Decoding a Nation's Symbols, a rigorous exploration of the tricolour, the Preamble, the national anthem, and the symbols that define Indian democracy.
In conversation with urban researcher Gautam Bhan and journalist Dhanya Rajendran, Krishna traces the historical and philosophical origins of these symbols. Together they will unpack how these symbols were born, what they were meant to represent, and how their meanings have shifted in contemporary India.
A thoughtful inquiry into the past, present, and enduring significance of India's defining symbols.
Presented by:
Contxt
In this episode of BIC Talks, TM Krishna and Dhanya Rajendran will be in conversation with Gautam Bhan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
A single family. A small village. An entire nation's story hiding inside.
Tell Me A Story About Our World brings together academic and translator Vanamala Viswanatha and novelist Kavery Nambisan for a conversation about the art of fiction and storytelling, based on Nambisan's latest novel, Rising Sons. Set in a village in Karnataka, following one family from pre-independent India through to the 1970s, threading through the complexities of caste and colonialism while painting vivid landscapes of rural and urban life in a bygone era.
What makes Rising Sons sing is how Nambisan inhabits her world. Kannada coexists comfortably within the English, not as a novelty but as a force of realism, enabling the reader's sensibility to percolate through society at every level. Then there is the narrator: never formally introduced, yet unmistakably present, speaking of "our village" and "our daily lives" with a voice that is not quite impartial. The resulting text reads as both narration and remembrance, an immersion into a carefully crafted world.
The stories we tell are as much about the Word as they are about the World. Expect an interesting and illuminating conversation, followed by a Q&A with the audience.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Kavery Nambisan will be in conversation with Vanamala Viswanatha. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
A new dawn was breaking. And its light would reach far beyond its time.
Rebellion in Verse unfolds a journey that goes back to the sixth century CE; a time when many yearned for a reprieve from the constraints of Vedic orthodoxy and caste hierarchies. The Tamil Bhakti movement emerged as their clarion call, a grassroots surge of devotion that redefined spirituality and the social fabric itself. The saints of this movement were poets of the people, composing their hymns in Tamil and their verses, brimming with simplicity and profundity, wrestled divine wisdom from the elite grip of Sanskrit and handed it to the masses.
This conversation around Raghavan Srinivasan's book Rebellion in Verse, explores how poetry has long served as a space of defiance: challenging hierarchy, authority, and inherited social orders. Drawing from Bhakti and other traditions, the discussion reflects on how verse carried ideas of equality, desire, and resistance, and why these voices continue to matter today. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Raghavan Srinivasan and Sharada Srinivasan will be in conversation with Karthik Venkatesh. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025.
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In SheThePeople's signature style, this is a session of wit and grace.
Bangalore Raani is a vibrant celebration placing female voices precisely where they've always belonged: centerstage. Unapologetic and electric, this dialogue brings together women whose presence, choices, and courage bring Bengaluru to life. In this edition, Shaili Chopra is joined by mother and daughter, Yasmin and Kubbra Sait.
Through candid storytelling that moves from ambition to reinvention, relationships to those small everyday rebellions that shift culture, the conversation flows freely: sometimes hilarious, always real. Relatable yet aspirational, intimate yet energizing, this is the rare space where women's stories don't just resonate, but reverberate through lingering conversations, lasting inspiration and undeniable connection as a result of being deeply, and truly, seen.
In collaboration with:
Shethepeople
In this episode of BIC Talks, Kubbra Sait and Yasmin Sait will be in conversation with Shaili Chopra. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2026.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Once known as a garden city and a pensioner's paradise, Bengaluru has undergone extraordinary economic and demographic change over the past three decades. While growth has brought opportunity, it has also reshaped everyday life in ways that go far beyond traffic and waste. This second edition of The Bengaluru Debates turns a critical lens on our city to ask whether it still supports healthy lives for its citizens.
Public health research increasingly shows that the roots of urban ill-health lie not only in hospitals or clinics, but in planning, infrastructure, and governance. Air quality, water and sanitation, food systems, mobility, housing design, open spaces, and access to light and ventilation all shape how healthy a city allows its people to be. Yet these questions rarely enter public debate in Bengaluru.
Opening with a short context setting, the session will move into a panel discussion between Dinesh Gundu Rao, Hon'ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka; Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan, Former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and Member of the Legislative Assembly for Malleshwaram; Dr. Shreelata Rao Seshadri, Professor and Director, Ramalingaswami Centre for Equity and Social Determinants of Health, Public Health Foundation of India(PHFI). Moderated by Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO, Janaagraha, the panel will reflect on the relationship between the health of a city and the that of its citizens: what Bengaluru must rethink to secure a healthier future. The session will also include a talk by Nachiket Mor, Economist & Health Systems Researcher.
The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A.
The Bengaluru Debates: A BIC–Janaagraha Dialogue Series on Urban Governance in Bengaluru and Beyond aims to expand civic space in the city by fostering conversations through a civic lens. The series is designed to be informative, constructive, and entertaining, while also serving as a trigger for local community action. Its objective is to bridge the gap between policy, practice, and public discourse on urban governance challenges, and to catalyse citizen and policymaker engagement towards systemic solutions.
In collaboration with:
Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, founded in 2001 in Bengaluru, is dedicated to transforming the quality of life in India's cities and towns. Their mission is to strengthen the systems of urban governance so that cities can deliver clean, green, safe, and liveable environments for all citizens. For them, "quality of life" is not only about infrastructure and services, but equally about responsive institutions, citizen engagement, and transparent, data-driven governance.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Dinesh Gundu Rao, C N Ashwath Narayan, Shreelata Rao Seshadri and Nachiket Mor will be in conversation with Srikanth Viswanathan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Dharma is difficult to translate, and even harder to understand.
In this talk, scholar Frederick Smith draws on nearly five decades of study to illuminate how the concept of dharma moves, shifts, and comes alive across the subcontinent. By tracing regional retellings of the Mahabharata, he reveals how different communities have interpreted its moral tensions. Turning to modern literature such as U.R. Ananthamurthy's Samskara, he connects these ancient debates to contemporary questions of responsibility, community, and moral action. With clarity and depth, Smith examines how ideas of dharma and adharma operate in the Sanskrit Mahabharata and how these ideas ripple outward into contemporary India.
A Q&A with the audience will follow, offering space for reflection and dialogue.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Fredrick Smith delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Overwhelmed? Disoriented? Exhausted?
In this reflective session, Dr. Shyam Bhat draws on his expertise in psychiatry and integrative medicine to unpack the rising sense of disorientation shaped by hyperconnection, constant noise, and emotional overload. He explores how these forces fracture our inner clarity, and offers practical ways to rebuild a steadier sense of purpose. Drawing from both clinical experience and contemplative traditions, Dr. Bhat charts a path toward reconnecting with our values and rediscovering direction in an increasingly fast-paced world.
A gentle invitation to pause, understand what's unfolding within, and realign with what truly matters.
The talk will be followed by an audience Q&A.
Presented by:
Nirvikalpa Integrated Therapy Foundation Founded by Dr. Shyam Bhat, the Nirvikalpa Integrated Therapy Foundation blends India's philosophical and psychological wisdom with modern Western science to create a rigorous, evidence-based therapeutic model grounded in non-duality and transcendence. The foundation conducts scientific research, develops therapist-training programs, and shares integrative mental-health insights with the public. Its work aims to build a culturally rooted, systematic approach to therapy that strengthens resilience, deepens connection, and supports collective well-being.
NIRVIKALPA
In this episode of BIC Talks, Shyam Bhat delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
What does it take to shape a filmmaker? How do you 'make' a Jaya Bachchan or an Adoor Gopalakrishnan?
Radha Chadha's new book The Maker of Filmmakers: How Jagat Murari and FTII Changed Indian Cinema Forever takes us through the life and legacy of her father Jagat Murari, and the iconic film school he built. With uncanny consistency, FTII produced top talent: Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Subhash Ghai, Shatrughan Sinha, Girish Kasaravalli, Mani Kaul, and many other cinema legends. His alumni became the big names of Bollywood, spearheaded the Indian New Wave, kickstarted regional language cinema, and helped usher television into the country.
It's this extraordinary creative legacy that leads to the book's tantalizing question: Did Jagat Murari have a secret formula? In conversation with author Radha Chadha, Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, legendary filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli, and iconic cinematographer G.S. Bhaskar, this session will delve into how Jagat Murari and FTII shaped generations of filmmakers – and how their work transformed Indian cinema into the global powerhouse it is today. Both Radha and Talmiz grew up at FTII, where their fathers served as Principal and Vice Principal.
The session will include a montage of student film clips of iconic FTII alumni Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Subhash Ghai, Mani Kaul, and others, as also an excerpt from Girish Kasaravalli's award-winning student film Avsesh. A Q&A with the audience will be followed by book signings by the author.
About BIC Elsewhere:
While the majority of our events find a home at our premises in Domlur, BIC Elsewhere represents our commitment to bringing conversations, arts, and culture directly to diverse audiences. Through this initiative, we collaborate with various venues, extending the reach of our events beyond our own space. These partnerships not only breathe life into our gatherings but also play a crucial role in cultivating an environment for the flourishing of arts and culture in the city.
In collaboration with:
SABHA
In this episode of BIC Talks, Radha Chadha, Girish Kasaravalli and G.S. Bhaskar will be in conversation with Talmiz Ahmad. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
What is the Indian reader willing to pay for, and what do they expect for free?
This panel moves past the familiar lament and into the mechanics of the business. They explore what it actually takes to run a news organisation outside the influence of advertisers, owners, and the state. Subscription models, donor funding, collaborative structures, and open access: each approach comes with its own compromises, its own pressures, and its own relationship with the reader.
The conversation will examine how different kinds of journalism, from daily news to long-form investigation and data-driven research, demand different economic answers. Can advertising coexist with independence? And how are newsrooms absorbing the growing financial and legal burden of independent reporting?
Independent journalism in India is alive. What it costs to keep it that way is another matter entirely.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Dhanya Rajendran, Sunil Rajshekhar, Samar Halarnka, Rashmi Koti and Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Madhav Gadgil (1942-2026) was the country's pre-eminent ecologist, whose work and writing had a profound influence in shaping environmental policy and action in India. Educated in Pune, Mumbai and Harvard, Professor Gadgil spent more than three decades at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, where he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences.
In the course of his rich and varied career Professor Gadgil conducted fieldwork in most of India's states, acquiring an unparalleled knowledge of the country's cultural and ecological diversity. He authored numerous scientific papers that became 'citation classics', and pioneering books on environmental history that are still discussed decades after their publication. He was widely known for the report of a committee on the Western Ghats that he chaired, which presciently warned of the ecological disasters that would follow unregulated mining, tourism and road construction in this vital mountain ecosystem.
The Bangalore International Centre shall celebrate Madhav Gadgil's life and legacy in a special memorial meeting held on 26th January. The date is appropriate; for Professor Gadgil himself had a deeply democratic sensibility, and embodied in his person the finest values of the Indian Republic. The speakers are two scientists, two economists, a journalist and a historian, all of whom knew Professor Gadgil and his work well.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Harini Nagendra, Gurudas Nulkar, John Kurien, Nagesh Hegde, Uma Ramakrishnan will be in conversation with Ramachandra Guha. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Narratives illuminate what often lies just out of sight.
In this exciting conversation, Amitav Ghosh discusses his latest book, Ghost-Eye, with writer Anjum Hasan, tracing the hidden histories and environmental undercurrents that shape human lives. Moving between folklore and the contemporary world, the discussion explores how landscapes remember, how ecological forces linger beneath the visible, and how storytelling can recover what modern life trains us to ignore.
Hasan's thoughtful questioning bring out the novel's deeper concerns: the fragile relationship between people and place, the quiet violence of erasure, and the role of curiosity in resisting indifference. Together, they reflect on how narrative can sharpen our awareness of a planet in flux, and why attentiveness to history, to ecology, and to the unseen, matters now more than ever.
A chance to hear directly from one of the most compelling literary voices about the inspirations behind his work and the urgent questions it raises.
Presented by:
Bangalore Literature Festival, Harper Collins
In this episode of BIC Talks, Amitav Ghosh in conversation with Anjum Hasan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Just outside Madurai, beneath the scorching southern sun, the excavations at Keeladi have unsettled long-held ideas about India's ancient history.
Since its discovery in 2014, the site has emerged as one of the country's most contested digs: celebrated by some as evidence of a thriving urban civilisation in South India, and questioned by others as political mythmaking. In her book The Dig, journalist and author Sowmiya Ashok traces this journey from serendipitous find to cultural flashpoint, traveling from Iron Age Tamil Nadu to Harappan Rakhigarhi, revealing how battles over the past shape our understanding of India's layered identity today.
Sowmiya will be joined by archaeometallurgist Dr. Sharada Srinivasan whose pioneering work has brought to light insights into ancient mining and metallurgy, having also worked on Iron Age-Early Historic sites especially in Tamil Nadu. They will be in conversation with Pooja Prasanna, of The News Minute. Together they will explore how archaeology, science, and power intersect: revealing an ancient diversity that continues to shape contemporary India.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Sowmiya Ashok and Sharada Srinivasan will be in conversation with Pooja Prasanna. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
A courtroom drama that shook an empire.
In 1945, three Indian National Army officers stood trial for treason against the British Crown. Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal and Gurbaksh Dhillon were convicted. Then something unexpected happened; events that would accelerate the transfer of power and expose cracks in both British authority and Congress strategy. While Congress built its reputation on passive resistance, at this critical moment it applauded and capitalized on the INA's use of force. What does this contradiction reveal about the final phase of India's independence struggle? How did a legal proceeding meant to assert British control instead demonstrate its fragility?
Ashis Ray will discuss his latest book, The Trial that Shook Britain, which uncovers how this court martial became a catalyst for independence. Ray's research unearths material that historians have largely overlooked, throwing new light on a decisive juncture where courtroom drama became political dynamite. Following the talk, Ray will be in conversation with Siddharth Raja.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Ray will be in conversation with Siddharth Raja.. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
This conversation will shift your understanding of power, and of possibility.
In this session Rahila Gupta will examine how male dominance persists across radically different societies from theocracies to democracies, dictatorships to socialist states. Her co-authored book Planet Patriarchy asks what makes patriarchy so resilient, and where feminism is not just surviving but genuinely thriving.
In conversation with Ashwini Jaisim, content strategist and editor, the session centres on a revelation: a little-known women's revolution in Rojava, Northeast Syria. Here, women are building a bottom-up democracy rooted in multi-ethnic inclusivity and ecological sustainability. It's a radical reimagining of power that challenges everything we think we know about governance and gender.
Concluding with an audience Q&A, this session invites you to rethink power, resilience, and the possibilities of feminist futures, one where gender equality isn't an afterthought but the foundation.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Rahila Gupta is in conversation with Ashwini Jaisim. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Some histories vanish not by accident, but by design.
In the wake of colonial rule, Forbidden Desire unspools a compelling narrative of how British imperial power erased India's far-reaching traditions of gender and sexual diversity. The book draws from feminist historiography, anthropology, South Asian queer theory, decolonial studies and the history of medicine and legislation to map the transformation of lives once lived in fluid, expressive spaces. Author Sindhu Rajasekaran invites us into archive after archive where nautch dancers, courtesans, trans and queer persons, ascetics and masculine women once existed beyond the binaries that later came to dominate.
In conversation with Arundhati Ghosh, this discussion will trace how colonial authorities turned indigenous multiplicities into "criminals", folding ancient codes of desire into Victorian moral order: think of Section 377, the Contagious Diseases Act, and the Criminal Tribes Act.
More than a simple critique, the evening offers a chance to reimagine our futures by reclaiming what we were taught to forget.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Sindhu Rajasekaran is in conversation with Arundhati Ghosh. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
At a moment when democratic legitimacy rests on public trust, the role of the Election Commission demands urgent, sober reflection.
This Constitution Day session examines the institution at the heart of India's electoral democracy: one tasked with ensuring free and fair elections for over 900 million voters. Yet recent concerns over voter-roll preparation, election scheduling, enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, and responses to hate speech raise critical questions about its autonomy and constitutional resilience.
Grounded in the original vision of an independent referee, the discussion considers whether today's political pressures and structural vulnerabilities call for renewed safeguards or a deeper reimagining of the Commission itself.
An essential conversation for anyone seeking to understand how democratic institutions endure, and what it takes to protect them.
In collaboration with:
Daksh
In this episode of BIC Talks, S Y Quraishi delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Nov 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
A wobbling world tries to find its axis: fabrics tear, lands splinter, loved ones vanish, names fade.
This session intertwines conversation and poetry, inviting audiences into the bold, shimmering world of Arundhathi Subramaniam's luminous new collection. The session will trace the arc through the sacred and the feminine, culminating in this celebration of fierce, unruly womanhood.
Sumbramaniam's collection takes us through shifting landscapes, following the strides of extraordinary women. Women who vault over borders, stroll naked through history, tilt sideways into the unexpected, and sometimes walk entirely upside down. They blur the boundaries between the mundane and the magical, the remembered and the imagined, revealing a world waiting quietly within the old one. Welcome a world that demands new ways of being, new acts of courage, new freedoms!
In this episode of BIC Talks, Arundhathi Subramaniam takes us through her book and her process. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Nov 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Meet Mohandas: experimenting, debating, and testing the ideas that would later define him as Mahatma.
This conversation around The Dawn of Life, Prabhudas Gandhi's newly translated memoir, returns us to the ashram circles of South Africa, where Gandhi was still shaping the ideals that would one day define him.
Translated into English for the first time by Hemang Ashwinkumar, recipient of the 2024–25 New India Foundation Translation Fellowship, the book revives a family archive both historical and deeply personal. Written by his young grandnephew who lived alongside him at Phoenix Settlement and Tolstoy Farm, the memoir offers an intimate portrait of shared labour and domestic routines, debates on diet and brahmacharya, experiments in simplicity, and the quiet discipline that shaped a philosophy. Here, Gandhi appears exacting yet tender, fallible yet searching, and alive in the small routines that forged his philosophy.
In conversation with Nandini Nair of the New India Foundation, Hemang reflects on recovering overlooked histories and carrying a handwritten chronicle into the present; opening a rare window onto Gandhi in the making. The session will conclude with an audience Q&A.
In collaboration with: The New India Foundation and Penguin
In this episode of BIC Talks, Hemang Ashwinkumar is in a conversation with Nandini Nair. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Nov 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Four poets from Bangalore come together for an evening of poetry in English and Hindi, exploring how language moves across geographies, experiences, and ways of seeing. Their poems reveal how words can hold multiple realities, opening up Worlds Within Worlds through translation, memory, and imagination.
The event will feature readings from Perennial: The Red River Book of 21st Century Hindi Poetry (Red River, 2025), edited by Sourav Roy and Tuhin Bhowal; So That You Know (HarperCollins, 2025) by Mani Rao; and The Book of Blue (Red River, 2024) by Atreyee Majumder. Together, these books offer distinct yet connected perspectives on how poetry continues to shape and question the world we inhabit.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Atreyee Majumder, Sourav Roy and Tuhin Bhowal are in conversation with Mani Rao. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
Carrying the people and pulse of a city.
Bengaluru Bus Stories is a conversation on how public transport weaves lives together by connecting neighbourhoods, opportunities, and communities across the city. Drawing from EQUIMOB, an international research collaboration between the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Utrecht University, Bangalore Bus Prayaanikara Vedike, and SAMVADA, the discussion explores how buses shape daily life, build connections, and remain vital to the city's social fabric.
Moderated by Dr. Ranjana Raghunathan of Vidyashilp University, the panel brings together researchers and activists reflecting on their work with commuters and policymakers, reimagining Bengaluru's buses as true lifelines that are designed with care, inclusion, and dignity at the core.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Shaheen Shasa, Sobin George and Prajwal Nagesh are in a conversation with Ranjana Raghunathan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
What happens when one-sixth of humanity undertakes the world's most complex development experiment?
In A Sixth of Humanity, renowned political scientist Devesh Kapur and former Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian unpack India's audacious journey of nation-building and economic transformation. Blending democracy, socialism, and liberalization in an unprecedented way, India has charted a "precocious" path to development—one that defies conventional models and continues to reshape global geopolitics and economics.
Through this conversation, the authors reflect on India's unique development trajectory, the paradoxes that define it, and what it reveals about the future of large, diverse democracies.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Devesh Kapur, Arvind Subramanian are in a conversation with Ramachandra Guha. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
The Constitution promises freedom, but really, how free are we under its design?
In 2025, India's Constitution turned seventy-five: a remarkable testament to endurance and adaptability. Yet, beneath its promise of liberty lies a constant negotiation of power. Gautam Bhatia examines the Constitution not just as a legal document, but as a dynamic terrain where visions of authority clash, intersect, and contend for supremacy.
Central to this story is the drift toward centralisation: power increasingly concentrated in the union executive. While certain elements of this concentration are embedded in the Constitution's design, landmark Supreme Court judgments have, at key moments, accelerated the trend. This talk explores how these structures shape, channel, and sometimes constrain the possibilities for emancipation.
Through a careful reading of the Constitution's text, history, and interpretations, Bhatia sheds light on the subtle (and often contested) mechanisms that govern India's democracy.
A Q&A will follow, giving audiences a chance to engage with these questions of power, freedom, and the ongoing relevance of India's constitutional experiment.
The Vijay Nambisan Trust: The Vijay Nambisan Trust was formed to perpetuate the cause of Humanities in its many spheres. The Vijay Memorial Lecture to be held every year is the first event to be sponsored by the Trust in partnership with the Bangalore International Centre.
About Vijay Nambisan:One of the best poet-writers of his generation, Vijay Nambisan is known as much for his poetry and prose, as he is for his reclusiveness. He dropped out of IIT Madras in his fourth year of engineering to pursue his love for the written word. He won the first All India British Council Poetry Prize in 1988, worked for a number of years in the literary section of The Hindu and published collections of poetry and prose in his inimitable style. He was married to surgeon and novelist, Kavery Nambisan.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Gautam Bhatia delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025.
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dynamics in a society steeped in tradition and inviting us to contemplate not just the challenges facing Pakistan but also the boundless potential for change and understanding. This session delves deeper into their experiences, exposing the layers of tradition that shape societal norms, offering a compelling examination of the challenges and opportunities inherent in the region's sociopolitical landscape. In this episode of BIC Talks, Ruchi Ghanashyam and A R Ghanashyam will be in conversation with Latha Reddy. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025.
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A cab in five minutes. Groceries in ten. Biryani in twenty.
Who really powers your fast, effortless digital life?
OTP Please! (Penguin Random House) uncovers the hidden human stories behind South Asia's booming app economy. Vandana Vasudevan takes readers into the lives of gig workers racing against the clock, small sellers navigating the algorithm, and the restless customers who keep tapping 'Order Now.' From India's hyperlocal delivery boys to Pakistan's ride-hail drivers, Nepal's app startups to Bangladesh's e-marketplace sellers, the book reveals the invisible ecosystem that fuels our digital ease – and the costs it quietly extracts.
Vandana will be in conversation with Mekin Maheshwari, serial entrepreneur, early Flipkart leader, and Founder & CEO of Udhyam Learning Foundation, exploring the realities, challenges, and humanity behind the apps we use every day.
An insightful morning unpacking the human side of technology, offering perspectives that linger long after the screen goes dark.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Vandana Vasudevan will be in conversation with Mekin Maheshwari. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025.
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What does it take to dream beyond your time—and make those dreams real?
Vikram Sarabhai, founder of India's space programme, imagined communication satellites that would educate people when even a modest rocket launch seemed audacious. He envisioned agricultural complexes powered by atomic energy, sea water turned drinkable, and a modern India fuelled by science and creativity. But Sarabhai was more than a scientist—he co-founded the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, the National Institute of Design, the dance academy Darpana, and India's first textile research cooperative, ATIRA. He also ran a thriving pharmaceutical company and launched India's first market research organisation, ORG.
As India navigates its twenty-first century aspirations, this session revisits the humane, imaginative, yet pragmatic vision of a man who built enduring institutions. Drawing from Vikram Sarabhai: A Life, author Amrita Shah offers an intimate portrait of a multifaceted genius whose legacy continues to shape India's present and future. After her talk, she will be in conversation with Jahnavi Phalkey, exploring the many lives and lasting vision of this extraordinary builder of modern India.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Amrita Shah will be in conversation with Jahnavi Phalkey. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025.
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Between Gandhi and Savarkar lies the story of India's unresolved future.
The future of India has long been caught between two irreconcilable visions. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar were not just men, but embodiments of two enduring ideologies: Hind Swaraj and Hindutva. Their contest was never merely personal; it was a struggle over what India could, and should, become.
Partition was one gash on the body of the nation, its scars still visible. Can India afford new wounds? To even attempt an answer, we must return to the old antagonisms – between communities, yes, but also within Hindu society itself. Few rivalries have been as sharp, or as consequential, as that between Gandhi and Savarkar.
Based on his new book, Hindutva and Hind Swaraj, this talk reflects on the unresolved gulf between Gandhi and Savarkar. Not as history, but as a question that remains open: can such differences ever be bridged, or are they the fault lines of India's future?
In this episode of BIC Talks, Makarand R Paranjape delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
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At its heart, The Dark Hours of the Night is a story about girlhood under constraint, about how adolescence, desire, and freedom are shaped and stifled within the walls of a conservative household.
Rabia's journey, woven together with the lives of her friends and cousins, illuminates the subtle negotiations, unspoken rebellions, and fragile solidarities that mark women's coming-of-age in a patriarchal world. The novel opens a conversation about the everyday intimacies of restriction and resistance: the ache of thwarted desire, the bonds of friendship, the weight of silence, and the difficult balance between compromise and courage. It asks what it means to grow up when the future has already been decided, and whether education, love, or even small acts of defiance can shift those boundaries.
In this session, Subodh Sankar and Salma will reflect on these resonant themes, of gender, family, power, and the search for selfhood, that lie at the centre of The Dark Hours of the Night and across Salma's larger body of work.
இரண்டாம் ஜாமங்களின் கதை என்பது கட்டுப்பாடுகளின் நடுவே வளரும் பெண் சிறுவயதின் கதை. இளமையின் ஆசைகள், சுதந்திரத்தின் கனவுகள் மற்றும் எதிர்பார்ப்புகள், ஒரு மரபுவழி குடும்பத்தின் சுவர்களுக்குள் எவ்வாறு கட்டுப்படுத்தப்படுகின்றன என்பதை இந்த நாவல் வெளிப்படுத்துகிறது.
ராபியாவின் வாழ்க்கைப் பயணம், அவளது தோழிகள் மற்றும் சொந்தங்கள் இணைந்து, பெண்களின் வளர்ச்சிப் பாதையில் அமைதியான எதிர்ப்புகள், நுட்பமான சமரசங்கள், சொல்லப்படாத போராட்டங்கள் மற்றும் உறவுகள் எவ்வாறு உருவாகின்றன என்பதை சுட்டிக்காட்டுகிறது. இந்த நாவல் அன்றாட வாழ்க்கையில் காணப்படும் கட்டுப்பாடுகள் மற்றும் எதிர்ப்புகளைப் பற்றி உரையாடலைத் தொடங்குகிறது: நிறைவேறாத ஆசைகள், நட்பு பந்தங்கள், மௌனத்தின் சுமை, சமரசம் மற்றும் துணிச்சலின் இடைநிலைகள். எதிர்காலம் ஏற்கனவே தீர்மானிக்கப்பட்டிருக்கும் சூழலில் வளர்வது என்றால் என்ன, கல்வி, அன்பு அல்லது சிறிய எதிர்ப்புகள் கூட அந்த எல்லைகளை மாற்ற முடியுமா என்பதையும் கேட்கிறது.
இந்த உரையாடலில், சுபோத் சங்கருடன் சல்மா, இரண்டாம் ஜாமங்களின் கதை மற்றும் தனது விரிவான படைப்புகளின் மையத்தில் இருக்கும் பாலினம், குடும்பம், அதிகாரம் மற்றும் தனித்தன்மை தேடல் போன்ற கருக்களை ஆராயவுள்ளனர்.
In collaboration with:
Simon & Schuster India
In this episode of BIC Talks, Salma will be in conversation with Subodh Sankar. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
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Before the spotlights, who kept the women's game alive?
In 2017, India's women cricketers came heartbreakingly close to a World Cup win at Lord's. That match lit a fire, changing how the country saw its women athletes, and laying the foundation for today's Women's Premier League – the first women's sports league to turn profitable even before a single ball was bowled.
It's the first time since that iconic evening at Lord's that the Women's World Cup is set to be hosted in India.
This session will celebrate those forgotten days when world cups in India were played in front of empty seats, even when the cricket itself was no less significant. Bringing these narratives to life are Karunya Keshav, Ananya Upendran, and Aayush Puthran. This is a chance to hear directly from some of the best storytellers on women's cricket.
In collaboration with:
Bookmark
Bookmark is a dating app for readers, created by the founders of Cubbon Reads, where one swipes books, not looks. Through a virtual bookshelf and prompts, people can find book buddies across the world.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Ananya Upendran and Karunya Keshav will be in conversation with Aayush Puthran. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
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What happens when institutions bend, freedoms collapse, and silence rules? India once knew.
Five decades may have passed, but the Emergency remains a stark reminder of how swiftly freedoms can be curtailed. In those 21 months, prisons filled, the press was silenced, and democratic institutions bent under the weight of authoritarian rule. The questions it leaves behind are urgent: what does this episode tell us about the fragility of democracy, and what echoes of it persist today?
A new volume gathers reflections from scholars, writers, historians, journalists, and activists to probe this turbulent chapter and its continuing relevance. Joining the discussion are Peter Ronald de Souza, co-editor of the book, historian Janaki Nair, sociologist Chandan Gowda, and political scientist Rinku Lamba, in a conversation moderated by Thomas Abraham.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Peter Ronald deSouza, Janaki Nair, Chandan Gowda and Rinku Lamba will be in conversation with Thomas Abraham. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
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The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself.
These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape.
As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before.
Language between Nationalism and Technology In today's charged climate, languages carry the weight of both nationalism and digital futures. This session asks how India's linguistic diversity will evolve in the twenty-first century, and whether the voices of many can thrive amid the pulls of technology, identity, and the search for cultural belonging.
In this episode of BIC Talks, G N Devy delivers a masterclass. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself.
These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape.
As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before.
Decline and Transformation Sanskrit reigned for millennia, Persian for centuries, English for decades. Yet, none endured unchallenged. Each gave way to the resilient desi-bhashas, rooted in the land and people. This lecture traces the rise, fall, and transformation of languages in India, and what these shifts reveal about power and imagination.
The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself.
These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape.
As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before.
Language and Hegemony Explore how Sanskrit, Persian, and English reshaped India across centuries. Each entered from outside, claimed cultural power, and ruled the imagination, but India remained a linguistic civilization defined by diversity. This talk uncovers why language became both a tool of hegemony and the essence of India's selfhood.
In this episode of BIC Talks, G N Devy delivers a masterclass. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
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Trust is thin, history is long, and the consequences? Unforgiving.
India and China share a long border and a longer shadow. Security risks and market hopes pull in opposite directions. In a world of shifting power, India must choose with care.
This evening explores that choice through the ancient philosophical and logical Indian discipline of Purva Paksha.
Each speaker first presents the other's case, fully and fairly, before offering their own. The aim isn't to score points, but rather, to see clearly: where trust frayed, where interests align, and where wisdom might guide policy.
Expect a rigorous, humane conversation that values nuance over noise, and context over heat. If you've wondered how India can guard its borders while growing its future, this format offers you a chance to learn through respectful debate.
For those who prize thoughtfulness, this is a rare chance!
In collaboration with:
Takshashila Institution
In this episode of BIC Talks, Manoj Kewalramani will be in conversation with Pranay Kotasthane. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
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Sundar Sarukkai's second novel published recently titled Water Days is a reflective look at the changes in his home city, Bangalore, how everyday life gets formed and what happens to the city insidiously and quietly. He explores migration and the changing social fabric, patriarchy, language, linguistic conflicts, power, and who gets to belong in the melting pot that is Bangalore.
Water Days is not just a novel about a city; it is a novel about what it means to belong when everything around you is changing. Sarukkai does not romanticise Bangalore, but he listens carefully to it, and implores you to do so as well.
Somak Ghoshal says of the novel in Mint: "Water Days is as much a call to reckon with the transformation of a city as an object lesson in empathy, observation, and community living. As urban India becomes divisive, unliveable, and intensely self-serving, it is chroniclers like Sarukkai who continue to do the work that no policy maker or political leader is doing – inspiring us with feelings to make us more concerned and caring citizens."
In this episode of BIC Talks, Sundar Sarukkai will be in conversation with Stanley Carvalho. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
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Adolescence has never been easy, but today's teenagers face unique challenges: the pressures of a digital world, rising academic demands, and the aftershocks of a global pandemic. Rates of anxiety and depression are climbing, leaving parents searching for tools to support their children.
This discussion, inspired by Resilience Decoded: What Every Parent Should Know About Teen Mental Health, brings together author Dr. Sujata Kelkar Shetty, biological scientist, writer and resilience coach; philanthropist and education innovator Rohini Nilekani; and award-winning filmmaker Pavitra Chalam, who will moderate the conversation.
Together, they will explore how parents can better understand the adolescent brain, strengthen everyday habits that boost resilience, set healthy boundaries around technology, and communicate in ways that build trust. Drawing on neuroscience, lived experience, and practical strategies, the session offers parents not just guidance but a roadmap for action.
Because resilient teens begin with resilient parents, this conversation aims to equip families with knowledge, skills, and hope.
Presented by:
Dr. Sujata Kelkar Shetty
In this episode of BIC Talks, Sujata Kelkar Shetty and Rohini Nilekani will be in conversation with Pavitra Chalam. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025.
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Public interest litigation (PIL) is a legal innovation of fairly recent vintage which was inspired by noble objectives. It has been seen as a useful tool in widening access to justice, especially in societies scarred by poverty, illiteracy, human exploitation, corruption and maladministration.
The concept took deep roots in India some thirty years ago and has now become an ubiquitous feature of the legal landscape. Over the years, however, Indian PIL has, in Dr Venkat Iyer's view, produced a plethora of serious negative consequences, most of them unintended (but not unforeseeable), which have the potential not only to discredit the concept itself, but to irreversibly destroy the trust that the Indian masses have placed in the judiciary – an institution which has, over the past five decades, been come to be seen, rightly or wrongly, as the last bastion of freedom and the rule of law.
The lecture is aimed at shining a critical spotlight on the state of PIL in contemporary India and to suggest that the time has come for a serious reappraisal of attitudes in this important area of law and public policy.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Venkat Iyer will be in conversation with C N Kumar. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Aug 2025.
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What does it take to keep a centuries-old craft alive in the 21st century?
Handlooms: Past, Present and Future brings together some of the most influential voices in the craft world for a vital conversation on heritage, change, and continuity. From policy and preservation to design and storytelling, this panel explores how handwoven traditions have endured through countless centuries, and the new challenges the 21st century provides.
The discussion features Laila Tyabji, founder of Dastkar and a pioneering force in India's craft revival; Ratna Krishna Kumar, patron of traditional arts; actor and advocate Nandita Das; and Chandra Jain, textile revivalist and curator of River Weaves: Brocades of Banaras. Award-winning writer and cultural commentator Shoba Narayan will moderate the conversation.
Together, they reflect on what must evolve and what must endure– especially in a time when fast fashion threatens to erase the soulful, skilled work of artisans.
This panel is part of River Weaves, an immersive exhibition that celebrates the beauty, complexity, and cultural depth of Banarasi brocade. Designed by Siddhartha Das Studio and presented by Chandra Jain, the exhibition reveals the layers of history, symbolism, and sustainability woven into each fabric.
Expect insight, honesty, and a renewed sense of why these threads still matter.
In collaboration with:
Kadambari
In this episode of BIC Talks, Laila Tyabji, Ratna Krishna Kumar, Nandita Das, Chandra Jain with will be in conversation with Shoba Narayan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Aug 2025.
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It's here. The climate crisis is no longer a distant warning.
Climate Change: The Policy, Law, and Practice is a vital intervention. A book that gathers decades of global negotiations, Indian legal battles, and emerging climate jurisprudence into one urgent and accessible narrative. From courtroom precedents to cutting-edge policy, from carbon markets to constitutional rights, it examines how law can both shape and respond to the climate emergency.
Author and legal expert Jay Cheema draws from his experience as Amicus Curiae to the Supreme Court of India in a landmark carbon emissions case. Guiding us through the evolving legal architecture of climate action and accountability, his presentation will be followed by an incisive conversation with an interlocutor to explore the tensions and hopes within the climate discourse. An open Q&A will close the session.
Reshaping landscapes, displacing lives, and challenging our very systems of governance, this crisis can no longer be sidelined. Forests burn where there was once monsoon green, rivers swell as glaciers retreat, and the ancient cycle of India's six ritus feels increasingly unfamiliar. The chaos predicted by climate scientists in the 50's is increasingly creeping into our reality.
Because the climate crisis is not only legal and political, but deeply personal.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Jatinder 'Jay' Cheema will be in conversation with Navaneeta Bhaskar. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Aug 2025.
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Insider accounts from political aides, bureaucrats, and diplomats have long illuminated the workings of power—but even more enigmatic were the lobbyists. Operating in the shadows, often invisible to public scrutiny, they were intimately privy to clandestine negotiations, back-channel discussions, and subtle bureaucratic skirmishes. In his new roman-à-clef For No Reason At All, Ramjee Chandran shines a light on this hidden world.
Chandran—well‑known in Bangalore as a journalist, publisher, and podcaster—has, until now, remained silent about his time as a lobbyist in 1980s New Delhi, a pivotal era just before major economic reforms took hold.
Drawing from real events, the novel charts the journey of a young lobbyist caught in a high-stakes conflict over silicon metal—a material deemed strategically vital. Central to the drama is Metkem Silicon, which, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, devoted 17 years to developing indigenous silicon metal technology. Yet their efforts collided with a rival scheme spearheaded by the Department of Electronics, which wanted to bypass local innovation and import U.S. technology.
What ensued was a four‑year bureaucratic war: media leaks, secret memorandums, and the covert involvement of the Soviets and other intelligence agencies—culminating in a final decision placed in the hands of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Set against the backdrop of Cold War Delhi on the cusp of liberalisation, the novel paints a vivid portrait of a nation—and capital—torn between ideologies and ambitions. The Soviet Union may have vanished, lobbyists have receded from public corridors, and few can claim first‑hand knowledge of that era.
In Confessions of a Lobbyist, Siddharth Raja—a lawyer, historian, and bibliophile—sits down with Ramjee Chandran to peel back the layers of this story, offering an insider's glimpse into a world that feels at once distant and disarmingly relevant.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Ramjee Chandran will be in conversation with Siddharth Raja. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Aug 2025.
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Are we teaching children what to think, or how to think? When our children focus on rote learning and exam-based academic progress, how do we nurture the inventive Indian who can fuel the imagination of the world with creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving? What if classrooms became labs of imagination, not factories of repetition?
These are the questions that the Agastya International Foundation set out to answer 25 years ago, by designing a curiosity-driven, experiential learning model that has transformed education across India. Today, their vision of sparking curiosity, nurturing creativity and instilling confidence and caring has impacted over 25 million schoolchildren and 300,000 teachers in government schools across 23 Indian States.
An acclaimed new book from Penguin Random House, The Moving of Mountains traces Agastya's extraordinary journey in reshaping the classroom by replacing rote learning with hands-on experiments, creative projects and interactive models in science, art and ecology.
Join us in a discussion of why this powerful vision for curiosity-driven, experiential learning is critical to the future of India, and has caught the imagination of scientists, industry leaders, educationists and policy makers alike.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Adhirath Sethi, Revathi Narayanan, K VijayRaghavan and G K Ananthsuresh will be in conversation with Vikram Bhat. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Aug 2025.
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As global power dynamics continue to shift, the Indo-Pacific sits at the heart of a rapidly evolving strategic and economic landscape. In this timely and wide-ranging session, Peter Varghese, former Australian Foreign Secretary and High Commissioner to India, offers a perspective shaped by decades of diplomacy and deep engagement with the region.
His address will explore the complex forces redefining the Indo-Pacific: from the sharpening rivalry between the US and China, to China's expanding influence and the evolving policy direction in Washington. The session will also examine how key regional players (India, Japan, Korea, Indonesia) are shaping their own responses to these pressures, and what this means for the broader security of the region.
Alongside geopolitics, the conversation will turn to trade tensions, economic nationalism, and the slowing pace of globalization; factors that now cast long shadows over our economic future. Can traditional regional institutions hold, or will more agile, interest-based minilateral groups take their place?
In this episode of BIC Talks, Peter Varghese will be in conversation with Latha Reddy, Nitin Pai, and Ranjan Mathai. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Aug 2025.
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How do we honour truths without exploitation or erasure?
This panel discussion will explore how the chapter of Partition is remembered, who holds the responsibility of preserving its stories, and what it means to give them an honest voice. Through literature, oral testimony, archives, or immersive media, each speaker has engaged with histories marked by silence, trauma, and survival. In this session, they will reflect on the choices they have made: to amplify certain voices, to tell different stories with care, and to avoid reducing complex truths into simplified narratives.
At the heart of this conversation is a shared responsibility; not only as writers, educators, or artists, but as individuals shaped by inherited memory. As Partition fades from lived memory, this panel asks how the stories we carry today might shape the understanding of future generations, and the ways they remember, question, and imagine.
In collaboration with:
Rereeti
In this episode of BIC Talks, Urvashi Butalia and Soni Wadhwa will be in conversation with Tejshvi Jain. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Aug 2025.
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Scholars of international relations, political thought, and India’s diplomatic history continue to debate the meaning and relevance of non-alignment in India’s foreign policy today. The origins of these debates lie in Jawaharlal Nehru’s articulation of non-alignment at the height of the Cold War, a concept both resolute and ambiguous.
In this talk, Dr. Swapna Kona Nayudu will draw on her acclaimed book, The Nehru Years: An International History of Indian Non-Alignment (Cambridge University Press UK, Juggernaut Books India), to explore how India’s approach to international affairs and the United Nations now understood in summary as non-alignment. Based on meticulous archival research in multiple languages, her work uncovers India’s diplomatic and peacekeeping contributions in pivotal global events such as the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, the Hungarian Revolution, and the Congo Crisis.
Tracing the evolution of non-alignment from Nehru’s time to the present, Dr. Kona Nayudu will examine its contested meaning and its influence on India’s position as the only non-aligned founding member of the UN.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Dr. Kona Nayudu will be in conversation with Jahnavi Phalkey. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jul 2025.
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Journalism. Politics. Justice.
One fateful evening in 2017, journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot outside her Bangalore home. Her death sent shockwaves across the country. But the story didn’t end there.
This evening with journalist and author Rollo Romig, as he explores in his powerful new book, I Am on the Hit List, offers new insights into the life and assassination of Gauri Lankesh. In conversation with artist Pushpamala N and writer-activist Shivsundar, Romig shares the years of reporting and investigating that led him deep into the world Gauri inhabited.
Through hidden archives, political undercurrents, and voices from the ground, Romig uncovers a chilling rise in hate and extremism. From Bangalore’s storied publishing lanes to secretive religious enclaves, this conversation offers a rare and moving look at India’s shifting democratic landscape.
Pull up a chair. Because remembering is resistance, and this is a story that needs to be heard.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Rollo Romig and Shivasundar will be in conversation with Pushpamala N. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jul 2025.
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Mumbai in the seventies and eighties was a city of sharp contrasts: glamour and gang wars, chaos and control. At the heart of it all was Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retd) Madhukar B. Zende, a sharp-minded officer with a knack for catching the city’s most elusive criminals.
Best known for arresting the infamous serial killer Charles Sobhraj, aka the Serpent, Zende’s career spanned decades of high-stakes policing. His new book, Mumbai’s Most Wanted, is a rich and gritty chronicle of life on the force.
From the mysterious murder of Shanta Devi to the capture of criminal kingpins like Arun Gawli, Karim Lala, Haji Mastan and Babu Reshim, his stories unfold like scenes from a noir thriller (except every word is true). There are riots, manhunts, and moments of doubt as well as unexpected grace.
This conversation is a rare look into a city in flux and a man who walked its fault lines, chasing justice in a time of smoke-filled bars, typewriters, and quick decisions.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Madhukar Zende will be in conversation with Raghu Karnad. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jul 2025.
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Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is remembered and admired for many things: for his heroic, lifelong, campaign to eradicate the evil of untouchability; for his scholarly contributions as an economist and social theorist; for the social movements he led and the political parties he founded; for the educational institutions he nurtured; for his critical role in overseeing and directing the framing of the Constitution; for the brilliant books, essays and pamphlets that he authored on a variety of subjects.
This lecture will focus on Ambedkar as a visionary and deeply insightful theorist of constitutional democracy. By juxtaposing what he said in his speeches in the Constituent Assembly to the social and political realities of contemporary India, I shall demonstrate how his ideas remain of compelling relevance to us today. While the core of the talk will be on Ambedkar the political theorist, it will end by briefly comparing his legacy with that of other remarkable Indians of his generation, such as Nehru, Gandhi, Tagore, and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay.
The National Law School of India University, Bengaluru (NLSIU) and the Ahmadi Foundation have entered into a MoU to set up the Justice Ahmadi Initiative on Rule of Law, Democracy, and Social Justice in honour of, and to preserve and promote the legacy of former Chief Justice of India, Justice Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi. The Initiative will work to advance the ideas that Justice Ahmadi championed throughout his distinguished career, including but not restricted to human rights, education, inclusion and protection of vulnerable communities, judicial independence, alternate dispute resolution mechanisms, and strengthening of democratic institutions. An annual distinguished lecture series is one of the events planned under the Initiative.
Presented by: National law School of India University, bangalore
In this episode of BIC Talks, Ramchandra Guha will deliver a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jul 2025.
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What was the process of wealth generation and accumulation by the most prominent business community of South India? A journey that was marked by risk and courage; a journey that carried them to the greener pastures of South and Southeast Asia; and a journey that was shaped by the power of global events.
In this conversation, scholar Prof. Carol Upadhya and veteran journalist K N Hari Kumar and Prof. Raman Mahadevan shall unravel and illuminate not only the making, but also the relative weakening, of the Nattukottai Chettiars as a business community, and the significance of their journey for our times.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Prof. Carol Upadhya and Prof. Raman Mahadevan will be in conversation with veteran journalist K N Hari Kumar. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jul 2025.
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What happens when the promise of equal citizenship begins to fade for one of the world’s largest Muslim populations? In today’s India, the question is no longer theoretical, but urgent and deeply personal for over 200 million people.
This session explores the shifting political landscape of Indian Muslims through the lens of Shikwa-e-Hind, the new book by political scientist Mujibur Rehman. He examines what he calls their “third political moment,” a phase marked by the erosion of constitutional equality and the rise of a majoritarian ethos since 2014. Tracing the arc from the aftermath of 1857, through the hopeful vision of 1947, to today’s polarised climate, Rehman invites a critical look at the future of democratic participation for Indian Muslims.
The conversation features Mujibur Rehman in dialogue with author and columnist Aakar Patel and moderated by journalist Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed. They will explore the tension between constitutional ideals and majoritarian pressures, the structural challenges of representation, and the possibilities for reclaiming dignity, rights, and democratic participation for Indian Muslims. The session will conclude with a Q&A, offering space for your questions in what promises to be an inclusive and engaging discussion.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Mujibur Rehman and Aakar Patel will be in conversation with Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jul 2025.
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Around 15 years ago, the then UPA government had launched an all-out offensive (commonly known as ‘Operation Greenhunt’) targeting the armed cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) (also known as Naxalites) across the ‘Red Corridor’ which consisted of Naxal-affected districts spanning Central and Eastern India and spilling into Southern India as well. According to reports at the time, Naxal cadres were active (to varying degrees) in at least 165 districts across this corridor which was also coterminous with the most backward, primarily tribal and the most resource rich parts of the country. The BJP government, which came to power in 2014, continued this policy of an all-out offensive against the Naxalites extending this to target the urban activists/ sympathisers of the CPI (Maoist) as well.
There has been a marked decline in Naxalite activity since then with the number of affected districts falling to 70 in 2021 and newer reports suggesting that the Naxalite presence is restricted to fewer than 50 districts now. In a strong policy statement, Home Minister Amit stated that “Naxalism will be completely eliminated by 2026.” Human rights activists have questioned the state’s all-out approach of using overwhelming force to quash Naxalism as this method is not addressing the fundamental grievances of the residents of these tribal parts which is of their displacement and exploitation of the rich natural resources by large corporations. Several Naxalites have surrendered over the past two decades but questions have also been raised on the efficacy and sincerity of the surrender policy.
Karnataka was also impacted by the wave of Naxalism and, commencing in the 1980s, cadres were recruited for this cause in the State as well. In the 1990s, it seemed like the movement was spreading its base in Karnataka aggressively but a series of encounters including that of Saketh Rajan, the charismatic Naxal leader, in 2005, ensured that the movement did not become widespread in Karnataka. There was also intense churn among a section of the cadres of the CPI (Maoist) in Karnataka after this as well with one group exiting the party as it had ideological differences with the central leadership of the party. Over the two decades since that time, the Naxalite movement has ebbed in Karnataka with several Naxalites also surrendering. Early in 2025, with the “surrender” of the last group of Naxalites in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah declared the state to be Naxal-free. The Karnataka model presents a template of how Naxalism, in its violent form, can be ended. By all accounts, the Karnataka model is unique for the manner in which former Naxalites joined the mainstream of activism. The role of the mature civil society in Karnataka that played a crucial role in facilitating this process is also important.
The discussion proposes to dwell on the trajectory of Naxalism in Karnataka from its inception in the 1980s till early 2025, and whether the state is willing to seriously engage with the grievances of marginalised people who became Naxals. Is the state empathetic to the concerns of the Naxalites who came overground? The discussion proposes to dwell on all these aspects while broadly focussing on the success of the Karnataka model of mainstreaming Left-Wing Extremists.
In this episode of BIC Talks, K P Sripal, Noor Sridhar and Tara Rao will be in conversation with Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed . This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jun 2025.
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Institutions and Public Policy for India’s Sustainable Development – Perspectives on Governance, Technology, and Finance, is an edited volume in honour of Professor Vinod Vyasulu (Edited by – Sukhpal Singh, Jyotsna Jha, A. Indira and A. V. Arunkumar).
The book addresses one of the most urgent challenges of our time – sustainable development. Across the globe economies are grappling with the combined pressures of climate change, inequality, and unsustainable growth. Basic needs remain unmet for large sections of the population, prompting a growing recognition that we must rethink how we define and pursue development. Sustainability is no longer a peripheral concern—it is central, complex, and evolving, requiring new approaches and frameworks.
The book brings together diverse perspectives on the critical drivers of sustainable development, namely, governance through institutions, readiness through technology and accessibility to finance. While technology is often seen as a key enabler, its transformative potential depends deeply on the institutional and policy environment in which it is embedded. Institutions—formal and informal—shape development outcomes, and public policy plays a crucial role in aligning these efforts with sustainability goals.
Focusing on the Indian context, the book event will have eminent panel members exploring the three interconnected themes of (1) Institutions and Development; (2) Technology and Innovation; and (3) Policy and Governance.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Vinod Vyasulu, Ashwani Saith, Chiranjib Sen and Supriya Roy Chowdhury will be in conversation with Gurucharan Gollerkeri. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jun 2025.
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Was Indira Gandhi a pragmatic nation-builder or an authoritarian disruptor or both? Historian Srinath Raghavan’s new book, Indira Gandhi: The Years That Transformed India, explores her complex legacy, from her central role in reshaping India’s political structure to the controversial imposition of the Emergency.
In this conversation with constitutional scholar Arun Thiruvengadam, the session will explore the making and unmaking of democratic institutions, the long shadow of the Emergency, and the resonances of Indira’s era in the India of today. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Srinath Raghavan will be in conversation with Arun Thiruvengadam. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jun 2025.
The years between ages 10 and 19 are marked by intense physiological, psychological, and social change. Adding to the challenges of this already turbulent phase are mobile devices and social media. These platforms often exploit insecurities, creating echo chambers and negative feedback loops. While digital life can connect us, it also has the power to isolate. The TV series Adolescence highlights the potentially dangerous consequences of these overlapping forces.
In this conversation, a panel of experts, drawing from both professional knowledge and lived experience, explores what adolescence looks like in the age of social media, particularly in urban India. Taking the TV show as a starting point, the discussion will look at the realities young people face today and consider how parents, schools, and other adults can help support individual and collective well-being.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Shekhar Sheshadri, Neena David, Saurabh Shashi Ashok, Sansita Nambiar will be in conversation with Maitri Gopalakrishna. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jun 2025.
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What would justice look like if it spoke in a queer voice? How might legal judgments shift if they were written through the lived experiences and realities of LGBTQIA+ individuals?
In this session, we explore the bold and imaginative work of The Queer Judgments Project, an initiative that seeks to re-think, re-write, and re-invent legal judgments through queer and complementary perspectives. Emerging from a series of conversations among scholars, activists, and legal thinkers, the project asks a vital question: how could legal decisions involving sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics be expressed differently, more inclusively, more justly?
At the heart of the discussion is the project’s first major output: an edited collection that offers 26 re-imagined judgments and commentaries from across the globe. Through this collection, contributors bring their diverse disciplinary backgrounds and personal insights to bear on the law, queering traditional frameworks and imagining alternative approaches to legal reasoning.
This session will engage with the creative, critical, and deeply personal work that underpins these re-written judgments. It will reflect on how the project aims not just to critique existing legal structures but to open up new possibilities for justice that better reflect the experiences of LGBTQIA+ and other minoritized communities.
This year, BIC celebrates Pride Month through a series of programs that embrace Queerness as it is — unconforming, changing and alternative. Every program aims to embody the fluid and non-normative possibilities of existence that queerness creates, while fostering a community that welcomes difference in an unbending society, whether that be through new models of living or unique modes of self-expression. Pride, Insists Upon Itself!
In this episode of BIC Talks, Divya Kandukuri, Siddharth Narrain, Manavi Atri and Senthorun (Sen) Raj will be in conversation with Raju Behera. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jun 2025.
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When it comes to climate change and the environment, they are part of the problem and part of the solution – Plastics and Lithium-ion.
We cannot ignore the role these materials play in today’s world. They have revolutionized many industries even while they have been the cause of negative ecological and social impacts. Mainly because their end-of-life management remains a significant global challenge. Is it possible to bring them into the circular economy in positive and equitable ways?
This discussion is with three innovative companies that not just think so, they also walk the talk. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
Presented by:
OORJA
In this episode of BIC Talks, Srinidhi Kashyap, Vishal Mehta and Darshan Virupaksh will be in conversation with Jenny Pinto. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jun 2025.
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What happens when a defiant chronicler and an idealist revolutionary converge in the playground that is India’s freedom struggle? Urdu newspaper Pratap, launched in pre-partition India, was a torchbearer against the British Raj. The man who publicly defended it against colonial censorship was none other than Jawaharlal Nehru.
The pen picked up by freedom fighter Virendra, the paper’s editor and the founder’s son who once walked shoulder to shoulder with stalwarts like Bhagat Singh was equally fearless despite threats by the imperial government, Indira Gandhi’s Emergency and a parcel bomb sent to Pratap’s office during terrorism in Punjab.
Virendra was first arrested in the historic Saunders murder case. He was also in jail with Bhagat Singh the day the legendary revolutionary was hanged, sharing a rare first-hand witness account. In Independent India, too footsteps filled Pratap and its editors with dread and terror.
Pratap: A Defiant Newspaper is a timely reminder of the ethos of a struggle, a template for speaking truth to power at all costs. It is the story of a perfect storm. The book is written by Virendra’s son, distinguished editor Chander Mohan and journalist granddaughter Jyotsna Mohan. Jyotsna and Azeezullah Baig will be in conversation with Maya Sharma. There will be a Q&A session with the audience.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Jyotsna Mohan and Azeezullah Baig will be in conversation with Maya Sharma. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in June 2025.
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In this refreshingly jargon-free session, Lavanya Mohan, author of Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees, gets real about why personal finance often feels confusing, boring, or just plain overwhelming.
From spending in your 20s to planning in your 40s, Lavanya’s approach is simple, meme-filled, and judgment-free. Whether you’re dealing with your first paycheck, lifestyle creep, or just trying to adult responsibly, this conversation covers how to spend smarter at every life stage—without spreadsheets or guilt.
Lavanya will be in conversation with Dipika Jaikishan, Co-Founder and COO of Basis, a platform focused on financial independence for women. Together, with their understanding of how financial literacy intersects with everyday life, especially for younger and often overwhelmed audiences, Lavanya and Dipika bring both insight and clarity to a conversation that promises to be as useful as it is fun.
Expect memes, pop culture references, stories from the book, and zero jargon. Just real talk about money—how we use it, why we fear it, and how to make it work for us.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Lavanya Mohan will be in conversation with Dipika Jaikishan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2025.
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The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has long been at the heart of India’s constitutional and cultural tensions — hailed by some as a promise of equality, and critiqued by others as a tool of homogenisation. As the political momentum around the UCC gathers pace once again, with the recent Uttarakhand legislation in the news, this session revisits the debate from a constitutional, feminist, and social justice lens.
What does “uniformity” mean in a deeply plural society? Can equality be achieved without erasing difference? How do we center the lived realities of women, religious minorities, Dalits, and Adivasis in this conversation?
In this episode of BIC Talks, Raag Yadava, Madhu Bhushan will be in conversation with Alok Prasanna. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2025.
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Gurudev and Bapu explores the extraordinary exchange of letters and ideas between Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, set against the backdrop of the Indian freedom struggle. Over 25 years, their correspondence reveals sharp differences on key issues—nationalism, civil disobedience, education—but also unwavering respect and affection between the two.
Their dialogue reflects a time in India’s history marked by thoughtful disagreement and political maturity—offering insights into how principled dissent and mutual regard can coexist.
Bangalore Little Theatre was honoured to present early performances of the play at places closely associated with Gandhi and Tagore—Sabarmati Ashram, Santiniketan (Visva Bharati), and Thakurbari-Jorasanko (Rabindra Bharati). It has also been staged for the President of India.
Adapted from the internationally acclaimed production with over 130 performances in India and abroad, this staging promises a compelling reflection on two great minds and the values that shaped a nation. This performance is a tribute to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s enduring legacy, presented around the time of his birth anniversary.
Supported by:
JSW
In this episode of BIC Talks, Vijay Padaki does a dramatised presentation of the Tagore-Gandhi Exchanges. This is an excerpt from a performance that took place in the BIC premises in May 2025.
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From boasting of a lone International Master (IM) in Manuel Aaron in 1962, India has come a long way in the world of chess, particularly in the last two-and-half decades of the new Millennium. Today, India has 85 Grandmasters, including three women, 23 Woman Grand Masters, 140 International Masters and 42 Woman International Masters while the list of FIDE masters is growing by the day.
In the top 10 of any category or age group, Indians figure so prominently that they are second only to the US and China in the men’s and women’s section respectively. The double-gold at the 2024 Olympiad and India’s superb performance in the Candidates added to its growing reputation as a superpower.
But if you look from an historic perspective, our champions of today are merely continuing the legacy of a 5,000-year-old tradition which can be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilization when chess (called Chaturanga then) was, among other things, used for war stimulation.
According to legend, Ravan’s wife Mandodari taught him Chaturanga so that he could plan battle strategies. Later, Chaturanga became Chatrang in Persian and Shatranj in Arabic before travelling to Spain and the rest of the western world. In the modern era, chess is looked at in different ways. A gymnasium of the mind. A cerebral tug-of-war.
For India, Anand can be the best reference point to start any debate involving chess. In fact, Indian chess can be neatly divided into Pre-Anand and Post-Anand eras. The Pre-Anand period was nascent with not many players around, no infrastructure to talk about or any support from the government or the private sector. Indian chess style was one of the many variants of the official chess as recognized by the ruling body FIDE. By the time Anand became India’s first Grandmaster in 1987 and triggered the post-Anand era, chess was a rapidly growing sport. Let’s look at some figures. Till the start of the new Millennium, India had just three GMs with Dibyendu Barua (1991) and Pravin Thipsay (1997) following in the footsteps of Anand. The first decade of the new century produced 20 GMs and the next 10 a staggering 44. The present decade has already witnessed 16 GMs to take the tally to 85.
In this episode of BIC Talks, MS Thej Kumar, Aravind Shastry, Manisha Mohite and Saritha M Reddy will be in conversation with Vijay Mruthyunjaya. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2025.
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All Our Loves: Journeys with Polyamory in India is an eye-opening book on polyamory—the practice of being in love, with or without sexual intimacies with more than one person simultaneously, with the consent of all. For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this groundbreaking exploration navigates the infinite possibilities that polyamory can offer within the complex realities in India.
The discussion on the book will revolve around dispelling myths about the practice and understanding the skills necessary to live a fulfilling and responsible polyamorous life. Arundhati will also shed light on negotiating jealousy, coping with breakups and honouring boundaries. As practicing polyamorists she and the discussants will share their experiences, struggles and joys and ways to define relationships on their own terms.
If you are polyamorous, have a partner who is, or are just curious – this conversation will open up ways to foster honest intimacy without guilt, fear or shame; find supportive partners and community; enable practices of safe sex, and much more.
In collaboration with:
ALEPH
In this episode of BIC Talks, Arundhati Ghosh, Basit Manham and Anu P will be in conversation with Priya Ramani. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2025.
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The fiercest wars are fought between siblings.
Tara, a successful Delhi lawyer, is everything her younger brother isn’t: dedicated, independent, thriving. When their beloved father retires, he summons them to a meeting. But what he has to say threatens to tear the family apart. Tara’s friend Lila has it all: a great job, a lovely home, a beautiful family.
But when Lila’s father dies unexpectedly, her brother wastes no time in claiming what he thinks is his. Together, Tara and Lila are forced to confront the challenge that their ambition poses to patriarchal Delhi society. Set against a backdrop of ecological collapse and political unrest, The Tiger’s Share is both a family and a state-of-the-nation novel.
The Tiger’s Share, Keshava Guha’s incisive new novel unravels sibling rivalries set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing India. Guha’s storytelling transforms personal conflicts into a lens for examining societal upheavals – from shifting family loyalties to the pressures of urban ambition.
In collaboration with:
Hachette UK
In this episode of BIC Talks, Keshava Guha will be in conversation with Vikek Shanbhag. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in April 2025.
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What makes a city uniquely itself? Is it its geography, history, location, demographic? Is it its leaders, influencers, inspirations? Or is it something else, an undefinable but palpable spirit, wrought over centuries of a combination of all these, that seeps into the soil and charges the air, infecting residents and visitors alike?
Two decades of exploring, discovering, researching – and reading, writing, and talking – about her hometown have convinced Roopa Pai, author, columnist, and co-founder of the heritage walks and tours company, BangaloreWalks, that the latter is true – cities are neither born nor made, they become. Her collection of evocative essays on the city have now been compiled into a book, Becoming Bangalore, published by Hachette India.
In her conversation with Brinda S Narayan, Roopa will dive into the city’s history to tease out bits of the Bangalore jigsaw – a chieftain’s decision, a Commissioner’s inclusiveness, a scientist’s quest for excellence, a Dewan’s conviction, a missionary’s zeal, a Maharani’s foresight, an entrepreneur’s vision, an industrialist’s generosity, an activist’s passion, a common man’s ambition, a writer’s pride in his language – in an effort to track down the genesis of Bangalore’s modern, progressive, liberal spirit.
What she hopes will emerge from that discussion are tantalizing hints that reveal how a little 16th century settlement on a hill became India’s most charismatic city.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Roopa Pai will be in conversation with Brinda S. Narayan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in April 2025.
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Spies, Lies and Allies is a thrilling tale about two forgotten revolutionaries who led lives that defy belief. It takes the reader on a wild ride through Kolkata, Hyderabad, London, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Mexico City and Moscow. One was Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, the brother of Sarojini Naidu. The other was M.N. Roy, the founder of Indian communism.
Chatto and Roy met spies, dictators, femme fatales, assassins, revolutionaries and bomb-makers. They encountered Lala Lajpat Rai, Veer Savarkar, Vladimir Lenin, Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Joseph Stalin, Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. They travelled in disguise and survived assassination attempts by the British secret service. They had tumultuous love affairs with suspected Communist spies. They flirted with anarchism, then became communists, and Roy would eventually end up founding his own philosophy: humanism. Chatto’s sister Sarojini would distance herself from his journey, and his friend Nehru would eventually follow the Gandhian path. Roy would be ignored in newly independent India. But if Chatto and Roy were failures, they were magnificent ones. They battled for their ideas, and their ideas lived on, even if the pair died mostly forgotten.
Author Kavitha Rao will be in conversation with Historian Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
in collaboration with:
Westland Non-Fiction
In this episode of BIC Talks, Kavitha Rao will be in conversation with Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in April 2025.
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Kirtinath Kurtkoti (1928-2003) belongs to the rare but powerful tradition of multilingual literary and cultural criticism in India. His oeuvre encompasses commentaries on the entire spectrum of Kannada literature, from the earliest extant writings to late twentieth-century works. Kurtkoti’s critical works highlight the unique sensibility of the Kannada literary tradition, placing it in the broader context of Indian and world literature.
Courtesy of Criticism brings some of his important essays on Kannada literature to non-Kannada readers. Divided into three sections— Literary History, Literary Theory, and Literary Criticism—the book showcases 31 short and long essays of Kurtkoti’s essential writings. The book has a twofold purpose: to introduce the significant body of Kurtkoti’s works and, through these essays, to highlight the significant strands of the Kannada literary tradition. Courtesy of Criticism demonstrates the subtle ways in which a mind, enriched by its own traditions and eclectic literacy, can transcend received structures of knowledge.
In this episode of BIC Talks, NS Gundur will be in conversation with Shri Chandrashekhar Kambara, M S Ashadevi and Kamalakar Bhat. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2025.
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For over five decades since the Liberation of Bangladesh and the 1971 India-Pakistan War, the Indian state has had to pay a heavy price to protect the fabric of its democracy and its basic geographical structure in the face of a multiplicity of national security threats. These threats have ranged from constant pressure along its Northern and Western borders from nuclear-armed adversaries, several internal fissures and cracks in Punjab, J&K and the Northeast and a festering problem of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) across several states. Complementing these internal and border security challenges have been challenges in the neighborhood that have precipitated the deployments of India’s military such as in Sri Lanka and Maldives in the late 1980s.
Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam, former fighter pilot and accomplished military historian, explores war and conflict in contemporary India in his latest book, Shooting Straight: A Military Biography of Lt Gen Rostum K. Nanavatty. Moving beyond the traditional discourse of the 1965 and 1971 wars, the book examines modern military challenges through the lens of one of India’s most distinguished post-1971 Army commanders. From leading para commandos in Sri Lanka to commanding formations in Siachen, Baramulla, and the Northeast during key crises, and later serving as Northern Army Commander in the aftermath of the 2001 Parliament attack, Nanavatty gained a frontline perspective on hybrid and ‘grey zone’ warfare—topics highly relevant today.
Joining AVM Subramaniam in a free-wheeling discussion on the changing character of conflict over the past few decades and its implications for India through the lens of Gen Nanavatty is military historian Probal Dasgupta. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Arjun Subramaniamn will be in conversation with Probal Dasgupta. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2025.
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This conversation on Heart Lamp: Selected Stories, awarded the Booker Prize 2025, will delve into Banu Mushtaq’s fearless storytelling and her portrayal of women navigating faith, family, and societal expectations in southern India. The speakers will explore how Mushtaq’s journalistic and legal background shaped her writing, giving voice to the struggles and resilience of Muslim women. Translator Deepa Bhasthi, whose masterful rendering brings these stories to an English-speaking audience, will share insights into the nuances of language, the challenges of retaining Mushtaq’s distinctive voice, and the role of translation in preserving and amplifying regional literature. Through anecdotes from the book and reflections on contemporary gender and caste dynamics, the discussion will highlight the power of fiction to challenge norms, preserve oral histories, and inspire change.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhashti will be in conversation with Shinie Antony. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in April 2025.
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Chellayipuram—famed for hosting the most exhilarating jallikattu contests of strength between man and bull. This year, Pichi, from distant Usilanoor, is here to face the Kaari bull, the zamindar’s pride, both menacing in appearance and undefeated in the bull-taming contest. It’s been two years since his father Ambuli had been gored to death by this same beast. In the billowing dust of the arena, as Pichi grabs hold of the Kaari’s horn in an attempt to make it bow its head, watching the contest from his high perch with narrowing eyes is the zamindar. Will his prize animal—and, by association, the zamindar himself—be finally humbled by this ordinary young man? Vaadivaasal—The Arena is a story of revenge, pride and power.
This gripping graphic adaptation of the modern literary classic by International Booker Prize-nominated author Perumal Murugan and critically acclaimed graphic novelist Appupen is a story of violence, death and vengeance… by a Gandhian!
In Collaboration with:
Simon & Schuster India
In this episode of BIC Talks, Perumal Murugan and Appupen will be in conversation with Subodh Sankar. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in February 2025.
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The object of this lecture is to analyze the world order that was put in place at the end of World War II, examine how it has unfolded in terms of experience since then, and highlight some important manifestations of its multiple crises, to discuss possible future scenarios for 2050. In doing so, it asks four questions and seeks to provide answers.
Are we witnessing the beginnings of a transformative change in the world order? Are we at the cusp of an emerging bi-polar world order, with the United States and China as the two superpowers? Are we moving towards a multi-polar world, in which there will be another 8-10 countries that are also key players? Are we going to live with a fluid situation and a de facto continuation of Pax Americana?
In this episode of BIC Talks, Deepak nayyar will deliver a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2025.
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Crucial battles of World War II fought in India’s northeast; followed soon after by India’s Independence and Partition; had a critical impact on the making of modern Assam. In the three decades following 1947, the state of Assam underwent massive political turmoil, geographical instability, and social and demographic upheaval, among others. Later, the truncated state suffered widespread unrest as various groups believed their cultural identity and political leverage were under threat. New social energies and political forces were unleashed and came to the fore.
This session draws from Arupjyoti Saikia’s The Quest for Modern Assam: A History, 1942-2000 exploring the interconnected layers of political, environmental, economic, and cultural processes that shaped the development of Assam since the 1940s. Arupjyoti Saikia will be in conversation with historian Anjum Hasan deliberating on the questions which played a key role in the making of modern Assam and also that of the Republic of India.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Arupjyoti Saikia will be in conversation with Anjum Hasan .This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in February 2025.
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This panel will examine how the principles of equality and fraternity have shaped India’s democratic journey over the past 75 years. They will explore the relevance of these constitutional values in addressing contemporary challenges in the daily lives of Indian citizens like social inequities and polarisation. The discussion will also highlight the indigenous roots of these values within Karnataka’s rich philosophical and cultural traditions. Through diverse perspectives, the panel will reflect on how these constitutional values can be actualised in governance, culture, policy, and daily life.
This session is the fourth in the series titled ‘We the People’ to celebrate 75 years of our Constitution. As part of this series, DAKSH, in collaboration with BIC, is organising a series of lectures and panel discussions on various aspects of the Constitution.
The discussion will be conducted in both English and Kannada.
In collaboration with:
DAKSH
In this episode of BIC Talks, Mary E John, Rahamath Tarikere and Gautam Patel will be in conversation with Harish Narasappa .This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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Join us for an engaging conversation as Amitav Ghosh discusses Wild Fictions, a collection of his writings from the past twenty-five years, with Julia Wheeler. This expansive work explores the themes that have defined Ghosh’s literary journey: literature and language, climate change and the environment, human lives, travel, and discoveries.
Through topics ranging from the commodification of the clove to the rich diversity of Bengal’s mangrove forests and the radical fluidity of multilingualism, Wild Fictions offers a critique of imperial violence and the fictions we weave to navigate history. It is a call to sensitivity, empathy, and the urgent need to repair our relationship with volatile landscapes.
With his unique combination of moral passion, intellectual curiosity, and literary elegance, Amitav Ghosh invites us to see the world anew in this thought-provoking discussion. The session will be followed by a book signing with the author.
In collaboration with:
Bangalore Literature Festival & Harper Collins
In this episode of BIC Talks, Amitav Ghosh will be in conversation with Julia Wheeler .This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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Being immune to the charms of poetry is a crime that is its own punishment, the Sanskritic tradition tells us. Join us as we discover the allure of Sanskrit and Prakrit love poetry and the travails of translating doe-eyes and elephant-thighs into English with Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh, co-translators of the verse anthology, How to Love in Sanskrit (HarperCollins 2024).
How to Love in Sanskrit is a poetic exploration of the maze of modern dating: flirting, daydreaming, yearning, and breaking up, through the eyes of Kalidasa, Bana, Vidya, and many other, often anonymous gifted poets.
Moderated by Radhika Chadha, the translators will discuss their inspiration for the book, their approach to translation, misconceptions about Sanskrit poetry, and the challenges of translating pre-modern poetry, drawing from both classic and forgotten texts to paint a picture of what love feels like in Sanskrit. The session will conclude with a reading of their favourite verses from the book and a Q&A session with the audience.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh will be in conversation with Radhika Chadha .This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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In March 2020, when the world went into lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, poets and friends Marilyn Hacker and Karthika Nair—living mere miles from each other, but separated by circumstance, and spurred by this strange time—began a correspondence in verse.
‘Renga’, an ancient Japanese form of collaborative poetry, is comprised of alternating ‘Tanka’, beginning with the themes of ‘Toki’ and ‘Toza’: this season, this session. Here, from the “plague spring”, through a year in which seasons are marked by the waxing and waning of the virus, Hacker and Nair’s Renga charts the “differents and sames” of a now-shared experience.
Their poems witness a time of suspension in which some things, somehow, press on relentlessly, in which solidarity persists—even thrives—in the face of a strange new kind of isolation. Between “ten thousand, yes, minutes of Bones”, there’s cancer and chemotherapy and the aches of an ageing body. There is grief for the loss of friends nearby and concern for loved ones in the United States, Lebanon, and India. And there is a deep sense of shared humanity, where we all are “mere atoms of water, each captained by protons of hydrogen, hurtling earthward.”
At turns poignant and playful, the seasons and sessions of A Different Distance display the compassionate, collective wisdom of two women witnessing a singular moment in history.
Karthika Nair will be in conversation with Prem Panicker. An audience Q&A session will follow.
Presented by:
Contxt
In this episode of BIC Talks, Karthika Nair will be in conversation with Prem Panicker .This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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Did Rajaraja Chola, who built the world-renowned Brihadisvara temple in Tanjore, and Suryavarman II of Kambuja Desa (Cambodia), who built the world’s largest temple complex, Angkor Wat, erect these enduring marvels with a magic wand? Surely not. How did they nurture prosperity? What were the economic models that enabled them to leave the world awestruck?
Sriram Balasubramanian’s sequel to the pathbreaking Kautilyanomics answers these questions by examining Common Era empires and kingdoms ranging from the Cholas, Pallavas, Pandyas and Vijayanagara to Southeast Asian kingdoms. Balasubramanian audaciously puts forward a novel, indigenous and sustainable framework called Dharmanomics—a function of Kautilyan Dharmic capitalism, of a Dharmic ecosystem driven by temples and Sreni (corporate guilds) Dharma—that spans thousands of years. It was put into practice much before the likes of Adam Smith and modern economic thinkers. Dharmanomics seeks to present a coherent and structured economic framework based on the idea of Dharma for at least 1500 years.
In the session, Sriram Balasubramanian is in conversation with Vikram Bhat. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in November 2024.
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This talk will reflect on broad trends in the study of caste including debates and discussions drawing on poststructuralist, Marxist, and anthropological approaches which have tended to approach caste as a distinctive form of hierarchy and social distinction. This framing will help to illuminate the challenge of new approaches and intellectual formations, which center critical caste and Dalit studies, scholarship on anticaste thought, and studies of global caste.
How does a politics of the present inflect social transformations of caste, as well as the resistance to its inequities? What are the potentials and the perils to studying caste through global fields of power and comparison? How might we bridge institutional logics and disciplinary constraints in effecting novel forms of critique?
In this episode of BIC Talks, Anupama Rao delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from an event that took place in the BIC premises in December 2024.
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To find a rare bird is the ultimate dream of ornithologists and birdwatchers. But doing it requires a combination of skills including an understanding of habitats, animal behaviour and people skills as well as plain old good luck. But the ornithologists, naturalists and birdwatchers, who tracked down the most difficult to find birds of the Indian subcontinent, got lucky because they worked really hard at it.
In this session authors Shashank Dalvi and Anita Mani will be in conversation with contributors to the book ‘The Search for India’s Rarest Birds‘, Atul Jain, Radhika Raj and Aasheesh Pittie who will be speaking about the challenges of species discovery and what makes a bird ‘rare’. In addition, the session will explore conservation issues and solutions to prevent such rare species from going beyond the brink, as well as future directions on where the next raft of discoveries could come from.
In collaboration with :
Juggernaut, Indian Pitta and Center for Wildlife Studies
In this episode of BIC Talks, Shashank Dalvi and Anita Mani are in conversation with Aasheesh Pittie, Radhika Raj and Atul Jain. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in December 2024.
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Every joke, facial expression, song and stick of furniture we inherit from those we lived with and loved tells its own story. Of continuity, of pasts and the present. Writers A.T. Boyle and Shinie Antony, who put together the collection exObjects, The Art of Holding On, Letting Go (Om Books), delve into the micro histories and macro memories of things left behind. The eleven authors have re-envisaged people, places and things lost, but certainly not forgotten.
Join Vikram Sampath, whose late, beloved mother infused him with her love for classical music, and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri, the editor of this volume, along with Boyle and Antony, as they talk about the hum and heart of belongings.
Presented by: International Music & Arts Society
In collaboration with: OM Books International
In this episode of BIC Talks, AT Boyle, Vikram Sampath and Shinie Antony will be in conversation with Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri. This is an excerpt from an event that took place in the BIC premises in December 2024.
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The annual U.R. Ananthamurthy Memorial Lecture, 2024, hosted by Bahuvachana, Rujuvathu, and BIC, features Prof. Harish Trivedi delivering a talk titled How (Not) to Write the History of Indian Literature.
The talk will explore the challenges that complicate any effort to write a history of Indian literature. It will self-reflexively examine several such histories, including a recent volume, Indian Literary Historiography (published by the Sahitya Akademi, 2024). Prof. Trivedi will propose some radical ideas for writing a popular history of Indian literature in about 250 pages. The lecture will also discuss a short history authored by the speaker, which deliberately sets aside pedantic conventions.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Harish Trivedi delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in December 2024.
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Sanjay is the musician’s musician—a revered vocalist with a devoted following in the Carnatic music community. Known for his profound theoretical understanding and intellectual engagement with the art form, he is a connoisseur of music. In this conversation with Anita and his co-author, novelist, journalist, and screenwriter Krupa Ge, Sanjay delves into his artistic journey and the world that shaped him.
The three panellists, united by their shared passion for Carnatic music, discuss the essence of classical music and explore what lies beyond the classical realm, touching on the fluid exchanges between various musical genres. Candid and introspective, Sanjay reflects on the personal and artistic ruminations that led him to write about his musical life, even as he stands at a crossroads in his career, eager to explore new horizons and grow further.
Presented by:
Westland Non-fiction
In this episode of BIC Talks, Sanjay Subrahmanyan and Krupa Ge will be in conversation with Anita Nair. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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This lecture by Madhavan K. Palat, Secretary of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund and editor of the forthcoming comprehensive online edition of the Nehru Archives, explores the complex and often paradoxical dimensions of Nehru’s engagement with democracy.
Nehru presented himself as a liberal and a socialist. Yet, while he did not explicitly identify as a conservative, he frequently employed Burkean and traditionalist arguments to legitimize Indian democracy. At the same time, he repeatedly warned that democracy risked self-destruction through the emergence of a democratic dictatorship or the tyranny of the majority.
Palat examines how Nehru derived the ethos of democracy from traditional panchayats and 19th-century nationalist movements, asserting that democracy had become the yugadharma—the defining moral order—after Independence. Nehru insisted that democracy had to be dynamic, propelled by movements but grounded in stable institutions. When conflicts inevitably arose between these two forces, he consistently prioritized movement, seeing it as a continuation of nationalist mobilization, while institutions embodied the legacy of the Constituent Assembly and its Constitution.
Yet, Nehru never saw the Constitution as a sacred text. Democracy, he believed, could only be safeguarded through democratic practice, not constitutional rigidity—a stance that effectively repudiated the idea of a “Basic Structure” doctrine. Seeking to deepen democracy, Nehru championed Panchayati Raj, arguing that democracy required a broad, pyramid-like foundation to prevent its collapse. However, as Palat highlights, Nehru’s vision was fraught with ambiguities. He viewed panchayats as both democratic and bureaucratic extensions, expressed dismay over the rise of opportunists in the electoral system, and feared that democracy was breeding an elective aristocracy and oligarchy.
Nehru lamented the absence of a two-party system in India but keenly observed an ideological dichotomy between Congress and Hindutva, presciently suggesting that these ideologies could evolve into distinct parties. While Nehru valued moral ideals, his inspirations—Buddha, Ashoka, Akbar, and Gandhi—were not unequivocal democrats. Gandhi, though a democratic mobilizer, was autocratic in his methods. Nehru himself emerged as the most consistent symbol of democratic idealism but rejected the notion of a personality cult as vulgar and absurd.
Palat’s lecture delves into Nehru’s ambivalence towards democracy: he despised its tendency to favor mediocrity yet feared that inspiration and charisma often led to right-wing politics, which he deplored. Nehru’s political philosophy lay in reconciling contradictions and embracing ambiguities, favoring the pragmatism of a conservative over the ideological rigidity of a socialist.
By drawing on his extensive work with the Nehru Archives, Palat offers fresh insights into Nehru’s thought and legacy, portraying him as a leader navigating the complex interplay of ideals and realities with remarkable dexterity, even as he remained a figure defined by paradoxes and inconsistencies.
Presented by:
National Law School Of India University, Bangalore
In this episode of BIC Talks, Madhvan K Palat will deliver a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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What does it mean when vulnerable groups end up in Court for their right to love?
This session with the author of Urban Elite v. Union of India Rohin Bhatt will discuss a wide range of issues surrounding the queer community in India.
Amongst others, the author will seek to answer the following questions: How should social impact and public interest legislation be undertaken? What goes through the mind of a queer lawyer when homophobia is masqueraded as a legal argument?
In this episode of BIC Talks, Rohin Bhatt will be in conversation with Arvind Narain. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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Conflict at home, with neighbours, between communities. Conflicts about what the law means or should be. Large collisions of power within and between institutions or nations.
In this session on mediation, Hiram Chodosh will present both a global and local perspective to mediation in India. He will discuss the virtues, capabilities, and skills that make mediation a powerful response to conflict. He will evaluate the value of mediation in practice, including in the USA and other parts of the globe, within courts, communities, legislative bodies, international relations, and the role of professional mediators and lawyers in this practice.
Sriram Panchu will present the perspective of the most senior mediation expert and leader in India. He will speak about the growth of mediation in India, its use in the court sector, commercial disputes, significant public disputes like the Ayodhya Babri Masjid – Ram Janambhoomi one, the Mediation Act 2023, the prospects for private mediation. He will also speak about the current foundations for mediation practice in India, the professional career paths, the role of centres and other programs that advance its targeted application in legal and other kinds of disputes.
Thereafter, Hiram Chodosh and Sriram Panchu will have a conversation reflecting on the roots of Indian mediation and its future prospects, including lessons from Indian mediation that the world can learn from and the crucial initiatives now needed to take mediation to the next level of impact and value for meaningful practice and careers.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Hiram Chodosh will be in conversation with Sriram Panchu. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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In Gandhi’s Integrity: Thinking Radically with Gandhi on Religion, Caste, Capital, Liberalism, Science, and Culture (forthcoming Columbia University Press), Akeel Bilgrami presents an account of the many aspects of Gandhi’s thought in a framework that integrates his resistance against imperialism with his critique of capitalist modernity, raising fundamental questions about how we should understand the relevance of these ideas for our own time and concerns.
This is a panel discussion with Akeel Bilgrami (Author), Chandan Gowda (RK Hegde Chair Professor, ISEC) and Rajeev Kadambi (Associate Professor, OP Jindal Global University) moderated by Vishnupad (Dean, ESLA, SRM University, AP).
In collaboration with: Easwari School of Liberal Arts and SRM University AP
In this episode of BIC Talks, Akeel Bilgrami, Chandan Gowda, Rajeev Kadambi will be in conversation with Vishnupad .This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in January 2025.
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The media is a cornerstone of Indian democracy, often called the “fourth pillar” for its role in supporting constitutional values. Yet today, trust in the media is eroding amid technological upheaval, shifting revenue models, political polarization, and the powerful rise of social media and artificial intelligence. As these forces reshape how information flows, can the media still serve as a guardian of our constitutional ideals? And who, if anyone, will defend the independence and integrity of the media?
This session is the third in the series titled ‘We the People’ to celebrate 75 years of our Constitution. As part of this series, DAKSH, in collaboration with BIC, is organising a series of lectures and panel discussions on various aspects of the Constitution. In collaboration with:
Daksh
In this episode of BIC Talks, Barkha Dutt delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a event that took place in the BIC premises in November 2024.
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The text of Kuvempu’s epic Kannada novel, Malegalalli Madumagalu (1967), and the recent translation, Bride in the Hills by Vanamala Viswanatha (Penguin Random House, 2024), will be discussed by an eminent panel of scholars, writers and the translator.
Set in 1893 in the Malnad region of the Western Ghats with its majestic Sahyadri ranges, dense forests, and river Tunga, Kuvempu’s Malegalalli Madumagalu (Bride in the Hills) describes the saga of not one young woman but many, of varied hues, who aspire for love and fulfilment in marriage, in a self-serving, male feudal order. An organic network of interrelated stories, the well-known Kannada writer Devanoora Mahadeva locates the novel in the epic tradition of the Mahabharata and Tolstoy’s War and Peace. This woman-centric text weaves together the touching plight of young couples in love, such as Gutti and Timmi, from a Dalit community living on the ghats; Aita and Pinchalu, migrant labourers from below the ghats, and Mukundayya and Chinnamma from the land-owning Shudra caste. Fired from within by their love – the most powerful agent of change – these young people seek a life of freedom and dignity, leading to the transformation of the larger community. Their heartening stories are juxtaposed against the travails of hapless Nagakka and scheming Venkatanna, sickly Deyi and brute Chinkra, and gullible Kaveri and lecherous Devayya. All of them are, in different ways, up against the repressive regimes of the decadent landlords, who manipulate traditional feudal practices as well as the modern apparatus of a colonial state.
True to its claim as an epic novel, Kuvempu’s text with its multiple narrative strands vividly enacts its mission statement in the epigraph: “Here, no one is important; no one is unimportant; nothing is insignificant!” Every sentient and insentient thing – the degenerate Chinkra, orphan Dharmu, Huliya the dog, Biri the cat, the evergreen forest, the Hulikal Peak – has a place and a purpose in this narrative. Imbued with an ecological consciousness, the novel offers a veritable biodiversity register of the Malnad region. Kuvempu presents a ‘view from below’, a subaltern perspective which also takes in the world of the wealthy and powerful.
Winner of the first Sahitya Akademi award in 1955 and the Jnanpith in 1967, Kuvempu (Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa 1904-1994) inaugurated the non-brahmin era in modern Kannada writing. Kuvempu’s versatile oeuvre includes a vast body of poetry, plays, novels, children’s writing, essays and an autobiography. While his poetic epic ‘Shri Ramayana Darshanam’ is a radical rewriting of the Valmiki epic drawing from the Jaina tradition, the two novels, The Kanur House (made into a film by Girish Karnad) and Bride in the Hills, are modern novels set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by Tolstoy’s expansive canvas and Tagore’s unique Indian ethos, this first significant Shudra writer and an iconic figure in Kannada culture, has sculpted an entirely regional epic novel in Bride in the Hills.
Image Credits Book Cover: MS Murthy and Jay Gosney Header: A Malnad Landscape, Photo courtesy Girish Kasaravalli Photo of Amit Chaudhuri by Richard Lofthouse/University of Oxford
In collaboration with Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Pratishthana, Kuppali (Devangi, Thirthahalli, Shivamogga)
In this episode of BIC Talks, Vanamala Viswanathan, Rajendra Chenni, Amit Chaudhuri and Arvind Narrain will be in conversation. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in November 2024.
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Ravi Bapna and Anindya Ghose, in their new MIT Press book Thrive: Maximizing Well-being in the Age of AI take on the challenge of demystifying AI for the layperson using examples from everyday life. Their hope is that by giving citizens agency and understanding in shaping AI we can get the most out of this newest industrial revolution.
Join Ravi Bapna in conversation with Narayan Ramachandran as they chart their way through the ‘House of AI,’ a framework that provides a holistic perspective of the different pillars and layers of AI. They will discuss the role of generative AI versus traditional AI, what barriers companies face in adopting this technology, how we should think about the future of work and reskilling the workforce, and what an agentic future looks like where AI will augment human intelligence and capacity.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Ravi Bapna in conversation with Narayan Ramachandran. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in November 2024.
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As conflict erupts in West Asia, the consequences are rippling across the globe, threatening to reshape the international order in ways not seen in decades. This session will bring together experts to explore the geopolitical, economic, and security implications of this crisis for the world and, for India. With deep insights from Ranjan Mathai, former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to Israel, and Latha Reddy, former Deputy NSA, the discussion will be moderated by Stanly Johny of The Hindu. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Ranjan Mathai and Latha Reddy are in conversation with Stanly Johny. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in September 2024.
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By the canons of orthodox social science, countries like India are not supposed to have an environmental consciousness. They are, as it were, “too poor to be green.”
In his new book, Speaking with Nature, Ramachandra Guha challenges this narrative by revealing a virtually unknown prehistory of the global movement set far outside Europe or America. Long before the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and well before climate change, ten remarkable individuals wrote with deep insight about the dangers of environmental abuse from within an Indian context. In strikingly contemporary language, Rabindranath Tagore, Radhakamal Mukerjee, J. C. Kumarappa, Patrick Geddes, Albert and Gabrielle Howard, Mira, Verrier Elwin, K. M. Munshi, and M. Krishnan wrote about the forest and the wild, soil and water, urbanisation and industrialisation. Positing the idea of what Guha calls “livelihood environmentalism” in contrast to the “full stomach environmentalism” of the affluent world, these writers, activists, and scientists played a pioneering role in shaping global conversations about humanity’s relationship with nature.
Spanning more than a century of Indian history, and decidedly transnational in reference, this book offers rich resources for considering the threat of climate change today.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Ramchandra Guha is in conversation with Harini Nagendra. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in September 2024.
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This discussion will explore how the Constitution of India frames the concept of economic freedom. We often think of the constitutional guarantee of freedom in terms of the freedom of speech and expression. This discussion moves beyond this framing to examine the oft-ignored aspect of economic freedom for individuals and organisations.
The panellists will discuss the balance between state intervention and individual economic rights, exploring issues like onerous licensing and compliance requirements for businesses, property rights and the right to trade occupation, profession and business. They will also discuss the evolving interpretation of these rights by the judiciary and how constitutional provisions have shaped economic policies and reforms in India over time.
This session is the second in the series titled ‘We the People’ to celebrate 75 years of our Constitution. As part of this series, DAKSH, in collaboration with BIC, are organising a series of lectures and panel discussions on various aspects of the Constitution.
In collaboration with:
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In this episode of BIC Talks, Karthik Muralidharan is in conversation with Harish Narasappa. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in September 2024.
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In this session, Kunal Shah, Founder of CRED, and Archana Rai, Senior Editor at The Economic Times, will explore the exciting journey of India’s startup ecosystem. They will discuss how consumer practices in India have evolved, from e-commerce to the rapid growth of quick commerce, and how startups are adapting to meet these changing demands. The conversation will also highlight the importance of digital public infrastructure and its role in empowering entrepreneurs and businesses to innovate and scale.
Kunal will share his personal journey of building CRED, offering insights into the emotional highs and lows of being a founder, while Archana will provide her perspective on how Bangalore has emerged as a major tech hub. Together, they will offer practical takeaways for aspiring entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, and anyone interested in understanding both the business and emotional challenges of entrepreneurship in India’s digital economy.
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A discussion based on the book Poles Apart: The Military and Democracy in India and Pakistan. This session delves into the starkly different roles played by the military in the political landscapes of India and Pakistan, and how these choices have shaped the democratic trajectories of both nations. While Pakistan’s history is marked by frequent military interventions that have hindered its democratic development, India’s military has remained notably apolitical, even in moments of crisis such as the 1962 Sino-Indian War, the Emergency, and Operation Blue Star.
Explore the critical moments where India’s military could have intervened but chose to uphold democratic principles, contrasting with Pakistan’s history of military dominance in politics. The discussion will also include insights into Bangladesh’s unique experiments with democracy and military rule. This session offers a rare opportunity to understand how the military’s influence—or restraint—can define a nation’s political destiny.
The author, Aditya Sondhi will be in conversation with Journalist, Aunohita Mojumdar. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in September 2024.
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What does the life of an ordinary working-class Indian look and feel like?
Join us for a panel discussion discussing this and more with the author of The Many Lives of Syeda X Neha Dixit and commentator and editor Priya Ramani.
In her book The Many Lives of Syeda X journalist Neha Dixit traces the story of one such faceless Indian woman, Syeda X, from the early 1990s to the present day. What emerges is a picture of a life lived under constant corrosive tension.
Researched for close to a decade, in this book, we meet an unforgettable cast of characters for whom displacement, tragedy and hardships are the things they are used to. Written with empathy and deep insight, this book is a portal to a harsh world hidden away from elite Indians. It is the story of untold millions and a searing account of urban life in New India.
This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in September 2024.
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Every day we hear something unusual. A fire here, a flood there, a storm surge, a cloudburst. These events affect all of us, our well-being, our health, our family, our work. Their frequency and intensity are increasing. Fortunately, however, we no longer lack explanations for these events. We know fossil fuels and the destruction of Nature by us humans are the primary reasons for the alarming acceleration in global warming.
Awareness is the first step towards change, and Rajan Mehta’s Backstage Climate is an attempt to make you aware of global warming and climate change in a simple and interesting manner. It demystifies this grim reality—the science, the politics and the economics behind climate change. It also gives you a glimpse of the policies, technology and solutions that can help save the planet and ensure our survival.
Going slightly beyond mere awareness, the attempt is to help the reader connect the dots and develop a perspective on the reasons, impact and solutions that can help us avoid a climate crisis.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Rajan Mehta is in conversation with Prem Panicker. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in September 2024.
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Abu Abraham’s career as a cartoonist, columnist and artist spanned over 50 years, from the late 1940s to the early 2000s, during which his work appeared in a range of newspapers and magazines in India and the UK. Throughout this period of significant political change and upheaval, he critically responded to the political landscape, producing a rich and complex oeuvre that reflects these shifts.
The centenary exhibition, “Abu’s World,” brought together, for the first time, the breadth of Abu Abraham’s work as a cartoonist and journalist across six decades. Through Abu’s political cartoons, drawings, caricatures, and writings from the late 1940s until his passing in 2002, viewers can journey through a lively political history of India and the world.
In this episode of BIC Talks, a panel of cartoonists, journalists, and a historian will explore the impact and significance of Abu Abraham’s work in their respective fields and its relevance in contemporary times. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in August 2024.
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Democracy, representing the will of the people, is the least imperfect form of government in the present day world. Yet even this will of the people can’t remain unfettered, for without constitutional limits, democracy is often distorted. What then are the challenges to India’s constitutional democracy?
In this episode of BIC Talks, Rajeev Bhargava, Founder-Director, Parekh Institute of Indian Thought, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, will speak of the multiple obstacles to Constitutional Democracy but will focus on deep rooted, long standing mental and social habits that prevent the smooth functioning of constitutional democracy in India. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in August 2024.
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What went wrong with capitalism? Ruchir Sharma’s account is not like any you will have heard before. He says progressives are right, in part, when they mock modern capitalism as “socialism for the rich.” For a century, governments have expanded in just about every measurable dimension, from spending to regulation and the scale of financial rescues when the economy wobbles. The result is expensive state guarantees for everyone—bailouts for the rich, entitlements for the middle class, welfare for the poor.
Taking you back to the 19th century, Sharma shows how completely the reflexes of government have changed: from hands-off to hands-on, from doing too little to help anyone in hard times to today trying to prevent anyone suffering any economic pain, ever. Trading sins of omission and indifference for excesses of spending and meddling, governments from the United States to Europe and Japan have pumped so much money into their economies that financial markets can no longer invest all that capital efficiently.
Inadvertently, they have fueled the rise of monopolies, “zombie” firms, and billionaires. They have made capitalism less fair and less efficient, which is slowing economic growth and fueling popular anger. The first step to a cure is a correct diagnosis of the problem. Capitalism has been badly distorted by constant government intervention and the relentless spread of a bailout culture. Building an even bigger state will only double down on what ruined capitalism in the first place.
In this episode of BIC Talks, the author, Ruchir Sharma, will be in conversation with Chairman and Co-founder, Infosys and Founding Chairman UIDAI (Aadhaar), Nandan Nilekani. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in August 2024.
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HS Shivaprakash’s new book of poetry, ಮಹಾಕಾಲ | Mahakala, consists of poems that articulate experiences beyond the time of history and the time of the unconscious.
Written during home confinement following the covid tragedy, these poems seek to break out of the paralyzing hold of historical time to rearticulate still time, and also express the light and beauty of the spirituality hidden away in the folds of darkness within darkness. Arising during the dark covid months, these new articulations of experience however stretch over to find meaning in other times as well.
In this episode of BIC Talks, the poet and academician will be in conversation with Chandan Gowda, alongside JV Sreenivasa Murthy, Siraj Ahmed, Ashadevi and Rajendra Prasad. The conversation is bilingual, in both Kannada and English. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in August 2024.
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Magsaysay Award-winning social activist Aruna Roy’s memoir is the story of two parallel journeys—a fifty-year-long engagement with public action in India, and a personal narrative that traces how the author has striven to convert her ideological convictions into practice.
For long decades, Aruna Roy has lived with and worked for the benefit of marginalised communities in rural India, fighting for the right to survive in a hostile environment. Alongside accounts of the plight of the vulnerable and the transformative power of mass-based grassroot social movements, her recollections are marked with stories of resilient individuals and communities and their extraordinary resistance to oppression. Roy recounts a powerful lesson learnt from her extraordinary life: that every issue, whether it is poverty, discrimination, inequality or corruption, has personal as well as political ramifications. It is only by connecting the personal and the political, Roy says, that each one of us can make a difference.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Aruna Roy will be in conversation with Aakar Patel, alongside TM Krishna, Deepa Ganesh and Gautam Bhan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in August 2024.
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In the early 1970s, India was experiencing severe poverty and hunger due to the great droughts of the previous decade. Although the Green Revolution was starting, agriculture and rural issues were largely ignored by urban residents and the media. Reports on monsoons, crops, and prices were seldom highlighted, lacking the appeal for widespread attention. Significant studies like those by V M Dandekar and Nilkanth Rath on poverty were published in specialised journals and went unnoticed by the general public. As a result, rural despair, evident then as now, remained hidden from mainstream discussion.
Fast forward to the third decade of the twenty-first century, and rural India, or Bharat, significantly lags behind urban areas in terms of income, infrastructure, governance, education, and healthcare. This gap has widened, especially since India’s economic growth accelerated over the last thirty years. Numerous initiatives over the past seven decades by the government, private sector, and civil organisations aimed at rural development have had mixed results, often falling short of expectations. While there have been significant achievements, they are isolated instances rather than widespread improvements. Additionally, resource scarcity, particularly water, has become a critical issue, yet remains largely ignored.
The pressing challenge is to connect these isolated successes, despite the difficult conditions, to create a more prosperous rural landscape.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Prof. Shreekant Sambrani, delves deeper into these issues to explore potential solutions. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in July 2024.
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The mandate of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was claimed as a victory by both the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Even though BJP’s brute majority in the Lok Sabha was dented, the return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term was portrayed as a stupendous victory by supporters of the BJP. This is notwithstanding the fact that the stability of the NDA government is now dependent on allies who have displayed temperamental behaviour in the past. The INDIA Alliance was also buoyed by the mandate as it increased its numbers substantially. The Indian National Congress, the leading component of the INDIA bloc, almost doubled its numbers, while other key constituents of this disparate coalition robustly challenged the might of the BJP election apparatus. Even though the INDIA bloc could not gain power in Delhi, its combative fight against the BJP/ NDA was lauded because – as many astute observers pointed out – the 2024 elections were not seen as a level playing ground.
Starting from this point, Yogendra Yadav and Dr. Vasu HV will discuss some of the implications of this mandate on the future of India. While Yadav, who is a well-known political and social activist, travelled all over the country tracking the election and even accurately called it, Dr. Vasu played a similar role in Karnataka leading the research on pre-poll surveys that broadly captured the sentiments of the people of the State. Thus, the two panelists will provide their crucial insights based on their deep and credible engagement with political behaviour at the national and state level.
Critics of the BJP have sharply and consistently stated that the idea of India has been imperilled in the past 10 years when the saffron party, buttressed by its parliamentary heft, meddled with the institutional framework weakening the republican foundations on which our country was founded. Will the gain in the numbers by the political opposition mean that the political discourse in the country, that had discernibly shifted rightwards over the past decade, gradually be tugged back to a central pole position that perhaps, more accurately reflects the civilizational ethos of a diverse and complex country like India? Early signs indicate that the political opposition has been catalysed by the mandate and is rearing to take the BJP/ NDA head on but how will these diverse political actors maintain their cohesion considering that a slew of state elections will take place where they will be pitted against one another?
In this episode of BIC Talks, Psephologist and Activist, Yogendra Yadav and Journalist, Dr. Vasu HV will be in conversation with Journalist, Vikhar Ahmed. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in July 2024.
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This discussion is set in the context of the recent ruling from the Karnataka High Court that limits public protests in Bangalore to a designated space within one park in the city, that too subject to police approval. It aims to explore how art can serve as an alternative medium for voicing dissent and fueling public discourse.
The panel will discuss the ramifications of the Court’s ruling and its impact on communities, and talk about art as a potent tool for social change. Through their experiences, the panelists will demonstrate how art can amplify voices, provoke thought, and catalyze change even amidst growing restrictions on dissent.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Shilo Shiv Suleman, Mamta Sagar and Vinay Sreenivasa are in conversation with Divya Narayanan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in June 2024.
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Wild Women: Seekers, Protagonists and Goddesses in Sacred Indian Poetry [Penguin India, 2024], edited by poet and seeker Arundhathi Subramaniam, is a new anthology of compelling women mystics in Indian literature.
These poems are the cries of women who refused, quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, to be bullied into submission. Women who surrendered not to the authority of the world, but to the authority of the spirit. Women whose voices have far too often been sanitized by the grand narratives of religion and sidelined by rationalist versions of history.
The names of Mirabai, Akka Mahadevi, and Andal, are known to many. But there are innumerable others. And little is known of the urgency of their words, of their feral sensuality, of their relentless questioning of the custodians of gender and faith. It is time to re-fang them, to tune into their brazenness and heartbreaking longing. Not just for their sake, but for ours.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Author Arundhathi Subramaniam is in conversation with Poet & Translator, Mani Rao, with readings of translations by Mani Rao, Vanamala Viswanatha and Ahalya Ballal. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in June 2024.
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In the final episode of Safe Spaces, we unpack gender identity and sexuality in adolescents, the elderly, and people with disability.
In our society, discussing sexuality openly with family, friends, and peers has often been taboo, shrouded in misconceptions and stigma. Many of us experience shame, guilt, and embarrassment when it comes to sexuality and intimacy, and we may not know how to engage with our own sexuality safely and respectfully.
Safe Spaces is a transformative podcast series that aims to break these barriers. Comprehensive sexuality education extends beyond the mechanics of human biology. It equips us with the tools to navigate relationships with informed consent and respect for personal boundaries. By fostering a deeper understanding of our own minds and bodies, this education can significantly reduce the incidences of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies, address gender-based violence, and enhance self-expression and sexual well-being.
In this four-part series by the Bangalore International Centre, Dr. Sangeeta Saksena delves into the realm of sex and sexuality. Dr. Sangeeta, a gynaecologist, author, counsellor, and activist, co-founded Enfold India in 2001 to promote gender equity, sexuality, and personal safety education.
Join host Anishaa Tavag as we embark on this enlightening journey.
This series was made possible with the generosity and knowledge of Dr. Sangeeta Saksena and the contributions of Abha Khetarpal, Dipankar Panth, Diya Naidu, Meghana Roy, Mich Gupta, Nitya Deviah, and Saurabh Levin.
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In the third episode of Safe Spaces, we discuss a commonly misunderstood reality — child sexual development. We also look at child sexual abuse and restorative practices that can lead children to grow into more balanced, healthy adults.
In our society, discussing sexuality openly with family, friends, and peers has often been taboo, shrouded in misconceptions and stigma. Many of us experience shame, guilt, and embarrassment when it comes to sexuality and intimacy, and we may not know how to engage with our own sexuality safely and respectfully.
Safe Spaces is a transformative podcast series that aims to break these barriers. Comprehensive sexuality education extends beyond the mechanics of human biology. It equips us with the tools to navigate relationships with informed consent and respect for personal boundaries. By fostering a deeper understanding of our own minds and bodies, this education can significantly reduce the incidences of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies, address gender-based violence, and enhance self-expression and sexual well-being.
In this four-part series by the Bangalore International Centre, Dr. Sangeeta Saksena delves into the realm of sex and sexuality. Dr. Sangeeta, a gynaecologist, author, counsellor, and activist, co-founded Enfold India in 2001 to promote gender equity, sexuality, and personal safety education.
Join host Anishaa Tavag as we embark on this enlightening journey.
This series was made possible with the generosity and knowledge of Dr. Sangeeta Saksena and the contributions of Abha Khetarpal, Dipankar Panth, Diya Naidu, Meghana Roy, Mich Gupta, Nitya Deviah, and Saurabh Levin.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favorite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
In the second episode of Safe Spaces, we take a look at the factors that shape our beliefs and behaviours in the bedroom. Join Dr. Sangeeta Saksena and host Anishaa Tavag as they explore how societal norms and misconceptions about gender have developed over time, setting the stage for a deeper understanding of contemporary issues in sexuality and gender equity.
In our society, discussing sexuality openly with family, friends, and peers has often been taboo, shrouded in misconceptions and stigma. Many of us experience shame, guilt, and embarrassment when it comes to sexuality and intimacy, and we may not know how to engage with our own sexuality safely and respectfully.
Safe Spaces is a transformative podcast series that aims to break these barriers. Comprehensive sexuality education extends beyond the mechanics of human biology. It equips us with the tools to navigate relationships with informed consent and respect for personal boundaries. By fostering a deeper understanding of our own minds and bodies, this education can significantly reduce the incidences of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies, address gender-based violence, and enhance self-expression and sexual well-being.
In this four-part series by the Bangalore International Centre, Dr. Sangeeta Saksena delves into the realm of sex and sexuality. Dr. Sangeeta, a gynaecologist, author, counsellor, and activist, co-founded Enfold India in 2001 to promote gender equity, sexuality, and personal safety education.
Join host Anishaa Tavag as we embark on this enlightening journey.
This series was made possible with the generosity and knowledge of Dr. Sangeeta Saksena and the contributions of Abha Khetarpal, Dipankar Panth, Diya Naidu, Meghana Roy, Mich Gupta, Nitya Deviah, and Saurabh Levin.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favorite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
In the premiere episode of Safe Spaces, we delve into the history of human evolution to uncover the roots of gender bias. Join Dr. Sangeeta Saksena and host Anishaa Tavag as they explore how societal norms and misconceptions about gender have developed over time, setting the stage for a deeper understanding of contemporary issues in sexuality and gender equity.
In our society, discussing sexuality openly with family, friends, and peers has often been taboo, shrouded in misconceptions and stigma. Many of us experience shame, guilt, and embarrassment when it comes to sexuality and intimacy, and we may not know how to engage with our own sexuality safely and respectfully.
Safe Spaces is a transformative podcast series that aims to break these barriers. Comprehensive sexuality education extends beyond the mechanics of human biology. It equips us with the tools to navigate relationships with informed consent and respect for personal boundaries. By fostering a deeper understanding of our own minds and bodies, this education can significantly reduce the incidences of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies, address gender-based violence, and enhance self-expression and sexual well-being.
In this four-part series by the Bangalore International Centre, Dr. Sangeeta Saksena delves into the realm of sex and sexuality. Dr. Sangeeta, a gynaecologist, author, counsellor, and activist, co-founded Enfold India in 2001 to promote gender equity, sexuality, and personal safety education.
Join host Anishaa Tavag as we embark on this enlightening journey.
This series was made possible with the generosity and knowledge of Dr Sangeeta Saksena and the contributions of Abha Khetarpal, Dipankar Panth, Diya Naidu, Meghana Roy, Mich Gupta, Nitya Deviah, and Saurabh Levin.
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The Great Flap of 1942 is a narrative history of a neglected and scarcely known period—between December 1941 and mid-1942—when all of India was caught in a state of panic. This was largely a result of the British administration’s mistaken belief that Japan was on the verge of launching a full-fledged invasion. It was a time when the Raj became unduly alarmed, when the tongue of rumour wagged wildly about Japanese prowess and British weakness and when there was a huge and largely unmapped exodus (of Indians and Europeans) from both sides of the coastline to ‘safer’ inland regions. This book demonstrates, quite astonishingly, that the Raj cynically encouraged the exodus and contributed to the repeated cycles of rumour, panic and flight. It also reveals how the shadow of the Japanese threat influenced the course of nationalist politics, altered British attitudes towards India and charted the course towards Independence.
The title ‘The Great Flap of 1942’ refers to an expression used by British bureaucrats in India that traces a broad narrative arc, starting with the Japanese attacks in South-East Asia. The assault on Malaya, the conquest of Singapore, the bombing and eventual occupation of Burma, and the Japanese Navy’s foray into the Indian Ocean are examined in the light of the tremendous impact they had on India.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Author & Professor, Krea University - Mukund Padmanabhan is in conversation with Historian & Columnist - Sriram Venkatakrishnan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in June 2024.
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At the start of his career as sub-collector of Parvathipuram sub-division in north-coastal Andhra Pradesh way back in 1974, Subbarao learnt – the hard way – that tribal development requires more than enthusiasm; it requires most of all an understanding of poverty.
Nearly forty years later, in 2013, as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India in the midst of a fierce exchange rate crisis, Subbarao learnt – once again the hard way – the harsh challenges of emerging economies in an unequal world.
Bookended by these assignments is the journey of a small-town boy from a modest background to the top echelons of India’s civil service and then on to the helm of the country’s central bank. Subbarao recounts that journey – his hopes and despair, his successes and setbacks, his mistakes and misdeeds, and the lessons he learnt along the way – with candour and honesty. The subtext of that story though is his constant soul searching about whether he has given back to society more than he received.
Just a Mercenary? is an earnest account of an extraordinary career that tries to inform and inspire young professionals trying to find their way up their career ladders – and find meaning in their journeys.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India - Duvvuri Subbarao is in conversation with Professor, Centre for Public Policy, IIM, Bangalore - M S Sriram. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in June 2024.
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In this episode of BIC Talks, Author & Historian- Hindol Sengupta discusses the relevance of a relatively lesser-known but fundamental text of the Advaita Vedanta School of Hinduism called the Ashtavakra Gita at a time of global conflict. It will focus on the personal experience of the transformative and redeeming power of the text amidst the turmoil, grief, and uncertainty that is the fate of human life. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2024.
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On the surface, an Indian doctor, a British poet, an UberEats courier in Pittsburgh, and a Chinese activist in exile have nothing in common. But they are in fact linked by a profound common experience―unexpected encounters with artificial intelligence. In her debut book Code Dependent, shortlisted for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-fiction 2024, Madhumita Murgia shows how automated systems are reshaping our lives all over the world, from technology that marks children as future criminals, to an app that is helping to offer medical diagnoses to a remote tribal community.
By highlighting the voices of ordinary people in places far removed from the cozy enclave of Silicon Valley, Madhumita explores the impact of this often-exploitative technology on individuals, communities, and our wider society.
Vidushi Marda, a lawyer and researcher, specialises in examining the socio-legal ramifications of data-driven technologies. Her research centers on technology regulation, asymmetric power dynamics, and fundamental rights. Through her endeavors, she collaborates with governments, corporations, and technical communities to promote social justice.
Together, they will discuss and unpack how AI can strip away our collective and individual sense of agency, and shatter our illusion of free will. AI has already infiltrated our day-to-day, through language-generating chatbots like ChatGPT and social media. But it’s also affecting us in more insidious ways. It touches everything from our interpersonal relationships, to our kids’ education, work, finances, public services, and even our human rights. It is already changing what it means to be human, in ways large and small, and Madhumita and Vidushi reveal what could happen if we fail to reclaim our humanity.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Author - Madhumita Murgia is in conversation with the Lawyer and Researcher - Vidushi Marda. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2024.
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Karthik Venkatesh, in his book, 10 Indian Languages and How They Came to Be, traces the long and varied journeys of ten languages through time, examining the cultural shifts and political and social influences that have shaped them. He provides a glimpse of their literature, tracks the growth of their scripts and identifies landmark moments that have preserved and reinvented these ten Indian languages.
Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan, in his book, The Origin Story of India’s States, gives us an account of the genesis of India’s states, presenting the incredible origin stories of each of India’s twenty-eight states and eight union territories, spanning from Independence until today.
The authors come together in this session to delve into the historical, cultural, and political dimensions of both subjects, to compare and contrast their development and to share with us their process in putting together books that are accessible and of historical import.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Author & Executive Editor of Penguin Random House India - Karthik Venkatesh is in conversation with the Writer, Actor & Director - Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2024.
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Karnataka elects 28 members to the Lok Sabha and is considered a crucial swing state (to borrow a term from American politics) in the forthcoming elections as the INDIA Alliance is hoping to make major gains here. But if history is any indicator, then the BJP has an advantage.
In the past four parliamentary elections since 2004, the BJP has managed to win more seats than the Congress. In the elections of 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019, the BJP won 18, 19, 17 and 25 seats respectively. In the 2019 elections, the BJP, riding on a national wave that favoured the reelection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, secured a staggering 51.7 percent of the vote share in Karnataka. The lone independent MP who was elected also subsequently extended her support to the BJP which means that the party now has 26 seats in Karnataka. While the electoral history of the past two decades favours the saffron party as Karnataka gets ready to vote in two phases on April 26 and May 7, the Indian National Congress is hoping to regain its past glory in Karnataka. The party which won a thumping majority in the Legislative Assembly elections last year is banking on two issues; its successful implementation of its five guarantees and the injustice done to the State in the devolution of funds from the Union government.
The panel that has been curated carefully will discuss whether Karnataka will follow the same pattern that it has set in place from the past 20 years of preferring the BJP or will it witness a change and provide a boost to the INDIA Alliance. The panel will also dwell on other salient themes such as why Karnataka remains an outlier in south India as far as support to the BJP is concerned and the significance of the BJP’s alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular). Leading up to the elections, both the main parties in the fray have witnessed factional wrangles accompanying the selection of candidates while they have also been accused of perpetuating dynastic politics.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Professor of Public Policy & Governance, Azim Premji University - A Narayana; Senior Journalist at The Hindu - Rishikesh Bahadur Desai and Senior Journalist at The News Minute - Pooja Prasanna are in conversation with Journalist, Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in April 2024.
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In India, the question of whether voters are truly getting what they vote for remains a complex and often debated issue. While elections provide a platform for citizens to express their preferences and hold their representatives accountable, challenges such as electoral misconduct, corruption, and the influence of money and power continue to cast doubt on the efficacy of the electoral process. Moreover, the disconnect between campaign promises and actual governance outcomes further muddles the picture. Despite strides in transparency and electoral reforms, the gap between voter expectations and political realities underscores the need for sustained efforts to enhance accountability, strengthen institutions, and foster a more responsive and inclusive democracy.
Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India by Mukulika Banerjee is an anthropological study of the relationship of formal political democracy and the cultivation of active citizenship in one particular rural setting in India, studied from 1998 to 2013. It draws on deep ethnographic engagement with the people and social life in two villages, both during elections and in the time in between them, to show how these two temporalities connect. The analysis shows how an agrarian village society produces the social imaginaries required for democratic and republican values. The ethnographic microscope on a single paddy growing setting allows us to examine how the various social institutions of kinship, economy, and religion are critical sites for the continual civic cultivation of cooperation, vigilance, redistribution, inviolate commitment, and hope—values that are essential for democracy.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Author of 'Cultivating Democracy' & Professor of Social Anthropology at LSE - Mukulika Banerjee will present her findings and engage in a conversation with Professor of Public Policy & Governance, Azim Premji University - A Narayana and Political Consultant, Gender & Civic Activist - Tara Krishnaswamy. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in April 2024.
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On the eve of the 2024 general election, electoral bonds have been thrust into the spotlight, representing a focal point in discussions surrounding political financing in India. These bonds, introduced as a means to ostensibly bring transparency to political funding, have instead been criticised for exacerbating the problem by allowing for anonymous and unrestricted donations to political parties. It leads to the question of what exactly the cost is of fighting an election and what it means for the future of India’s democracy.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Prof. Trilochan Sastry, founder-member of the Association for Democratic Reforms - a petitioner in the electoral bonds case in the Supreme Court, Brijesh Kalappa who has contested a state election and T.M. Veeraraghav who has covered politics for 25 years will discuss elections, money and sources of funding in Indian politics. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2024.
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Misinformation and fake news pose significant challenges in the electoral context in India, influencing public opinion, political discourse, and ultimately, democratic processes. With the widespread use of social media and messaging platforms, false narratives can spread rapidly, often targeting specific communities or political factions. This phenomenon not only undermines the credibility of information but also exacerbates societal divisions and hampers informed decision-making among voters. In India, where diverse perspectives and identities intersect, the proliferation of misinformation can further polarise communities and distort electoral outcomes.
Love Jihad and Other Fictions is a book that debunks the viral falsehoods tearing India apart. Co-authored by three award-winning journalists – Sreenivasan Jain, Supriya Sharma and Mariyam Alavi – the book interrogates inflammatory conspiracy theories centred around the assertion that India’s minorities are plotting to weaken Hindus. Once confined to the fringe, these claims are today amplified by politicians, the mainstream media, and countless social media posts, a trend likely to accelerate as the Lok Sabha election approaches. A book like this, which debunks these divisive theories through hard nosed journalistic scrutiny, has never felt more timely.
In this episode of BIC Talks, the authors of the book, Sreenivasan Jain and Supriya Sharma, along with Vasu HV from Eedina.com are in conversation with Journalist, Dhanya Rajendran. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2024.
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"The Gift That Keeps Giving," is a special five-part BIC Talks mini-series on the life and work of A.K. Ramanujan. Join us as we venture into the rich tapestry of Ramanujan's legacy, featuring exclusive interviews with writers, artists, and scholars who share a profound connection with his work. With each episode, we unravel the enduring impact of Ramanujan’s poetry, translations, and scholarship, providing insights into the creative spirit that continues to inspire generations. Discover the man whose intellectual contributions remain a perpetual gift to the world of literature, art, and academic thought.
The fifth episode, "The Folklorist and His Legend," delves into A.K. Ramanujan's groundbreaking work as a folklorist, highlighting his dedication to preserving and interpreting the rich folklore traditions of South Asia. Through his meticulous collection and insightful analysis of folk tales, songs, and rituals, Ramanujan revealed the complex layers of meaning and cultural significance embedded in these oral traditions. Featuring interviews with anthropologists, folklorists, and those who were directly influenced by his work, this episode uncovers the ways in which Ramanujan's scholarship has shaped our understanding of folklore as a vibrant, living form of cultural expression. We celebrate Ramanujan's legacy as a folklorist who not only documented these stories but also illuminated their enduring relevance and power, cementing his status as a legend in the field.
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"The Gift That Keeps Giving," is a special five-part BIC Talks mini-series on the life and work of AK Ramanujan. Join us as we venture into the rich tapestry of Ramanujan's legacy, featuring exclusive interviews with writers, artists, and scholars who share a profound connection with his work. With each episode, we unravel the enduring impact of Ramanujan’s poetry, translations, and scholarship, providing insights into the creative spirit that continues to inspire generations. Discover the man whose intellectual contributions remain a perpetual gift to the world of literature, art, and academic thought.
The fourth episode, "The Poet," casts a spotlight on AK Ramanujan's profound contributions to poetry, showcasing his extraordinary talent for capturing the complexities of human emotion and experience. It delves into his poetic universe, where each verse weaves together the personal and the universal, the contemporary and the timeless. Featuring readings of his most celebrated poems and insights from fellow poets and literary critics, this episode reveals the layers of meaning and the linguistic mastery that mark Ramanujan's poetry as a vital part of his legacy. "The Poet" invites listeners to experience the beauty and depth of Ramanujan's work, highlighting his enduring influence on the literary world.
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BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
"The Gift That Keeps Giving," is a special five-part BIC Talks mini-series on the life and work of A.K. Ramanujan. Join us as we venture into the rich tapestry of Ramanujan's legacy, featuring exclusive interviews with writers, artists, and scholars who share a profound connection with his work. With each episode, we unravel the enduring impact of Ramanujan’s poetry, translations, and scholarship, providing insights into the creative spirit that continues to inspire generations. Discover the man whose intellectual contributions remain a perpetual gift to the world of literature, art, and academic thought.
The third episode, "The Translator and the Teacher," explores A.K. Ramanujan's dual roles as a masterful translator and an inspiring educator. It delves into how his translations bridged linguistic and cultural divides, bringing ancient texts to life for modern audiences, while his teaching ignited a passion for learning and discovery in his students. Through personal anecdotes and insights from literary experts, we uncover the depth of Ramanujan's impact, showcasing his ability to connect deeply with both the texts he translated and the minds he shaped. This episode celebrates the legacy of a scholar whose work and teaching continue to influence and inspire long after his time.
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BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
"The Gift That Keeps Giving," is a special five-part BIC Talks mini-series on the life and work of A.K. Ramanujan. Join us as we venture into the rich tapestry of Ramanujan's legacy, featuring exclusive interviews with writers, artists, and scholars who share a profound connection with his work. With each episode, we unravel the enduring impact of Ramanujan’s poetry, translations, and scholarship, providing insights into the creative spirit that continues to inspire generations. Discover the man whose intellectual contributions remain a perpetual gift to the world of literature, art, and academic thought.
In the second episode, we delve into A.K. Ramanujan's vast intellectual landscape, exploring his unique ability to weave together the ancient and the modern through his translations and scholarship. This journey illuminates how Ramanujan's work serves as a bridge across cultures, uncovering universal human experiences within the rich tapestries of folklore, mythology, and literary traditions. Through engaging discussions with scholars and admirers, we celebrate Ramanujan's profound insight and boundless curiosity, inviting listeners to experience the world through his visionary lens, where every text and tradition opens new vistas of understanding and connection.
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BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
"The Gift That Keeps Giving," is a special five-part BIC Talks mini-series on the life and work of A.K. Ramanujan. Join us as we venture into the rich tapestry of Ramanujan's legacy, featuring exclusive interviews with writers, artists, and scholars who share a profound connection with his work. With each episode, we unravel the enduring impact of Ramanujan’s poetry, translations, and scholarship, providing insights into the creative spirit that continues to inspire generations. Discover the man whose intellectual contributions remain a perpetual gift to the world of literature, art, and academic thought.
The first episode, offers an intimate narrative through the eyes of a fictional, yet relatable reader, tracing their transformative encounter with the brilliance of AK Ramanujan. This opening chapter invites listeners to embark on their own voyage of discovery, tracing the contours of Ramanujan's intellectual landscapes and delving into the essence of his work that continues to enchant and enlighten. Join us as we begin this exploration into the life and legacy of a man whose contributions are a ceaseless source of inspiration and wonder.
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As the pillars of democracy crumble across the globe, big and small actions of resistance prop up hope and keep alive a way to rebuild. In the past few decades, ordinary folk in India have stood up to repressive state authority over and over again. Their vital acts of hope preserve the collective spirit of resistance and unwavering resilience necessary to continue the fight for democracy.
Audacious Hope is an archive of these struggles, including the protests that united farmers across state borders in 2020 and the national outcry following the controversial CAA legislation. From the myriad ways people came to the aid of their fellow citizens during the pandemic to the testing of free-speech boundaries by cultural activists, this book undertakes the task of documenting resistance in its many forms.
The author, Indrajit Roy challenges the reader with his account of how a proud people are battling to save their beloved democracy. The question is, how can we, through individual and collective action, resist authoritarianism, casteism and majoritarianism? The answer is, of course, through the audacity of hope.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Indrajit is in conversation with journalist and editor Prem Panicker. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in February 2024.
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Ruchira Gupta grew up on her father’s bedtime stories, sparking a desire to become a storyteller like him. Inspired by a childhood article titled The Autobiography of a Pencil, published at the age of ten, Ruchira resolved to become a journalist. Despite initial disinterest in college, she pursued it to secure a job at a Kolkata newspaper.
A turning point occurred during a work assignment in Nepal, where she discovered the harrowing reality of girls being trafficked into Indian brothels. Her documentary, The Selling of Innocents, earned her an Emmy. Unfulfilled, Ruchira left journalism, founded the NGO Apne Aap, and collaborated with the United Nations to combat sex trafficking globally. Despite accolades and a book, I Kick and I Fly, she remains dedicated to eradicating human trafficking and envisions a world free from the buying and selling of human beings.
In this episode of BIC Talks Ruchira shares her story on art and activism and discusses with activist and educator Manira Alva, her book, her work and the work that is yet to be done.
This is an excerpt from an in-person event that took place in the BIC premises in February 2024.
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The global economic outlook in the future is going to be uncertain with wide disruption in all walks of life. The accelerating progress of AI comes at a pivotal moment in the global economy. AI and automation may offer a broad-based surge in productivity – resulting in all-round development and a more positive outlook. But to harness the true power of an AI-powered economy, a robust policy framework that fosters collaboration, and enhances human potential and responsible management of data is required.
In this episode of BIC Talks economist & Nobel Laureate, Michael Spence is in a conversation educationist & CEO of Azim Premji Foundation with Anurag Behar.
This is an extract from an in-person event that took place in the bic premises in February 2024
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Can a song trigger a murder? Can a poem spark a riot? Can a book divide a people? From catchy songs with acerbic lyrics to poetry recited in kavi sammelans to social media influencers shaping opinions with their brand of ‘breaking news’ to books rescripting historical events, ‘Hindutva Pop’ or H-Pop is steadily creating societal acceptability for Hindutva’s core beliefs.
What makes H-Pop so popular? Who are its stars and its audience? Who is pouring in the money, the effort and the resources to produce and broadcast it? What is the political economy of H-Pop? These are some of the questions that award-winning independent journalist Kunal Purohit explores in his riveting investigative book, H-Pop: The Secretive World Of Hindutva Pop Stars, as he travels through India profiling some of H-Pop’s most prolific and popular creators—its stars and celebrities. In the process, he interrogates whether the creators are driven by ideology or commerce, and what motivates the audience to consume their daily dose of bigotry.
In this episode of BIC Talks, an extract from an in-person event that took place in December 2023, Kunal along with stand up comedian Namit Jain and cultural practitioner Arundhati Ghosh discusses the key issues raised in the book and explore the effects of the the Political Influencer Economy.
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Described as “a brilliant history of economic ideas” by Amartya Sen, Aditya Balasubramanian’s recent book Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics in Democratic India, shows how ideas of ‘free economy’ emerged from communities in southern and western India as they embraced new forms of entrepreneurial activity, in opposition to the so-called ‘socialist planned economy’ of Nehruvian India.
‘Free economy’ became the rallying cry for the Swatantra (Freedom) Party, which rose and fell in 1960s India. Its project of opposition politics sought to create a viable conservative alternative to the dominant Indian National Congress and push India toward a two-party system.
In this episode of BIC talks, author Aditya Balasubramanian is in conversation with Narayan Ramachandran. This discussion provides a perspective on the changing relationship between the state and markets and the evolution of democracy in India and help us better understand communities who have been disproportionately successful in the aftermath of liberalisation and shed light on the constructive role opposition has played in Indian society.
This episode is an extract from an in-person event that took place at the BIC premises in December 2023.
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The thinking on political theory that went into the making of the Indian Constitution was not derivative, but highly original. The constitution is based on a long tradition of highly original Indian political reflection. This originality lay in the framers’ forceful critique against some basic axioms of Western political theory.
As illustrations, in this episode of BIC Talks Sudipta Kaviraj (Professor, Columbia University, and Distinguished Visiting Faculty at the NLSIU) shall present Tagore’s thinking on religion and modernity, Gandhi-Tagore-Nehru’s ideas of the nation, and Ambedkar’s late deployment of Buddhism.
Indian nationalist thought also displayed a contending tradition that accepted and elaborated on fundamental Western ideas – as in Iqbal and Savarkar. The constitution sought to develop a state-form that was based on a rejection of the European idea of a nation-state – though this is sometimes obscured, because the framers used a Western-derived language. Thus, those who believe that the constitution is ‘Western’ or colonial are in error; and their search for an alternative is based, ironically, on an imitation of modern Western ideals.
This episode was originally delivered by Sudipta Kaviraj as the MK Nambyar Annual Lecture in November 2023, in collaboration with National Law School of India University.
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It is not often that an author and his editor strike up a relationship that survives forty years of epistolary exchanges and intellectual sparring. The strangely enduring and occasionally fractious friendship that developed between the famously outspoken historian Ramachandra Guha and his reticent editor Rukun Advani is the subject of his new literary memoir. It started in Delhi in the early 1980s, when Guha was an unpublished PhD scholar, and Advani a greenhorn editor with the Oxford University Press.
It blossomed through the 1990s, when Guha grew into a pioneering historian of the environment and of cricket, while also writing his biography of Verrier Elwin. Over these years, Advani was Guha’s most constant confidant, his most reliable reader. He encouraged him to craft and refine the literary style for which Guha became internationally known. Four decades later, though he no longer publishes his books, Advani remains Guha’s most trusted literary adviser. Yet they also disagree ferociously on politics, human nature, and the nature of their commitment to India. They usually make up – because it just wouldn’t do to allow such an odd relationship to die.
In this episode of BIC Talks, built around letters and emails between an outgoing and occasionally combative scholar and a reclusive editor prone to private outbursts of savage sarcasm, Ramachandra Guha discusses his new book, The Cooking of Books: A Literary Memoir.
This episode is adapted from an in-person event that took place at the BIC premises in early February 2024.
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Dr. Raghuram Rajan Economist, Educator & Former Governor, RBI speaks in context of his latest book - Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future, in the context of a first-time collaboration between Dr Rajan and economist Rohit Lamba. These two distinguished voices from the field of economics and public policy have put together a gripping book about the future of India’s economic development. There is a truly Indian path to prosperity, they argue, that builds on the strengths of our people and our political and societal frameworks. They examine fundamental policy choices that concern every Indian.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Dr. Rajan speaks followed by a conversation with Dr. Lamba and Prof. Manaswini Bhalla, Associate Professor of Economics, IIM-B, tackling questions like - Where is India going today? Is it surging forward, having just overtaken the United Kingdom to become the fifth-largest economy in the world? Or is it floundering, unable to provide jobs for the millions joining the labour force? What should India do to secure a better future? Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future tackles these critical questions that revolve around India’s growth and progress in the 21st century.
This is an excerpt from an in-person event that took place in December 2023.
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The ongoing crises in Ukraine and Gaza highlight the pressing need for a revamped international approach that recognizes the increasing autonomy of middle and smaller powers globally. This necessitates a rejection of attempts to revive a failed unilateral U.S. dominance or force diverse conflicts into an outdated "great power competition" model akin to the Cold War.
In both Ukraine and the Middle East, the United States has faced challenges in imposing its will, both militarily and diplomatically. Smaller nations have successfully resisted American-backed military efforts, and a substantial part of the global community diverges from endorsing U.S. diplomatic perspectives on international norms. Importantly, this opposition does not align with the Cold War paradigm, lacking the support of a superpower peer competitor.
The emerging world order is characterized by "regionalization," where middle and small powers worldwide feel empowered to bypass or defy U.S. interpretations of global norms based on localized interests and regional security considerations.
The roots of this situation trace back to the U.S. pursuit of unilateral power during the War on Terror, diminishing the legitimacy of the post–World War Two international order. This has led the international community to seek alternatives to a system perceived as granting unchecked power to the United States.
The U.S. foreign policy establishment must grapple with this newly deglobalized and regionalized world order, as failure to do so poses a significant threat to U.S. power and influence. Relationships with key emerging powers like India and traditional U.S. allies in Europe and Asia are susceptible to the de–globalizing and regionalizing forces observed in Ukraine and the Middle East.
In this episode of BIC Talks, renowned scholar, Dr. Faisal Devji makes sense of the enduring bewilderment that global history was and continues to be, offering a vantage point that is objective in understanding the enigmatic creature that is globalisation.
This episode is an extract from an in-person session that took place in December 2023 at the BIC premises, as part of Alliance’s Public Lecture Series.
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Contemporary India is witness to a huge change in which, space for serious conversations on all aspects of culture, is receding. The advocacy of religious-cultural nationalism has come to replace all forms of culture. It has also come to take many forms.
For instance, the murder of rationalists – Kalburgi, Pansare, and Gauri Lankesh – underlines the contested nature of secularism, and the fragile space for freedom of thought in religion, media and culture in India. There has been a determined attempt to rewrite the cultural history of India, a project that has fed into the writing of school textbooks.
The rise of online archival projects offering alternative accounts of Indian history, the popular cultures of televised Hinduism, curbs on art and cinema, the huge nexus of religion and market, rise of hate speech are signals to a certain kind of revivalism. Writings that celebrate plurality and tolerance are being decried, systematically countered and a monolithic agenda of culture is gradually being established. In the absence of a real space for cultural conversations, politics dominates all kinds of discourses.
In this episode of BIC Talks Aruna Roy, Activist & Former Civil Servant, sheds light on these receding spaces. This lecture took place at the BIC premises in early January 2024 as the U R Ananthamurthy Memorial Lecture.
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That the 20th century shapes our present and will influence our future is common point of debate in India. Clearly, politics and economics, culture and society clearly were deeply influenced, if not fundamentally shaped, by choices made at key points of time. Yet this applies equally, so with even greater long-term consequences, to the environment in its widest sense. In a more focussed way, this is how human actions, via technological choices or the ways land or water are governed, influence the non-human entities we share spaces with.
Rather than view ecology and society as two distinct entities, the overlaps and interfaces can shed fresh light on where we stand today. knowing how we got to where we stand matters. India’s recent environmental pasts have bearing not only on this country, but Asia and the world at large.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Ashoka University Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan delivers the first annual Vijay Thrivuvady memorial lecture that took place at the big premises in early January 2024. Vijay Thiruvady was a naturalist, environmental historian and a true blue Bangalore who will be terribly missed by all who knew him and all who have walked Lal Bagh with him.
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Kumaravyasa’s Bharata is a crown jewel of Kannada literature, beloved by scholars and common people alike. In this 15th-century classic, Kumaravyasa reimagines Vyasa’s epic, making it more compact, dramatic, closer to everyday life and language. He dispenses with most didactic material, cuts out subsidiary tales, and concludes with the end of the war. Here, Krishna, who is cool, clever, charming, and charismatic, is the central character, but many others, such as Draupadi, Karna, and Duryodhana leave an indelible mark. He narrates the story through fast-moving, deftly crafted situations, where characters confront grand conflicts and articulate subtle and complex emotions in brilliant metaphorical language. In this series of masterclasses, Professors SN Sridhar and Krishnamurthy Hanuru will introduce the audience to several aspects of Kumaravyasa’s poetic genius, illustrating them with the modern English translations the first volume of which has just been published as The Kannada Mahabharata by Harvard University Press in the Murty Classical Library of India series.
The first episode places the poet in relation to his life and times, discusses his unique poetic manifesto, outlines the work, and highlights his originality in the way he creatively transforms Vyasa’s prototype of the Mahabharata and Pampa’s version.
In this episode of BIC Talks Professors Sridhar and Hanuru illustrate Kumaravyasa’s genius and versatility while analysing what accounts for the enduring popularity of his work for over half a millennium.
This is an excerpt from an in-person masterclass series that took place in January 2024.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
Kumaravyasa’s Bharata is a crown jewel of Kannada literature, beloved by scholars and common people alike. In this 15th-century classic, Kumaravyasa reimagines Vyasa’s epic, making it more compact, dramatic, closer to everyday life and language. He dispenses with most didactic material, cuts out subsidiary tales, and concludes with the end of the war. Here, Krishna, who is cool, clever, charming, and charismatic, is the central character, but many others, such as Draupadi, Karna, and Duryodhana leave an indelible mark. He narrates the story through fast-moving, deftly crafted situations, where characters confront grand conflicts and articulate subtle and complex emotions in brilliant metaphorical language. In this series of masterclasses, Professors SN Sridhar and Krishnamurthy Hanuru will introduce the audience to several aspects of Kumaravyasa’s poetic genius, illustrating them with the modern English translations the first volume of which has just been published as The Kannada Mahabharata by Harvard University Press in the Murty Classical Library of India series.
The second session discusses some of the themes, characters and episodes in Kumaravyasa’s Bharata, such as the sexual harassment of Draupadi, the diplomacy of Krishna, the manipulative, determined Duryodhana, the tragedies of Abhimanyu and Karna, the killing of Shishupala, the tragic death of Pandu, and Arjuna’s confrontations with Shiva and Urvashi.
In this episode of BIC Talks Professors Sridhar and Hanuru explore the contemporaneity and universality of Kumaravyasa’s ideas about class, caste, war, power, human relations, patriarchy, women’s status, and so forth.
This is an excerpt from an in-person masterclass series that took place in January 2024.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
Kumaravyasa’s Bharata is a crown jewel of Kannada literature, beloved by scholars and common people alike. In this 15th-century classic, Kumaravyasa reimagines Vyasa’s epic, making it more compact, dramatic, closer to everyday life and language. He dispenses with most didactic material, cuts out subsidiary tales, and concludes with the end of the war. Here, Krishna, who is cool, clever, charming, and charismatic, is the central character, but many others, such as Draupadi, Karna, and Duryodhana leave an indelible mark. He narrates the story through fast-moving, deftly crafted situations, where characters confront grand conflicts and articulate subtle and complex emotions in brilliant metaphorical language. In this series of masterclasses, Professors SN Sridhar and Krishnamurthy Hanuru will introduce the audience to several aspects of Kumaravyasa’s poetic genius, illustrating them with the modern English translations the first volume of which has just been published as The Kannada Mahabharata by Harvard University Press in the Murty Classical Library of India series.
The first episode places the poet in relation to his life and times, discusses his unique poetic manifesto, outlines the work, and highlights his originality in the way he creatively transforms Vyasa’s prototype of the Mahabharata and Pampa’s version.
In this episode of BIC Talks Professors Sridhar and Hanuru illustrate Kumaravyasa’s genius and versatility while analysing what accounts for the enduring popularity of his work for over half a millennium.
This is an excerpt from an in-person masterclass series that took place in January 2024.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
How do people, who are often at the receiving end of legal violence, engage with the law?
Amidst the grinding terror trials – which are replete with stories of torture, illegal detention and fabricated charges – this presentation will discuss how the terror-accused schooled themselves in legal language and came to understand how paperwork’s certificatory procedures produce legal truth. Though seemingly mundane, legal technicalities are fraught and highly contested, and acquire urgent ethical qualities in the life of a trial: legal language becomes a question of a form of life. The file becomes a space in which the world can be made or unmade, and the petition is a way of imagining a future.
In attending to the ways in which legal technicalities are made to work – through legal language and through files – we are offered a way of understanding how human expressiveness, creativity and vulnerability emerge through the law.
In this episode of BIC Talks, author and senior lecturer in law at SOAS, University of London, Mayur Suresh talks about his research in the area, followed by a conversation with research manager at Daksh, Leah Verghese.
This episode is an extract from an in-person event that took place at the BIC premises in mid-December 2023.
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Pranay Kotasthane, Co-author of "Missing in Action," and Devashish Dhar, Author of "India’s Blind Spot," come together for a unique duet in the realm of policy. Drawing inspiration from the classical music approach of jugalbandi that allows artists to showcase their mastery of instruments, Pranay and Devashish leverage their experiences at Takshashila Institution and NITI Aayog, respectively, to weave a harmonious narrative on public policymaking.
Having both spent time at the Takshashila Institution, they bring a rich understanding of the intricate world of policy. As they collaborate and build upon each other's work, this policy jugalbandi aims to unravel the complexities of policymaking for our audience.
In this episode of BIC Talks, our speakers, Pranay Kotasthane and Devashish Dhar, delve into the core of public policy, offering fresh insights and perspectives. Pranay, with his co-authorship on "Missing in Action," challenges the prevalent perceptions about the Indian State, urging us to reflect on its workings. Meanwhile, Devashish, the author of "India’s Blind Spot," sheds light on the challenges and opportunities that define India's experiment with urbanization, emphasizing how cities have become the country's blind spot.
In this exploration of policy, our participants dissect fundamental concepts and propose innovative solutions to the complex issues. This episode was adapted from a live event at the BIC premises.
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Gandhiji gave expression to his dreams for Swaraj or Independent India on many occasions in many ways.
“The Swaraj of my…our…dream recognizes no race or religious destinations. Nor is it to be the monopoly of the lettered persons nor yet of moneyed men. Swaraj is to be for all, including the farmer, but emphatically including the maimed, the blind, the starving toiling millions.” Young India, 26-3-1931
“It has been said that Indian Swaraj will be the rule of the majority community, i. e. the Hindus. There could not be a greater mistake than that. If it were to be true, I for one would refuse to call it Swaraj and would fight it with all the strength at my command, for to me Hind Swaraj is the rule of all people, is the rule of justice.” Young India, 16-4-1931
This talk by Prof. Mridula Mukherjee explores the multiple facts of the Mahatma’s vision for India, especially his ideas and practice on religion and secularism, democracy and dissent, violence and non-violence. It will also pose the question: to what extent have we been faithful to Gandhiji’s dreams? Where have we failed him? Does the India of his dreams remain an ideal for Indians today?
This episode of BIC Talks is an excerpt from an in-person event that took place in October 2023 as the Prof. Satish Chandra Memorial Lecture.
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This episode of BIC Talks is an excerpt from a live discussion at the BIC premises presented by DAKSH in late October 2023. The panelists in this discussion were Justice Suraj Govindraj, Judge, Karnataka High Court; Sarayu Natarajan, Founder, Aapti Institute; Prof. Nomesh Boliya, Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi and moderated by Surya Prakash BS, Programme Director at DAKSH.
The panel discusses Daksh’s newest publication - Technology and Analytics for Law and Justice - a unique volume that examines the evolution of technology in the law and justice system in India. It delves into the challenges and opportunities presented by technology, current thinking on the subject, and what the future may hold for this rapidly developing field.
From tracing the historical journey of law and technology in India to the rise of ‘justice makers,’ the impact of cutting-edge forensic technology, the world of smart contracts, and the realm of surveillance, this book offers a comprehensive and thought-provoking look at the ever -changing landscape of law and technology.
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In the aftermath of ChatGPT fueled AI hype, there’s an equally charged conversation on how the public and governments should respond to present (and future) harms related to these technologies. It’s a crowded space – with AI industry voices and existential risk (x-risk) doomers trying to shape the narrative on regulation alongside civil society advocates and government agencies.
With many combined decades of experience critiquing and working within the tech industry, Meredith Whittaker, Amba Kak & Udbhav Tiwari share their insights and perspectives on the current AI hype wave and the related policy landscape, with a particular focus on the threats this poses to privacy, and the ways that the dominant narratives are getting AI wrong.
This episode of BIC Talks is adapted from an in-person event that took place in early October 2023, in collaboration with Signal and Hasgeek.
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As we approach the 300 episode milestone, this special installment of BIC Talks - the last of 2023 - featuring V Ravichandar, honorary director of BIC, Raghu Tenkayala, Chief of Operations and Infrastructure and Vikram Bhat, current Joint Director, taking over as director from the first of January in conversation with Lekha Naidu, Programme Manager and Custodian of the podcast.
This episode features an informal chat - an exercise in looking back for insights and looking forward with an evolved vision as far as the podcast is concerned. In this two part episode, we also take an opportunity to look back at what Ravi, dubbed the patron of lost causes does best - think deeply about solving the city’s problems, with a quick look back at a session titled - Why is it so Darn Hard to Fix Bengaluru? -
Bengaluru appears to be a work in tatters. ‘Mohenjo Daro’ type excavations, ‘moon like’ craters and continuous road works are normalised. Traffic snarls are a daily occurrence. We think nothing of dumping the waste of a city of 11 million in villages of 5000 consigning them to everlasting misery. Come monsoon and there are inevitable flooding of low lying areas – if a Nostradmus like prediction is required, urban flooding is the doomsday scenario for Bengaluru given the rampant, unchecked growth with multiple violations.
The speaker despite the above gloomy outlook is a perpetual optimist despite tilting at ‘windmills’ for over two decades. His talk will focus on understanding the underlying reasons why fixing the city needs a herculean, holistic effort. That is a first step in figuring out how do we get out of the collective hole we are in.
This was originally part of a BHeard at BIC event that took place in March of 2022.
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In a world where more and more people burrow deeper into the silos of their way of thinking, the separation from an understanding of another view, much less an appreciation, is shrinking. In a healthy society, the moderate middle continues to grow at the expense of fringes competing against each other in deepening the wells of hate and misunderstanding. As a consequence, the reality of each of us, of all of us, belonging to a common humanity gets lost.
Three decades ago, it was pointed out by author and professor of geopolitics, Prof. Nalapat that the cultural DNA of the people of India is a fusion of the Vedic, the Mughal and the Western, something that was termed “Indutva”. No strand can stand alone, and yet not just within countries but between countries, there are outlier states that believe they and they alone have the right to assume primacy, even dominance, over the rest.
In the 1930s in Europe, such a state, because it remained unchallenged throughout that decade, ignited a world war. The 21st century must not witness a similar holocaust, and such an outcome is preventable only through the coming together of those committed to the equality of nations and to a free, open and inclusive Global Commons that includes the entirety of the Indo-Pacific.
In his book, Cold War 2.0, Professor Madhav Das Nalapat presents both the danger as well as the deterrent. What happened in the 1930s must not be repeated in the 2030s. The time for prevention is now.
This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from a lecture that took place inthe BIC premises in October 2023.
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The Indians is a collection of essays by some of South Asia’s foremost historians and scholars that maps the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilisation and people. The collection covers a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century.
The book is divided into seven sections - the first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilisations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilisations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalisation, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience.
Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society. An attempt has been made to reflect these sections to an extent in this seven part series.
This BIC Talks mini series - Histories of a Civilisation - glimpses into the collection, presenting readings from selected essays, interspersed with conversations with the scholar who wrote them, providing a sampling of the various topical discourses that cover the epochs of the subcontinent and hopes to encourage our listeners to take a deep dive into what makes the Indians.
In this seventh and final part of the series, Dr Arati Deshpande Mukherjee speaks about domestication of animals in India.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
The Indians is a collection of essays by some of South Asia’s foremost historians and scholars that maps the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilisation and people. The collection covers a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century.
The book is divided into seven sections - the first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilisations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilisations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalisation, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience.
Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society. An attempt has been made to reflect these sections to an extent in this seven part series.
This BIC Talks mini series - Histories of a Civilisation - glimpses into the collection, presenting readings from selected essays, interspersed with conversations with the scholar who wrote them, providing a sampling of the various topical discourses that cover the epochs of the subcontinent and hopes to encourage our listeners to take a deep dive into what makes the Indians.
In this sixth part of the series, Professor Sunny Kumar speaks about Delhi in the last millennium.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
The Indians is a collection of essays by some of South Asia’s foremost historians and scholars that maps the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilisation and people. The collection covers a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century.
The book is divided into seven sections - the first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilisations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilisations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalisation, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience.
Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society. An attempt has been made to reflect these sections to an extent in this seven part series.
This BIC Talks mini series - Histories of a Civilisation - glimpses into the collection, presenting readings from selected essays, interspersed with conversations with the scholar who wrote them, providing a sampling of the various topical discourses that cover the epochs of the subcontinent and hopes to encourage our listeners to take a deep dive into what makes the Indians.
In this fifth part of the series, Professor GN Devy, thinker, writer, literary critic and cultural theorist speaking on Varna & Jati - consolidation of social hierarchy.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
The Indians is a collection of essays by some of South Asia’s foremost historians and scholars that maps the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilisation and people. The collection covers a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century.
The book is divided into seven sections - the first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilisations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilisations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalisation, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience.
Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society. An attempt has been made to reflect these sections to an extent in this seven part series.
This BIC Talks mini series - Histories of a Civilisation - glimpses into the collection, presenting readings from selected essays, interspersed with conversations with the scholar who wrote them, providing a sampling of the various topical discourses that cover the epochs of the subcontinent and hopes to encourage our listeners to take a deep dive into what makes the Indians.
In this fourth part of the series, Dr. Rinku Lamba, Associate Professor at National Law School of India University, talks about caste and reforms in the modern period.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
The Indians is a collection of essays by some of South Asia’s foremost historians and scholars that maps the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilisation and people. The collection covers a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century.
The book is divided into seven sections - the first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilisations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilisations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalisation, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience.
Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society. An attempt has been made to reflect these sections to an extent in this seven part series.
This BIC Talks mini series - Histories of a Civilisation - glimpses into the collection, presenting readings from selected essays, interspersed with conversations with the scholar who wrote them, providing a sampling of the various topical discourses that cover the epochs of the subcontinent and hopes to encourage our listeners to take a deep dive into what makes the Indians.
In this third part of the series, linguist Anvita Abbi talks about the language families of India other than Indo-Aryan.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
The Indians is a collection of essays by some of South Asia’s foremost historians and scholars that maps the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilisation and people. The collection covers a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century.
The book is divided into seven sections - the first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilisations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilisations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalisation, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience.
Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society. An attempt has been made to reflect these sections to an extent in this seven part series.
This BIC Talks mini series - Histories of a Civilisation - glimpses into the collection, presenting readings from selected essays, interspersed with conversations with the scholar who wrote them, providing a sampling of the various topical discourses that cover the epochs of the subcontinent and hopes to encourage our listeners to take a deep dive into what makes the Indians.
In this second part, historian Vinay Lal speaks to one of the editors of 'The Indians', GN Devy about the freedom movement, the impact MK Gandhi has had on the fate of the nation and the evolution of Independent India.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
The Indians is a collection of essays by some of South Asia’s foremost historians and scholars that maps the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilisation and people. The collection covers a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century.
The book is divided into seven sections - the first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilisations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilisations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalisation, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience.
Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society. An attempt has been made to reflect these sections to an extent in this seven part series.
This BIC Talks mini series - Histories of a Civilisation - glimpses into the collection, presenting readings from selected essays, interspersed with conversations with the scholar who wrote them, providing a sampling of the various topical discourses that cover the epochs of the subcontinent and hopes to encourage our listeners to take a deep dive into what makes the Indians.
In this first part, journalist and editor Tony Joseph speaks to fellow editor 'The Indians', GN Devy while reflecting on migrations that shaped the demography of India.
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This lecture by the critic, thinker, educator and activist Professor GN Devy, focuses on the year 1923 and recounts Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Gujarat in October/November of that year, Mahatma Gandhi’s days in prison and Dr. Ambedkar being awarded the D.SC. and being admitted to Bar in London.
The lecture featured in this episode of BIC Talks presents the thoughts of the three on the question of Nationalism, during the India’s independence movement and compares those three visions with the contemporary views on the same question.
This was originally presented as the Annual Vijay Nambisan Memorial Lecture, 2023 at the BIC premises.
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Over a month into Israel’s strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas terror attacks, is the world on the brink of a bigger war with repercussions across West Asia? What are the likely off-ramps that could see a peaceful outcome now and how could the continuing violence impact the world? And, amidst growing global polarisation, what are India’s options and is there a possible role in ending the crisis at hand.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu, chronicles the history of the struggle and India’s relationship and role as it has evolved.
This talk was originally delivered at the BIC premises on November 18, 2023.
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None Wiser than the Law is a miniseries of in-depth conversations with Justice MN Venkatachaliah, providing an intimate exploration of the legal realm, his life journey, political insights, and the Indian constitution. The title of this podcast draws inspiration from Aristotle, who said to seek to be wiser than the law is the very thing which is by good laws forbidden. Justice Venkatachaliah, a distinguished figure in the realm of jurisprudence, acknowledges this aphorism in one of his landmark judgments, setting the tone for this series of conversations.
The host, Alok Prasanna Kumar, a co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, spoke to former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachaliah in August 2023. Their discussion spans an array of topics, encapsulating the Justice's journey from a young lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, his landmark judgments, and his insights on the ever-evolving legal landscape and society.
In this final episode of the mini-series, Alok and Justice Venkatachaliah spoke on a range of issues related to the Indian Constitution, the evolution of its basic principles and the challenges that lie ahead for India in the coming years.
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None Wiser than the Law is a miniseries of in-depth conversations with Justice MN Venkatachaliah, providing an intimate exploration of the legal realm, his life journey, political insights, and the Indian constitution. The title of this podcast draws inspiration from Aristotle, who said to seek to be wiser than the law is the very thing which is by good laws forbidden. Justice Venkatachaliah, a distinguished figure in the realm of jurisprudence, acknowledges this aphorism in one of his landmark judgments, setting the tone for this series of conversations.
The host, Alok Prasanna Kumar, a co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, spoke to former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachaliah in August 2023. Their discussion spans an array of topics, encapsulating the Justice's journey from a young lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, his landmark judgments, and his insights on the ever-evolving legal landscape and society.
With over seventy years of experience as a lawyer, judge and public figure, Justice Venkatachaliah has seen it all - the birth of indepedendent India, the tenures of multiple Prime Ministers, the rise of social movements, secession, deep social conflicts and their resolutions.
What does he make of India and the journey it has taken over the last 75 odd years?
In this episode, we will be hearing from Justice Venkatachaliah on his perspectives on the state of the Indian judiciary, what the legal profession ought to be like and where legal education should go.
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DPP v. Shaw [1961] UKHL 1 (04 May 1961) https://judicialacademy.nic.in/sites/default/files/1453024387_Shaw%20v%20DPP%201961.pdf In re, Erada Padinharedil Govindan Nair v. State , May 4, 1992 https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/56e138de607dba3896624e18 Ameer Khan case (1870), https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/the-habeas-corpus-case-1870/article10107326.ece, for a larger discussion on the larger principles : https://deepakmiglani.com/writ-jurisdiction-of-the-high-courts/
Legislation
The Bill of Rights, 1689, UK https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/revolution/collections1/collections-glorious-revolution/billofrights/ US Patriots Act, https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/what_is_the_patriot_act.pdf
Books
Responsa: Selected Legal Opinions by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, 1976 https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Responsa.html?id=zIBRAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y The theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith 1790. https://www.ibiblio.org/ml/libri/s/SmithA_MoralSentiments_p.pdf
None Wiser than the Law is a miniseries of in-depth conversations with Justice MN Venkatachaliah, providing an intimate exploration of the legal realm, his life journey, political insights, and the Indian constitution. The title of this podcast draws inspiration from Aristotle, who said to seek to be wiser than the law is the very thing which is by good laws forbidden. Justice Venkatachaliah, a distinguished figure in the realm of jurisprudence, acknowledges this aphorism in one of his landmark judgments, setting the tone for this series of conversations.
The host, Alok Prasanna Kumar, a co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, spoke to former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachaliah in August 2023. Their discussion spans an array of topics, encapsulating the Justice's journey from a young lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, his landmark judgments, and his insights on the ever-evolving legal landscape and society.
In this fifth episode, Justice Venkatachaliah recollects his interactions with eminent judges, lawyers and politicians with whom he crossed paths.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
None Wiser than the Law is a miniseries of in-depth conversations with Justice MN Venkatachaliah, providing an intimate exploration of the legal realm, his life journey, political insights, and the Indian constitution. The title of this podcast draws inspiration from Aristotle, who said to seek to be wiser than the law is the very thing which is by good laws forbidden. Justice Venkatachaliah, a distinguished figure in the realm of jurisprudence, acknowledges this aphorism in one of his landmark judgments, setting the tone for this series of conversations.
The host, Alok Prasanna Kumar, a co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, spoke to former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachaliah in August 2023. Their discussion spans an array of topics, encapsulating the Justice's journey from a young lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, his landmark judgments, and his insights on the ever-evolving legal landscape and society.
Justice Venkatachaliah was elevated as a permanent judge of the Karnataka High Court on November 6, 1975. In October 1987, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India to become only the third judge from the Karnataka High Court to have been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of India. As the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court of India in February 1993, he succeeded Justice LM Sharma as the Chief Justice of India and held that position until his retirement in October, 1994. In his 20 month tenure as the Chief Justice of India, Justice Venkatachaliah initiated a wide set of reforms that are remembered to this day. In this, the fourth episode, Justice MN Venkatachaliah delves his career as a judge of the High Court and Supreme Court, and as the Chief Justice of India, and his subsequent post-judicial career.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
None Wiser than the Law is a miniseries of in-depth conversations with Justice MN Venkatachaliah, providing an intimate exploration of the legal realm, his life journey, political insights, and the Indian constitution. The title of this podcast draws inspiration from Aristotle, who said to seek to be wiser than the law is the very thing which is by good laws forbidden. Justice Venkatachaliah, a distinguished figure in the realm of jurisprudence, acknowledges this aphorism in one of his landmark judgments, setting the tone for this series of conversations.
The host, Alok Prasanna Kumar, a co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, spoke to former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachaliah in August 2023. Their discussion spans an array of topics, encapsulating the Justice's journey from a young lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, his landmark judgments, and his insights on the ever-evolving legal landscape and society.
In this third episode, Justice Venkatachaliah talks about his early life and career as a lawyer in Bengaluru. In this conversation the Justice looks back on his memories of Bengaluru at the turn of independence, influences in his life, and what the Bar and the Bench in Bengaluru was like.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
None Wiser than the Law is a miniseries of in-depth conversations with Justice MN Venkatachaliah, providing an intimate exploration of the legal realm, his life journey, political insights, and the Indian constitution. The title of this podcast draws inspiration from Aristotle, who said to seek to be wiser than the law is the very thing which is by good laws forbidden. Justice Venkatachaliah, a distinguished figure in the realm of jurisprudence, acknowledges this aphorism in one of his landmark judgments, setting the tone for this series of conversations.
Alok Prasanna Kumar, a co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, spoke to former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachaliah in August 2023. Their discussion spans an array of topics, encapsulating the Justice’s journey from a young lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, his landmark judgments, and his insights on the ever-evolving legal landscape and society.
In the second episode of the series, Justice MNV and Alok delve into two pivotal judgments that revolve around two of the most harrowing incidents in independent India’s history: the Bhopal Gas disaster in 1984 and the Babri Masjid demolition in 1991. These tragic events spawned a multitude of legal cases, with two of the most significant cases finding their way to the Supreme Court, with Justice Venkatachaliah on the bench. These cases, namely Union Carbide Corporation Ltd v the Union of India (decided in 1991) and Dr Ismail Faruqui v Union of India (decided in 1994), hold paramount importance in the context of these events.
The Supreme Court’s role in facilitating the settlement between the Union of India and Union Carbide has been a subject of extensive debate, as has its contribution to the eventual resolution of the Babri Masjid dispute. In this episode of BIC Talks, we endeavor to shed light on the motivations and considerations that underpinned the court’s decisions, providing insight into why the court took the actions it did in these consequential cases.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
None Wiser than the Law is a miniseries of in-depth conversations with Justice MN Venkatachaliah, providing an intimate exploration of the legal realm, his life journey, political insights, and the Indian constitution. The title of this podcast draws inspiration from Aristotle, who said to seek to be wiser than the law is the very thing which is by good laws forbidden. Justice Venkatachaliah, a distinguished figure in the realm of jurisprudence, acknowledges this aphorism in one of his landmark judgments, setting the tone for this series of conversations.
Alok Prasanna Kumar, a co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, spoke to former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachaliah in August 2023. Their discussion spans an array of topics, encapsulating the Justice's journey from a young lawyer to a Supreme Court judge, his landmark judgments, and his insights on the ever-evolving legal landscape and society.
In this first episode, Justice MNV and Alok discuss two landmark judgements delivered by benches headed by Justice Venkatachaliah, namely Kihoto Hollohan v Zachillhu and AR Antulay v RS Nayak. These two cases involved two major political issues that continue to bedevil Indian politics: defections and corruption. In the Antulay case, Justice Venkatachaliah’s judgement says, “to be wiser than the law is what by good laws is forbidden” and that the “well trodden path is the best path”. This captures the essence of Justice Venkatachaliah’s judicial philosophy, as we shall discover this episode.
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After is a collection of poems inspired by Valmiki’s Ramayana, one of Asia’s foundational epic poems and a story cycle of incalculable historical importance. But After does not just come after the Ramayana. On each successive page, Vivek Narayanan brings the resources of contemporary English poetry to bear on the Sanskrit epic.
In a work that warrants comparison with Christopher Logue’s and Alice Oswald’s reshapings of Homer, and Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red, Narayanan allows the ancient voice of the poem to engage with modern experience, initiating a transformative conversation across time.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Vivek Narayanan is in conversation with Mani Rao and Arshia Sattar, peppered with readings and conversation.
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India has ambitiously tasked itself to leap to the next level on the development ladder to a “developed India” tag by 2047. The country is categorised as an “Aspirational Society,” aiming to seize the opportunities provided by an economy that maintains steady and high economic growth. This society aspires for better living standards, including the bare necessities, better health care, education, clean water, sanitation facilities, affordable housing, electricity and the internet.
The big tent of India’s social infrastructure must reach a diverse and expansive populace, transcending cultures, languages, and geographies, after all! The Government is thus making all efforts to live up to this challenge and demands of society, as economic growth without shared prosperity and well-being is devoid of meaning.
A vast ground has been covered to ensure sustainable and equitable economic growth. However, the journey continues with fresh challenges and innovative solutions.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Chief Economic Adviser, V Anantha Nageswaran takes us through the journey that the country has made in the recent past and details the steps forward.
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In an illustrious career spanning over forty years in public service and culminating in the highest office in Indian bureaucracy – Union Cabinet Secretary – KM Chandrasekhar has seen, and done, it all. He is one of those rare IAS officers who has held a wide range of senior positions in State government, the Centre, and public sector undertakings.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Chandrasekhar talks about his autobiography, As Good as My Word, wherehe paints an intimate picture of the UPA government during one of its toughest phases and his own, crucial, role in steering India through some of her most severe crises – the Great Recession of 2008, the oilmen’s strike in 2009 and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks – and scams – the 2G Spectrum case and the 2010 Commonwealth Games corruption scandal. The book describes Chandrasekhar’s experiments in public administration, cutting his teeth in trade diplomacy as the Indian ambassador to the World Trade Organization, his excellent working equation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his run-ins with some prominent ministers of the time, and his reflections on Indian democracy, economy and defence.
The author will be in conversation with ACS, Panchayat Raj, Government of Karnataka, Uma Mahadevan and Sudhir Krishnaswamy Vice-Chancellor of NLSIU, Bengaluru.
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UR Ananthamurthy (1932–2014), writer, teacher, literary critic, and public intellectual, was born in Shivamogga district in Karnataka. In 1965, his debut novel, Samskara, took the literary world by storm with its unflinching portrayal of the rigid orthodoxy in Brahmin society. Since then, it has become a landmark novel of the modernist, or Navya, movement of the 1950s and 1960s in Kannada literature. He received the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour, in 1994, and was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize in 2013.
The Essential UR Ananthamurthy is a five-part compendium of select fictional and non-fictional works, poetry, and autobiographical writings from one of India’s most illustrious and outspoken writers. The section ‘Novels’ portrays characters in conflict with tradition, idealism, and modernity in a rapidly changing independent India through excerpts from powerful novels such as Samskara, Bharathipura, Avasthe, and Bhava. ‘Poetry’ presents five evocative poems on the themes of power and politics. ‘Short Stories’ highlights the chief themes that preoccupied Ananthamurthy—the constraints of the traditional order, the cultural dominance of the West, the sinister workings of power, and the creativity of political dissent. ‘Essays and Speeches’ captures the range and depth of Ananthamurthy’s democratic imagination through his writings on cultural identity and literature, community and creativity, linguistic and nationalist politics, and on figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Ram Manohar Lohia. And, the final section, ‘Memoirs’, gathers Ananthamurthy’s memories of family, friendships, work, and travel from the different phases of his life.
The Essential UR Ananthamurthy offers a rich glimpse into the mind of one of modern India’s most profound writers and thinkers and demonstrates why Ananthamurthy’s works will endure for generations to come. The book has been edited by Manu Chakravarthy and Chandan Gowda.
This episode of BIC Talks features NS Gundur, Anjum Hasan, HS Raghavendra Rao, Nithyananda Shetty and the editors of the book.
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India’s mythmaker and Jnanpith awardee, Chandrashekhar Kambar, has not only enriched Kannada literature but has also placed the country on the global literary map. The recent translation of his collection of folk tales and the charming play Pushparani, titled When the Wind God Fell Sick and Other Folk Tales, opens up new and exciting vistas in children’s literature.
The book also highlights urgent environmental concerns, such as saving trees, conserving forests, and preserving our planet's green and clean environment. It leads young readers, as well as those young at heart, into fantastical worlds where gods, demons, princesses, sorcerers, and common people coexist. Moreover, it makes them feel intimately connected with all the animate and inanimate realms of Nature.
Krishna Manavalli’s English translation (Rupa, 2023) brings the folk sensibility and vibrant Kannada idiom to young adults from diverse cultures worldwide.
This episode of BIC Talks features the writer, Dr. Chandrashekhar Kambar, the translator, Dr. Krishna Malavalli, and the critic, Dr. C. Naganna, on a collective journey of exploration in this folk wonderland.
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Divorce has been typically framed in Indian popular culture as available mainly to upper-class urban and Anglicised people with the financial means to pursue long-winded remedies in courts. In addition, Hindus have had specific obstacles to accessing divorce; among the various religion-based personal law systems, Hindu personal law was the last to legalise divorce. Critics have long framed divorce as anti-Hindu and a practice promoted by frivolous Westernised women. Escaping unwanted or abusive marriages has therefore been an uphill battle.
What arguments did early proponents of divorce in the mid-twentieth century use to legalise divorce? How did they seek to show its acceptance in shastras? Author & Professor, George Washington University, Ashwini Tambe pursues these questions in this talk by looking closely at Marathi public culture, and specifically the longest running Marathi women’s magazine, Stree. She shares translated content from Stree— excerpts of letters to the editor, legal advice, and opinion pieces— to describe the arguments that facilitated the stronger social acceptance of divorce.
Looking at Marathi public culture is important because a significant number of reformists and legislators who helped formalise Hindu women’s legal right to divorce at a national level (such as Chimnabai Gaekwad, Dr. Gopalrao Deshmukh and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar) were Marathi. Bombay Presidency and Baroda (ruled by Marathas) legalised divorce for Hindu women before the country as a whole did so. In effect, this episode of BIC Talks traces the itinerary of reformist ideas about divorce that gained prominence in the 1940s and then led to the national-level legalisation of divorce in the 1950s.
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Amitav Ghosh’s new book, Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey Through Opium’s Hidden Histories is the story of how, under the aegis of the British Empire, India became the world’s largest producer of opium. It also traces the transformative impact that the opium trade had on India, China, Britain and the United States, with profound long-term consequences for the birth of the modern world, and of contemporary globalism.
Many of the world’s biggest corporations got their start in the colonial opium trade. But the opium economy also had significant effects influencing migration and settlement patterns, and touching upon millions of lives, including those of his own forefathers.
Smoke and Ashes tells the story of how this common and deceptively humble plant has shaped the modern world, and the key part it is now playing in the unmaking of that world. It is at once a travelogue, a memoir and an excursion into history, both economic and cultural.
In this episode of BIC Talks, the author Amitav Ghosh, speaks about the making and execution of his exciting book and, engages in a conversation with Ramachandra Guha, which took place in the BIC premises in July 23 2023.
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In 2015, students of the Film & Television Institute of India took the cinema to the streets with a strike. One of the first of the agitations that raged across India’s universities at that time, it defined the right to make and show films as central to freedom on the campus. The names of Eisenstein and Pudovkin, John Abraham, Tarkovsky and Ghatak, recited in slogans and displayed on banners, evoked a history of political cinema that had set itself against the might of India’s political establishment.
This podcast series, commemorates that historic struggle, in these three episodes of John-Ghatak-Tarkovsky
The third and final episode, A Hacker Cinema, looks at the recent histories of censorship, alongside the morphing of the moving image into streaming media, emphasising circulation, using memes, encouraging a new interactivity with its spectators, with significant aesthetic consequences on both filmmaking and the self-definition of a filmmaker.
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Archival (in their own voices) Ritwik Ghatak, Mani Kaul, Kamal Swaroop, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Gurvinder Singh, Vinod Khanna, Prateek Vats, U.R. Ananthamurthy, Amol Palekar, Prakash Jha, Alankrita Srivastava, Vijay Tendulkar, Nakul Singh Sawhney, Paul Mason, Manuel Castells, Rohith Vemula
Performances (using voice cloning) Miss Ida Dickinson (1928), Mahatma Gandhi (1946), S.K. Patil (1951), Justice Mukul Mudgal (2013), Additional Solicitor General, Government of India (2015)
In discussion: Lawrence Liang, Sudhanva Deshpande, Abhijit Gupta, G. Arunima, Ravi Sundaram, Sahana Manjesh, Shilpi Gulati, Nandini Sundar
Texts cited: Shreya Singhal and Ors. v. Union of India, 2015 Report of the Film Inquiry Committee (1951): S.K. Patil, Chairman Indian Cinematograph Committee Report (1928) K. A. Abbas vs The Union Of India & Anr on 24 September, 1970 K.M. Sankarappa vs The Union of India, Karnataka High Court, April, 1990 Public comments sought on the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023 Report of the Committee of Experts to Examine Issues of Certification Under the Cinematograph Act 1952, 2013 (Justice Mukul Mudgal Chair)
Film soundtracks: Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Ritwik Ghatak, 1974) Calcutta 71 (Mrinal Sen, 1972) Agraharathil Kazhuthai (John Abraham, 1977) Amma Ariyan (John Abraham, 1986) Open Cafe v2.5 (Naveen Padmanabha, 2012) Trimurti (Subhash Ghai, 1995) Kavita Gherao (Bombay Film Republic, Ben Friedman/Ashish Avikuntak, 1998) Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (Prakash Mehra, 1978) Chello Show (Pan Nalin, 2021) Om Dar-b-dar (Kamal Swaroop, 1988) Celluloid Man (Shiverndra Singh Dungarpur, 2012)
In 2015, students of the Film & Television Institute of India took the cinema to the streets with a strike. One of the first of the agitations that raged across India’s universities at that time, it defined the right to make and show films as central to freedom on the campus. The names of Eisenstein and Pudovkin, John Abraham, Tarkovsky and Ghatak, recited in slogans and displayed on banners, evoked a history of political cinema that had set itself against the might of India’s political establishment.
This podcast series, commemorates that historic struggle, in these three episodes of John-Ghatak-Tarkovsky
Episode 2, A Satyajit Ray Plastic Bangle, explores the consequences of a cinema that has turned increasingly elusive to regulation. With lightweight equipment for both making and showing films allowing filmmaking an unprecedented mobility, new possibilities emerged along with new challenges for regulatory authority.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
Archival (in their own voices) Ritwik Ghatak, Mani Kaul, Kamal Swaroop, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Gurvinder Singh, Vinod Khanna, Prateek Vats, U.R. Ananthamurthy, Amol Palekar, Prakash Jha, Alankrita Srivastava, Vijay Tendulkar, Nakul Singh Sawhney, Paul Mason, Manuel Castells, Rohith Vemula
Performances (using voice cloning) Miss Ida Dickinson (1928), Mahatma Gandhi (1946), S.K. Patil (1951), Justice Mukul Mudgal (2013), Additional Solicitor General, Government of India (2015)
In discussion: Lawrence Liang, Sudhanva Deshpande, Abhijit Gupta, G. Arunima, Ravi Sundaram, Sahana Manjesh, Shilpi Gulati, Nandini Sundar
Texts cited: Shreya Singhal and Ors. v. Union of India, 2015 Report of the Film Inquiry Committee (1951): S.K. Patil, Chairman Indian Cinematograph Committee Report (1928) K. A. Abbas vs The Union Of India & Anr on 24 September, 1970 K.M. Sankarappa vs The Union of India, Karnataka High Court, April, 1990 Public comments sought on the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023 Report of the Committee of Experts to Examine Issues of Certification Under the Cinematograph Act 1952, 2013 (Justice Mukul Mudgal Chair)
Film soundtracks: Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Ritwik Ghatak, 1974) Calcutta 71 (Mrinal Sen, 1972) Agraharathil Kazhuthai (John Abraham, 1977) Amma Ariyan (John Abraham, 1986) Open Cafe v2.5 (Naveen Padmanabha, 2012) Trimurti (Subhash Ghai, 1995) Kavita Gherao (Bombay Film Republic, Ben Friedman/Ashish Avikuntak, 1998) Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (Prakash Mehra, 1978) Chello Show (Pan Nalin, 2021) Om Dar-b-dar (Kamal Swaroop, 1988) Celluloid Man (Shiverndra Singh Dungarpur, 2012)
In 2015, students of the Film & Television Institute of India took the cinema to the streets with a strike. One of the first of the agitations that raged across India’s universities at that time, it defined the right to make and show films as central to freedom on the campus. The names of Eisenstein and Pudovkin, John Abraham, Tarkovsky and Ghatak, recited in slogans and displayed on banners, evoked a history of political cinema that had set itself against the might of India’s political establishment.
This podcast series, commemorates that historic struggle, in these three episodes of John-Ghatak-Tarkovsky
Episode 1, The Cinema’s Expanded Afterlife, tells a longer cinematic history of a technological and political transformation. The age of film was born more or less after the First World War, signalling a new age of mass democracy. Ever since then, filmmakers have been in the line of fire as the cinema, standing in for a new public domain, has seen battles take place on the street, in courtrooms, and of course in movie theatres.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
Archival (in their own voices) Ritwik Ghatak, Mani Kaul, Kamal Swaroop, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Gurvinder Singh, Vinod Khanna, Prateek Vats, U.R. Ananthamurthy, Amol Palekar, Prakash Jha, Alankrita Srivastava, Vijay Tendulkar, Nakul Singh Sawhney, Paul Mason, Manuel Castells, Rohith Vemula
Performances (using voice cloning) Miss Ida Dickinson (1928), Mahatma Gandhi (1946), S.K. Patil (1951), Justice Mukul Mudgal (2013), Additional Solicitor General, Government of India (2015)
In discussion: Lawrence Liang, Sudhanva Deshpande, Abhijit Gupta, G. Arunima, Ravi Sundaram, Sahana Manjesh, Shilpi Gulati, Nandini Sundar
Texts cited: Shreya Singhal and Ors. v. Union of India, 2015 Report of the Film Inquiry Committee (1951): S.K. Patil, Chairman Indian Cinematograph Committee Report (1928) K. A. Abbas vs The Union Of India & Anr on 24 September, 1970 K.M. Sankarappa vs The Union of India, Karnataka High Court, April, 1990 Public comments sought on the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023 Report of the Committee of Experts to Examine Issues of Certification Under the Cinematograph Act 1952, 2013 (Justice Mukul Mudgal Chair)
Film soundtracks: Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Ritwik Ghatak, 1974) Calcutta 71 (Mrinal Sen, 1972) Agraharathil Kazhuthai (John Abraham, 1977) Amma Ariyan (John Abraham, 1986) Open Cafe v2.5 (Naveen Padmanabha, 2012) Trimurti (Subhash Ghai, 1995) Kavita Gherao (Bombay Film Republic, Ben Friedman/Ashish Avikuntak, 1998) Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (Prakash Mehra, 1978) Chello Show (Pan Nalin, 2021) Om Dar-b-dar (Kamal Swaroop, 1988) Celluloid Man (Shiverndra Singh Dungarpur, 2012)
A large citizen survey was conducted in Bengaluru to better understand the everyday practices through which citizens effectively wield their rights. This is beyond conventional measures of voter turnout or generalisations about citizen participation in politics. The key takeaway is that the poor access the state through political participation and the rich through their influence and connections.
It was also found that unlike the conventional celebration of participation as a citizenship-deepening activity, a substantial part of participation is associated with forms of brokerage that compromise democratic citizenship.
In this episode of BIC Talks, political scientist Ashutosh Varshney presents the findings of the study and its implications for understanding the nature of urban democracy.
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It is generally believed that the indigenous vernacular education in India was oral, controlled by certain sections of the population and exclusive in nature. However, the archival data of 16,000 indigenous vernacular schools gives a very different picture. In 1813, the British Parliament earmarked 100,000 rupees a year for education in India. The colonial government did not utilise the amount. The British liberals collected the data on indigenous schools to urge the colonial government to spend on improving these schools. The data is diverse and covers the Madras, Bombay and Bengal Presidencies and North Western Provinces (Uttar Pradesh). It comprises nine linguistic groups – Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu. It was collected between 1819 and 1838 by British officials and civilians proficient in local vernaculars. William Adam, a Sanskrit and Bengali scholar, collected the data for Bengal and Bihar. He sat in the classrooms and observed the method of teaching. So we have first-hand information on classroom practices of both Sanskrit and Bengali schools of Bengal. Many Sanskrit Pundits continued to correspond with Adam in Sanskrit long after the data collection was over. A.D. Campbell, who collected the data for the Bellary district, was proficient in both Kannada and Telugu languages.
The talk covers access, curriculum, textbooks, school holidays, fees charged by the teachers and the colonial policy towards them. It will also address how education became exclusive by the end of the nineteenth century.
Much has been written and debated about the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. It cost more than one million Hindu, Muslim and Sikh lives and bequeathed a legacy of suspicion, hatred and hostility.
For many it was a blessing, for others a tragedy. For many it meant independence and freedom, for others loss of independence and change of the masters. It left millions traumatized. The violence unleashed before, during and after the independence movement keeps recurring in various forms – most notably, as religious extremism.
75 years on, the crisis on both sides of the border is deepening. The “two nations” are still struggling to define themselves as nations. Emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 as the third nation has challenged several myths. 75 years later, the negative fallout of that legacy is all there to see. It is time to bury the hatchet and build peace. Almost everyone agrees that a strong friendly relationship between these states is essential for their progress, welfare and security of their people. In this episode of BIC Talks, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Stockholm University Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed speaks on the need for peace between India and Pakistan.
This episode is adapted from an event at the BIC Premises that took place in June 2023.
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Noted musician and scholar Satyasheel Deshpande, delves into and demystifies the music of his Guru, Padmavibhushan Pandit Kumar Gandharva in an illustrated talk. This rich, flavourful mehfil, in Hindi with some English, begins with a recording of Kumar Gandharva, the child prodigy, before moving on to include both speech and song that span the many facets of his musical personality and ideas as they evolved from the 1950s to 1992 when he passed away.
Satyasheel Deshpande also shares anecdotes from his years with Kumar ji, who was a close friend of his father, the renowned musicologist Vamanrao Deshpande, visiting and staying at their culturally vibrant Walkeshwar home in South Mumbai along with other great musicians of the era. This episode of BIC Talks covers the following aspects of Kumar Gandharva's journey in music - Parampara, Raj-Vichar, Navsarjan, Gayaki and Bhavishya
He is accompanied by his disciple and son, the performer, teacher and archivist of Hindustani Khayal music, Srijan Deshpande on vocal support and Rupak Kharvandikar on tabla.
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Former Kerala health minister KK Shailaja became a global icon because of her handling of the first phase of the COVID pandemic. In her memoir, My Life as a Comrade, she tells her story – from her childhood as a shy, fearful girl, her days as a school teacher where she learnt the art of managing difficult students to her entry into politics leading to a tenure as health minister where she dealt with two terrifying epidemics.
In this episode of BIC Talks she tells the story of Kerala in post-independent India – how its Communist politics shaped her family and the state, and what makes the Kerala model so remarkable.
KK Shailaja is in conversation with Journalist Indulekha and writer and editor Manju Sara Rajan.
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Gaanasaraswati Kishori Amonkar was not only a vocalist of extraordinary calibre, she was also one of the greatest composers in Hindustani music in her era. Compositions like ‘Sahela Re Aa Mil Gaaye’, ‘Nainawa Barase’ or ‘Ganapata Vighan Harana’ have left a mark in the minds of listeners long after even Kishoritai stopped performing them. However, very few listeners may know of the vast ocean of compositions that the legend had composed, but never performed! These include not only bandishes in various ragas but also bhajans, abhangs and even ghazals!
‘Unsung Kishori’ is an attempt to bring these gems to the audience. In this episode of BIC Talks these compositions are presented by Pt. Raghunandan Panshikar, who is one of the most sought after and versatile vocalists in the country today and Kishoritai’s senior disciple. The concert includes a presentation of the various genres that Kishoritai composed, interspersed with narration by Radhika Joshi, who shares some anecdotes from Kishoritai’s musical journey. Pt. Raghunandan is accompanied by Gurumoorthy Vaidya on the Tabla and Ashwin Walawalkar on the Harmonium.
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Justice BV Nagarathna made a key note address during an event on a curated volume of essays, Constitutional Ideals: Development and Realisation Through Court-led Justice in May 2023. This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from this key note address.
Justice Nagarathna reflects on certain basic ideals secured in the Constitution and indicates their value in present times, while stressing seven essential ideals necessary for a thriving democracy: elections, parliamentary proceedings, public debates, a strong opposition, autonomous institutions, free speech within reasonable bounds, and government functioning within the bounds of the law.
She discusses various key constitutional ideals, including federalism, inter-institutional balance, separation of powers, and the independence of institutions, especially the judiciary. Emphasising the importance of citizen-centric ideals like justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity, she points out that there is still room for courts to recognize more rights.
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The BIC series, My Guru, My Art takes an intimate look at the Guru-Shishya tradition and hopes to capture for posterity the stories of how the magic is created. Conversations between two artistes, Guru and Shishya, will explore their personal histories of learning a classical art form, sharing memories of interactions with their teachers, inspirations, influences, anecdotes of compositions and teaching moments, punctuated by music to illustrate the stories.
In this episode of BIC Talks Vidushi Aditi Kaikini Upadhya and her disciple Priya Purushothaman reflect on the Guru-Shishya tradition within their rich musical parampara. Tracing back to Pandit Bhatkhande, Pandit SN Ratanjankar, and Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, this musical lineage is known for scholarship, composition, and an intentional pedagogical approach.
Aditiji shares her thoughts about the nature of taalim and the rigorous training she received from her gurus, Smt Shashikala Kaikini and Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. In dialogue with Priya, she discusses her shishya’s taalim experience and how this process takes shape in the modern day.
Along with conversation and anecdotes, this episode will showcase special compositions and musical exchanges that highlight the way creative knowledge is transferred in this art form.
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The Guru-Shishya Parampara has been integral to the learning of Indian classical dance. It is a deeply immersive and rigorous tradition that holds its own even in the modern context. A profound bond forms between teacher and student, through which both a way of life, and the practice and knowledge of art, is transmitted. The Guru goes beyond merely imparting technicalities and nuances to shape and hone the Shishya’s voice and their artistic identity.
The Shishya becomes part of a lineage going back to the Guru’s Gurus and carries this tradition to a new generation of artists and audiences. In this episode of BIC Talks, Pandit Vinayaka Torvi and Dhananjay Hegde discuss their artistic journeys.
This event took place at the BIC premises in June 2023.
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In the third and final episode of Being a Present Parent, Gauri and Tena talk about intersectionality and feminist motherhood. They explore how class, caste and gender impact motherhood and mothering in urban Indian lives. They discuss the challenges of carrying the load of parenting and household responsibilities, how to navigate the help we in a way that promotes equity and empowerment for all involved.
The Series:
Parenting can be one of those challenges in life that never has any right answers. How do you enable another person to live up to their full potential in a healthy way while being mindful of their individuality and personality as well as taking care of yourself? Some have called it the ultimate crash course in adulting.
A large number of us have come to understand equity, equality and feminism later in life and are finding ways to live them now, including in the way we speak and work with our children.
What does feminist parenting look like? We seek answers in this three-part podcast series of BIC Talks. In this mini-series, we have Educator and Head of CSR, DXC India, Gauri Bhure Roy, and Tena Pick, Social Impact Consultant and Founder of Project Kal, taking us through the journey of feminist parenting. Gauri and Tena are co-founders of the feminist parenting collective, Parenthesis India.
The third and final episode, Gauri and Tena talk about intersectionality and feminist motherhood. They explore how class, caste and gender impact motherhood and mothering in urban Indian lives. They discuss the challenge of carrying the load of parenting and household responsibilities and navigate the help we have in a way that promotes equity and empowerment for all involved.
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In the second episode of Being a Present Parent, our speakers Tena and Gauri reflect on the trends, surprises and lessons learnt from a year of circles and workshops on topics such as sex and post-partum, trauma and vocabulary, birth and autonomy, and medical science's approach to obstetrics and gynaecology while they share personal stories and insights.
The Series:
Parenting can be one of those challenges in life that never has any right answers. How do you enable another person to live up to their full potential in a healthy way while being mindful of their individuality and personality as well as taking care of yourself? Some have called it the ultimate crash course in adulting.
A large number of us have come to understand equity, equality and feminism later in life and are finding ways to live them now, including in the way we speak and work with our children.
What does feminist parenting look like? We seek answers in this three-part podcast series of BIC Talks. In this mini-series, we have Educator and Head of CSR, DXC India, Gauri Bhure Roy, and Tena Pick, Social Impact Consultant and Founder of Project Kal, taking us through the journey of feminist parenting. Gauri and Tena are co-founders of the feminist parenting collective, Parenthesis India.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
Parenting can be one of those challenges in life that never has any right answers. How do you enable another person to live up to their full potential in a healthy way while being mindful of their individuality and personality as well as taking care of yourself? Some have called it the ultimate crash course in adulting.
A large number of us have come to understand equity, equality and feminism later in life and are finding ways to live them now, including in the way we speak and work with our children.
What does feminist parenting look like? We seek answers in this three-part podcast series of BIC Talks. In this mini-series, we have Educator and Head of CSR, DXC India, Gauri Bhure Roy, and Tena Pick, Social Impact Consultant and Founder of Project Kal, taking us through the journey of feminist parenting. Gauri and Tena are co-founders of the feminist parenting collective, Parenthesis India.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
The book “Memories in the Service of the Hindu Nation: The Afterlife of the Partition” by anthropologist Dr. Pranav Kohli presents the findings of an extensive ethnographic study conducted over fourteen months, focusing on survivors of the Partition from west Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province. The research was conducted in Delhi and its surroundings between 2017 and 2018. The author explores the connection between the global rise of far-right nationalism, the process of globalization, and the memories of victimhood. Specifically, the book delves into Hindu nationalism in India, shedding light on the tragic consequences that can arise from a history of trauma.
The central question posed by the book and this conversation with Pranav Kohli and writer, researcher and lawyer Prannv Dhawan is: "What does it mean to remember the Partition in the time of fascism?" Kohli and Dhawan discuss the experiences of displacement and everyday violence resulting from the political policies of Partition, drawing relevance to the current global context of forced displacement across national borders.
Through an analysis of trauma reincription in Partition memories and its correlation to the justifications of contemporary Hindu nationalist violence, Kohli elucidates the cycles of violence and the ways in which Hindu nationalism shapes the narratives of Hindu Partition survivors.
By examining the deployment of memory to reinforce notions of national belonging and exclusion, Kohli contributes to the understanding of the increasing xenophobia in multicultural democracies. The book addresses the perplexing phenomenon of how "mob" violence can be attributed to outsiders without individuals recalling or acknowledging their own acts of violence.
In this episode of BIC Talks Dhawan speaks to Kohli about his analysis, linking memory, sacrifice, and theodicy, offering a novel conceptual lens to connect the Partition of India in 1947 with contemporary homegrown Hindu fascism and provides thought-provoking ground work to anthropologists studying religion, nationalism, and memory, as well as researchers focusing on modern Indian cultural politics.
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The Shaolin monks of the legendary monastery in China are famous for their skills in Kung Fu. However, Shaolin Kung Fu isn’t just a martial art but a specific way of life and conduct that can be applied effectively in any professional or personal context.
The real secret of the Shaolin monks’ success isn’t their physical abilities. Rather it is their way of thinking that makes them invincible. Business mentor Bernhard Moestl, who learned from the Shaolin monks and is today an instructor reveals for the first time the Shaolin principle of ‘mind power’.
This talk was part of Bangalore Literature Festival 2022
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Delving into the intricate world of storytelling, author and historian Anirudh Kanisetti and author Vikram Chandra explore the fundamental questions that intrigue both readers and writers alike: How are stories told? How do they come to be? And where do these wisps of memory and words find the kernels to sprout from?
Drawing upon his own journey and experiences, Vikram shares insights into his literary beginnings and the unique methods he employs in his writing. This episode of BIC Talks unveils the rich tapestry of storytelling, providing a glimpse into the creative process and the possible sources that inspire authors to weave narratives that resonate with readers.
Adapted from a session held at the Bangalore Literature Festival 2022, this dialogue offers a thought-provoking exploration of the art of storytelling, appealing to both literature enthusiasts and aspiring writers seeking to unravel the mysteries behind the birth of tales.
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An ethnographic study of Indian democracy that shows how agrarian life creates values of citizenship and active engagement that are essential for the cultivation of democracy, Cultivating Democracy provides a compelling ethnographic analysis of the relationship between formal political institutions and everyday citizenship in rural India.
Dr. Mukulika Banerjee draws on deep engagement with the people and social life in two West Bengal villages between 1998 and 2013 to show how the micro-politics of their day-to-day life builds active engagement with the macro-politics of the state. Her sensitive analysis focuses on several "events" in the life of the villages shows how India's agrarian rural society helps create practices and conceptual space for citizens to be effective participants in India's great democratic exercises.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Dr. Banerjee, social anthropologist, scholar and author engages in a coversation with scholar and economist Dr. Vijayendra Rao on the various facets of a functioning democracy and lessons the urban set ups can learn from rural governance.
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Journalism has been the beacon that illuminates the truth amidst the shadows of ignorance. How true does this adage hold in a post-truth world. Writer and columnist, Bachi Karkaria, moderates a captivating panel discussion featuring authors and journalists - P Sainath, Sashi Kumar, and Barkha Dutt.
This BIC Talks conversation revolves around the evolving nature of human interest stories, the importance of grassroots reportage, and their collective reflections on their noble profession, which strives to hold a mirror up to society. However, the question looms: Has this mirror transformed into a sycophant, exposing irreparable cracks? Is the entire enterprise teetering on the verge of failure?
This episode is adapted from a session at the Bangalore Literature Festival 2022.
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Historian Shekhar Pathak; ecologist, and author Ullas Karanth and historian and author Mahesh Rangarajan converge in this episode of BIC Talks to explore the path towards a sustainable and environmentally friendly world. With their extensive knowledge in environmental history, wildlife conservation, and cultural perspectives, they engage in a dialogue encompassing crucial topics such as environmental challenges, wildlife preservation, historical contexts, cultural impacts, and sustainable development.
This conversation sprinked with information, analyses, anecdotes, past and current studies and on ground realities promises to be a rich and enlightening exchange of ideas, aiming to inspire actionable solutions for a future that prioritizes ecological balance and the well-being of our planet.
This episode was adapted from a session at Bangalore Literature Festival 2022.
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Renowned author and Sahitya Akademi awardee Damodar Mauzo engages in a conversation with author and playwright Vivek Shanbhag discuss Mauzo's collection of 14 stories titled "Teresa's Man and Other Stories from Goa." These tales provide a profound glimpse into the world of Goan-Konkani literature, a realm shaped by both remarkable achievements and challenges.
Konkani, considered the "oldest of modern Indo-Aryan tongues," has faced various obstacles throughout its history. It has encountered persistent pressure from dominant regional languages like Marathi and Kannada, and it endured violent suppression during the Inquisition years in Goa from 1560 to 1812. The language struggled for survival amidst waves of diaspora and underwent a fervent postcolonial agitation. Eventually, in 1992, Konkani gained official recognition as a language under the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Within "Teresa's Man," Mauzo skillfully captures the essence of Goa and its Konkani-speaking population. These stories, translated from Konkani to English by Xavier Cota, offer a blend of local flavour and universal themes that evoke a range of emotions and ideas. In this episode, adapted from a session at Bangalore Literature Festival 2022, Mauzo and Shanbhag delve into the inspirations, characters, and themes that shape the collection.
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What is a language and how do they make us who we are? Is an eternal question philosophers have grappled with over eras. Linguistics scholars seek to determine what is unique and universal about the language we use, how it is acquired and the ways it changes over time. They consider language as a cultural, social and psychological phenomenon that stretches across the range of what is human. Over the past few decades we are faced with the language of the digital era that has rapidly changed the constitution of everyday interaction of humankind and steered evolution in all its aspects.
In this episode of BIC Talks, journalist, film maker and media entrepreneur Sashi Kumar speaks about Language and its ever changing face. This episode is adapted from a Bangalore Literature Festival 2022 session.
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In northern India, an eighty-year-old woman slips into a deep depression after the death of her husband, and then resurfaces to gain a new lease on life. Her determination to fly in the face of convention – including striking up a friendship with a transgender person – confuses her bohemian daughter, who is used to thinking of herself as the more ‘modern’ of the two.
To her family’s consternation, Ma insists on travelling to Pakistan, simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition, and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, a feminist.
Rather than respond to tragedy with seriousness, Geetanjali Shree’s playful tone and exuberant wordplay results in a book that is engaging, funny, and utterly original, at the same time as being an urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact of borders and boundaries, whether between religions, countries, or genders.
This episode of BIC Talks is adapted from a conversation between Geetanjali Shree, Anukrti Upadhyay and Arunava Sinha about Geetanjali's International Booker winning novel, that was part of the Bangalore Literature Festival 2022.
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Bhūta Kōlā, also referred to as Daiva kōlā or Nēmā, is a shamanistic ritual dance performance prevalent among the communities of Tulu Nadu and parts of Kasargod in northern Kerala, India. The dance is highly stylized and performed as part of 'Bhootaradhana' or worship of the local deities worshipped by the Tulu speaking population.
It has had it's influence on Yakshagana folk theatre. Būta kōlā is closely related to Theyyam of neighbouring state of Kerala.
In this episode of BIC Talks, educator, writer and columnist Dr Purushottam Bilimale and researcher and writer Dr Indira Hegde talk about the history, social and religious aspects and contemporary relevance of this ancient ritual practice.
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Dancer, actor and public intellectual Mallika Sarabhai writes a memorable account about how she stumbled her way to health, fitness and sanity.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Mallika speaks to author and journalist Ramjee Chandran about her book In Free Fall is all about coming to terms with oneself and ones body and find the lifestyle that works for you. And how to make mistakes, pick yourself up and carry on.
In this conversation Mallika and Ramjee dive into her artistic process, her perspective on the evolution of grammar of performance, her stint as Draupadi with Peter Brook, a glimpse into her study on what corrupts people which her a doctorate and her foray into electoral politics.
This conversation was part of the Bangalore Literature Festival 2022.
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The Pashtuns are perhaps the largest ethnic group in the world without a country of their own. They inhabit a continuous stretch of land from the Hindu Kush to the Indus, across Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan used the Pashtun-dominated areas in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as a launching pad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and later during the US-led War on Terror.
In the process FATA was kept in a constitutional and informational black hole. The discontent finally burst in 2018 when the extra-judicial killing of a Pashtun youth led to widespread protests.
In this episode of BIC Talks, veteran analyst Tilak Devasher speaks to Ambassador PS Raghavan, chairperson of the National Security Advisory Board of India about his book The Pashtuns in an attempt to fill the gap in the geopolitical understanding of South Asia, given the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the shifting power equations in the region. This conversation was part of the Bangalore Literature Festival 2022.
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Over 150 years ago, in 1870, a public park was inaugurated in Bangalore. Designed by British engineer Richard Sankey, it spread over 100 acres and encompassed features typical to the city—granite outcrops, lush greenery, wide avenues and government buildings. Originally named Meade’s Park, it has been known to generations of Bangaloreans as Cubbon Park—sanctuary, lung space, thoroughfare, battlefield, picnic spot, repository of urban biodiversity, and public park.
In this episode of BIC Talks, author and ecologist Harini Nagendra speaks to author and co-founder of BangaloreWALKS Roopa Pai about her book, Cubbon Park, The Green Heart of Bangalore - the first of its kind as they attempt to decode the enduring appeal of the Park. This conversation was adapted from a Bangalore Literature Festival 2022 session.
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Pradeep Magazine's memoir is a story of lived, real experiences, of joy, sorrow, fear, loss and hope, and about how an uprooted identity shapes one's attitude towards society and the nation. From the Kashmir of the 1950s to terror-stricken Punjab, from the Mandir-Masjid divide and the impact of Mandal politics to the tragic consequences of the Kashmir situation-Magazine paints a fascinating portrait of modern India.
At the core of the book are accounts of some of the most epochal events in India's cricketing history, woven around personal encounters with several well-known cricketers. The author lays bare the vicious machinations that are a staple diet of sports governance and reveals hitherto unknown facts about the frictions and ego clashes that are inevitable in a game that dominates India's sporting discourse.
Journalist and editor Prem Panicker engages author and cricket writer Pradeep Magazine in a conversation about this journey as a reporter.
This episode of BIC Talks is adapted from a session at Bangalore Literature Festival, 2022.
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Since 1962 World Theatre Day has been celebrated by International Theatre Instutute Centres, ITI Cooperating Members, theatre professionals, theatre organizations, theatre universities and theatre lovers all over the world on the 27th of March. This day is a celebration for those who can see the value and importance of the art form “theatre”, and acts as a wake-up-call for governments, politicians and institutions which have not yet recognised its value to the people and to the individual and have not yet realised its potential for economic growth. Says the World Theatre Day website.
In this episode of BIC Talks, we invited a cast of Bangalore theatre makers to speak to us about what they considered essential to their practice, to describe a toolbox, as it were, for a theatre artist highlighting what they felt necessary for mindful involvement in theatre.
A second prompt was to pick a piece of text that has had an influence on their work.
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With the coming of age of independent cinema and stories portraying lives across the spectrum in India, the focus has shifted from the protagonist to the writers and makers.
In this episode of BIC Talks, filmmaker Alankrita Srivastava speaks to radio presenter and film critic Stutee Ghosh about the business of filmaking while being a woman. This session was originally part of the Bangalore Literature Festival 2022.
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The reading down of Section 377 by the Supreme Court in 2018 has led to a fundamental shift in the rights of India’s LGBTQ citizens and necessitated policy changes across the board—not least in the conservative world of Indian business.
In his path-breaking and genre-defying book, Parmesh Shahani—Vice President at Godrej Industries Ltd—draws from his decade-long journey in the corporate world as an out and proud gay man, to make a cogent case for LGBTQ inclusion and lay down a step-by-step guide to reshaping office culture in India. He talks to inclusion champions and business leaders about how they worked towards change; traces the benefits reaped by industry giants like Godrej, Tata Steel, IBM, Wipro, the Lalit group of hotels and many others who have tapped into the power of diversity; and shares the stories of employees whose lives were revolutionised by LGBTQ-friendly workspaces.
In this episode of BIC Talks Parmesh is in conversation with journalist Shrabonti Bagchi. This session was originally part of Bangalore Literature Festival 2022.
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Forrest Gander, a writer and translator with degrees in geology and literature, was born in the Mojave Desert. He has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize and fellowships from the Guggenheim, Whiting and United Artists foundations.
Gander has most recently published Twice Alive: An Ecology of Intimacies (with an essay by N. Manu Chakravarthy).
Gander, who taught at Harvard and Brown University, translates books by poets from Spain, Latin America, and Japan. Pulitzer winning poet Forrest Gander reads from his collection, Twice Alive: An Ecology of Intimacies, followed by the screening of a film on poetry and interaction with the audience.
Until recently, classical music around the world has loved to project itself as being beyond the grasp of the masses. Carnatic music has been no exception to this self-created aura of inscrutability. Mangala Karthik, a Carnatic musician and teacher and co-founder of Anandi Centre of Music believes it is the duty of every teacher and learner to cut through the jargon and spread the joy of this magnificent art form. Her training under legends in the field and a constant connect with young minds at Anandi make her ideally placed to offer a session on the basics of appreciating Carnatic music at multiple levels.
Accompanying Mangala in this episode of BIC Talks is a small cohort of talented young singers from Anandi. This session is adapted from a live venue event that took place in May 2022.
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Urban Design is a discipline that forms a bridge between architecture and urban planning. Architecture examines three-dimensional form, culture, aesthetics and experience, but does not examine the urban scale, focusing primarily on individual land parcels. Urban Planning examines wider questions of the city, but tends to cast a two-dimensional gaze of policy abstractions. Urban Design seeks to combine the two, concerned about urban scale while also concerned about three-dimensional form and aesthetic/cultural experience.
Urban Design works within the frame of Urban Planning, defining the quality, history and specificity of neighbourhoods. The three disciplines of Urban Planning, Urban Design and Architecture are meant to work in tandem, each affecting and informing the other, to lay down an ethical, social and cultural ideal of urban life.
Urban Design is a discipline unrecognised and unimplemented in India, where officialdom views the city through a two-dimensional lens that imagines it as a techno-economic entity rather than a cultural or ecological entity.
This episode of BIC Talks will reflect on what good urban design should be and examine key questions in this respect. What are the constituents of good urban form? What have we lost in our cities because of this shortcoming? Given that the discipline’s protocols derive from the Western city, how should we view Urban Design in India so that we do not destroy the vibrance of informal urbanism? What steps should we take toward mainstreaming Urban Design in the Indian city?
The panel consists of architects Brinda Somaya, Rahul Mehrotra, Neelkanth Chhaya and Prem Chandavarkar. This episode is adapted from a virtual discussion that took place in January 2022.
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India’s colonial experience was a complex phenomenon, which often took different shapes in different places, through layers of caste, religious identity, and much else. In this episode of BIC Talks, Manu S Pillai will explore how India’s princely states and their rulers negotiated their political identities and ideas of kingship, both while facing pressures from the British Raj, as well as while resisting it.
Looking beyond the stereotypes in which princely rulers have been trapped, he will investigate their experiments with transforming kingly identities, balancing relationships as much with the British as with their subjects, in constructing political visions for their states–sometimes of great ambition–and their ultimate disappearance from India’s political map, even if not public imagination.
This lecture is an extract from the 3rd Prof Satish Chandra Memorial lecture that took place in October 2021.
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Josy Joseph is an award winning journalist based in New Delhi and was the National Security Editor of The Hindu newspaper until 2018.
Josy’s stories have fostered greater public debate and have contributed to significant policy and systemic changes. His reporting has resulted in several high-profile officials being forced out of office, triggering the arrest of many others as well as federal criminal and military investigations.
Particularly high-profile investigations have included, for example, the Mumbai Adarsh Housing scam and the many misdeeds in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, both of which contributed significantly to the anti-corruption movement of recent times.
The Prem Bhatia Trust elected him India’s best political reporter of 2010 “for his scoops and revelations, which include a list of scams that have become familiar names in the political lexicon.” He shared the award with Jyotirmoy Dey, a Mumbai crime reporter who had been shot dead a few weeks earlier.
In July 2013, the Ramnath Goenka Foundation run by the Indian Express newspaper group awarded him the “Journalist of the Year” in print media.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Josy addresses a wide range of questions in a public forum that was a part of the Bangalore Literature Festival 2021.
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This talk by lawyer Gautam Bhatia considers the Indian Constitution as a terrain of contestation between different visions of power. It will ask how the Constitution creates power, who wields power – and upon whom – and how power is constrained. Using the example of federalism, it argues that even as the Constitution is contested terrain, its history has been marked by a centralising drift: an incremental shift towards a homogenous and centralised vision of power, at the expense of other, more plural visions.
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Over the last decade the world has seen the politicisation of interstate relations, a rekindling of great power rivalries, pushback against globalisation, and an increasingly ineffective global order in terms of dealing with major challenges such as pandemics, economic slowdowns, and wars. The world seems adrift, between orders, and faces a real prospect of economic recession and a debt crisis in the global south.
The discussion with former diplomats Shivshankar Menon and Latha Reddy along with Nitin Pai, co-founder of Takshashila Institution, will focus not on a diagnosis of the issues and problems, which are many, but on prescriptions for how countries, nations, and firms might cope with rising uncertainty and higher geopolitical risk in the international system. It will also cover where the multiple revolutions in technology, energy and military affairs may be taking us.
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From being the preserve of a handful of American and British authors in the late-20th century, science fiction (SF) today is a global phenomenon. From Afrofuturism to the popular Chinese Science Fiction of Cixxin Liu, Hao Jingfeng and others, writers, editors, and readers around the world are turning to the genre to make sense of our world and our futures. The global character of contemporary SF is matched by the profusion of sub-genres that have come to inhabit it: climate fiction (or “cli-fi”) and “hopepunk” are just two of the many approaches to science fiction that respond to our present-day conditions.
Where and how does English-language Indian SF fit into this world? A look at some of recent works suggests that climate change, political extremism, the legacies of colonialism, and the overwhelming role of technology are some of the themes that have exercised the imagination of Indian SF writers. Do these themes run together to create something that is identifiably Indian SF? Should there be? And how are Indian SF writers and readers engaging with contemporary global SF? These are some of the questions this panel of authors and science fiction enthusiasts, Gautam Bhatia, Lavanya Lakshminarayan, TG Shenoy and Shrabonti Bagchi discusses.
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India, the world’s largest democracy, the land of yoga, spirituality and a rich civilizational past, has one of the youngest demographics and is without a doubt an exciting place to be in the twenty-first century. Our nation, at the same time, struggles with the rising gap between the rich and the poor, ignorance, social unrest and strained communal harmony. One is always overwhelmed and bewildered by its contradictions, wondering at the many Indias that coexist as an effervescent mix despite such unique diversity. As the country navigates its way into the new millennium, a question often asked is, ‘Are we moving in the right direction?’ Even more important is the question of who is qualified to comment?
In Our India, the eclectic range of Captain Gopinath’s views on business, politics, governance, aviation and society portrays a comprehensive picture of an India which is reshaping every minute.
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Rebels Against the Raj tells the little-known story of seven people who chose to struggle for a country other than their own: foreigners to India who, from the late nineteenth century, arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence. Of the seven, four were British, two American and one Irish: four men, three women. Before and after being jailed or deported, they did remarkable and pioneering work in a variety of fields, from journalism and social reform to education, organic agriculture and environmentalism.
In this episode of BIC Talks Ramachanchandra Guha and Alex Ellis discuss the stories of these remarkable people - each rebel motivated by idealism and genuine sacrifice; each connected to Gandhi, though some as acolytes while others were endlessly infuriated by his views; each understanding they would likely face prison sentences for their resistance, and likely live and die in India; each one leaving a profound impact on the region in which they worked, their legacies continuing through the institutions they founded and the generations and individuals they inspired.
Through these entwined lives, we receive deep insights into the relationship between India and the West, and India’s story as a country searching for its identity and liberty beyond British colonial rule.
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Climate change and the Anthropocene: both terms are commonplace, but their consequences are contested as their origins continue to be studied. Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen’s idea that humans came to exert a force for change in the earth’s ecology from the late 18th century neatly conflated the onset of the Industrial Revolution in England with the start of the Anthropocene. Other dates have been proposed.
The latter is about much more than the increased emission of Green House Gases but these remain a key feature of these changes that may be altering the material flows that sustain human civilizations.
To a student of history, the issue of origins cannot be separated from when, where and how the pace, scope and nature of environmental transformation underwent epochal shift.
A peace among nations and between people requires a peace with the fabric of life. History has no silver bullet solutions but is vital to know how we came to this cross roads.
This episode of BIC Talks was adapted from the in-person lecture by Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan in collaboration with Azim Premji University as part of their Let’s Talk Climate Change talk series.
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Democracy does not begin or end at the polling booth. It takes a committed government and an alert society to make it work. Our passive belief that we are helpless is a self-imposed delusion, for there are ways in which we can engage positively with what we see happening around us. Protests and dissent, if carried out in the right manner, will nourish and strengthen our democracy which has been fraying insidiously. Aakar Patel, writer, activist and chairperson of Amnesty International speaks about the methods that are open to us.
This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from the The Annual Vijay Nambisan Lecture 2022 that took place in October 2022.
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Anuk Arudpragasam’s first novel, The Story of a Brief Marriage was called an unflinching debut - a feat of extraordinary sensitivity and imagination, a meditation on the fundamental elements of human existence
His writing has been variously described as 'absolutely devastating, unbearable reading, incredibly introspective and a portrait of the universe that zooms out from planet Earth and then back in to a quark'.
Anuk’s second novel, The Passage North, which was on the 2021 booker prize shortlist is said to be written with precision and grace, and a masterful piece that is an attempt to come to terms with life in the wake of devastation, and a poignant memorial for those lost and those still alive.
In this episode of BIC Talks, scientist, author and editor of Out of Print magazine Indira Chandrashekar speaks to Anuk about the evolution of his writing.
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When JBS Haldane died in 1964 in Bhubhaneswar, he was an Indian scientist. He had the passport, but he also had a deep and abiding love for the country. His move to India was the final act in the boisterous life of Haldane - a geneticist, a staunch Communist and an all-round rabble-rouser.
This story of a man who wrote his first scientific paper in the trenches of the First World War; who was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party; who went to Spain to fight the Fascists during the civil war; who was under heavy suspicion of being a spy for the Soviets; who courted trouble and ticked off the establishment repeatedly.
In this episode of BIC Talks, historian of science, Jahnavi Phalkey and author of A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of JBS Haldane, Samanth Subramanian discuss how Haldane's contributions to genetics which are singular, and in tandem with his Communist beliefs, they make us think about how science and politics intersect, along with how genetics continues to throw up great ethical and political conundrums today, as it did in Haldane's time.
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Karnataka will be holding Assembly elections in the middle of 2023. This BIC series - Karnataka Votes 2023 – highlights the various elements of state politics, its culture and history that are often unique to this state, and affect the voting pattern.
The first in this lecture series is a talk by long-time observer of Karnataka politics, Prof. James Manor, who will discuss the political history of Karnataka bringing it up to date. Among the themes that Prof. Manor will be discussing are the difficulties that ruling parties have faced in winning re-elections in Karnataka since 1985, the social and geographical bases of the main political parties and the promise and limitations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity in state elections. He will also debate the role of campaign funds and the potential role of social polarisation in the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections. His assessment of the three main parties will go alongside his analysis of the impact of recent changes in the delivery of goods, services and benefits.
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The Heirs of Vijayanagara: Court Politics in Early Modern South India by Lennart Bes is a comparative study investigating court politics in four kingdoms that succeeded the south Indian Vijayanagara empire during the 16th to 18th centuries: Ikkeri, Tanjavur, Madurai, and Ramnad. Building on a combination of unexplored Indian texts and Dutch archival records, this research offers a new analysis of political culture, power relations, and dynastic developments.
The monograph provides detailed facts and insights that contest existing scholarship. By highlighting their competitive, fluid, and dynamic nature, it undermines the historiography viewing these courts as harmonic, hierarchic, and static. Far from being remote, ritualised figures, we find kings and Brahmins contesting with other courtiers for power. At the same time, by stressing continuities with the past, this study questions recent scholarship that perceives a fundamentally new form of Nayaka kingship. Thus, this research has important repercussions for the way we perceive both these kingdoms and their ‘medieval’ precursors.
In this episode of BIC Talks author Anirudh Kanisetti speaks to Indologist and author Lennart Bes.
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Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan or PTR as he is more commonly known, has had a interesting journey thus far. He comes from a family with strong political roots in Tamilnadu – his Grandfather, PT Rajan, was Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency in 1936 and his father, PTR Palanivel Rajan, was Assembly speaker and Minister in TN. PTR initially chose to go overseas and be part of the Wall Street brigade. His experience in the financial sector stretches from Wall Street to Singapore. He transitioned from his life in finance, to a life in politics, following the footsteps of his grandfather and father. He was elected as MLA for Madurai Central Constituency and currently serves as the Minister for Finance & Human Resources Management in the Tamil Nadu Government.
In this episode of BIC Talks, PTR talks about his personal journey and how a family legacy of politics combined with his eclectic overseas life as an Investment Professional has prepared him for his current role in State and National Politics. He talks about how the past has shaped his thinking, his learning and the value of public-private cross pollination as he addresses the emergent challenges and issues of the day.
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Ela Ramesh Bhatt, affectionately called Elaben, was one of India’s most impactful daughters. She was a tireless activist for women’s livelihood and rights and passed away in November 2022 at the age of 89. She matched her clarity of thought with powerful action, impacting millions of women. Founder of SEWA, she was one of the pioneers of financial inclusion for women. This conversation between Mirai Chatterjee and Narayan Ramachandran will trace the arc of her life and her continuing legacy in SEWA.
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This series of lectures attempts to critique the more popular and currently accepted accounts of Vachana expression. First of all, Shivaprakash’s approach problematizes the relationship between Vachanas and Lingayatism. It also seeks to demonstrate that Bhakti traditions cannot be seen independently of Natha/Siddha traditions. Though Basavanna’s role in the formation of Vachana focus cannot be denied, it is in fitness of things, in the light of the range and number of castes actively involved, to see the Vachana efflorescence as a collective expression of all the castes and communities of Karnataka.
Whereas the available literature has emphasized the devotional and mystical elements, this approach will emphasize the contribution of Vachana poets from the artisan class who evolved their own spiritual philosophy of Kayakayoga (the Yoga of labour), which is unique in our spiritual traditions. The framework of pan-Indian Bhakti is also interrogated in these lectures. The argument is placed that Bhakti traditions cannot be seen independently of Natha-Siddha and Saman traditions which have different spiritual orientations.
Those among Vachana poets whose philosophy and poetry is coeval with Siddha and Nirguna poets from elsewhere in India will be discussed. This episode is the last of series of four lectures that were originally part of a masterclass that took place in the BIC premises in late july and early august titled The Paths of the Hand, Heart and Void by Prof. HS Shivaprakash - poet, playwright and educator.
Recommended background readings:
A.K. Ramanujan, Speaking of Shiva
Velcheru Narayana Rao, Shiva’s Warriors
Manu Devadevan, A Pre-history of Hinduism
Ayyappa Panikkar: Medieval Indian Literature, 4 vols .
Sisir Kumar Das: History of Indian Literature, 3 vols
Manu Devadevan: God Is Dead, There Is No God (Vachanas of Allama)
H. S. Shivaprakash, I Keep Vigil of Rudra
H. S. Shivaprakash, The Word in the World
The composition of a rich and huge body of Vachanas is one of the most impressive expression of Indian spiritual heritage. Both the quantity and quality of this corpus is unparalleled elsewhere. This enormous output consists of impassioned socio-spiritual prose poems composed by approximately four hundred seeker poets hailing from all sections of society – the whole gamut, from Brahmin to the untouchable, a considerable number of these poets are women representing various castes and professions. Such a phenomenon was not replicated anywhere else in the annals of pre-modern Indian literatures.
The main progenitor of Lingayatism, say scholars, was Basavanna, Finance Minister of emperor Bijjala. The literature also further assumes that Basavanna set-up in Kalyana Anubhava Mantapa, an assembly of saint-poets. The Vachana poets are supposed to have gathered in this assembly to debate matters spiritual, compose, read, and discuss each others’ compositions. The Lingayat literary harvest is said to be contemporaneous with the active period of Basavanna’s tenure with the emperor. This brief but intense poetic efflorescence was cut short by political upheavals caused by the violation of traditional caste rules. The questioning of the caste order and gender subjugation irritated the hegemony so much that it led to the unleashing of violence against the followers of the new sect.
A series of twists and turns resulted in Bijjala’s assassination by some militant followers of the sect which called for a violent response by the hegemony. In consequence, the revolution failed. This is the widely accepted version of this period. The available scholarship, for the most part, locates Vachanas on the map of India’s Bhakti movements.
In this episode of BIC Talks the specifics and varieties of Bhakti in the Vachana focus will be explored to show how similar and different is Vachana Bhakti from the rest of the Bhakti movements in Karnataka and the Indian subcontinent.
This episode was originally part of a masterclass series that took place in the BIC premises in late July and early August titled The Paths of the Hand, Heart and Void by Prof. HS Shivaprakash - poet, playwright and educator.
Vachana expression has till now been identified with a sect of Shaivism called Virashaivism/Lingayatism. Its historical framework is considered to be 12th century, in Kalyana, the imperial capital of the Chalukyas and later, of Kalachuryas. The main progenitor of Lingayatism, say scholars, was Basavanna, Finance Minister of emperor Bijjala. The literature also further assumes that Basavanna set-up in Kalyana Anubhava Mantapa, an assembly of saint-poets. The Vachana poets are supposed to have gathered in this assembly to debate matters spiritual, compose, read, and discuss each others’ compositions. The Lingayat literary harvest is said to be contemporaneous with the active period of Basavanna’s tenure with the emperor. This brief but intense poetic efflorescence was cut short by political upheavals caused by the violation of traditional caste rules. The questioning of the caste order and gender subjugation irritated the hegemony so much that it led to the unleashing of violence against the followers of the new sect.
This episode of BIC talks which outlines the new approach to literary and cultural context of Vachanas was the second of the four part masterclass titled The Paths of the Hand, Heart and Void, by Prof H S Shivaprakash on the Vachana efflorescence of Karnataka examines the neglected contribution and philosophy of artisan Vachana poets, to show that it was an independent soteriological approach different from Bhakti and mysticism.
Recommended background readings:
A.K. Ramanujan, Speaking of Shiva
Velcheru Narayana Rao, Shiva’s Warriors
Manu Devadevan, A Pre-history of Hinduism
Ayyappa Panikkar: Medieval Indian Literature, 4 vols .
Sisir Kumar Das: History of Indian Literature, 3 vols
Manu Devadevan: God Is Dead, There Is No God (Vachanas of Allama)
H. S. Shivaprakash, I Keep Vigil of Rudra
H. S. Shivaprakash, The Word in the World
The composition of a large and rich body of vachanas is one of the most impressive expressions of Indian spiritual heritage. Both the quantity and quality of this corpus is unparalleled elsewhere. This enormous output consists of impassioned socio-spiritual prose poems composed by approximately four hundred seeker poets hailing from all sections of society – the whole gamut, from Brahmin to the untouchable, a considerable number of these poets are women representing various castes and professions. Such a phenomenon was not replicated anywhere else in the annals of pre-modern Indian literatures.
This episode of BIC talks which outlines the new approach to literary and cultural context of Vachanas was the first of the four part masterclass titled The Paths of the Hand, Heart and Void, on the vachana efflorescence of Karnataka will be an attempt to interrogate the subject from a new angle by poet, playwright and Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, H S Shivaprakash.
Neoclassical economics tells us that because both individuals are assumed rational, their regret levels ought to be identical since their economic consequences are identical. Behavioural economists, however, combine psychology with economics, and focus on how real people, with their cognitive biases, actually behave. The friend who just missed the flight does indeed experience greater disappointment than the one who missed the flight by a margin of four hours. Does that make one or the other irrational?
In this episode of BIC Talks, academic, author and corporate executive V Raghunathan and Applied Behavioural Economist Nikhil Ravichandar navigate the journey of such rationality-irrationality arguments, showing why economics shorn of psychology may be incomplete. This conversation is situated around Raghunathan's book, Irrationally Rational that collates the works of ten Nobel Laureates largely responsible for the rise of behavioural economics, that makes understanding behavioural economics more fun and accessible.
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Journalist Venkat Ananth talks to returning host Pavan Srinath on what it takes from good journalism to hold Big Tech accountable, in light of the retracted XCheck / Meta story by published by The Wire.
Tech platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter wield immense societal, economic and political power across the world today. Good tech journalism requires a deep knowledge of large multinational conglomerates, deep technical and business knowledge, as well as carefully cultivated access and immense persistence.
Venkat Ananth explains each aspect of sound tech journalism and the processes and the discipline needed for them, sharing his own experiences across stories, as well as analysing what may have gone wrong with the ambitious and now-retracted story by The Wire.
Venkat Ananth is a journalist with over 15 years of experience in leading Indian newspapers and business publications such as The Hindustan Times, Mint, The Ken, and, The Economic Times. He is also co-founder and CEO of The Signal, free-to-read, daily, curated newsletter that helps understand the latest developments in technology, business, finance, economy and policy.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guest.
The Penguin Book of Indian Poets, the definitive anthology of Indian poetry in English for the next decade and more edited by Jeet Thayil, returns the forgotten figures of Indian poetry to the centre where they belong.
Jeet compiled the work of 94 poets for this anthology, the oldest born in 1924 and the youngest in 2001. With the aim of giving readers a deeper understanding of a vast and fluid poetic tradition, this collection brings together writers from across the world, a wealth of voices that present an expansive, encompassing idea of what makes an ‘Indian’ poet.
This anthology is the culmination of a project Jeet began twenty years ago with a special supplement for Fulcrum, a poetry annual out of Boston. That was followed by 60 Indian Poets (Penguin India) and The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets (Bloodaxe UK). This anthology, the final iteration, encompasses 75 years of Indian poetry in English. At 908 pages, it is voluminous and exhaustive, with 94 poets from all over the world. The poets of the Indian canon include Ezekiel, Kolatkar, de Souza, Das, Mehrotra, Ramanujan, Jussawalla, but so are vital newer voices such as Vijay Seshadri, Vahni Capildeo, Bhanu Kapil, Daljit Nagra, Rajiv Mohabir and Raena Shirali, among many others.
This episode of BIC Talks is adapted from a BIC Venue event that took place in late April 2022.
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Through the last two millennia, Indian poets and philosophers have addressed existential questions surrounding the individuals role in society, dealing with inequity, discrimination and oppression. Their answers have ranged from a philosophical acceptance to outright call for revolution. Yet others didn’t wait for a crisis to occur before calling for change, from the minor to a complete overhaul.
Vivartana presents the work of such social revolutionaries —poets, politicians, rulers and sants in a musical tour across time and territory, from Kerala to Kashmir. The program is anchored by performance of songs by Musician Chitra Srikrishna accompanied by Adamya Ramanand on the Mridangam and Vaibhav Ramani on the violin in multiple languages, interspersed with a narration to provide the audience both context and a thread of continuity.
This episode of BIC Talks is adapted from a live concert that took place in early June 2022 in the BIC premises.
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The recent proposal by the current government to reform agricultural markets through three controversial farm laws, the farmer protests that ensued, and the ultimate repeal of these laws has raised questions on what a desired policy on agricultural markets should be.
Providing farmers access to agricultural markets in a mode that benefits both farmer and consumer has proven elusive. At one end is the mode adopted by the farm laws - a privatisation of agricultural markets by offering space and incentives for private corporate investment, creating a fear that this will lead to a take over by profit-grabbing corporates who exploit both farmers and consumers. The demand of the farmer protests for strong state intervention guaranteeing minimum-support-prices and purchase commitments has been criticised as creating market inefficiencies, that it overlooks structural problems and the presence of inconsistencies in the current mandi system, and that it will also create problems for India in abiding to commitments made to WTO rules. A middle ground of reform based on a structure of cooperatives, as was done for the dairy industry, has received insufficient attention.
The debate also overlooks the fact that most agricultural holdings in India are termed as ‘marginal’, below five acres in size, leading to both inefficiencies and exploitation in agricultural markets under current conditions.
In this episode of BIC Talks, which is an extract from a virtual BIC Streams a session that took place in early September 2022, Sudha Narayanan, Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi; T. Nandakumar, Former Secretary Food & Agriculture, Government of India and Prakash Kammardi, Former Chairman, Karnataka Agricultural Prices Commission engage in a discussion, moderated by Editor, The India Forum & Founder-Trustee, Vichar Trust C. Rammanohar Reddy, in which they will seek to identify and reflect on, the vision and structure of a sensible policy on agricultural markets in India.
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Today, Kalki R Krishnamurthy (1899-1954) is best known for his historical fiction—Sivakamiyin Sapatham, Ponniyin Selvan and Parthiban Kanavu—recreating the glorious eras of the Pallavas and the Cholas. The mighty conquests and magnificent art and culture of these two kingly dynasties are brought to bear on contemporary Tamil self-fashioning. In a comprehensive biography of the iconic writer, Sunda (the nom-de-plume of MRM Sundaram, writer and known for his stint in the Tamil service of BBC) shows how, for Kalki, writing was an act of protest as India’s part of freedom movement, assert India’s spiritual/cultural values, and commit to Gandhian ideologies.
Not only does it reveal a writer’s central pre-occupations, the biography is a panoramic chronicle of the era in which Kalki lived.
In sum, the biography turns the story of an individual into the saga of a nation struggling to individuate itself, the journey of a writer as he records its transformations, of a dreamer who believes that writing can charge the mind, change the world.
This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from a BIC Venue event that took place in March 2022 which discussed the English translation of the Tamil biography by Dr. Gowri Ramnarayan who was in conversation with S Theodore Baskaran accompanied by readings by Akhila Ramnarayan and music by Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath.
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With India in its seventy-fifth year of independence, conventional policy is unlikely to combat the breadth of its economic challenges. Does India need the state to be big or small? Is growth to be manufacturing-led or services driven? Will India produce for the exports market or the home market? Do the young prefer government jobs to private sector employment?
Across a range of areas - human capital, technology, agriculture, finance, trade, public service delivery and more - new ideas must now be on the table. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only cost India many lives and livelihoods, it has also exposed major structural weaknesses in the economy. A huge farm and jobs crisis, rising and massive inequalities, tepid investment growth, and chronic banking sector challenges have plagued the economy, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also exposed the limitations of the Indian state, which tries to control too much-and ends up stifling the economy and the inherent energies of its young population. Climate change is no longer a distant threat, while disruptive technology has huge implications for India's demographic dividend. In addition, the dangerous lurch towards majoritarianism will cast its shadow on India's pursuit of prosperity for all.
In this episode of BIC Talks, authors of Unshackling India, Ajay Chibber and Salman Soz in a conversation with Ashima Goyal acknowledge hard truths and examine the question: Can India use the next twenty-five years, when it will reach the hundredth year of independence, to restructure not only its economy but rejuvenate its democratic energy and unshackle its potential-to become a genuinely developed economy by 2047? This conversation is an extract from a session at Bangalore Literature festival 2021, which took place in collaboration with BIC last December.
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The Ramayana and the Mahabharata have exerted immense influence on the life and thought of Indians. If the Ramayana is a ‘unitary’ saga, the Mahabahrata is a ‘federal epic’. Its impact has remained as deep now as it was two thousand years. Who actually composed it? Why did the epic allow people to weave in it?
This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from the second of a series of four masterclass lectures by Prof. G N Devy, titled Memory, Culture and The Being of India that took place in the BIC premises in early February 2022.
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Has the artificial memory already taken a complete possession of the human memory? Have Indians altogether forgotten from where they arrived here? Where does one locate the beginning of India as a civilisation? Does it originate in the Vedas? Does it go back to the Indus civilisation? Was there a civilisation before the Indian mythos emerged? What was India when the Holocene began 12000 years before our time? Why is there politics being constructed around the question of India’s origin? This lecture will discuss the need for a People’s Report on Indian civilisation and the efforts being made towards preparing such a report.
This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from the second of a series of four masterclass lectures by Prof. G N Devy, titled Memory, Culture and The Being of India that took place in the BIC premises in early February 2022.
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Indians belong either to castes or to tribes. What makes the tribal people tribal or adivasis? What have been there cultural traditions, their thought patterns and their philosophy of life? What led to some of them getting branded as ‘criminal tribes’? What is the future of the culture of the Adivasis in the 21st century world? This lecture will present views of the speaker based on his experience of creating the Adivasi academy at Tejgadh and a global network of the indigenous peoples. The lecture will offer a perspective on the rapidly disappearing continent of culture that the indigenous of the world inhabit.
This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from the second of a series of four masterclass lectures by Prof. G N Devy, titled Memory, Culture and The Being of India that took place in the BIC premises in early February 2022.
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The Census of India had listed 1652 ‘Mother Tongues’ in its 1961 language report. In 1971, this number was brought down to just 108. Where did the remaining 1455 mother tongues disappear? This lecture will present the story of the epic search for those ‘silence’ languages and the people’s movement which emerged out of the search. It will present the changing profile of India’s language diversity and the need for preservation of the diversity for safeguarding our federal structure.
This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from the first of a series of four masterclass lectures by Prof. G N Devy, titled Memory, Culture and The Being of India that took place in the BIC premises in early February 2022.
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Marriages in India are a universal phenomenon that continue to be characterized by rigid social and cultural norms. 90% of marriages in India are family-arranged. Individuals have a strong preference for caste homogamy, women tend to marry more educated men (educational hypergamy). Dowry payments are still quite common at the time of marriage. Given these sticky norms, how would an unexpected disaster alter these unique features of the Indian marriage market?
Disasters, natural (such as floods, earthquakes), industrial (such as a chemical leak) or a global pandemic (such as COVID-19), often come with little to no warning with large-scale economic and demographic shocks to households, both temporarily and permanently. Beyond the impact on economic livelihoods, studies have looked at fertility responses, changes to human capital formation and other welfare outcomes due to disasters. However, these events can also change social structures, including marriages.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Instructional Assistant Professor at Temple University, Dr.Shreyasee Das talks about ‘How Disasters Can Shape Marriages’ that she conducted along with Shatanjaya Dasgupta and in this conversation with Finance and Markets Journalist Bansari Kamdar, explores relationships, their social and economics lives and the impact sudden and acute stressors like a natural disaster may have on them.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, and Stitcher.
Listen to the young changemakers who have weathered incredible adversities and pioneered programs that are changing the world.
Bringing awareness to the plight of disadvantaged children and youth was important to Rishi, a young teenager who was passionate about the happiness of the world. His sudden departure at the age of 17 years brought people together, bonded with grief and love, and the fire to continue what he started. In his memory, programs supporting these disadvantaged children have uncovered inspiring stories that are transformational.
This episode of BIC Talks brings you stories narrated by ordinary children who have experienced extraordinary hardship and faced tremendous loss. They were brave enough to find a doorway into the world that showed them that success is not determined by avoiding challenges, but how they allowed the challenges to shape them. They have become extraordinary individuals and beacons of inspiration to others. And in being a light for the world, they spread their resilience and joie de vivre to others, transforming the world. These are the changemakers.
This is an extract from a physical event that took place on August 19, 2022 at the BIC premises.
The project of Indian art cinema began in the years following independence in 1947, at once evoking the global reach of the term “art film” and speaking to the aspirations of the new nation-state. This episode is a conversation between an author and a historian who are both invested in the histories of cinema and the city, Kolkata in particular. Using ideas in the book Art Cinema and India’s Forgotten Futures as a fulcrum, novelist, essayist, poet, and musician Amit Chaudhuri and Rochona Majumdar, Associate Professor, Departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations and Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago, discuss the role of art films in postcolonial public life.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
India's Five-Year Plans were one of the developing world's most ambitious experiments. After nearly two centuries of colonial rule, planning the economy was meant to be independent India's route from poverty to prosperity. Planning Democracy explores how India married liberal democracy to a socialist economy. Planning not only built India's data systems, it even shaped the nature of its democracy. In this episode of BIC talks, author and Assistant Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame Nikhil Menon and economist and financial journalist Niranjan Rajadhyaksha discuss how India walked a tightrope between capitalism and communism and worked on the project of nation-building in the aftermath of empire.
In this compelling history, Nikhil Menon brings the world of planning to life through the intriguing story of a gifted scientist known as the Professor, a trail-blazing research institute in Calcutta, and the alluring idea of 'democratic planning'. Planning Democracy recasts our understanding of the Indian republic, uncovering how planning came to define the nation and revealing the ways in which it continues to shape our world today
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
In the 1990s, Girish’s work and his public persona took a distinctly political turn as he began to respond overtly to what was happening around him. Here, Girish talks about how he created strong women characters in his plays, how he saw Islam and Muslims as an integral part of our nation’s fabric, how he became a secular humanist. He also talks for the first time about two short stories that he wrote in Kannada.
About the Series:
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual.
The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (ಹಯವದನ), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
Supported by Nilekani Philanthropies
Does god exist? What is the source of morality? Girish’s plays often take on big moral and philosophical questions, questions that he asked himself about how to live in the world and how to be a good human being. Here Girish talks about what he learnt from the Mahabharata and explores what he took from European Existentialism.
About the Series:
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual.
The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (ಹಯವದನ), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
Supported by Nilekani Philanthropies
What was Girish’s impact on the national theatre scene? Did his plays influence or inspire other playwrights and theatre makers? In Part 2 of this episode, Shanta Gokhale and Sunil Shanbag talk about how the 60s and 70s were such a critical moment for theatre in different parts of India. They talk about the unique sensibilities that Girish brought to the stage and how Girish set himself apart from his contemporaries such as Vijay Tendulkar.
About the Series:
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual.
The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (ಹಯವದನ), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
Supported by Nilekani Philanthropies
What was Girish’s impact on the national theatre scene? Did his plays influence or inspire other playwrights and theatre makers? Part 1 of this 2-part episode features Shanta Gokhale and Sunil Shanbag remembering the exhilaration of watching Hayavadana for the first time. They talk more about Girish’s major collaborators and what that meant as a newly independent nation developed its own norms of cultural expression.
About the Series:
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual.
The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (ಹಯವದನ), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
Supported by Nilekani Philanthropies
Girish talks more about his dramatic and literary influences which range from classical Sanskrit plays like Mricchakatika to such avant garde practitioners as Jerzy Grotowski.
About the Series:
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual.
The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (Kannada title), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
Girish was a Kannada playwright, but his knowledge of theatre came from all over the world and from many languages. We explore his relationship with English and other languages and literatures. Girish talks about his plays that he believes do not work, what he learned from them, and how he responded to their failure.
About the Series:
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual.
The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (Kannada title), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
The conversation with Vivek Shanbhag continues, touching upon the literary groups and movements that animated Kannada literature in the 1950s and 1960s. Girish talks about some of the people and institutions that shaped him as a writer, the many Jnanpith awardees in Kannada, and who he considered to be his rivals.
About the Series:
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual.
The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (Kannada title), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
Supported by Nilekani Philanthropies
Girish had a long friendship with the Kannada writer, Vivek Shanbhag, our special guest for this episode. Vivek prods Girish to talk about his challenges with writing contemporary plays. They also talk about his complex relationship with Kannada and finding the right language for what a writer wants to say.
Besides readings from Wedding Album and Tughlaq, we also get to listen to short scene from UR Ananthamurthy’s Samskara, a novel that Girish loved dearly.
About the Series:
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual.
The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (ಹಯವದನ), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
Supported by Nilekani Philanthropies
In June 2019, a few days before his death, Girish Karnad and Arshia Sattar had extensive conversations about his work, his life, and the concerns that had occupied him over almost sixty years as a writer and a public intellectual. This podcast is a distillation of those freewheeling conversations, a short intellectual biography to celebrate the life and work of one of India’s finest playwrights and thinkers. In this series, we hear Girish talk about Kannada literature, existentialism, making of modern Indian theatre, the art and craft of playwriting, and his life as a public intellectual. The series is hosted by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo, with special guests such as Vivek Shanbhag, Shanta Gokhale, and Sunil Shanbag, who provide the context for Girish’s comments. Each episode also contains scenes from his plays read by members of Bangalore’s theatre community. The readings show us how closely his philosophical and political ideas were to what he wrote. They also provide an opportunity for audiences, particularly those who might not be already familiar with Girish’s works, to experience the power of his work.
The title for the series is taken from the song in Hayavadana (ಹಯವದನ), a song which has been musically recreated for us by Pallavi MD and Konarak Reddy. Apart from the fact that Neerina Mele Chitra remains one of Kannada’s most beloved ranga geethe, we found it to be particularly evocative as we remember a man who profoundly impacted India’s cultural arena in the last half of the 20th century. This podcast series, we hope, will bear witness to Girish Karnad, a man who gave us so much to remember, but also so much to take forward.
Episode 1: An Introduction
Girish spoke mainly about his writing and the ideas that formed and motivated him. Arshia and Anmol speak about how the series took shape and introduce the subsequent episodes. In this episode, we hear Girish talk about his life in films and in cultural institutions, topics he did not return to in later conversations.
Are you sitting down? Have you thought of what you are sitting on? What your favourite chair’s history is? Why do certain seats make us feels a certain way and make us gravitate towards them in a room?
A whole spectrum of history, design, culture, discipline, identities, object study and geographical context are often located in the various kinds of seating that we now may not necessarily be aware of. To remedy this, in this episode of BIC Talks designer independent researcher Nia Thandapani speaks with graphic artist and researcher Sarita Sundar on her newest research project and collection of essays edited by her, Beyond the Throne.
War Minus the Shooting,talks about the 1996 Cricket World Cup and was published in 1998. Combining personal reflection and social observation, this work paints a complex portrait of a sub-continent in ferment, set against the backdrop of the 1996 cricket World Cup, the most extravagant and controversial event in the long history of the game. The book delves into the dilemmas that dog modern cricket - ball-tampering, biased umpires, media moguls and sponsors, race and national identity, gambling syndicates, and much more.
In this conversation that took place in December 2021 during the Bangalore Literature Festival at Bangalore international Centre, Siddhartha Vaidyanathan and Sharda Ugra discuss Mike Marquesee and the revival of the book as the event it covers turned 25.
Vivaan Marwaha talks about his learning in the process of writing his book, What Millennials Want, in a conversation with writer, poet and executive director of India Foundation for the Arts, Arundhati Ghosh.
India is one of the youngest countries in the world and the generation of millennials make up for over 400 million people. This is the largest generation of people in the world. That means that the choices and trajectory of this generation have pivotal consequences on local, regional, and global politics and economics. So the important question is: What do Indian millennials want? What are their economic aspirations and their social views? Most importantly, what makes them tick?
In What Millennials Want, Vivan Marwaha documents the aspirations and anxieties of these young people scattered across more than 30,000 kilometers in 13 Indian states. Combining an expansive dataset along with personal anecdotes, he narrates an intimate biography of India’s millennials, investigating their attitudes towards sex, marriage, employment, religion, and politics.
This episode of BIC Talks is an extract from the live event that took place in late October 2021 in the BIC premises.
Author & Founder of Ahimsa Conversations Rajni Bakshi engages Author, Poet & Entrepreneur Jaithirth Rao in a conversation based on his book Economist Gandhi – the first book on Gandhi to claim that he was not against business and capitalists; providing insights into a hidden facet of Gandhi’s personality—his thoughts on economics and capitalism while throwing light on some of Gandhi’s views on religion, ethics, human nature, education and society, unveiling a Gandhi distinctive from all our previous readings of him.
This episode is adapted from a BIC Streams session from 15 October 2021.
What is data? And why is it important that citizen have a right to privacy over their data?
As it turns out, We are data.
Digital rights activist, journalist and founder of Medianama, Nikhil Pahwa in this conversation with financial journalist Mitali Mukherjee gives us a 101 on the concept of Data Privacy. Can one look at data from the perspective of it being a right and how is it connected to the freedom of expression.
While understanding how and how much data can possibly be collected about one person is in itself mind boggling, this episode gives us an insight into the three important aspects of data within the indian context - Privacy, Security and Governance.
With economic growth taking a central role and data being compared to oil as a national asset, Data protection rights and privacy is seen as an obstruction - therefore leaving us with the question - is privacy a fundamental right?
South Africa has imposed transformation targets (quotas) in sports for over a decade. These aim to correct the under-representation of people of colour due to historical discriminatory segregation during the apartheid era.
In light of the Black Lives Matter movemnet, several South African cricketers came forward with their stories of having suffered due to the institutionally racist nature of the game in South Africa. In July 2021, Cricket South Africa (CSA) appointed the Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) Ombudsman to contribute to truth, healing, and reconciliation in the game of cricket.
The Ombudsman heard the affected cricketers and officials. It presented its Report in December 2021, concluding that CSA unfairly discriminated against players on the basis of race and recommended that a permanent ombudsman be appointed and funded to consider race and gender-based complaints and the question of reparations.
This discussion with cricket writer Firdose Moonda and Professor of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, Prof. Ashwin Desai, moderated by Chandan Gowda will throw light on the findings in the Report, the issues emerging from it, and the lessons for the cricketing world, the global sports community, and society at large.
This episode is an extract from a virtual BIC Streams session that took place on the 18th of February, 2022 in collaboration with the Sports Law & Policy Centre.
At Tokyo 2020, the Indian women’s hockey team made history by reaching their maiden Olympic semifinals. There was heart break in the semi finals. However, irrespective of the result, these players had won the hearts of millions of followers in the country. The back stories of these gritty women make for compelling theatre – who they are, where they come from, how hockey has changed them – and, perhaps more importantly, how their success has changed the lives and the mindset of others back home. An expert panel of sports writers - Sharda Ugra, Manuja Veerappa and Nandini Kumar give us a peek into the journeys of the women who make up the Indian Hockey team.
This episode is an extract from a virtual panel discussion which took place on January 30, 2022.
Examining the challenges posed by the present-day global order—-including political instability, the rise of authoritarianism, the epidemic of fake news and subversion of democracy through the weaponization of social media, the backlash against the rights of caste, ethnic, or racial minorities, and climate change—the dialogue in this episode between Author & Associate Professor of Communication, Santa Clara University Rohit Chopra and Writer & Journalist Salil Tripathi will address what the Gita may offer in helping us respond to such demands and where it may fall silent. How, for instance, might we reconcile the endorsement of patriarchy and a hierarchical caste order in the Gita with modern day notions of rights, justice, and dignity? The discussion also speaks to the urgent need for evaluating the Gita on the basis of a framework of public reason rather than of religious authority.
This episode is adapted from a BIC Streams session originally broadcast on 1st October, 2021
How do you see India?
Fuelled by a surge of migration to cities, the country's growth appears to be defined by urbanisation and by its growing, prosperous middle class. It is also defined by progressive and liberal young Indians, who vote beyond the constraints of identity, and paradoxically, by an unchecked population explosion and rising crimes against women. Is it, though?
In this conversation with Journalists Samar Halarnkar and Sudipto Mondal, about her book, Whole Numbers and Half Truths, data-journalism pioneer Rukmini S. draws on nearly two decades of on-ground reporting experience to piece together a picture that looks nothing like the one you might expect. As she interrogates how data works, and how the push and pull of social and political forces affect it, Rukmini creates a blueprint to understand the changes of the last few years and the ones to come—a toolkit for India.
This is a timely and wholly original intervention in the conversation on data, and with it, India. This conversation was part of the Bangalore Literature Festival, 2021 which took place in the Bangalore International Centre premises in December 2021.
For more than a decade, from the villages of Uttar Pradesh to the night clubs of Delhi, Shrayana Bhattacharya followed the economic and personal lives of a diverse group of Indian women. Divided by class and community, these women are united in their quest for economic independence, love, fun and actor Shah Rukh Khan. The result is the dazzling book of non-fiction—Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence which tells an intimate history of how women, across classes, have experienced post liberalisation India through the lens of finance and fandom.
Historian Manu S Pillai and economist Janhavi Nilekani engage Shrayana in a conversation on key themes of her book: How far have Indian women travelled? How has liberalisation treated women in the economy and society? How are professional and love lives of women intertwined? And what’s Shah Rukh Khan got to do with it?
This episode is an extract from a live in-person event which took place at BIC on 12 November 2021
In his book Leadership Shastra, Pradeep Chakravarthy asks the question - What if history could be made to work for us in very real ways? And he answers it in a substantial research backed manner. He studies the lives of well-known historical figures like Shivaji, Babur, Ahilyabai Holkar, Sankaradeva and many others with a view to understanding their motivations, actions and legacies. The book examines how developing a comprehension of our past could be the key to understanding our own selves, our actions, motivations and of those around us.
In this episode of BIC Talks, in conversation with Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, Pradeep discusses the view of history as both useful and inspirational is unconventional: it is revealed here as a discipline that can be used for self-assessment and self-motivation.
Former Doubles No.1, Sania Mirza became an instant sensation when she won the Wimbledon Championships girls’ doubles title at the age of sixteen. From 2003 until her retirement from the singles circuit in 2012, she was ranked by the Women’s Tennis Association as India’s top player, both in singles and doubles. A six-time Grand Slam champion, she notched up an incredible forty-one consecutive wins with her doubles partner, Martina Hingis, between August 2015 and February 2016.
In this candid conversation with the Tennis Editor of Times of India, Prajwal Hedge, Sania speaks of the making of career, her support system and what keeps her at the top of her game.
The Scrolls & Leaves podcast is a labour of love for Mary Rose and Gayathri as they meander through little known tales from history, science and cultures and look for alternative ways of knowing and contextualising our present.
Season 1 of Scrolls & Leaves titled Trade Winds came out in October 2021. It's set in the Indian Ocean world and the narrative over seven episodes weave interviews with historians and extensive archival research. It tells of epic histories from the developing world, through the eyes of the marginalised, ambitious Emperors, cunning corporations that colonised half the world, the treasure ship of an infamous sci-fi writer, and other tales.
The stand out element of this podcast is that is it binaural - you are treated to an immersive 3 dimensional listening experience which takes you to those far off shores in time. In this episode of BIC Talks, Srikrishna Ramamoorthy chats with Mary-Rose and Gayathri about their journey of creating this unique podcast.
With an increasing number of urban, city dwellers finding their way back to agriculture, there’s a small but definite movement towards natural, organic, alternative methods of sustainable farming. While the stress has been on constant productivity to make economic sense, we are now becoming aware of how much damage the land, food culture and native knowledge systems have experienced. As they wait for policy to catch up, two people talk about what moved them to take an active interest in sustainability, preservation and conservation.
In this episode of BIC Talks ecological conservationist Priya Shanavas speaks with lawyer turned farmer and innovator, Aparna Rajagopal about lessons learnt while setting up her self-sustained off the grid model farm, Beejom and several projects housed within it, like preserving and growing traditional, heirloom and native varieties of crops, a seed bank and preserving endangered varieties of indigenous cattle.
Historically the country’s annual budget exercise has been a major event and spectacle in the annual economic calendar. There was a time when the post budget analysis by people like Nani Palkiwala used to draw audiences in droves. Off late with the dropping of the railway budget, and the introduction of the GST, the annual budget is increasingly becoming just another important day in the announcements made by the government. This year there were expectations of a populist budget in view of upcoming state elections but that did not happen. We have a budget focused on growing capital investments and infrastructure.
To discuss this and more on this episode of BIC Talks we have Pranay Kotasthane, deputy director of Takshashila Institution where he teaches public policy, international relations, and public finance at Takshashila’s graduate and post-graduate programmes in conversation with Narayan Ramachandran, social entrepreneur, columnist and emerging market investor.
In this conversation with Vaibhav Vats, Dr. Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History at St.Anthony’s College, University of Oxford, provides a glimpse into the range and spectrum of his research and writing - touching on history of Indian diaspora and identity drawn from personal history, enquiring into Gandhi and decoding his continually evolving understanding of sacrifice, violence and non-violence through the lens of the Mahabharata, understanding the dynamics of personalities like Jinnah, Ambedkar and Nehru, while drawing parallels with the current dispensation and communal, political climes. The essence of non-violent protest endures due to their moral emphasis that overrides any political appeal which has ensured Gandhi stays put in our collective imagination.
Centring the narrative around a lively, erudite and thoroughly enjoyable history of one family from Malwa in Central India which held substantial land and various administrative offices in the Mughal empire and negotiated over several generations with three regimes - the Mughals, the Marathas and the British, Dr Chatterjee assembles a living, breathing world through her book, Negotiating Mughal Law: A Family of Landlords across Three Indian Empires. It is a classic history from below, populated with real people and colourful individuals in both spectacular and everyday situations which tells a riveting story even as it opens up many important questions for scholars and students of Mughal history and historical scholarship more broadly.
In this episode of BIC Talks Dr. Prachi Deshpande talks to Dr. Nandini Chatterjee about the story of how she reconstructed a coherent archive to tell a micro-history of one family over such a long period of time and about it being a thought provoking meditation on the very nature of the historical archive.
On 28 May 1940, in the early days of the Second World War, Major Akbar Khan marched at the head of 299 soldiers along a beach in northern France. They were the only Indians in the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk.
What journey had brought these men to Europe? What became of them and their comrades captured by the Germans?
In this episode of BIC Talks, author and historian Ghee Bowman talks to writer and journalist Vaibhav Vats about his book, ‘The Indian Contingent: The Forgotten Muslim Soldiers of the Battle of Dunkirk’ while examining the larger British narrative and place in history, details his research and tells an important although obscure and astonishing story of the Indian contingent – the Muslim soldiers who fought in the pivotal Battle of Dunkirk – from their arrival in France on 26 December 1939 to their return to an India on the verge of Partition.
In recent times, with the proliferation of Over the Top Entertainment platforms and increased access to content from all over the world in various languages, If there’s has been a clear and visible front runner in popularity, fandoms, fan fiction and all round good old hysteria - it’s all things K!
South Korean Pop music, Korean Soap Operas, Live action and animated Films, food and Culture are taking over the imagination of a large swathe of the urban Indian population. While the spectrum of the influence of the South Korean Entertainment industry is wide, writer, podcaster and cultural critic Deepanjana Pal and author & journalist Nisha Susan give us an introduction to what is the innocuous gateway to an entire subculture - the phenomenon of the K - Drama.
In mid December, 2021, Dramaturg, Writer, Director & Cultural Critic Rustom Bharucha facilitated a week-long workshop for a cohort of 12 participants on Dramaturgy at Bangalore International Centre with inputs from several artists and practitioners, including philosopher and educator, Sundar Sarukkai.
We caught up with the two at the height of churning during the workshop for a tête-à-tête on what was most playing on their minds. In this revealing conversation, they mull over necessary qualities that characterise the concept of “Theatre”, the social context of ‘touch’ in the times of a pandemic; tactility, conversation and sociality. The conversation also seeks to problematise the romantic idea of theatre being democratic and the central idea of theatre being a safe space. Some questions explored are - Can theatre really be viewed as a model of civil society and does it truly allow the practitioner the agency to challenge social norms? What is its role in dissent and what is the true function of theatre?
This episode of BIC Talks features Srikrishna Ramamoorthy in conversation with founder and chairman of Marico, Harsh Mariwala. While there’s a small chance his name may not ring a bell, most of us would have encountered the iconic blue and white Parachute coconut oil bottle at some point in life - one of several FMCG brands from the Marico stable. Harsh has played a key role in converting a traditional commodities driven family business into a leading consumer products and services company.
His recent book, Harsh Realities: The Making of Marico, co-authored with global business advisor, Ram Charan, talks about two journeys - of Marico as a company and the personal one of Harsh while he learned, spotted opportunities and took risks in the building of the market entity. Having now stepped away from day to day operations, in this conversation Harsh talks about how he has to reimagine himself, while scripting new chapters in life and work; and his continuing quest to do more, be more and make a difference.
What does it mean to devote yourself wholly to helping others? In her book Strangers Drowning, Larissa MacFarquhar seeks out people living lives of extreme ethical commitment and tells their deeply intimate stories; their stubborn integrity and their compromises; their bravery and their recklessness; their joys and defeats and wrenching dilemmas.
In this provocative conversation writer Samanth Subramanian along with Larissa contemplates what it means to be human. In a world of strangers drowning in need, how much should we help, and how much can we help? Is it right to care for strangers even at the expense of those we are closest to? What exactly do we value most as human beings, and why?
This conversation was originally streamed as part of the The Bangalore Life Science Cluster and NCBS Archives’ Public Lecture series and has been adapted to this podcast.
Perhaps no other issue today is as confronting as our warming earth. What we need are thousands - millions - of everyday conversations about the climate to enlarge the ranks of the concerned, engage the disengaged and persuade the cautious of the need for action. While companies and governments are hugely responsible for the mess we’re in, can individuals effect real, significant, and lasting change to solve this problem.
Towards the end of October 2021, filmmaker and designer Jenny Pinto engaged authors and researchers Prof. Kimberly Nicholas and Dr. Rebecca Huntley on their work and their books on Climate Change and the shifting of the strategy on conversations around the impending climate emergency.
India has been one of the biggest contributors towards global efforts at reconstructing Afghanistan. Over the last two decades, India’s development partnership with Afghanistan has had four fundamental elements: a) humanitarian assistance; b) infrastructural projects; c) small and community-based development projects; and d) capacity-building programmes. (Source: Observer Research Foundation)
In this episode of BIC Talks recorded in November 2021, experts on India-Afghanistan relations, Suhasini Haidar, Shantie D’souza and Anand Arni give us a reading of the situation and analyse the implications of the recent developments with respect to India’s relations with the people of Afghanistan.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Art historian, writer and educator Alice Procter embarks on everything that a historian in mainstream establishment shuns. She speaks about colonial loot, whiteness, historical trauma, myths of national identity besides excavating the colonial story of art in museums. Her unofficial and unauthorised Uncomfortable Art Tours initiative has been unpacking colonial narrative since 2017 across some of Britain’s leading museums.
Her book The Whole Picture: The Colonial Story of the Art in Our Museums & why We Need to Talk about it deftly unpacks many of the themes that guide her work and asks crucially ‘…who has the right to hold objects, and to tell their stories? Alice in this conversation with Pramod Kumar KG, art historian and co-founder of Eka Archiving Services deliberates on repatriation and restitution and the need to explore alternative histories of objects, people, and collections.
This episode of BIC Talks was originally a live BIC Streams session in collaboration with Eka Archiving Services.
The question of judicial diversity has long featured in global discourse, encompassing demographic characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic background etc. as well as professional background.
Arguments in favour of prioritising judicial diversity emphasise that it provides decision-making power to previously disenfranchised sections of society, and that a diverse bench is an essential component of a fair and impartial judiciary. But in the Indian context, popular discourse on courts tends to exclusively focus on case delay, ignoring other systemic problems that are equally important for maintaining public confidence in the judiciary, and for ensuring that the courts function in a just and equitable manner.
While there are many dimensions to the diversity debate, this episode of BIC Talks focuses on gender diversity in the lower judiciary. Highlighting some of the outcomes from two research papers on this subject are lawyers and researchers Deepika Kinhal and Shreya Tripathy in conversation with lawyer Poornima Hatti.
Who are the Indian Muslims? Are they a monolithic community practising a faith alien to India? Or are they a diverse people, geographically rooted in the cultural ethos of the land? Is there an ‘Indian Islam’? In this episode of BIC Talks, author Ghazala Wahab in a conversation with historian Rajmohan Gandhi takes a clear-eyed look at every aspect of Islam in India today.
Weaving together personal memoir, history, reportage, scholarship, and interviews with a wide variety of people, Ghazala’s book Born a Muslim highlights how an apathetic and sometimes hostile government attitude and prejudice at all levels of society have contributed to Muslim vulnerability and insecurity.
This conversation is an extract from a BIC Streams event.
Vachana Sahitya is a form of literature unique to the Sharanas of the 11th to 13th Century CE in Karnataka. Vachana means speech. The Sharanas chose to use everyday language of the time over the prevailing poetic structure and language to make it accessible to people of the streets as well as the learned connoisseurs. This sets it apart from the classical Sanskrit tradition of poetry. The Vachanas represent the deep philosophical journey the Vacharakaara or Sharana takes towards self awareness and divinity. A Sharana could be from any walk of life - a farmer, a sex worker, a cobbler, a cleaner- anyone who believed that one’s work and one's own conscience is the divine.
This movement rejected caste, class and gender bias and upheld the tradition of intellectual awareness. Recent studies reveal the expanse of Vachana Sahitya could be far more widespread than it was believed before, going beyond Kannada and Karnataka.
In this episode of BIC Talks Musician Sumitra Nitin, accompanied by Abhiram Nitin, takes us on an introductory journey of a selection of Vachanas and the essence each of them carry.
History is famously unkind and there are few who witness a changing world and can set the record straight.
In this no-holds-barred conversation with lawyer Rahul Matthan, about his book, A Rude Life journalist Vir Sanghvi treats us to anecdotes, personalities and era altering events in his inimitable equanimous style. The conversation sprinkled with fascinating tidbits and a generous amount of chuckles features Vir’s personal impressions of and interactions with prime ministers, presidents, kingmakers, mafiosos among other characters and presents them in a most human and accessible light.
This conversation is an extract from a BIC Venue in-person event.
When musicians of two proudly distinct though overlapping traditions encounter each other as two contemplative artists and thinking people of music, the conversation is no less than a refreshing jugalbandi of the highest order.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Ustad Zakir Hussain and TM Krishna meet and converse for the first time. In a freewheeling tête-à-tête leaving their performative selves aside and talk about their respective experiences that have shaped them as artists, their craft, artistry, the importance of listening and engagement with the world around them.
This conversation is adapted from a BIC Streams session presented by JSW, in collaboration with Literature Live.
In this episode of BIC Talks, historian of science Jahnavi Phalkey speaks with eminent scientist Raghunath Mashelkar about his journey in scientific-industrial research, his leadership style, the status of scientific-industrial research in India@75, and how might India think about bringing home a Nobel Prize in science after having waited for nearly a century!
This episode is adapted from a BIC Streams session presented by JSW as part of the Anil Dharker Literature Live! Independence Lecture.
The Brahmaputra born as Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet transforms into the Dihang River in Arunachal Pradesh, and later morphs into Luit, Dilao in Assam, is a trans-boundary river flowing through Tibet, India, and Bangladesh - which contributes to the complexity of history, politics and lives in the region.
In this episode of BIC Talks, journalist Tora Agarwala is in conversation with author of the Braided River, Samrat Choudhury where they talk about the environmental, military and political issues the region faces through Samrat’s book which blends travel, memoir and history with the present.
“The diffusion of constitutional morality, not merely among the majority of any community but throughout the whole, is the indispensable condition of a government”.
The importance of constitutional morality for the effective functioning of Indian democracy was highlighted by Dr BR Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly Debates (Vol. 7, 4th November 1948). But what does constitutional morality mean? Who are its arbiters? And does constitutional morality exist in India today?
In this podcast, host Shruti Vishwanathan of the Equals Project talks to advocates and scholars Disha Wadekar, Anurag Bhaskar & Malavika Prasad as they discuss the elements of constitutional morality in India, and its importance for Indian society.
Visit the BIC website for show notes and links related to this podcast.
Rabindranth Tagore’s profound meditations on life, nature, grace and brokenness in the Gitanjali won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Alternately a poet and a philosopher, his words remain a part of our intellectual and artistic landscape long after his death 80 years ago.
This episode of BIC Talks features a conversation located in Priya Sarukkai Chabria’s contemplative and courageous collection, Sing of Life - Revisioning Tagore’s Gitanjali which chisels his prose poems into intense new poems. In the midst of a pandemic we are invited, through this book, to re-engage with Tagore’s prescient ideas on translation and his views on nature, death and suffering. The author, along with translator and writer Arshia Sattar, explore the ways in which this work of Tagore remains relevant to the 21st century even as he points backwards to the long and diverse tradition of spiritual poetry in the South Asian subcontinent.
Ever wondered why there so few scientific discoveries, breakthroughs and inventions are attributed to women? A historically occurring problem of erasure and prevention of female presence in major areas of discourse is ever present. It is no different when it comes to the history of medicine.
In this episode of BIC Talks Srikrishna Ramamoorthy speaks with author and journalist Kavitha Rao about her book, Lady Doctors - The Untold Stories of India's First Women in Medicine. It is a compelling yet poignant read that profiles six Indian women who defied odds and prevailing social norms of the late 19th and early 20th century to study medicine.
As Kavitha Rao puts it, they were all fighters and had plenty to fight. These inspiring women have mostly been forgotten today and Kavitha Rao’s book is a step towards changing that and re-establishing this female presence in our public discourse.
A celebrated politician, scholar and diplomat in his lifetime, V.S. Srinivasa Sastri (1869-1946) is now a largely forgotten figure. Hailed as the ‘very voice of international conscience’, Sastri advocated for racial equality and securing the rights of Indians both at home and abroad. The book also illuminates the contradictions of being a ‘native diplomat’, of being treated as an equal on the world stage while lacking equality at home.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Vineet Thakur Assistant Professor, History & International Relations, Leiden University and author of India’s First Diplomat speaks to Ian Sanjay Patel, Fellow, Dept of Sociology, London School of Economic about India’s roving ambassador in the 1920s. Vineet speaks of Sastri’s most distinctive contribution to India that came through his diplomatic work. But going further, he argues that Sastri is also a key protagonist who shaped the contours of the ‘liberal’ international order.
Known as the Father of India's Space Programme, Vikram Sarabhai's interests included space and nuclear energy, architecture, industry and business, institution building, management development, art, music, and theatre. He was a scientist and entrepreneur, an educator, and a businessman. When he passed away unexpectedly at the young age of 52, he left behind a legacy few can match, having set up internationally reputed institutions and organisations that have made India proud and put us on the world map.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Dr. Padmanabh K Joshi, who heads the Vikram Sarabhai Archives at the Nehru Foundation for Development, Ahmedabad and author & publisher Divya Arora, discuss the towering personality of Dr.Sarabhai and share various anecdotes, from Dr.Joshi’s personal interaction with him as a young man and bits of information to piece together a wholly fuller image of the person. They have jointly authored the book, Vikram Sarabhai India's Space Pioneer- an illustrated biography for Dr. Sarabhai’s birth centenary in 2019, which is testament to their mutual admiration and love for Dr. Sarabhai and his work.
As COVID-19 raged through Bangalore, the city’s crematoria and burial grounds were overwhelmed with the dead and their grieving kin. The hard labour of processing corpses as well as collective grief fell on Bangalore’s crematorium and cemetery workers. Overwhelmingly Dalit, city funerary workers are generationally condemned to labour under a social stigma that is designed to deprive them of dignity, regular wages, social security, advancement opportunities, and adequate housing.
In this episode of BIC Talks, anthropologist Shreyas Sreenath interviews researcher and activist Swathi Seshadri. Swathi recently co-authored a report released by the All India Central Council for Trade Unions (AICCTU) detailing labor conditions at Bangalore’s crematoria and cemeteries. They discuss the significance of funerary work in holding together the fabric of our social, psychic, and spiritual lives, both in times of stability and crisis. They also speak about the various ways in which caste prejudice routinely degrades communities pushed into toiling with our dead.
The full report can be accessed here.
On July 11, 2006 tragedy struck when a series of bombs went off along the Western line of the suburban train network in Mumbai killing and injuring commuters by the hundreds. In the investigations and arrests that followed, Abdul Wahid Shaikh was held as one of the twelve accused who were incarcerated for over 9 years as undertrials.
In this episode of BIC Talks, teacher, lawyer and activist Abdul Wahid Shaikh speaks to journalist Praveen Swami about his imprisonment and walks us through details of the immediate aftermath of the blasts, the decade that followed and his book Begunah Qaidi which has been translated into English recently as Innocent Prisoners. This episode is bi-lingual, in Hindustani and English.
Abdul Wahid Shaikh is a school teacher, lawyer and activist. He works with the Innocence Network providing pro bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove innocence of crimes for which they have been convicted. His book Begunah Qaidi originally in Urdu has been translated into Hindi and English as Innocent Prisoners.
Praveen Swami is an Indian journalist and author specialising on international strategic and security issues.
Writer-politician Muthuvel Karunanidhi is amongst the most important political figures India has ever seen. He was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for five terms and leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for over five decades. Still remembered for his fruitful career as a regional leader who helped in the formation of various coalition governments at Delhi, his contribution to Tamil history and culture has been invaluable.
This episode of BIC Talks is about the meticulously researched and deeply engrossing book, Karunanidhi: A Life that delves into the life and times of this unforgettable man. This conversation with author AS Panneerselvan and journalist Rohini Mohan explores how Karunanidhi became a sort of metaphor of modern Tamil Nadu, where language, empowerment, self-respect, art and literary forms and films coalesce to lend a unique vibrancy to politics.
AS Panneerselvan is the Readers’ Editor of The Hindu, an independent internal news ombudsman functioning with clearly formulated Terms of Reference. Apart from being a regular columnist, he is also a journalism teacher and is an adjunct faculty of the prestigious Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.
Rohini Mohan is a Bangalore-based independent journalist writing on human rights and politics.
Neha Sahgal, Associate Director, Pew Research Center walks us through the major new Pew Research Center survey of religion across India that has been subject to many analyses, opinion pieces and discussions in formal and informal settings. In this episode of BIC Talks, Impact Investor and co-founder of Bangalore Literature Festival, Srikrishna Ramamoorthy engages Neha in a conversation about what went into this gargantuan undertaking.
The study, which was based on nearly 30,000 face-to-face interviews of adults conducted in 17 languages between late 2019 and early 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic), explores the role of religion in Indian public life. The study is part of a larger effort by Pew Research Center to understand religious change and its impact on societies around the world.
Neha was also part of a panel discussion on the BIC Streams platform where the study was engaged with on a wide spectrum of approaches. This discussion is available to view on the BIC Youtube channel.
Bob Santelli, the Founding Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles and a noted blues and rock historian takes us on a journey of understanding the musical genre of Reggae that originated in Jamaica in the 1960s. Its popularity quickly spread around the world, in large part due to Bob Marley. In this episode of BIC Talks, Bob Santelli traces the roots of this genre, its musical characteristics, its key themes and messages including socio-political criticism, and its resonance around the world.
This episode is an extract from a BIC streams session that took place virtually on the 2nd of July, 2021 a day after international Reggae day was celebrated worldwide. This talk is part of the series on “music from around the world” in collaboration with the Indian Music Experience Museum.
Ramachandra Guha has been an astute and lucid guide to Indian history, with an ability to paint both the broad canvas as well fill in the minute details. Most people know him as a columnist – sometimes controversial, but always insightful and engaging. But there is another side to him, that of the scrupulous historian and scholarly path breaker – in the field of environmental history, the social history of Indian cricket, the history of the Indian republic, and in biographies of lesser-known figures like Verrier Elwin and very public figures like Gandhi.
This episode of BIC Talks is a series of extracts from a Festschrift in honour of Ramachandra Guha, originally presented as a BIC Streams session based on A Functioning Anarchy, a collection of essays by historians, social scientists, ecologists and journalists- edited by Nandini Sundar and Srinath Raghavan- in appreciation of the scholar in Guha.
The Light of Asia is an epic poem by Sir Edwin Arnold that was first published in 1879. It is a narrative of the life and message of the Buddha. It quickly became a huge sensation and has continued to resonate powerfully across the world over the last century and a half. Weaving together literary, cultural, political and social history, author and parliamentarian Jairam Ramesh talks to author and independent consultant Radhika Chadha on how he managed to uncover and narrate the fascinating story of this deeply consequential and compelling poem that has shaped our thinking of an ancient sage and his teachings.
Ramesh brings into this unusual narrative the life of the multifaceted poet himself who, among other things, was steeped in Sanskrit literature. Sir Edwin Arnold’s The Song Celestial, an English rendering of the Bhagavad Gita, was one of Mahatma Gandhi’s abiding favourites. Sir Arnold was also in many ways the man who shaped Bodh Gaya as we know it today.
In this episode of BIC Talks author Moin Mir and historian Rana Safvi discuss ‘The Lost Fragrance of Infinity’, a historical novel by Moin that glows with the essence of Sufism. In 1739, Qaraar Ali, a young craftsman from Delhi witnesses the destruction of his world as he has known it. His wondrous city where he found love, spirituality, the friendship of poets and philosophers becomes a desolate scorching hell. From the embers of his past, a journey begins; one which takes him into the depths of Sufi philosophy.
Traversing spectacular landscapes of a fading Mughal Empire, a turbulent Central Asia and Persia, a culturally retreating Ottoman Empire and declining Spanish influence, Qaraar Ali finds hope in the sacred geometry of the Sufis through which he attempts at rebuilding his life and rediscovering love. A deeply passionate love story imbued with spirituality, acceptance, compassion and redemption, The Lost Fragrance of Infinity gives a much-deserved voice to Sufism and its contributions to humanity, art, mathematics, mysticism and science.
This is an extract from an earlier BIC Streams live session conducted in collaboration with the International Music and Arts Society (IMAS).
Moin Mir is a London based writer of Indian origin. He speaks regularly at international literature festivals on Sufism, history and travel writing.
Rana Safvi is a passionate believer in India’s unique civilisational legacy and pluralistic culture which she documents through her writings, podcasts and videos.
‘Do I talk into this thing?’ These were the first words ever broadcast live, albeit inadvertently, by Mohandas Gandhi ahead of his speech to the USA. The year was 1931 and the location, London. Gandhi was in town as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress to attend the Second Round Table Conference. He was just weeks shy of his 62nd birthday. This episode adapted from a BIC Streams session with Chandrika Kaul in conversation with Jawhar Sircar focussed on Gandhi and radio, a subject that has been curiously neglected, both in studies of Gandhi and of broadcasting. Gandhi’s engagement with radio, the circumstances surrounding his broadcasts, and his interaction with broadcasters, were analysed to help situate the medium within the Mahatma’s media repertoire and evaluated its impact.
Dr Chandrika Kaul, is Reader in Modern History at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, U.K.
Jawhar Sircar retired in 2012, after four decades in the IAS — as India’s longest serving Culture Secretary. He was immediately appointed CEO of Prasar Bharati in charge of All India Radio & Doordarshan for five years.
Saadat Hasan Manto was born on 11 May, 1912 in Ludhiana. Bangalore International Centre and Bangalore Literature Festival marked the author and playwright’s birth month through a BIC Streams session with the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University, Ayesha Jalal and writer, columnist and translator of Manto’s non-fiction work, Aakar Patel.
Drawing parallels to the times of partition characterised by turmoil and tragedy in which Manto - who has been described as a distressingly prophetic and daring writer - lived and wrote, this episode of BIC Talks speaks to the nuances of making sense of a maddening situation. Ayesha and Aakar in this free flowing exchange talk about politics, governance, literature, the will of the people and their sense of self being distilled in stories that have been told over ages.
This conversation around understanding India’s investments in infrastructure links recent laws and practices relating to these projects, and provides an approach to these issues from a commercial and legal perspective.
Author of the book, Investing in India’s Infrastructure and Energy Sectors, Prashanth Sabeshan, in this conversation with urbanist and policy researcher Champaka Rajagopal covers a wide range of points within the vast umbrella of infrastructure, including specific and generic legal issues that arise in certain core sectors such as electricity and renewables, airports, ports, and oil and gas, and the challenges faced by investors, developers, financiers and procurers. This conversation as a glimpse into the deeply researched book provides a primer to those who have an interest in understanding some of the practical and current commercial/legal issues and trends and relevant Indian government policies in these sectors.
Prashanth Sabeshan has over 20 years of experience working as a lawyer working across commercial contracts, general corporate, infrastructure, electricity & renewables, oil & gas, ports, project finance, regulatory and policy advisory.
Champaka Rajagopal is a visiting faculty with the School of Public Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University. She has worked on public and private sector projects in urban contexts, including formulation of policy, regulations, investment plans, master plans for green field townships and architecture of buildings.
This episode of BIC Talks remembers an individual who has been described as “the conscience of the collective self known as Andhra society”. Arvind Narrain in a conversation with Aishwarya Ravikumar provides a primer and an insight into the inner workings of a profound and rare mind of clarity and action, as we mark his birth anniversary on the 10th of June.
K Balagopal (1952-2009) was a trained Mathematician who became one of the country’s most important human rights activists. He was initially with the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee and then went on to found the Human Rights Forum. As an inspirational part of these human rights organisations he travelled the length and breadth of the land from Kashmir in the North to Orissa and the North East, Gujarat and of course his own home state, the then Andhra Pradesh, producing an astonishing series of Fact Finding Reports which documented and analysed human rights violations. He also wrote extensively in the Economic and Political Weekly and was an insightful commentor on Indian political and legal developments right from Gujarat 2002, the rise of the Naxalites to the politics of Mandal. His writings and speeches have been archived at www.balagopal.org.
Arvind Narrain is a lawyer and writer based in Bangalore.
Aishwarya Ravikumar has worked in different contexts to make short documentary films and learn about governance and community perspectives on land & forest rights, right to employment, fair wages and information and food sovereignty.
The word Dissent in its various misinterpretations has been in use for a while; within the zeitgeist of uncertainty that we are now living in, the immediacy of an engaged artist, citizen, human being has become apparent and urgent.
This episode of BIC Talks with musician and author TM Krishna in conversation with activist and author Kavita Krishnan begins as a conversation based on Krishna’s newest book The Spirit of Enquiry: Notes on Dissent blossoms into a philosophical exchange on aesthetic, the practice and consumption of art, politics and socio political stances, that addresses crucial issues of caste, culture, class and gender with nuance and openness.
Thodur Madabusi Krishna is an author and one of the pre-eminent vocalists in the rigorous Karnatik tradition of India’s classical music.
Kavita Krishnan is activist and currently the Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), a women’s group that is especially active among women workers, agricultural laborers, and other sections of poor laboring women in rural and urban India.
This episode of BIC talks is an extract from a BIC Streams session, where Zubin Balaporia and Shwetant Kumar take us on a journey celebrating Vanraj Bhatia's music and memory on what would have been his 94th birthday.
You could say Vanraj Bhatia’s music crosses boundaries the way people cross the street! He was trained in Indian classical music from his schooldays, and in western classical music in London and in Paris, where he was Nadia Boulanger’s only Indian student. Frequently working with the best musicians and the latest technology in India, Bhatia created music that was as impossible to pigeonhole as was his colourful personality. His 60-year career spanned multiple disciplines: cinema, television, documentaries, major theatre productions, spiritual music, advertising jingles (7000 of them!), western classical and also new age music. It is very likely that every person in India knows at least one piece of music by him – even if they’ve never heard of him! We take this opportunity to celebrate Vanraj, his life and his music in our own small way.
How do you build a scientifically and technologically strong modern nation with limited means and resources? Indian scientists faced this challenge seven decades ago when the country became independent and confronted a world rapidly advancing in science and technology. In the years that followed, they battled poor funding and archaic regulations to build India's science infrastructure from scratch. Hari Pulakkat in his book, 'Space Life Matter' captures the story of the struggles and triumphs of these leaders of science and the institutions they founded.
In this episode of BIC Talks which was originally a BIC Streams session, Hari, in conversation with science historian Jahnavi Phalkey talks about key events that shaped Indian science after independence that he explores in his book. This includes the cosmic-ray experiments at the Kolar Gold Fields, the building of the world’s largest radio telescope, ISRO's space observatory, and how persistent scientist-engineers developed a chemicals and pharmaceutical industry in India.
Hari Pulakkat is a science journalist and writer based in Bangalore, with nearly three decades of experience in covering science and technology from an Indian point of view. In 2020, he was the winner of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Science Popularisation. Space Life Matter is his first book.
Jahnavi Phalkey is a historian of science and the Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru.
We are well into the 21st century, and yet 50% of women and girls in developing countries, including India, cannot afford basic sanitary products to manage their periods, and rely on unhygienic practices such as old rags, sand and ash.
Together with limited knowledge and limited sanitary facilities, this leads to serious health risks, such as reproductive and urinary tract infections. It also prevents women and girls from participating in essential daily activities, such as going to school and going to work. It’s estimated that every year, 23 million girls in India drop out school upon reaching puberty.
We are here today for the occasion of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, to discuss how we can solve the challenge of period poverty to unlock gender equality, environmental sustainability and growth.
In this conversation you will hear from two women with expertise in the menstrual hygiene space Mariana Lopez and Ira Guha.
Between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, a distinct form of Islamic thought and practice developed among Muslim trading communities of the Indian Ocean. In this episode of BIC Talks, economic historian and author of Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast, Sebastian R Prange and art historian and researcher, Ayesha Matthan explore the argument presented in Sebastian’s book, that this 'Monsoon Islam' was shaped by merchants not sultans, forged by commercial imperatives rather than in battle, and defined by the reality of Muslims living within non-Muslim societies. Focusing on India's Malabar Coast, the much-fabled 'land of pepper', Prange speaks of how Monsoon Islam developed in response to concrete economic, socio-religious, and political challenges.
Sebastian R Prange is an economic historian who researches the development of Muslim trade networks in the medieval Indian Ocean world.
Ayesha Matthan is an art historian interested in photojournalistic practices, culture and politics in the Indian subcontinent from the 19th century to the present day.
'So, what's your exit strategy?' The question often leaves most entrepreneurs stumped as running a business leaves little time to think about anything else.
While business owners recognise that they may have to exit their business at some point, few give enough thought to how they will sell it. And fewer prepare for it.
In this episode of BIC Talks, K Srikrishna, serial entrepreneur, business mentor and author of The Art of a Happy Exit is in conversation with Hema Hattangady, author, entrepreneur and business leader on how can an entrepreneur prepare for all that selling their business entails.
Hema, co-author of Liftoff: The Story of Conzerv has featured as the principal speaker on an earlier BIC Talks episode titled Succeeding in Business Ethically.
K. Srikrishna, Ph.D., is a serial entrepreneur, business mentor and former angel investor. He founded his first company Impulsesoft in 1999, which grew from a bootstrapped organisation of two people to a global leader in Bluetooth wireless stereo music prior to being acquired by SiRF Technology of San Jose, CA.
Hema Hattangady is an independent Director and thought leader in the energy efficiency space. She co-owned and ran Conzerv Systems in energy management products and services until she sold to Schneider Electric in 2009. Her story is a case that has been taught at the AMP at Harvard Business School.
The enduring persistence, resurgence and mutation of many epidemic diseases have made apparent the problematic nature of the ‘epidemic disease narrative’ in the 21st century. Through the lens of the history of polio vaccination and treatment from a seemingly peripheral, Eastern European perspective, Dora Vargha aims to shift our attention to question what, when, and for whom is an end of an epidemic ‘the end’, and what happens after.
This episode of BIC Talks is in association with Science Gallery Bengaluru and was originally part of their ongoing online exhibition season - Contagion, open until the 13th of June, 2021. Do visit bengaluru.sciencegallery.com for more talks and an exhibition experience of Contagion.
Dora Vargha is historian of medicine, science and technology at the University of Exeter, based jointly at the Department of History and the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health and is co-editor of Social History of Medicine journal. She has published on vaccine development in Eastern Europe, the Cold War politics of polio, disability in communist Hungary, and epidemic narratives in current global health policies.
Jahnavi Phalkey is historian of science and the Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru.
Memories of a city and its unique brand of life come from the people who make it memorable and places that work as pegs for those memories. One such person who created that space which so many Bangaloreans remember with unfaltering fondness and affection is Mr. Shanbhag, the gentle bibliophile who created a warm and welcoming space, synonymous with his personality in Premier Bookshop. Premier is remembered with great affection as a Bangalore institution by people of several generations. The impact that the bookshop and the person running it have had is reflected in the outpouring of grief and tribute across channels, from across the world when news of Mr.Shanbhag’s passing broke on 5th of May 2021. In this episode of BIC Talks a few Bangaloreans remember and pay tribute to TS Shanbhag.
Image credit- Raghav Shreyas
Gandhi’s autobiography is famous for the austerity of its narration, and its veracity. Less known are his autobiographical observations made, almost incidentally, in the course of his speeches and writings.
This episode of BIC Talks features Gopalkrishna Gandhi in conversation with scholar and author Sunil Khilnani about the latest book ‘Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Restless as Mercury: My Life as a Young Man’ edited by Gopalkrishna Gandhi which seeks to complement The Story of my Experiments with Truth.
This book culls out, mainly from The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi some of those pertaining to his life as a young man. They tell the extraordinary story of the householder and lawyer, very fallible, vulnerable, but ready to self-correct and eager to learn from peers and those who he acknowledged as shapers of his life. This episode is an extract from an earlier BIC streams session.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi is Distinguished Professor of History and Politics at Ashoka University.
Sunil Khilnani is Professor of Politics and History at Ashoka University.
This episode of BIC Talks with author and historian Tripurdaman Singh and lawyer Siddharth Raja contextualises and discusses the lead up to the first ever amendment to the Constitution of India in the year 1951, only a year after the Constitution was brought into effect, the subject of Tripurdaman's new book Sixteen Stormy Days - The Story of the First Amendment of the Constitution of India.
The conversation traces this momentous event and the various personalities and agendas, at odds with the original hopes and dreams of building a liberal democratic system at the heart of it. The controversial amendment termed an “obscenity by willful resolve” by some is a crucial moment characterised by some of the fiercest parliamentary debates and in the country’s political, judicial and constitutional history which set us on a path of ambiguity as a nation.
Tripurdaman Singh is a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Tripurdaman is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and has been the recipient of a fellowship award from the Indian Council of Historical Research.
Siddharth Raja is a seasoned corporate lawyer now in his 23rd year of practice. He focuses on private equity and venture capital transactions, and on cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions.
In this episode renowned lawyer Sriram Panchu, pioneer of Mediation in India speaks with Kamala Naganand on the evolution of Mediation as a successful dispute resolution mechanism. We explore how mediation fosters mindfulness and healing with non judgemental justice; and the myriad applications of the process to public, private, domestic and international conflict resolution.
Sriram Panchu has been in the forefront of the mediation movement in India, and is an internationally recognised Indian mediator.
Kamala Naganand is the managing partner at Aarna Law. Her principal practice areas are corporate advisory, intellectual property law, insolvency and bankruptcy and private client practice.
Is India obsessed with IT & engineering studies and are we ignoring investment in pure science education? With the limited resources we have shouldn’t we be focused on finding answers to the immediate issues of today’s society or should we invest in pursuing long-term scientific breakthroughs as well as well? What are the big questions in Science that impact Indian society and what should be our priorities? What are the paths to innovation? Are patents necessary or will we be restricting access from beneficiaries?
A panel of leading minds debated these challenges- Nobel Laureate Professor Venkataraman ‘Venki’ ‘Ramakrishnan, Professor Jyotsna Dhawan, Professor S ‘Rams’ Ramaswamy and Professor Pankaj Chandra at a live event at Bangalore International Centre in collaboration with Ignite Life Sciences Foundation and Cytecare. This enthralling session is an opportunity to learn what these scientific experts have to say about these vexed questions, and is bound to offer meaningful insights to the audience.
After five years of trying to spot the elusive black panther – Karia – of the Kabini forest, author and philanthropist Rohini Nilekani completes her story after finally sighting the black panther she was searching for. But where? And what happens next? Will the end of one quest mark the beginning of another?
In Part 2 of the talk ‘Romancing the Black Panther’ Rohini Nilekani completes her story about her quest for the black panther, and how it brings her deeper into the heart of Kabini. A forest that is home to much biodiversity – it is part man-made and part natural, teeming with wildlife beside the gleaming backwaters of the Kabini reservoir.
This paradise calls for eternal vigilance. The global pandemic has taught us just how interconnected we are to the wild world. What better time for us to reflect on how—and how quickly—we can renew our broken relationship with the natural world? Can we go into the forest with curiosity and humility, and can we emerge embracing its grace?
This podcast has been adapted from an collaborative event with Bangalore Literature Festival. The original video can be watched here.
While stating that Hinduism is not a religion but a collection of practices associated with the space now called India, MK Raghavendra, critic, film scholar and writer, in this conversation with former diplomat Chiranjiv Singh examines what being a Hindu means and asks whether its practices are reconcilable with global modernity and compatible with justice and egalitarianism. He has recently authored a book 'The Hindu Nation: A Reconciliation with Modernity'.
The speakers discuss the various lenses through which Indian religions - especially Hinduism are perceived and experienced across the country and global academia. The conversation spans philosophical, political and social perspectives while presenting arguments that challenge current popular understanding of the Hindu Nation.
MK Raghavendra is a film, literary and cultural critic who writes on politics as well. He won the Swarna Kamal for Best Film Critic in 1997 and was awarded a Homi Bhabha Fellowship in 2000-2001 to study narration in Hindi films. He has authored 8 books on film though Oxford University Press, HarperCollins and Bloomsbury.
Chiranjiv Singh is a former Ambassador of India to UNESCO in Paris. An Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1969 batch, he retired in 2005 as the Development Commissioner of Karnataka and Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Karnataka.
In this episode Vivek Wadhwa author, academic, entrepreneur explores the ideas in his book 'From Incremental to Exponential: How Large Companies Can See the Future and Rethink Innovation' in a conversation with Dr. Srivatsa Krishna, IAS and Secretary CEO of Coffee Board of India.
Ray Kurzweil of Singularity University has predicted that for the first time in human history, we are entering the “Exponential Era”. We are going to experience 20,000 years of technological change in the next 100 years- from the birth of agriculture to the birth of the Internet, twice, in the next century. We are living in the times when flying taxis, autonomous vehicles, robots as personal valets, reusable rockets are all happening in front of our eyes, most of them ready for prime time.
For the first time there is not only Moore’s Law like acceleration in several technologies but also convergence among them. How will these impact governments? Can they remain immune to change or will this lead to more innovating governments? How must governments in India and elsewhere leverage these technologies to serve better? How do we move from 'Incremental to Exponential' in governance?
The original live event was in collaboration with the IAS Officers Association.
Rahul Rao, scholar and author of Out of Time: The Queer Politics of Postcoloniality, in conversation with writer Kavya Murthy talks about the inheritance that the former colonies are living with and how they have managed to warp and expand the imperialist biases and criminalisation of the Queer community.
Primarily examining three locations - India, Uganda and Britain - the relationship between the state and interaction with the international position, Culpability of colonial powers, current trans lives conditions in India and the responses of the UN and other international bodies, Out of Time ties together the aspects of Race, caste, class and human rights in the struggle for queer identity rights across centuries in the past and the future.
Rahul Rao has research interests in international relations theory, the international relations of South Asia, comparative political thought, and gender and sexuality.
Kavya Murthy is a writer, editor and content strategist for digital platforms and curates books and events for Champaca Bookstores.
Suchitra Vijayan, author of Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India, talks about what propelled her to travel 9,000 miles along India’s borderlands. In conversation with Vaibhav Vats, Vijayan recounts her reportage along India’s tenuous boundaries with Bangladesh, Myanmar, China and - most contentious of all – Pakistan. The conversation delves into the nature of borders, the peculiar origins of India’s demarcations and the fractured, founding history that underpins the Indian nation-state. Vijayan and Vats also muse on how the violence on the peripheries slowly permeates inwards, as raging conflicts over citizenship and identity - once an issue confined largely to the borderlands - have moved to the centre of the Indian body politic.
Suchitra Vijayan is an award-winning photographer, the founder and executive director of the Polis Project, a hybrid research and journalism organisation. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, GQ, The Boston Review, The Hindu, and Foreign Policy, and she has appeared on NBC news. A Barrister by training, she previously worked for the United Nations war crimes tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda before co-founding the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, which gives legal aid to Iraqi refugees.
Vaibhav Vats is an independent writer and journalist. His work has appeared in the New York Times and Al Jazeera, among other publications. He is working on a book on Hindu nationalism and the making of India’s Second Republic.
Manu V Devadevan interviews HS Shivaprakash on the beginning of his life as a poet, his influences and his evolution - personal and literary - over half a century. The conversation traces the timeline of contemporary Kannada Literature in parallel with that of world literature through a personal lens. The speakers delve into what makes the experience of a poem or a play different from that of a novel.
Touching upon his childhood in Bangalore of the 60s to his life as a traveller, this session is a glimpse into the making of one of the most present and influential voices in Kannada literature. Apart from the physical and technical aspects of his existence as a poet, HS Shivaprakash also speaks of the personal, the political and the spiritual.
Poet and playwright HS Shivaprakash is considered one of the most influential voices in Kannada literature today. The recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, he has also received the highest awards in Karnataka for literature and drama. His literary works have been translated into most Indian languages, as well as into English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. A significant scholarly contribution is the rediscovery of the aesthetic facets of Indian Bhakti traditions.
Manu V Devadevan teaches History at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, and received the Infosys Prize in Humanities for the year 2019.
In this spirited lecture, which was originally a LISA distinguished lecture delivered in March 2021, the historian Ramachandra Guha recalls some memorable experiences from a lifetime of working in libraries and archives in India and abroad. He introduces us to some great repositories of printed books, such as the National Library in Kolkata and the Sterling Memorial Museum Library of Yale University, and to some great repositories of unpublished archival material, such as the Manuscripts Division of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi. And he speaks also of the joyous days and months he has spent in the greatest library-cum-archive in the world, the British Library in London. The lecture was followed by a riveting Q & A session as well.
Bilal Zaidi, founder of the political tech start up, OurDemocracy.in, is in conversation with Sweta Daga, as he gets to the brass tacks of the electoral campaign system in India. This conversation evaluates the ongoing practices which are looked upon as tradition in our electoral democracy, its shortcomings, the opacity in the process and lack of accessibility to the citizenry. Bilal and Sweta talk of the future of political campaign finances with the advent of digital India and whether electoral reforms are in sight or not.
With anecdotal information and comparative analyses with electoral procedures of countries like the United State of America, this conversation presents a possibility and a gradual change of direction towards transparency and greater understanding of how Democracy works.
Bilal Zaidi is Founder and Executive Director of OurDemocracy.in. Prior to founding OurDemocracy, he was a Global campaigner with Avaaz.org (based in New York). He is also a former journalist with more than 12 years of experience working with organizations like Times Now, NDTV, NewsX among others. He has covered more than 24 Assembly and 3 Lok Sabha elections. He believes his interview with Mr Narendra Modi (India’s current PM) and his coverage of the Syrian conflict were the highlights of his career.
Sweta Daga has told stories across platforms, from television and film to theater. As a freelance journalist, she has worked in India focusing on climate justice with intersections in gender and equity. She has also facilitated workshops with change makers across the world on systemic change.
Edward Luce, one of the most highly regarded commentators on US politics, talks about the dynamics of US politics, and the impact of the newly elected US government on the world, especially on India.
This episode was originally streamed live on March 12th, 2021 as the annual Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Girish Karnad Memorial Lecture. One of the leading and most prestigious events on the calendar, the New India Foundation Annual Lecture has facilitated debate on important social issues, with talks featuring renowned scholars and thinkers.
Edward Luce is the US national editor and columnist at the Financial Times. Before that he was the FT’s Washington Bureau chief. Other roles have included South Asia bureau chief, Capital Markets editor, and Philippines Correspondent. He is the author of three highly acclaimed books, The Retreat of Western Liberalism (2017), Time to Start Thinking: America in the Age of Descent (2012), and In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India (2007).He appears regularly on CNN, NPR, MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and the BBC.
More details on BIC Talks podcasts on the BIC website
Researcher Siddharth Chakravarty and anthropologist & researcher Vani Sreekanta exchange notes on their most recent visit to West Bengal post the lifting of the lockdown. They talk about complexities of food habits, food production, policies that govern the ecologically sensitive areas of the Mangroves, coastal mechanisation, gender politics and the politics of migrating fishing workers and labour.
This wide ranging conversation mulls over the role of the researcher and the engagement, intervention and impact on their subjects.
Siddharth Chakravarty is an independent researcher interested in the encounters between land-based policy-making and the biophysical properties of the oceans. He is interested in fish as they shape and are shaped by processes of territory-making, resource-sharing and trans-boundary migration.
Vani Sreekanta is an independent researcher interested in the complex enmeshment of human and more-than human systems. She also likes to think about the roles networks and collaborations play in building more representative, participatory research. She has worked in environmental conservation for nearly a decade and is currently involved with a transdisciplinary collaboratory called the Southern Collective.
The elemental relevance of poetry in lives and times such as ours is what binds this conversation with poet Ranjit Hoskote and Journalist Supriya Nair together. Ranjit's newest collection of poetry, Hunchprose is a response to and reflection of the many lives the poet possesses within him.
This conversation delves deep into inspirations, memories and experiences that affords us a glimpse into the life of the polymath and how life traces verse and vice versa.
Ranjit Hoskote is a poet, cultural theorist and curator. His seven collections of poetry include Vanishing Acts, Central Time and Jonahwhale. He is also the author of I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded, the editor of Dom Moraes: Selected Poems and a translator of the legendary Urdu poets Mir and Ghalib. Hoskote curated India's first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He has received the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award, the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award and the S.H. Raza Literature Award. His poems have been translated into German, Hindi, Bengali, Irish, Marathi, Swedish and Spanish.
Supriya Nair is a journalist from Mumbai. She is the editor of the publication Fifty Two and co-founder of the media company All Things Small.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Pavan Srinath talks to Lekha Naidu about creating BIC Talks and releasing 100 episodes of the podcast since March 2020, when the pandemic lockdowns began in India.
On this episode Pavan takes the guest seat, as Bangalore International Centre’s Programme Manager Lekha Naidu talks to him about the joys, lessons and challenges of podcasting. They discuss how BIC pivoted to podcasting within a week of the first nation-wide lockdown, how they managed to record deep conversations almost entirely remotely, and what kept the show going. Pavan also shares a few of his favourite moments and episodes from the last year, and his thoughts on podcasting in general.
Pavan Srinath is a public policy researcher and podcaster, who also hosts The Pragati Podcast and the Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast. He’s accessible at @zeusisdead on Twitter and Instagram.
Lekha Naidu is Programme Manager at BIC, and will be taking over Pavan’s role as host and producer of BIC Talks from Episode 103.
Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher. BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
In early March 2020 as the shadow of the pandemic loomed large and uncertainty - financial and otherwise was the order of the day, Yes Bank joined a long parade of banking and financial scandals arisen due to malpractice. Another one seemingly bitten the dust when the moratorium on Yes Bank was imposed by the RBI.
Journalist Furquan Moharkan had been following this story long before it broke and his research is now the basis for the book, The Banker who Crushed his Diamonds.
In conversation with Furquan is editor Shreya Punj, while taking us through what actually happened and how do we as citizens read the signs of an impending disaster.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Author Keshav Desiraju and music enthusiast Vishnu Vasudev discuss Mr. Desiraju’s latest book Of Gifted Voice that looks at MS Subbulakshmi’s life and times, and the great musical tradition she belonged to and to which she brought so much, against the larger backdrop of developments in the world of Carnatic music.
MS Subbulakshmi’s life was one of extraordinary achievement. Although she was portrayed in many ways – as a musician who sought and achieved an all-India appeal; a philanthropist and supporter of noble causes; an icon of style; a woman of piety and devotion; and a friend and associate of the good and the great – she was first and foremost a classical vocalist of the highest rank, of unmatched gifts, who lives on in the musical history of India.
Though her story has often been told, we know little of the woman behind the image and the musician behind the public persona. Of Gifted Voice attempts, with warmth and keen-eyed perception, to understand the music, the history, the artiste and her incomparable presence.
This episode of BIC Talks was originally streamed live on BIC Streams.
Historians Dinyar Patel and Prashant Kidambi discuss the life and legacy of Dadabhai Naoroji, who Gandhi referred to as the ‘Father of the Nation’. Dinyar has authored the book, Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism (Harvard University Press, 2020).
They discuss Naoroji’s life and work as an Indian nationalist thinker, as a member of the British parliament, and as a leading intellectual whose legacy lives on even beyond India in various anti-colonial, nationalist and suffragette movements.
This episode of BIC Talks was originally streamed live on BIC Streams on February 13th, in association with the Bangalore Literature Festival.
Dinyar Patel is a historian of modern India, focusing on Indian nationalism, the city of Bombay/Mumbai, and the Parsi Zoroastrian community. He is currently Assistant Professor of History at the S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) in Mumbai. Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism is his first book.
Prashant Kidambi is associate professor of colonial urban history at the University of Leicester, UK. Kidambi’s research explores the interface between British imperialism and the history of modern South Asia. He is the author of Cricket Country: An Indian Odyssey in the Age of Empire and the lead editor of Bombay Before Mumbai: Essays in Honour of Jim Masselos.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Authors Taran Khan and Samhita Arni share personal experiences and stories from their time spent in Kabul, peeling away the many layers that make up the city and its rich and tumultuous history.
Taran N. Khan is a journalist based in Mumbai, and author of Shadow City: A Woman Kabul. Taran spent time working in Kabul between 2006 and 2013. She grew up in Aligarh and was educated in New Delhi and London. Shadow City, her first book, won the Tata Literature Live! First Non-Fiction Book Award for 2020. It has also been nominated for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2021.
Samhita Arni is the author of four books and retells mythological stories. Her most recent book is ‘The Prince’, and she lived and worked in Kabul in 2012 and 2013. Samhita was previously on BIC Talks to talk about Sex in Indian Epics and Literature (Episode #62) and on Pandemics in Prose (Episode #10).
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Jawhar Sircar and Siddharth Raja discuss the political dynamics of West Bengal, in the run up to the state assembly elections of 2021. They discuss the political history of the state, the ethnic, caste and class lines along which politics has taken place over the 20th century, and what conflicts lie ahead for the state in the 2021 elections.
Jawhar Sircar is a public intellectual and a retired civil servant who writes and speaks often in the popular press. He served as the CEO of Prasar Bharati, India’s public broadcasting agency between 2012 and 2016. Before that, he was Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India between 2008 and 2012. He writes regularly for the New Indian Express as well as several other publications.
Siddharth Raja is a lawyer based in Bangalore. He was previously on BIC Talks as a guest on Episode 34, to talk about the rich history of the Nandi Hills near Bangalore.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Fire safety engineer Sumit Khanna and Vasanthi Hariprakash talk about how each of us can play our role in reducing the risk of fire accidents as we lead our lives in cities. Both Sumit and Vasanthi are associated with the Beyond Carlton trust.
They discuss India’s fire safety codes and policies, discuss implementation challenges, and explore important questions about fire safety that every citizen can ask – about their homes, apartments, offices, malls, hotels and any places they visit.
Beyond Carlton is a citizen-led initiative that works to improve fire-safety awareness across India. It was started by Uday Vijayan, after he lost his young son in the preventable Carlton Towers fire tragedy that occurred on February 23, 2010.
Sumit Khanna is a trained fire protection engineer from the National Fire Service College, Nagpur. With over 12 years of experience in the fire protection industry, Sumit has worked with multiple companies in developing building codes, writing standards and promoting fire prevention. He has contributed to India’s National Building Code, helped amend Karnataka’s fire laws, and was one of the people inspecting the Carlton Towers Fire in 2011.
Vasanthi Hariprakash is a journalist, radio and podcast host, and storyteller. She has worked with the Indian Express, with Radio City 91 FM as the host of the primetime show Good Morning Bangalore, with NDTV, among others.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Author and scholar Usha Iyer talks to dancer Poorna Swami about the rich history of women dancing in Hindi cinema. Usha and Poorna explore the agency and power dynamics that various Indian actors and dancers had over the decades, how dancing in cinema can be seen as a continuation of various dance traditions in India, and discuss the roles played by important women like Vyjayanthimala, Helen, Madhuri Dixit and Saroj Khan.
Usha Iyer is an assistant professor of film and media studies at Stanford University. She is the author of Dancing Women: Choreographing Corporeal Histories of Indian Cinema (Oxford University Press, 2020).
Usha’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of cinema, performance, and gender and sexuality studies, with a specific focus on film and performance histories, body cultures, and Global South cultural traffic along the vectors of race, gender, caste, and religion.
Poorna Swami is an independent writer, choreographer and dancer based in Bangalore. At the age of seven, she began training in the classical Indian dance form Bharatanatyam, before extending her training to contemporary dance and post-modern techniques.
Poorna has previously hosted two episodes of BIC Talks: #28 with Rahul Rao about the politics and morality of taking down problematic statues; and #35 with Annie Zaidi about home, belonging, displacement and identity.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Author and business leader Hema Hattangady talks to editor Karthik Venkatesh and shares her personal and professional journey from when she took over as the CEO of a family-owned hardware electronics-based energy management company in 1996, and ethically grew the business manifold, and finally sold the business to a multi-national company in 2009. Along with Ashish Sen, Hema has recently written a book- Liftoff: The Story of Conzerv, which chronicles her experiences.
Karthik Venkatesh is a Senior Editor at Westland Books, and occasionally writes for the popular press on language, history and culture.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
This podcast episode features a presentation by poet, cultural theorist, writer, translator and independent curator, Ranjit Hoskote, followed by a discussion with architect and writer, Prem Chandavarkar.
Ranjit Hoskote walks us through the engagement of an extraordinary set of people who used the mass media of their time to bring their passion, be it art, science or human endeavour to a larger audience. He draws attention to four television series that used the wide-reaching impact of the medium. By elaborating on each of the individual styles and political and philosophical positions of these four ‘popularisers’ whose ‘democratising projects’ attempted to build bridges between ‘expert cultures’ and ‘popular audiences’, Hoskote builds on what is in one sense, a journey of nostalgia through these series, in another, a personal journey, a tribute to a set of exposures that had excited him and influenced the range of his thinking as a young person, to investigate these ‘experiments in public reason’ in the context of understanding what it means to strive to be cosmopolitan, to be cognizant of and invested in the multiplicity of interconnections that define us.
In the discussion that follows, Prem Chandavarkar responds to the presentation through a set of statements, polemical, challenging and reinforcing, that stimulate us to think about the meaning of the public space, the truth of public reason, and the promise of the mass media.
An examination of the impact of mass media on culture, pedagogy and reason, this presentation and conversation, with its many intellectual dimensions -- facilitated as it is by the internet, presented on today’s mass media and accessed through today’s methods of wide dissemination -- leaves us thinking about the meaning of public engagement, and demands of us, the listeners, that we contribute to the thinking about ways to craft public interactions as we move into a changing future.
This is the first in the series, Passion and Plurality, arranged in a collaboration between the Literature platform of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai and the Bangalore International Centre.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Padma Vibhushan & Atomic Energy Guru Dr MR Srinivasan and Science Historian Dr Jahnavi Phalkey discuss the rich story of India’s nuclear programme and its development over 70 years.
India’s first research reactor, Apsara, went critical in 1956 and today, there is a network of nuclear power generating reactors across the country, forming a critical part of India’s power grid. Srinivasan and Phalkey discuss India’s journey from the early days under Homi Bhabha, through the Geopolitics of the Cold War, Sanctions, the 2005 Indo-US nuclear deal, all the way through till today.
Dr MR Srinivasan is Former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and former Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, retiring in 1990 – and continue to contribute to nuclear energy policy in the country, including playing a key role in the Indo-US nuclear deal. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his services to the nation. He also received the first Homi Bhabha Gold Medal from the Indian Science Congress and of the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award. He is the author of the book From Fission to Fusion: The Story of India’s Atomic Energy Programme.
Dr Jahnavi Phalkey is the Founding director of the Science Gallery Bengaluru. She is a historian of science and technology, and the author of the book Atomic State: Big Science in 20th Century India, and co-edited Science of Giants: China and India in the Twentieth Century.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Zaid Hassan and Sweta Daga discuss how systemic climate action is possible, and how significant climate change mitigation is possible by building thousands of teams to work on the challenge across the world. They discuss how the burden of climate action cannot be thrust onto individuals while the causes remain systemic, but argue for how cross-sectoral, local, action-oriented teams could lead the way.
Sweta Daga is a storyteller and facilitator who has told stories across platforms, from television and film to theatre. As a freelance journalist, she has worked in India focusing on climate justice with intersections in gender and equity. She has also facilitated workshops with changemakers across the world on systemic change.
Zaid Hassan is co-founder of Complexity University and 10 in 10. He has 20 years of experience tackling complex social challenges. He has worked all over the world. His experiences range from working in rural India on reducing acute child malnutrition to tackling racism, violence and youth unemployment in inner city Chicago. Zaid has helped pioneer a new approach to tackling complexity involving people learning how to tackle their own challenges in partnership with experts. Zaid has supported and advised many organisations over the years including the World Bank. the UN, the Climate Action Network, WWF, Oxfam, as well as several governments. He is the author of the bestselling book, The Social Labs Revolution: A new approach to solving our most complex challenges.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Columnist and Emerging Markets investor Narayan Ramachandran returns to BIC Talks to talk to host Pavan Srinath about the Government of India budget, from a larger perspective rarely seen in print or TV. Jyotsna Jha from the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies also shares her views on how the social sector has fared in this year’s budget.
Listen in as the speakers explore the storytelling, the inferred ideology and the details of the 2021-22 Union Budget. They examine what has changed and what has stayed the same, and how the Union Government has chosen to react to the biggest social and economic crisis India has seen in decades.
Narayan Ramachandran is a columnist, emerging markets investor and polymath. Narayan writes a fortnightly column in Mint called A Visible Hand.
Jyotsna Jha is the Director of the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, a Bangalore-based think tank focused on policy research and advocacy. Jyotsna has a PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and her research primarily focuses on education and gender.
Here are the previous episodes with Narayan and Jyotsna on BIC Talks:
#72. Girls Out of School: Pandemic Worsens the Gender Gap (with Jyotsna Jha)
#5. Double Trouble: A Pandemic Meets India’s Banking Crisis (with Narayan Ramachandran)
#46: The US Fed’s Great Shift: From Inflation to Employment
#47: Can the Indian Economy Bounce Back? A Breather from the US Fed
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Ambassador Nirupama Menon Rao speaks to artists and scholars Ahmad Naser Sarmast, Neil Nongkynrih and Ravibandhu Vidyapathi about how a South Asian identity can be expressed through music.
This is a follow-up to Episode 86 of BIC Talks, and an edited version a live online event hosted by the South Asian Symphony Foundation. The foundation’s co-founder Ambassador Menon Rao spoke to five artistes from across South Asia, and three of them are featured on this episode. The full event can be accessed on the SASF YouTube channel.
Ahmad Naser Sarmast is an Afghan-Australian ethnomusicologist. He is the founder and director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
Neil Nongkynrih is a concert pianist and founder, mentor, and conductor of Shillong Chamber Choir. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2015.
Ravibandhu Vidyapathy is a dancer, veteran choreographer and musician from Sri Lanka. An acclaimed classical Kandyan dancer, Kathakali actor-dancer, trained in Hindustani music, his work today spans through a wide range of styles such as traditional choreographies, full-length ballets of linear narrative style, contemporary dance pieces and short ballets of thematic & abstract styles.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
India is yet to get over its giddy excitement with the recently completed cricket Test series that was truly one for the ages. After being written off by all experts post the Adelaide Test (where India recorded its lowest ever score of 36), India bounced back to win at Melbourne, draw at Sydney and pull off a miracle at the Gabba in Brisbane (where the last time a visiting team won was in 1988). To help us unpack what happened we have an Australian and Indian perspective from Gideon Haigh, senior cricket writer and Sharda Ugra, sports journalist.
Gideon Haigh is one of the great cricket observers and writers of our times. He is an independent journalist, in the trade for nearly four decades. He was born in London, went to school in Geelong, and now lives in Melbourne.
Sharda Ugra has spent more than three decades in sports journalism, working with Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day, national daily The Hindu, India Today magazine and ESPNcricinfo and ESPN India. During this time, she has written and spoken about issues around Indian sport at home and abroad in popular and academic publications.
Visit BIC website for more details about the Bangalore International Centre.
Sudhir Krishnaswamy and Shruti Viswanathan unpack the enduring impact of the Indian Constitution’s Basic Structure doctrine on India’s socio-political and judicial landscape.
India’s Basic Structure doctrine arose from Supreme Court’s Kesavananda Bharati judgment from 1973. It came about by a wafer-thin judgment with a margin of 7-6, and placed restrictions on the power of the Parliament to amend the Indian Constitution. In effect, this affirmed that the Constitution, not Parliament, was supreme in India. Sudhir and Shruti explore how this case came before the Supreme Court, the broad principles of the doctrine, and its evolution since 1973. The discussion will focus not just on the legal interpretation of the doctrine but also its impact on India’s political history.
Professor Sudhir Krishnaswamy is the Vice-Chancellor of National Law School of India University, Bangalore. His research focus is on constitutional law and politics and the empirical analysis of the legal system. He is also a Founder and Trustee of the Centre for Law and Policy Research, Bangalore.
Shruti Viswanathan is a graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She has a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School, Tufts University. Over the past ten years she has been working in law and policy; promoting effective design and delivery of social protection programmes.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Ambassador Nirupama Menon Rao speaks to musicians TM Krishna and Ali Sethi about how a South Asian identity can be expressed through music.
This episode of BIC Talks is an edited version of the first half of a live online event hosted by the South Asian Symphony Foundation. The foundation’s co-founder Ambassador Menon Rao spoke to five artistes from across South Asia. The full event can be accessed on the SASF YouTube channel.
As a brief aside, South Asian Symphony Orchestra's Nivanthi Karunaratne, will be representing SASO in the Hope & Harmony Ensemble, formed by Washington-based Classical Movements, for the U.S. Presidential inauguration on the 20th of January, 2021.
From the majestic Himalayan peaks to the waters of the Indian Ocean, South Asia boasts of diverse landscapes. So too are the inhabitants of this region with their rich cultural heritage, distinct musical traditions and exceptional linguistic diversity. Permeating all aspects of life, music acts as a conduit that communicates a plethora of emotions, traditions, values and narratives of the lives of the people. From farmers of Sri Lanka who sing on their night watch to keep their crops safe from wild animals to boatmen in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh whose singing pierces placid rivers, to exuberant rhythms that infuse family gatherings with unparalleled energy, and the songs of the Afghan people, music in South Asia takes many forms and tells many stories as it accompanies the ebb and flow of more than a billion lives.
Although diverse in form and style, South Asian music is the creative expression of a people living in close proximity to each other. Music evolves with people and there are similarities as there are differences as genres influence each other. Collectively, South Asian music stands out on the global stage with its unique timbre, tempo and dynamics.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Historian Omar H Ali talks about African origin leaders and shapers of medieval India on Episode 85 of BIC Talks.
Africa and India have a rich history of interaction ranging several millennia, with African origin sailors, merchants, soldiers, scholars, musicians, and explorers finding home in India or contributing significantly to Indian history.
Perhaps the greatest among them was Malik Ambar, born in Abyssinia, arriving in India as a slave, and rising to power as the Prime Minister and de-facto ruler of the Ahmednagar Sultanate early in the 17th century.
Omar H. Ali is Dean of Lloyd International Honors College and Professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He is an award-winning historian of the global African Diaspora and the author of several books, including on Malik Ambar and
This BIC Talks episode is an edited excerpt of Omar’s talk that was originally livecast on BIC Streams on December 11, 2020.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Strategic affairs analyst, journalist, and former Indian Army officer Sushant Singh talks to host Pavan Srinath about the India-China conflict in Ladakh, eight months in.
Sushant shares what it takes for the Indian Army to deploy between 50 and 60,000 troops on the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh and maintaining a winter deployment. He also discusses the challenges faced by soldiers living through the winter in altitudes going up to 18,000 feet, with blistering winds and little to no prior infrastructure. The conversation also includes an eye on the future, on how the India-China conflict could pan out in 2021 and what kind of strategic implications it could have for India.
Sushant Singh is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Previously, he was the Deputy Editor of The Indian Express, reporting on strategic affairs, national security and international affairs. He won the Ramnath Goenka Prize for Excellence in Journalism for 2017 and 2018. Prior to becoming a journalist, he served in the Indian Army for two decades, including multiple stints in Jammu and Kashmir. He is the author of Mission Overseas: Daring Operations by the Indian Military (Juggernaut Books, 2017).
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Durba Mitra and Sreeparna Chattopadhyay discuss Durba’s book, “Indian Sex Life: Sexuality and the Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought.” They explore how British authorities and Indian intellectuals develop ideas about deviant female sexuality to control and organise society in colonial India. They also discuss the legal and societal implications of these ideas that continue to shape Indian society to this day.
Dr. Durba Mitra is Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. Mitra works at the intersection of feminist and queer studies. Her research and teaching focus on the history of sexuality, the history of science and epistemology, and gender and feminist thought in South Asia and the colonial and postcolonial world.
Dr. Sreeparna Chattopadhyay is an independent researcher currently based in Bangalore. She has an A.M. and Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology and the Population Studies Training Centre at Brown University and a B.A. in Economics (Honours) from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay. Her research in the last twelve years has focused on the ways in which gender disadvantages interact with socioeconomic inequities, shaping women’s life trajectories including impacts on health, education and exposure to violence.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
In this episode, Architect Bijoy Ramachandran speaks to Prof. Rabindra Vasavada, a celebrated practitioner, conservationist, teacher and historian about his time at the IIM Ahmedabad site office (where he started his career) from 1969 to 1972 working with Louis Kahn the American architect, who was commissioned to design the campus, and Prof. Anant Raje, the local architect in-charge. This time working on the School (the Library, Faculty blocks and classrooms) had a profound impact on him.
From Prof. Vasavada's description of Kahn, three things are immediately striking about the way Kahn and his site office operated. First, the work seems to have been fundamentally informed by the feedback provided by the clients. Kahn seems to have been a careful and observant collaborator. This flies in the face of the romantic ideas of the architect as the sole author of the sublime idea and instead tells us of a much more open and shared way in which architecture could be produced. Second, the environment in the office too was collaborative, each of you seem to have had both a sense of profound ownership and responsibility towards the work. Third, we often separate the notion of the big idea from what Kenneth Frampton calls the adoration of the joint, the details, the techtonics and the precise, accurate representation of structure and construction. Prof. Vasavada's description of Kahn’s process make it clear that there was no such distinction. The profound, big idea and this careful attention to detail and precision went hand in hand. Each informed the other.
In this episode author Shoba Narayan discusses her new book- Food and Faith - A Pilgrim's Journey Through India with poet and scholar Mani Rao.
What is the role of religion in your life today? Do you commune with the divine through rituals? Or is it a comforting routine, going to church or temple once a week or month? Are these questions making you uncomfortable? Do you think religion is a private act to be done in the confines of one’s home, with family, and not something to declare publicly? These are the questions this book seeks to answer. Shoba Narayan travels across some of the most prominent places of worship in India and presents to her readers the mythologies, histories and contemporary relevance of these sites.
This podcast is an edited extract from the session that was part of the Bangalore Literature Festival 2020.
The elusive Kariya or Saya, resident of the Nagarahole forests has become the stuff of folklore and legends, sending sighters into a tizzy. He even has his own film.
In this episode, author and philanthropist Rohini Nilekani recounts her journey looking for this big cat in the wild.
Romancing The Black Panther was part of the Bangalore Literature Festival 2020 and this episode is an edited extract from the session.
This podcast is based on a talk that author Krish Ashok gave at the Bangalore Literature Festival 2020 at the Bangalore International Centre.
Ever wondered why your grandmother threw a teabag into the pressure cooker while boiling chickpeas, or why she measured using the knuckle of her index finger? Why does a counter-intuitive pinch of salt make your kheer more intensely flavourful? What is the Maillard reaction and what does it have to do with fenugreek? What does your high-school chemistry knowledge, or what you remember of it, have to do with perfectly browning your onions?
Masala Lab by Krish Ashok is a science nerd’s exploration of Indian cooking with the ultimate aim of making the reader a better cook and turning the kitchen into a joyful, creative playground for culinary experimentation. Just like memorising an equation might have helped you pass an exam but not become a chemist, following a recipe without knowing its rationale can be a sub-optimal way of learning how to cook.
Exhaustively tested and researched, and with a curious and engaging approach to food, Krish Ashok puts together the one book the Indian kitchen definitely needs, proving along the way that your grandmother was right all along.
Author Venkatesh Parthasarathy talks to Karthik Venkatesh about his first book around the history of one of India's most loved prayer, Suprabhatam.
Prativadi Bhayankaram Anna, who composed this prayer in the fifteenth century, was a saint, a poet and an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. The poet’s devotion shines through, most unforgettably in M.S. Subbulakshmi's rendition, which rings through many south Indian homes in the mornings.
kausalyāsuprajā rāma pūrvā saṃdhyā pravartate/
uttiṣṭha naraśārdūla kartavyaṃ daivamāhnikam//
O Rama, son of fortunate Kaushalya, the eastern twilight (dawn) is breaking. Arise, O lion among men, the daily morning rituals need to be performed.
With these stirring lines begins the near-ubiquitous Hindu prayer, the Venkatesa Suprabhatam. An appeal to the lord to arise and save the world, the Venkatesa Suprabhatam is the first of four recitations that are sung together every morning in the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, where it was originally sung.
Venkatesa Suprabhatam: The Story of India’s Most Popular Prayer is a translation of the prayer, a journey through its verses and also a deep dive into the history of its composition and the circumstances of its author.
So whether you have grown up listening to the Suprabhatam or are just curious about such matters, this book—scholarly and yet accessible—is a compelling examination of the cultural phenomenon.
In this episode Sociologist Amita Baviskar discusses her book Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi.
Cities are now habitat for most of humanity. But do they have the ecological capacity to sustain lives worth living? Amita talks about the environmental politics in Delhi, looking at the role of ‘bourgeois environmentalists’ who claim to speak for nature and society. How well have these cities addressed the challenge of sustainability with social justice? How can we create liveable cities and vibrant commons?
This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.
In this episode Sociologist Amita Baviskar discusses her book Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi.
Cities are now habitat for most of humanity. But do they have the ecological capacity to sustain lives worth living? Amita talks about the environmental politics in Delhi, looking at the role of ‘bourgeois environmentalists’ who claim to speak for nature and society. How well have these cities addressed the challenge of sustainability with social justice? How can we create liveable cities and vibrant commons?
This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.
In this episode Sociologist Amita Baviskar discusses her book Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi.
Cities are now habitat for most of humanity. But do they have the ecological capacity to sustain lives worth living? Amita talks about the environmental politics in Delhi, looking at the role of ‘bourgeois environmentalists’ who claim to speak for nature and society. How well have these cities addressed the challenge of sustainability with social justice? How can we create liveable cities and vibrant commons?
This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.
Political scientist, lawyer and journalist Vinay Sitapati speaks to entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal on his book Jugalbandi.
Narendra Modi has been a hundred years in the making. Vinay Sitapati’s Jugalbandi provides this backstory to his current dominance in Indian politics. It begins with the creation of Hindu nationalism as a response to British-induced elections in the 1920s, moves on to the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980, and ends with its first national government, from 1998 to 2004. And it follows this journey through the entangled lives of its founding jugalbandi: Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.
Over their six-decade-long relationship, Vajpayee and Advani worked as a team despite differences in personality and beliefs. What kept them together was fraternal love and professional synergy, of course, but also, above all, an ideology that stressed on unity. Their partnership explains what the BJP before Modi was, and why it won.
In supporting roles are a cast of characters-from the warden’s wife who made room for Vajpayee in her family to the billionaire grandson of Pakistan’s founder who happened to be a major early funder of the BJP. Based on private papers, party documents, newspapers and over two hundred interviews, this is a must-read for those interested in the ideology that now rules India.
This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.
Economist Narendar Pani talks to journalist Anusha Ravi Sood about rural India’s enduring economic and social crisis that does not seem to have an end in sight.
They discuss some of the root causes of the ongoing farmer protests, and go beyond them to explore the dynamics of farming, migration and urban jobs over the last few decades. They discuss challenges that have remained unaddressed, and have even become worse.
Dr Narendar Pani is a Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore. An economist by training, author of many books, he takes a multidisciplinary approach to issues of Indian political economy.
Anusha Ravi Sood is a journalist based in Bangalore, and currently Assistant Editor at The New Indian Express.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
In this podcast William Dalrymple and Moin Mir discuss The East India Company through their books The Anarchy and Surat: Fall of a Port. Rise of a Prince.
William Dalrymple’s The Anarchy has been called ‘his most ambitious and riveting book to date’. It tells the story of the East India Company as it transitioned from being a ‘conventional international trading corporation dealing in silks and spices’ to ‘an aggressive colonial power in the guise of a multinational business’, ‘unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power’.
The East India Company first entered India via Surat when its ships docked on the shores of this seaside city in the early 17th century. An example of the way the Company functioned in its ruthless greed for power and wealth is the annexation of the port of Surat and the violation of the Treaty it signed with the Nawab of Surat. The palaces, lands, jewellery and all that was part of the private estates of the Nawab were usurped leaving the infant granddaughters of the last Nawab on the brink of destitution. Moin Mir is a descendant of the last Nawab of Surat and next in line to succeed his father as Darbar of Kamadhiya, an erstwhile principality in Gujarat. In his book, Surat: Fall of a Port. Rise of a Prince, he tells the story of the legal battle that the father of the two young princesses fought, a tale of fortitude and romance, to defeat the Company and gain restitution.
This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams done in collaboration with the International Music & Arts Society.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
Medical Scientist Dr Gagandeep Kang returns to BIC Talks and speaks to host Pavan Srinath about the latest news on COVID-19 vaccines, and the road ahead for public vaccination for all Indians.
It is extraordinary to see not one, but three COVID-19 vaccine candidates announce successful interim results in November. This happened within 10 months of isolating the virus, SARS-CoV-2. Dr Kang shares how these vaccine efficacy trials are designed, how we need to be careful in interpreting the results, and how we can think about the safety of any new vaccine.
She shares a few answers to COVID-19 related questions that we did not have answers to until recently. She also discusses how vaccine trials in India ought to be conducted, and the challenges that lie ahead for public vaccination programmes.
Dr Gagandeep Kang is Professor of Microbiology at the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences at the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore.
Dr Kang is a key contributor to the understanding of diarrhoeal diseases, rotavirus epidemiology and vaccinology in India. She is a 2016 Infosys Prize laureate and became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2019. She is also the Vice Chair for the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI).
In case you missed it, Dr Kang was earlier on Episodes 8 and 18 of BIC Talks to discuss vaccine and drug development against COVID-19. She also has an upcoming co-authored book, Till We Win: India’s Fight Against The Covid-19 Pandemic.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guest.
Jyotsna Jha talks to host Pavan Srinath about how Indian girl children have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jyotsna and her colleagues have published a new study on how children’s education is faring amidst deep economic uncertainty faced by millions of Indian families, by surveying over 3,100 households across 4 states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Telangana.
In this episode, Jyotsna shares the state of the gender gap in education and society before the pandemic, and how girls are faring now, with schools shut down and families in economic crisis. Things look dire, with girls losing their freedom of movement, with limited phone access and uncertainty over ever going back to school.
She also shares how boys are also adversely affected and goes beyond the study to discuss what is likely to happen in the future. Jyotsna and Pavan also discuss what should be immediate and medium-term priorities for India’s schooling system and getting children back to school.
Jyotsna Jha is the Director of the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, a Bangalore-based think tank focused on policy research and advocacy. Jyotsna has a PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Her research primarily focuses on education and gender. She has actively worked with educational policy planners, administrators, teachers, and professionals at various levels both nationally and internationally.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website to learn more about the guest and for links to the full study.
The full study is titled: Neha Ghatak, Achala S Yareseeme and Jyotsna Jha, (2020). “Life in the time of Covid-19: Mapping the impact of Covid-19 on the lives of school-going children especially girls in India”. Centre for Budget and Policy Studies and India Champions for Girls’ Education.
India's police forces have long been under the direct control of state politicians, but the challenge of police politicisation is coming the fore increasingly in recent years. Instances of harm caused by the politicisation are apparent in the police handling of the Delhi Riots of 1984, the Gujarat riots of 2002 and the recent riots in N.E. Delhi. The police is trained to enforce the law impartially but that rarely happens in some states with powerful chief ministers. The recent case relating to the suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput and the arrest of anchor Arnab Goswami of the TV channel 'Republic’ are prime examples.
In this podcast, Retired IPS Officer and Padma Bhushan awardee Julio Ribeiro in conversation with journalist and co-founder of The News Minute, Dhanya Rajendran, trace the course of this politicisation from Independence to the present day. This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website to learn more about the guest and for links, references and related readings.
Joshua Mathew talks to Sheila Kumar about the life and story of Donald Anderson (1934-2014), one of the last colonial hunters or shikharis, who was a resident of Bangalore and lived a life quite removed from 21st century experiences and norms. They discuss Joshua’s 2018 book, The Last White Hunter: Reminiscences of a Colonial Shikhari and the themes explored in the book. They talk about the changing perspectives on how hunting was once a sport, how life in central Bangalore has evolved in the last century, and the larger-than-life character that was Don Anderson.
Joshua Mathew is the author of The Last White Hunter. He wrote the book over 7 years, having known Don Anderson in the last years of his life. He moonlights as a marketer and lives under the illusion that he is an amateur photographer, wildlife enthusiast, gamer, history buff, B&W film aficionado, and gastronome. He lives in Bangalore, and the book is being translated into Kannada and Malayalam.
Sheila Kumar is an ad copywriter turned journalist and manuscript editor, as well as author of four books. She worked for the Times of India Group in Bangalore and Delhi, and then at Femina, for over a dozen years before turning freelance.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website to learn more about the guest and for links, references and related readings.
The COVID-19 pandemic has always spread faster than we can test for, and it’s all the more true in India. We have known for a while now that for every single person who has tested positive for the infection, there are several who have been infected – either with or without symptoms. Serosurveys therefore become an important tool in helping us figure out how far the infection has spread within a population. A new study on Karnataka shows that even as early as mid-August, close to half the state, about 31 million individuals, may have been infected by COVID-19. They also find that the rural spread of COVID has been almost as high as the urban spread.
Researchers Manoj Mohanan, Anu Acharya and Anup Malani help us understand and interpret their new study. Manoj Mohanan is with the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, Anup Malani is with the University of Chicago, and Anu Acharya is the CEO of Mapmygenome. They are also affiliated with the IDFC Institute, and are 3 of the 4 authors of this serosurvey of the state of Karnataka.This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website to learn more about the guest and for links, references and related readings.
Mayur Suresh talks to host Pavan Srinath about the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and how thousands of Indians are in prison or in custody, without recourse to bail, and awaiting a trial that may never take place. Mayur discusses how the UAPA came about, how it absorbed some of the worst features of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and how it can be used without much judicial oversight, by governments and police forces in power.
Dr Mayur Suresh is a faculty member of the School of Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS, London. He used to practice law in New Delhi at various courts, and has worked and written extensively on India’s anti-terror laws, legal theory, sexuality and gender identity.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website to learn more about the guest and for links, references and related readings.
Caleb Simmons and Manu S Pillai talk about how sovereignty was conceived in India in the 18th and 19th centuries. They explore how two very different rules of Mysore: Tipu Sultan and Krishnaraja Wodeyar III laid their claims to sovereign rule over their kingdom. They discuss Caleb’s recent book, Devotional Sovereignty: Kingship and Religion in India.
Dr. Caleb Simmons is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Arizona. He specialises in religion in South Asia, especially Hinduism. His research spans religion and state-formation in medieval and colonial India to contemporary transnational aspects of Hinduism.
Manu S. Pillai is a historian and author of several books, most recently The Courtesan, the Mahatma & the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History. He is currently pursuing his PhD from King’s College London.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website to learn more about the guest and for links, references and related readings.
Simran Mangharam and Dipti Ramesh talk about how modern relationships and marriages are evolving in urban India. They explore how gender and personal dynamics are evolving within each relationship, and Simran shares examples from the thousands of people she has coached.
Simran Mangharam is a Dating and Relationship Coach. She is the founder of Floh, a dating community that connects singles in real-life at events. Before Floh, she co-founded an executive search firm and is an MBTI Certified Counsellor. She writes a regular column called "With Love" on modern relationships in India for the Sunday edition of The Hindustan Times.
Dipti Ramesh worked closely with Simran as the COO at Floh. Prior to Floh, she worked with Amnesty International India in the field of women's rights. She continues to work with nonprofits in the areas of gender and equality and the prevention of abuse.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website to learn more about the guest and for links, references and related readings.
Scholar and translator Arshia Sattar speaks to editor and critic Somak Ghoshal about her new book Maryada: Searching for Dharma in the Ramayana. This episode is an edited audio discussion first aired as a BIC Streams livecast.
‘Maryada’ is the Sanskrit word for ‘boundary’ and also means ‘propriety of conduct’. In the Ramayana, the word carries special weight because it comes to be used as the defining virtue of Rama, the ‘maryada purushottama’ or ‘ideal man’.
But even though Rama is regarded as the epitome of dharma in his thoughts and deeds, the Ramayana does not provide us with one single template for what is right. Nor does it tell us that dharma is beyond the reach of human understanding and action. On the contrary, it holds out the promise that everyone can search for a dharma they believe in, one that is all the more precious because it has been sought and found rather than given and received.
In this thought-provoking book, Arshia Sattar writes with compassion, tenderness and understanding about dharma as a multiplicity of appropriate choices, showing us that when we choose one way of being and doing over another, we will be as often wrong as we are right.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.
In this podcast Professor Zelizer in conversation with Prateeti Punja Ballal examines the origins of the Republican Party, the GOP, since the 1950s, focusing on how it changed from becoming the party of Lincoln to the party of Trump. Zelizer argues that this transformation has been in the works for decades. This episode is an edited audio discussion first aired as a BIC Streams livecast.
Julian E Zelizer has been among the pioneers in the revival of American political history. He is the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University, and a CNN Political Analyst and a regular guest on NPR’s “Here and Now.” He is the author and editor of 21 books including, The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society (2015), the winner of the D.B. Hardeman Prize for the Best Book on Congress and Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 (Norton), co-authored with Kevin Kruse. His new book is Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, The Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party (Penguin Press). He is currently writing a new book about Abraham Joshua Heschel for the Jewish Lives Series of Yale University Press. Zelizer, who has published over 1000 op-eds, has received fellowships from the Brookings Institution, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the New York Historical Society, and New America. He also co-hosts a popular podcast called Politics & Polls.
Prateeti Punja Ballal is a Bangalore based scholar.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. For the full list of books and epics discussed in the episode along with links, please visit the episode page on the Bangalore International Centre website.
Researcher Karthick Bala talks to host Pavan Srinath about the microscopic world of diatoms, and discusses the life and work of HP Gandhi, a pioneer in the study of diatoms in India.
Diatoms are microscopic algae which are present in all water bodies, and occur in fascinating shapes and structures. Apart from producing almost 25 per cent of the world’s oxygen, diatoms find myriad invisible uses across human society and economy.
Hemendrakumar Prithviraj Gandhi (1920-2008) was a pioneer in studying diatoms across India, and discovered and catalogued about 300 different species as well as studied their distribution and behaviour. He conducted his entire life’s worth of research without any financial or institutional support, while teaching as a college lecturer and eventually a college Principal. Against great adversity, he published seminal work on Indian diatoms in top international journals. His work received new attention in the 2000s, thanks to the effort of Karthick Bala and others, and diatoms are better studied by a larger set of scientists in India in 2020.
Listen to Karthick take listeners through the world of diatoms, and share the work of HP Gandhi, and his own personal journey in rediscovering Gandhi’s corpus of work.
Karthick Balasubramanian leads the diatom diversity and distribution lab at the Biodiversity and Palaeobiology Group of the Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, India. His group works on the ecological and evolutionary processes responsible for the current diversity and distribution of diatoms in the Indian subcontinent. He is also interested in communicating science in English and Tamil to common people, especially the school children using diatoms for sensitising river conservation.
BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website to learn more about the guest and for links, references and related readings.