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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
- 401 - Ep 399: Divya Prakash Dubey: Ek Jeevani
He's a bestselling writer who's brought Hindi literature into a modern age -- and he also writes films and tells stories. Divya Prakash Dubey joins Amit Varma in episode 399 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his language, his society and his art. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Divya Prakash Dubey on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, IMDb, Amazon and his own website. 2. Musafir Cafe -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 3. October Junction -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 4. Ibnebatuti -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 5. Aako Baako -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 6. Sharten Laagoo -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 7. Masala Chay -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 8. The first episodes of Hum Log, Buniyaad and Byomkesh Bakshi.9. Maya Memsaab -- Ketan Mehta. 10. Raja Hindustani -- Dharmesh Darshan. 11. Deep Work and Slow Productivity -- Cal Newport. 12. Memories, Dreams, Reflections -- Carl Gustav Jung. 13. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 14. How Not To Get Trolled -- Amit Varma. 15. Kya Bhulu Kya Yaad Karu -- Harivansh Rai Bachchan. 16. Mujhe Chand Chahiye -- Surendra Verma. 17. Shekhar: Ek Jeevani (Hindi) (English) — Agyeya. 18. Self-Portrait — AK Ramanujan. 19. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 20. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World — Snigdha Poonam. 21. Husain Ki Kahani, Apni Zubani -- MF Husain. 22. Mrityunjaya -- Shivaji Sawant. 23. Yugandhar -- Shivaji Sawant. 24. जिन मुश्किलों में मुस्कुराना हो मना -- Gopaldas Niraj. 25. Rahi Masoom Raza on Amazon, Wikipedia, Hindwi, Rekhta and IMDb. 26. Kissi Se Na Kehna -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 27. Scene: 75 (Hindi) (English) -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 28. Cinema Aur Sanskriti -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 29. Aadha Gaon -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 30. Manohar Shyam Joshi on Amazon, Wikipedia, Hindwi and IMDb. 31. Kathasaritsagara -- Somadeva. 32. Bimal Mitra on Wikipedia, Amazon and IMDb. 33. Chitralekha -- Bhagwaticharan Verma. 34. Nayi Kahani Andolan. 35. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai. 36. The Life and Times of Ira Pande — Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The Art of Podcasting -- Episode 49 of Everything is Everything. 38. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 38. A Piece of String -- Guy de Maupassant. 39. Divya Prakash Dubey's tweet about his influence for dialogue writing. 40. Ponniyin Selvan -- Mani Ratnam. 41. Humankind -- . 42. Bela Sheshe. 43. Anand -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 44. 96 -- S Prem Kumar. 45. Notting Hill -- xxx. 46. Ten Years with Guru Dutt -- Abrar Alvi in conversation with Sathya Saran. 47. Tamsoma Jyotirgamay and Peevat Ram Ras Lagi Khumari -- Rajnish aka Osho. 48. Urdu Ki Aakhiree Kitab -- Ibne Insha. 49. कल चौदहवीं की रात थी -- Ibne Insha. 50. Humesha Der Kar Deta Hoon Main — Muneer Niazi. 51. Kunwar Narayan, Vinod Kumar Shukla and Kedarnath Singh. 52. Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rahti Thi -- Vinod Kumar Shukla. 53. Complete Short Stories -- Guy de Maupassant. 54. Pyramid Ka Sapna -- Jack Harte. This episode is sponsored by The 6% Club, which will get you from idea to launch in 45 days! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Naye Waale Writer’ by Simahina.
Mon, 16 Sep 2024 - 6h 40min - 400 - Ep 398: Eve Fairbanks Examines a Fractured Society
She learnt journalism in America and spent many years in South Africa writing a portrait of their troubled society, where everything is complicated and nothing is settled -- much like anywhere else. Eve Fairbanks joins Amit Varma in episode 398 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her work, her craft and the world around her. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Eve Fairbanks on Twitter, LinkedIn and her own website. 2. The Inheritors -- Eve Fairbanks. 3. The Dispossession of District Six -- Eve Fairbanks. 4. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wendell Berry on Wikipedia and Poetry Foundation. 6. Get Married -- Brad Wilcox. 7. The Four Loves -- CS Lewis. 8. The World in a World Cup -- Eve Fairbanks. 9. Robert George's thread on his rhetorical question to his students. 10. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Harmony in the Boudoir — Mark Strand. 12. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker. 13. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujata Anandan). 14. The Flirting Trap -- Eve Fairbanks. (Scroll down on that page for this piece). 15. The Art of Gathering -- Priya Parker. 16. Common Sense -- Thomas Paine. 17. On Tyranny -- Timothy Snyder. 18. The Origins of Political Order -- Francis Fukuyama. 19. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 20. The Power Broker — Robert Caro. 21. Beautiful Thing — Sonia Faleiro. 22. The Good Girls — Sonia Faleiro. 23. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree — Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro). 24. The Broken Script — Swapna Liddle. 25. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. RRR -- SS Rajamouli. 27. Here Comes The Groom: A (conservative) case for gay marriage -- Andrew Sullivan. 28. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line — Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 30. William Prince and Khwezi on Spotify. 31. Love: A History -- Simon May. 32. How Far Can Amapiano Go? -- Kelefa Sanneh. This episode is sponsored by The 6% Club, which will get you from idea to launch in 45 days! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘This Town’ by Simahina.
Mon, 09 Sep 2024 - 4h 21min - 399 - Ep 397: Larry White and the First Principles of Money
We take money and banking and finance for granted -- but the way they exist in the world is not the only way they could exist. Lawrence H White joins Amit Varma in episode 397 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss ideas, ideologies, money, crypto and the field he pioneered, free banking. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Lawrence H White on Twitter, Wikipedia, Cato, GMU, Amazon and Google Scholar. 2. Free Banking in Britain – Theory, Experience and Debate 1800-1845 -- Lawrence H White. 3. The Clash of Economic Ideas -- Lawrence H White. 4. Better Money: Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin? -- Lawrence H White. 5. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran. 7. The Problem With Digital Public Goods -- Episode 56 of Everything is Everything. 8. Seeing Like a State — James C Scott. 9. Javier Milei's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 10. For a New Liberty -- Murray Rothbard. 11. Laissez Faire Books. 12. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 13. Power and Market -- Murray Rothbard. 14. Economics in One Lesson — Henry Hazlitt. 15. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal -- Ayn Rand. 16. Man, Economy and State -- Murray Rothbard. 17. Gold and Economic Freedom -- Alan Greenspan. 18. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution -- Bernard Bailyn. 19. Is Nonprice Competition in Currency Inefficient? -- Lawrence H White & Donald J Boudreaux. 20. Demonetisation and welfare -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Lawrence H White. 21. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 22. Anarchy, State and Utopia -- Robert Nozick. 23. Civilization III. 24. The Fatal Conceit — Friedrich Hayek. 25. The Private Mint In Economics: Evidence from American Gold Rushes -- Lawrence H White. 26. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass -- Frederick Douglass. 27. Lombard Street - A Description of the Money Market -- Walter Bagehot. 28. Has Government Any Role in Money? -- Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz. 29. Antifragile -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 30. What Really Happened? — Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis. 31. Gambling with Other People's Money -- Russell D Roberts. 32. The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure -- John Allison. 33. Check Your Financial Privilege -- Alex Gladstein. 34. Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin -- Andrew Bailey, Bradley Rettler and Craig Warmke. 35. Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptoassets -- Fabian Schär and Aleksander Berentsen. 36. The Denationalisation of Money -- Hayek. 37. The Theory of Free Banking -- George Selgin. 38. Money: Free and Unfree -- George Selgin. 39. The Experience of Free Banking -- Kevin Dowd. 40. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 41. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 42. The Outlaws -- Episode 61 of Everything is Everything. 43. Guru -- Mani Ratnam. 44. Sholay -- Ramesh Sippy. 45. Don -- Chandra Barot. 46. Red Plenty -- Francis Spufford. 47. Not I: Memoirs of a German Childhood -- Joachim Fest. 48. The Madeira, Lords of Atlantis, Man Or Astro-Man?, Satan's Pilgrims and Badmarsh & Shri on Spotify. 49. Godzilla Minus One -- Takashi Yamazaki. 50. Amarcord -- Federico Fellini. 51. Roma -- Federico Fellini. 52. I Vitelloni -- Federico Fellini. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Money on the Mind’ by Simahina.
Mon, 02 Sep 2024 - 4h 04min - 398 - Ep 396: Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha Are Fighting for Us
They started out busting misinformation. Then, as fake news became weaponized at an industrial scale, they become warriors not just for truth, but for a better society. Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha join Amit Varma in episode 396 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about their life, their work and their country. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Mohammed Zubair on Twitter, Instagram and Alt News. 2. Pratik Sinha on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Alt News. 3. Alt News. 4. Fighting Fake News — Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 5. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 6. PeerTube and BigBlueButton. 7. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 8. Mohammed Zubair interviewed by Alishan Jafri. 9. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 10. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 11. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 12. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 14. Kaveri's thread about the new scam in town. 15. BR Ambedkar's BBC interview. 16. The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad — Episode 302 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Swiss Family Robinson -- Johann David Wyss. 19. The Historybook -- Jannik Hastrup. You can SUPPORT ALT NEWS by donating here. This episode is sponsored by The 6% Club, which will get you from idea to launch in 45 days! Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Fighting Leviathon’ by Simahina.
Mon, 26 Aug 2024 - 5h 20min - 397 - Ep 395: Tanvi Madan Is the Kid Who Asked Why
She's an authority in the field of foreign policy -- and what makes her such a force is her deep curiosity about, well, everything. Tanvi Madan joins Amit Varma in episode 395 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her learnings and this changing world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Tanvi Madan at Brookings, War on the Rocks and Twitter. 2. Fateful Triangle: How China Shaped US-India Relations During the Cold War -- Tanvi Madan. 3. The Global India Podcast, hosted by Tanvi Madan. 4. War on the Rocks, where Tanvi Madan is a contributing editor. 5. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen touching on foreign policy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. 6. Tanvi Madan's paper on the Quad for Rand. 7. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 8. We, The Citizens: Strengthening the Indian Republic — Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane. 9. Making Policy Fun with Khyati Pathak and Friends — Episode 374 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 12. John Lewis Gaddis, Stephen Cohen and James Steinberg. 13. Government’s End: Why Washington Stopped Working — Jonathan Rauch. 14. The Ideas Industry -- Dan Drezner. 15. Blind Oracles -- Bruce Kuklick. 16. India and The United States: Estranged Democracies -- Dennis Kux. 17. The Cold War on the Periphery -- Robert McMahon. 18. Promoting the National Interest -- Condoleezza Rice. 19. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne -- Prakash Jha. 20. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty -- James Thurber. 21. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 22. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War — Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 23. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh -- Srinath Raghavan. 24. Is there going to be an India-China deal? -- Tanvi Madan. 25. The Metaphysical Club -- Louis Menand. 26. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 28. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 29. War and Peace in Modern India -- Srinath Raghavan. 30. The Liberal Nationalism of Nitin Pai — Episode 318 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. Seeing Like a State — James C Scott. 32. Slow Horses, A Spy Among Friends, The Sandbaggers, Deutschland 83 and Shadow Lines. 33. John le Carré on Amazon. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Kid Who Asked Why’ by Simahina.
Mon, 19 Aug 2024 - 4h 15min - 396 - Ep 394: Arnold Kling and the Four Languages of Politics
Why is our political discourse so polarised? Why do we shout past each other instead of talking to each other? Arnold Kling joins Amit Varma in episode 394 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, the state of the world and how a fourth language has joined the three he mentioned in his seminal book on political discourse. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Arnold Kling on Wikipedia, Twitter, Amazon and his own website. 2. In My Tribe -- Arnold Kling on Substack. 3. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling. 4. Specialization and Trade: A Re-introduction to Economics -- Arnold Kling. 5. Invisible Wealth: The Hidden Story of How Markets Work -- Arnold Kling and Nick Schulz. 6. Not What They Had in Mind: A History of Policies that Produced the Financial Crisis of 2008 -- Arnold Kling. 7. Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care -- Arnold Kling. 8. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 9. David Boaz and the state of libertarianism -- Arnold Kling. 10. Splinter Groups -- Arnold Kling. 11. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott. 12. A Million Mutinies Now -- VS Naipaul. 13. The Median Voter Theorem. 14. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 15. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 16. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Stage.in. 18. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 19. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution -- CP Snow. 20. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 21. Arnold Kling's extended biographical note on himself. 22. The Best and the Brightest -- David Halberstam. 23. The Wind in the Willows -- Kenneth Grahame. 24. The State of AI with Marc & Ben -- The A16Z Podcast. 25. The Cash Nexus -- Niall Ferguson. 26. Marginal Revolution -- Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok's blog. 27. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Alex Tabarrok: 1, 2, 3, 4. 28. Stubborn Attachments -- Episode 106 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tyler Cowen). 29. Conversation and Society — Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 30. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 31. Free to Choose -- The documentary series by Milton Friedman. 32. The Anxious Generation -- Jonathan Haidt. 33. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy — Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 34. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 35. Arnold Kling's July 19 post on JD Vance. 36. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 37. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line — Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web -- Bari Weiss. 39. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence — Amit Varma. 40. The Experience Machine. 41. What is Populism? — Jan-Werner Müller. 42. The Populist Playbook — Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 43. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Matt Y's Declaration of Independence -- Arnold Kling. 45. Lies, Damned Lies, and Productivity Data -- Arnold Kling. 46. Everything Is Amazing & Nobody Is Happy -- Louis CK. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Don't Fight’ by Simahina.
Mon, 12 Aug 2024 - 2h 54min - 395 - Ep 393: Amrita Agarwal Wants to Solve Healthcare
She grew up reading three books a day, became a high-flying consultant, and then became hyperfocused on healthcare. Amrita Agarwal joins Amit Varma in episode 393 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her learnings from years of studying the field. Also discussed: first-principles thinking, consulting, philanthropy, longevity and sunscreen. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Amrita Agarwal at LinkedIn. 2. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 4. How to Do Development -- Episode 57 of Everything is Everything. 5. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 6. The Life and Times of Chess -- Episode 52 of Everything is Everything. 7. Strong Medicine -- Arthur Hailey. 8. Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand. 9. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Acting Life — Episode 189 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rasika Dugal and Mukul Chadda). 11. The case for Universal Health Care is weak -- Jeffrey S Hammer. 12. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 13. Sanjiv Sharma Sails Through 45 Years of Indian Entertainment -- Episode 390 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 54 of Everything is Everything. 15. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 16. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 18. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 19. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 20. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma — Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 21. The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Vaidya. 22. Distribution of self-reported health in India: The role of income and geography -- Ila Patnaik, Renuka Sane, Ajay Shah and SV Subramanian. 23. Our Unlucky Children (2007) -- Amit Varma. 24. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 25. Economic Learnings of India for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Bihar — Episode 345 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand and Kumar Anand). 26. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 27. Karthik Muralidharan and the Bureaucrat’s Burden -- Episode 375 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 29. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Why We Sleep -- Matthew Walker. 31. Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen -- Baz Luhrmann. 32. Sandman -- Neil Gaiman. 33. Dune -- Frank Herbert. 34. Ender's Game -- Orson Scott Card. 35. Speaker for the Dead -- Orson Scott Card. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Solve’ by Simahina.
Mon, 05 Aug 2024 - 4h 22min - 394 - Ep 392: Biju Rao Won't Bow to Conventional Wisdom
He's an economist who cares more about people than numbers -- and he thinks his field needs more sociology and anthropology in it. Vijayendra (Biju) Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about what makes him angry, what drives him forward and what brings him peace. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Vijayendra (Biju) Rao on Twitter, Google Scholar, The World Bank and his own website. 2. Biju Rao's blog at the World Bank. 3. Localizing Development: Does Participation Work? -- Ghazala Mansuri and Vijayendra Rao. 4. Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies -- Paromita Sanyal and Vijayendra Rao. 5. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? -- Vijayendra Rao. 6. Vamsha Vriksha -- Girish Karnad. 7. ‘I want absolute commitment to our gharana’: A tribute to Rajshekhar Mansur and his music -- Vijayendra Rao. 8. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande — Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Two Hundred and Fifty-Thousand Democracies: A Review of Village Government in India -- Siddharth George, Vijaendra Rao and MR Sharan. 10. Last Among Equals : Power Caste And Politics In Bihar's Villages -- MR Sharan. 11. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? — Lant Pritchett. 13. The Perils of Partial Attribution: Let’s All Play for Team Development — Lant Pritchett. 14. The Rising Price of Husbands: A Hedonic Analysis of Dowry Increases in Rural India -- Vijayendra Rao. 15. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible -- Episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Jiddu Krishnamurti on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 18. Biju Rao listens to Jiddu Krishnamurthy. 19. Ben Hur -- William Wyler. 20. Trade, Institutions and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from South Asia -- Saumitra Jha. 21. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 22. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 23. Deliberative Democracy -- Jon Elster. 24. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 25. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 27. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 28. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 29. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 30. Accelerating India’s Development — Karthik Muralidharan. 31. The Added Value of Local Democracy -- Abhishek Arora, Siddharth George, Vijayendra Rao and MR Sharan. 32. Some memories of VKRV Rao -- Vijayendra Rao. 33. The Foundation Series — Isaac Asimov. 34. Lawrence of Arabia -- David Lean. 35. Gandhi -- Richard Attenborough. 36. The Story of My Experiments with Truth -- Mohandas Gandhi. 37. Bhagavad Gita on Wikipedia and Amazon. 38. KT Achaya on Amazon. 39. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 40. My Varied Life in Management: A Short Memoir -- SL Rao. 41. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Ram Guha Writes a Letter to a Friend -- Episode 371 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Terror as a Bargaining Instrument : A Case Study of Dowry Violence in Rural India -- Francis Bloch and Vijayendra Rao. 44. Domestic Violence and Intra-Household Resource Allocation in Rural India: An Exercise in Participatory Econometrics -- Vijayendra Rao. 45. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 46. Narrative Economics -- Robert J Shiller. 47. Culture and Public Action -- Edited by Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton. 48. The Capacity to Aspire -- Arjun Appadurai. 49. Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming -- Agnes Callard. 50. Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind -- Tom Holland. 51. PV Sukhatme in EPW. 52. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything if Everything. 53. Deliberative Inequality: A Text-As-Data Study of India’s Village Assemblies -- Ramya Parthasarathy, Vijayendra Rao and Nethra Palaniswamy. 54. A Method to Scale Up Interpretive Qualitative Analysis with An Application to Aspirations among Refugees and Hosts in Bangladesh -- Julian Ashwin, Vijayendra Rao, Monica Biradavolu, Aditya Chhabra, Afsana Khan, Arshia Haque and Nandini Krishnan. 55. Using Large-Language Models for Qualitative Analysis Can Introduce Serious Bias -- Julian Ashwin, Aditya Chhabra and Vijayendra Rao. 56. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 57. Audacious Hope: An Archive of How Democracy is Being Saved in India -- Indrajit Roy. 58. Poverty and the Quest for Life -- Bhrigupati Singh. 59. Recasting Culture to Undo Gender: A Sociological Analysis of Jeevika in Rural Bihar, India -- Paromita Sanyal, Vijayendra Rao and Shruti Majumdar. 60. We Are Poor but So Many -- Ela Bhatt. 61. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok. 62. James Wolfensohn in Wikipedia and The World Bank. 63. Arati Kumar-Rao Took a One-Way Ticket -- Episode 383 of The Seen and the Unseen. 64. Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink — Arati Kumar-Rao. 65. Amitav Ghosh on Amazon. 66. Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life -- Nicholas Phillipson. 67. Elinor Ostrom on Amazon, Britannica, Wikipedia and EconLib. 68. Jane Mansbridge on Amazon, Wikipedia, and Google Scholar. 69. Albert O Hirschman on Amazon and Wikipedia. 70. Mughal-e-Azam -- K Asif. 71. Samskara -- Pattabhirama Reddy. 72. The Wire -- David Simon. 73. Deadwood -- David Milch. 74. Biju Rao on Democracy, Deliberation, and Development -- the Ideas of India podcast with Shruti Rajagopalan. Biju Rao's Specially curated music recommendations: 1. The Senior Dagar Brothers (Moinuddin & Aminuddin Dagar) performing (Komal Rishab) Asavari and Kamboji. 2. Raghunath Panigrahi performing Ashtapadi from the Geeta Govinda and Lalita Lavanga. 3. Amir Khan performing Lalit and Jog. 4. Vilayat Khan performing Sanjh Saravali and Hameer. 5. Ravi Shankar performing Jaijaiwanti and Tilak Shyam (full concert) and Durga. 6. Faiyaz Khan performing Raga Darbari and Raga Des. 7. N Rajam performing a full concert with Gorakh Kalyan, Sawani Barwa, Hamir, Malkauns. 8. Kumar Gandharva performing Tulsidas – Ek Darshan and Surdas – Ek Darshan. 9. Bhimsen Joshi performing Ragas Chhaya and Chhaya Malhar & Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada – Bhajan in Raga Bhairavi (original recording from 1960). The Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana: 1. Mallikarjun Mansur in a guided Listening Session by Irfan Zuberi, and performing Basanti Kedar and Tilak Kamod. 2. Kesarbai Kerkar performing Lalit and Bhairavi. 3. Moghubai Kurdikar performing Kedar and Suddha Nat. 4. Kishori Amonkar performing Bhimpalas and Bhoop(ali). 5. Some performances by Rajshekhar Mansur are linked in Biju Rao's piece on him. Karnatic Music: 1. TM Krishna performing Krishna Nee Begane Baaro, Yamuna Kalyani (Yaman Kalyan) and Nalinakanthi (closest Hindustani equivalent is Tilak Kamod). 2. MD Ramanathan performing Bhavayami – Raga Malika and Samaja Vara Gamana – Ragam Hindolam (Malkauns). 3. Aruna Sairam performing a full concert. 4. Madurai Mani Iyer performing Taaye Yoshade. 5. MS Subbulakshmi performing a full Concert from 1966 and Bhaja Govindam (Ragamalika). 6. TR Mahalingam performing Swara Raga Sudha – Shankarabharanam. Jugalbandis: 1. Ali Akbar Khan and Vilayat Khan performing Marwa. 2. Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar performing Jaijaiwanti. 3. N Rajam with her brother TN Krishnan performing Raga Hamsadhwani. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Iconoclast' by Simahina.
Mon, 29 Jul 2024 - 3h 54min - 393 - Ep 391: Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible
The internet has changed the way we live -- and someone needs to make sense of it all. Shephali Bhatt joins Amit Varma in episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe all that she has learnt through her deep dives into popular culture, the creator economy, this turbulent society and her Mamaji's library. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shephali Bhatt on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Economic Times, Mint and Instagram. 2. Santosh Desai is Watching You — Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 3. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 4. The plays of Maxim Gorky: 1, 2. 5. Bollywood Masala and a French Art Film -- Amit Varma. 6. Enter, tastefluencer: The rise of a curator economy -- Shephali Bhatt. 7. The Artist -- Michel Hazanavicius. 8. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga -- Shelly Chopra Dhar. 9. Gaming the algorithm to ‘manifest’ -- Shephali Bhatt. 10. Search Party -- Shephali Bhatt. 11. The Experience Machine. 12. Badtime Stories -- Shephali Bhatt. 13. Lentil Powerhouse at Pret a Manger. 14. Brave New World — Episode 203 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vasant Dhar). 15. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast. 16. When the third-party cookie crumbles -- Shephali Bhatt. 17. Digital Minimalism and Slow Productivity -- Cal Newport. 18. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for the Economic Times. 19. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll. 20. Cache Cab: Taxi Drivers' Brains Grow to Navigate London's Streets -- Ferris Jabr. 21. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Em and the Big Hoom — Jerry Pinto. 23. Behave — Robert Sapolsky. 24. Grave of the Fireflies -- Isao Takahata. 25. Cosmos -- Carl Sagan. 26. Irfan, the Keeper of Memories -- Episode 368 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Voice Wide Web -- Shephali Bhatt. 28. Ishaan Chintamani on Instagram and YouTube. 29. Breaking Bad, House of Cards, The Wire, Harry Potter, Friends. 30. All the President's Men -- Alan J Pakula. 31. Surabhi on Wikipedia and IMDb. 32. The unplanned glory of Surabhi -- Shephali Bhatt. 33. Alt News. 34. Fighting Fake News — Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 35. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma. 36. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Multiverse of food-fluencers -- Shephali Bhatt. 38. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Stage.in. 40. Shephali Bhatt's story on how Koffee With Karan inspired many Indians to learn English. 41. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 42. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World — Snigdha Poonam. 43. The Disciple -- Chaitanya Tamhane. 44. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 45. How Instagram reels are transforming Indian weddings -- Shephali Bhatt. 46. The Parenting Influencers Who Won’t Stop Posting Their Children -- Fortesa Latifi. 47. “We’re Never Doing This Again”: What It Took for These Parenting Influencers to Pull Their Kids Offline -- Fortesa Latifi. 48. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. The Influencer Diaries -- Shephali Bhatt. 50. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 51. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 52. The Streisand Effect. 53. Varun Mayya on YouTube. 54. The YouTube Election -- Shephali Bhatt. 55. With content king, creators trying hard to be kingmakers this Lok Sabha elections -- Shephali Bhatt. 56. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 -- Cho Nam-Joo. 60. Rasidi Ticket (Punjabi) (English) -- Amrita Pritam. 61. The Good Girls Revolt -- Lynn Povich. 62. Jagte Raho -- Amit Maitra and Sombhu Mitra. 63. Zakhm -- Mahesh Bhatt. 64. Shephali Bhatt's Spotify playlists. 65. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Search' by Simahina.
Mon, 22 Jul 2024 - 4h 21min - 392 - Ep 390: Sanjiv Sharma Sails Through 45 Years of Indian Entertainment
He started in advertising in 1979, became a pioneering ad filmmaker, broke new ground in Indian television, and is the managing trainee of his own life. Sanjiv Sharma joins Amit Varma in episode 390 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his frameworks for living. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sanjiv Sharma on Instagram, Twitter, IMDb and LInkedIn. 2. Divya Prakash Dubey on Instagram, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, IMDb, Twitter, Amazon and his own website. 3. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything. 4. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Mansoor Khan on Wikipedia, Amazon and IMDb. 6. Umberto -- Mansoor Khan. 7. American Cinematographer. 8. Idhar Udhar. 9. Chalti Ka Naam Antakshari. 10. Khul Ja Sim Sim. 11. The Evolution of Cricket -- Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle). 12. Television Price Controls -- Episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashok Malik). 13. Yeh Meri Life Hai. 14. Urban Discoveries for Ford Ecosport. 15. Crime Patrol Season 2. 16. Comedy Circus Season 1. 17. My Cancer is Me -- Vijay Bhat and Nilima Bhat. 18. Sakshi. 19. The Rakshin Project. 20. Smita Bharti interviewed by Radio One. 21. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 22. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 23. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel. 25. Lectures by Swami Sarvapriyananda: 1, 2, 3, 4 plus a full series of them here. 26. Spiral Bound -- Screenwriting with Boman Irani. Sanjiv's Recommendations: Movies 1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest -- Miloš Forman. 2. As Good as It Gets -- James L Brooks. 3. Roman Holiday -- William Wyler. 4. Anne of the Thousand Days -- Charles Jarrott. 5. Kramer vs Kramer -- Robert Benton. 6. The Shawshank Redemption -- Frank Darabont. 7. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 8. Oppenheimer -- Christopher Nolan. 9. The Dark Knight -- Christopher Nolan. Sanjiv's Recommendations: Books1. The Covenant of Water -- Abraham Verghese. 2. The Untethered Soul -- Michael A Singer. 3. The Craving Mind -- Judson Brewer. 4. The Ascent of Humanity -- Charles Eisenstein. 5. Essence of the Upanishads -- Eknath Easwaran. 6. The Mind Illuminated -- Culadasa (John Yates). 7. Same as Ever -- Morgan Housel. 8. The Ascent of Money -- Niall Ferguson. 9. The Ending of Time -- Jiddu Krishnamurti. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Sailing’ by Simahina.
Mon, 15 Jul 2024 - 4h 29min - 391 - Ep 389: Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah Will Not Wear a Blue Tie to Work
The world is complex. The state is primitive. Regulation is where they meet. Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 389 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her experiences with the regulatory state at the intersection of law & economics. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Bhargavi Zaveri Shah on Twitter, LinkedIn, The Leap Blog and her own website. 2. The accountability framework of UIDAI: Concerns and solutions -- Vrinda Bhandari and Renuka Sane and Bhargavi Zaveri. 3. Institutionalise formal regulatory independence -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 4. Regulators don't need constitutional status -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 5. Measuring Regulatory Responsiveness in India: A Framework for Empirical Assessment -- Anirudh Burman and Bhargavi Zaveri. 6. Participatory governance in regulation making: How to make it work? -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 7. IBBI's draft framework sets new standards of regulatory governance in India -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 8. FIU’s Penalty on PayPal: The Wisdom of Jurisprudence by Committee -- Bhargavi Zaveri. 9. Survey-based measurement of Indian courts -- Pavithra Manivannan, Susan Thomas, and Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah. 10. Helping litigants make informed choices in resolving debt disputes -- Pavithra Manivannan, Susan Thomas, and Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah. 12. Judicial triage in the lockdown: evidence from India's largest commercial tribunal -- Anjali Sharma and Bhargavi Zaveri. 13. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 14. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 15. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World -- Snigdha Poonam. 16. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 17 Alice Evans on Twitter and The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 19. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 20. Economic Facts and Fallacies — Thomas Sowell. 21. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression -- Amity Shlaes. 22. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 23. Parkinson’s Law. 24. Statutory Regulatory Authorities and the Federal System in India -- KP Krishnan, Amrita Pillai and Karan Gulati. 25. Suits on Netflix. 26. The Accidental Prime Minister -- Sanjaya Baru. 27. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 30. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 31. The Anxious Generation -- Jonathan Haidt. 32. Concrete Island -- JG Ballard. 33. High-Rise -- JG Ballard. 34. Judicial Reforms -- Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alok Prasanna Kumar). 35. Noise -- Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein. 36. Court on Trial: A Data-Driven Account of the Supreme Court of India -- Aparna Chandra, Sital Kalantry and William HJ Hubbard. 37. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 38. The Plague -- Albert Camus. 39. The Outsider -- Albert Camus. 40. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 41. Shoe Dog -- Phil Knight. 42. Laapataa Ladies -- Kiran Rao. 43. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Warrior’ by Simahina.
Sun, 07 Jul 2024 - 3h 50min - 390 - Ep 388: Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator
He's an elder statesman in the worlds of journalism, policy and economics in India -- and he takes the long view. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha joins Amit Varma in episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha on Twitter, Mint and Artha Global. 2. The Rise of India -- NIranjan Rajadhyaksha. 3. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha interviewed in Marathi by Think Bank: Part 1. Part 2. 4. MV Rajadhyaksha and Vijaya Rajadhyaksha. 5. The Times of India obituary of MV Rajadhyaksha. 6. The Song of Life -- Vijaya Rajadyaksha. 7. Adventures of a Bystander -- Peter F Drucker. 8. The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Adam Smith's book that contains the concept of the impartial spectator. 9. The Impartial Spectator columns by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha and Shruti Rajagopalan. 10. Ratatouille -- Brad Bird. 11. The Overton Window. 12. John Maynard Keynes on Alfred Marshall. 13. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Rise and Fall of the Bilingual Intellectual -- Ramachandra Guha. 15. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 16. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 17. The Heckman Equation -- a website based on James Heckman's work. 18. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Suyash Rai (1, 2) and Rahul Verma (1, 2). 19. Stri Purush Tulana by Tarabai Shinde on Amazon and Wikipedia. 20. Kalyanche Nishwas by Vibhavari Shirurkar (Malati Bedekar) on Amazon and Wikipedia. 21. Makers of Modern India -- Ramachandra Guha. 22. Simone de Beauvoir (Wikipedia, Britannica, Amazon) and Germaine Greer (Wikipedia, Britannica, Amazon). 23. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar's essay on education for girls. 24. The omnibus volume of BR Nanda’s biographies of Gokhale, Gandhi and Nehru. 25. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 26. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 27. Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan -- Episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Volga Se Ganga (Hindi) (English) -- Rahul Sankritayan. 29. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 30. Turning Over the Pebbles: A Life in Cricket and in the Mind -- Mike Brearley. 31. Slow Horses (book one of Slough House) -- Mick Herron. 32. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 -- Tony Judt. 33. On Warne -- Gideon Haigh. 34. The Essential Keynes -- John Maynard Keynes. 35. The Age of Uncertainty — John Kenneth Galbraith. 36. Asian Drama -- Gunnar Myrdal. 37. Aneesh Pradhan on Spotify, Amazon, Instagram, Twitter and his own website. 38. Malini Goyal is the Curious One — Episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 40. The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development -- Michael Kremer. 41. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory -- Amit Varma. 42. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 43. The Dark Knight Rises -- Christopher Nolan. 44. Thinking it Through -- The archives of Amit Varma's column for Mint. 45. Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker -- Ved Mehta. 46. Videhi -- Vijaya Rajadhyaksha. 47. Select pieces on the relationship between Raymond Carver and Gordon Lish: 1, 2, 3, 4. 48. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy -- Joseph Schumpeter. 49. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujata Anandan). 50. Complaint Resolution Systems: Experimental Evidence from Rural India -- Chinmaya Kumar and MR Sharan. 51. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 52. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 53. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 55. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 58. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 59. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 60. The Logic of Collective Action — Mancur Olson. 61. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change — Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 62. Rational Ignorance. 63. The State of Our Farmers — Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi). 64. India’s Agriculture Crisis — Ep 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand). 65. The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer — Amit Varma. 66. The Worldly Philosophers -- Robert Heilbroner. 67. The Clash of Economic Ideas — Lawrence H White. 68. Capital-Labor Substitution and Economic Efficiency -- Kenneth Arrow, Hollis Chenery, Bagicha Singh Minhas and Robert Solow. 69. Room 666 -- Wim Wenders. 70. Laapataa Ladies -- Kiran Rao. 71. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything. 72. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” — Lant Pritchett. 73. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? — Lant Pritchett. 74. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 75. Smoke and Ashes -- Amitav Ghosh. 76. Sata Uttarachi Kahani -- GP Pradhan. 77. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. 78. Collections of VD Savarkar's Marathi essays: 1, 2. 79. Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva -- Janaki Bakhle. 80. Savarkar Te BJP -- SH Deshpande. 81. Sarvakarancha Buddhiwad Ani Hindutvawad -- Sheshrao More. 82. Swatantryaveer Savarkar Ek Rahasya -- DN Gokhale. 83. Shodh Savarkarancha -- YD Phadke. 84. The Taking of Pelham 123 -- Tony Scott. 85. Sriram Raghavan (IMDb) (Wikipedia) and Vijay Anand (IMDb) (Wikipedia). 86. Manorama Six Feet Under -- Navdeep Singh. 87. Agatha Christie and Frederick Forsyth on Amazon. 88. Salil Chowdhury and RD Burman on Spotify. 89. Haikyu -- Haruichi Furudate. 90. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 91. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister — Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 92. Dilip José Abreu: an elegant and creative economist — Rohit Lamba. Niranjan would like to inform listeners that Spontaneous Order would be translated to Marathi as उत्सफूर्त व्यवस्था. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Impartial Spectator’ by Simahina.
Mon, 01 Jul 2024 - 3h 50min - 389 - Ep 387: The Life and Times of the Indian Economy
Our greatest moral imperative is to solve the problem of poverty -- and after over 75 years, we still have some distance to travel. Rajeswari Sengupta joins Amit Varma in episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen for a deep dive into how we got here, where we went wrong, what we got right, and how we should look at the Indian economy going forward. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Rajeswari Sengupta's homepage. 2. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 3. Twelve Dream Reforms — Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta & Vivek Kaul). 4. Two-and-a-Half Bengalis Have an Economics Adda -- Episode 274 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta and Shrayana Bhattacharya). 5. Talks & Discussions on the Indian Economy featuring Rajeswari Sengupta. 6. Rajeswari Sengulta's writings on the Indian economy. 7. Rajeswari Sengupta's writing for Ideas for India. 8. Rajeswari Sengupta's writing on the Leap Blog. 9. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on GDP: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 10. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on fiscal policy: 1, 2, 3. 11. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on the banking crisis: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 12. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on the financial sector: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 13. Rajeswari Sengupta's pieces on Covid: 1, 2, 3, 4. 14. Getting the State out of Our Lives -- Rajeswari Sengupta's TEDx talk. 15. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 16. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 17. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 18. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 20. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 21. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity -- Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World — Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan -- Episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box — Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. The State of Our Farmers — Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi). 27. India’s Agriculture Crisis — Ep 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand). 28. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 29. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 30. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand). 31. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 32. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State -- Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 34. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 35. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 36. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 37. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 38. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 39. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything. 40. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 41. The Long Road to Change -- Episode 36 of Everything is Everything. 42. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 43. Beware of These Five Fallacies! -- Episode 45 of Everything is Everything. 44. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 45. Graduating to Globalisation -- Episode 48 of Everything is Everything (on I18N). 46. Ask Me ANYTHING! -- Episode 50 of Everything is Everything. 47. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything. 48. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 49. The 1991 Project. 50. The quest for economic freedom in India — Shruti Rajagopalan. 51. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” — Lant Pritchett. 52. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? — Lant Pritchett. 53. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 54. Is India a Flailing State?: Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization — Lant Pritchett. 55. Is Your Impact Evaluation Asking Questions That Matter? A Four Part Smell Test — Lant Pritchett. 56. The Perils of Partial Attribution: Let’s All Play for Team Development — Lant Pritchett. 57. Some episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the state of the economy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 58. Accelerating India’s Development — Karthik Muralidharan. 59. Unshackling India -- Ajay Chhibber and Salman Soz. 60. India Grows At Night -- Gurcharan Das. 61. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma. 62. Mohit Satyanand's newsletter post on the informal sector. 63. Pratap Bhanu Mehta's column on mission mode interventions. 64. The Hedonistic Treadmill. 65. 77% low-income households saw no income increase in the past 5 yrs -- Vasudha Mukherjee. 66. Pandit’s Mind — The 1951 Time magazine cover story on Jawaharlal Nehru. 67. Economic Facts and Fallacies -- Thomas Sowell. 68. An Autobiography -- Jawaharlal Nehru. 69. The Double 'Thank You' Moment -- John Stossel. 70. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 71. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 72. The China Dude Is in the House -- Episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 73. The Dragon and the Elephant -- Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharan and Shibani Mehta). 74. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 75. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 76. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 77. How to assess the needs for aid? The answer: Don’t ask -- William Easterly. 78. The White Man's Burden -- William Easterly. 79. The Elusive Quest for Growth -- William Easterly. 80. The Tyranny of Experts -- William Easterly. 81. Planners vs. Searchers in Foreign Aid — William Easterly. 82. Pandit’s Mind — The 1951 Time magazine cover story on Jawaharlal Nehru. 83. 75 Years of India’s Foreign Exchange Controls -- Bhargavi Zaveri Shah. 84. Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future — Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba. 85. The History of the Planning Commission — Episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Menon). 86. Adam Smith on The Man of System. 87. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 88. Price Controls Lead to Shortages and Harm the Poor -- Amit Varma. 89. The Great Redistribution -- Amit Varma. 90. Backstage: The Story behind India’s High Growth Years -- Montek Singh Ahluwalia. 91. The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer -- Amit Varma piece, which contains the Sharad Joshi shair. 92. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 93. The Economic Legacies of Colonial Rule in India -- Tirthankar Roy. 94. The Semiconductor Wars — Episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi). 95. BR Shenoy on Wikipedia and Indian Liberals. 96. BR Shenoy: Stature and Impact -- Peter Bauer. 97. The Foreign Exchange Crisis and India's Second Five Year Plan -- VKRV Rao. 98. India’s Water Crisis — Episode 60 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vishwanath S aka Zenrainman). 99. The Delhi Smog — Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 100. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 101. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 102. The Profit Motive in Education — Episode 9 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parth Shah). 103. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 104. Where Has All the Education Gone? — Lant Pritchett. 105. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 106. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma on DeMon & Mao killing sparrows. 107. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 108. Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track — Episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen. 109. Seven Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 23 of Everything in Everything, in which Amit talks about the Emergency. 110. Milton Friedman on the minimum wage. 111. The Commanding Heights -- Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. 112. Bootleggers and Baptists: The Education of a Regulatory Economist -- Bruce Yandle. 113. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film — Amit Varma. 114. Josh Felman on Twitter, Project Syndicate, JH Consulting and The Marginal Economist. 115. Obituaries of SV Raju by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha and Samanth Subramanian. 116. Breaking Out -- Padma Desai. 117. Breaking Through -- Isher Judge Ahluwalia. 118. India’s Far From Free Markets (2005) — Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal. 119. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen.
120. The Struggle And The Promise — Naushad Forbes. 121. Half-Lion -- Vinay Sitapati's biography of PV Narasimha Rao. 122. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? — Amit Varma. 123. India Transformed -- Rakesh Mohan. 124. Highway to Success: The Impact of the Golden Quadrilateral -- Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R Kerr. 125. The Cantillon Effect. 126. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra. 127. Modi’s Domination – What We Often Overlook — Keshava Guha. 128. XKDR Forum. 129. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 130. Some of Amit Varma's pieces and episodes against Demonetisation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 131. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on GST: 1, 2, 3. 132. Miniature episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on PSBs, NPAs and NBFCs. 133. The Bankable Wisdom of Harsh Vardhan -- Episode 352 of The Seen and the Unseen. 134. Politics of Economic Growth in India, 1980-2005 -- Atul Kohli. 135. The Economic Consequences of the Peace -- John Maynard Keynes. 136. India's GDP Mis-estimation: Likelihood, Magnitudes, Mechanisms, and Implications -- Arvind Subramanian. 137. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 138. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. 139. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World -- Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 140. The Indus Valley Playbook — Sajith Pai. 141. India’s Trade Policy Is Working Great — for Vietnam -- Andy Mukherjee. 142. A Trade Deficit With a Babysitter -- Tim Harford. 143. The City & the City — China Miéville. 144. A Decade of Credit Collapse in India -- Harsh Vardhan. 145. The Low Productivity Trap of Collateralised Lending for MSMEs -- Harsh Vardhan. 146. Economic Learnings of India for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Bihar -- Episode 345 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand and Kumar Anand). 147. They Stole a Bridge. They Stole a Pond -- Amit Varma. 148. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister -- Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 149. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 150. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 151. Some of Amit Varma's pieces on agriculture: 1, 2, 3. 152. The Crisis in Indian Agriculture — Brainstorm on Pragati. 153. Where are the Markets? — Kumar Anand. 154. Empower Women Farmers -- Mrinal Pande. 155. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando De Soto. 156. India Unbound -- Gurcharan Das. 157. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 158. We, The Citizens: Strengthening the Indian Republic — Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane. 159. Making Policy Fun with Khyati Pathak and Friends -- Episode 374 of The Seen and the Unseen. 160. Seeing Like a State — James C Scott. 161. Free To Choose — Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman. 162. Classical Liberalism- A Primer -- Eamonn Butler. 163. Friedrich Hayek: The ideas and influence of the libertarian economist -- Eamonn Butler. 164. Milton Friedman: A concise guide to the ideas and influence of the free-market economist -- Eamonn Butler. 165. Public Choice – A Primer -- Eamonn Butler. 166. Adam Smith – A Primer: Eamonn Butler. 167. The Clash of Economic Ideas -- Lawrence H White. 168. Just a Mercenary?: Notes from My Life and Career -- D Subbarao. 169. Who Moved My Interest Rate? -- D Subbarao. 170. Advice & Dissent: My Life in Public Service -- YV Reddy. 171. A Business History of India -- Tirthankar Roy. 172. Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath -- Ben Bernanke. 173. Whole Numbers And Half Truths -- Rukmini S. 174. Fragile by Design -- Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber. 175. Universal Man: The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes -- Richard Davenport-Hines. 176. A Life in Our Times -- John Kenneth Galbraith. 177. The Age of Uncertainty -- John Kenneth Galbraith. 178. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘It's Complicated’ by Simahina.Mon, 24 Jun 2024 - 9h 53min - 388 - Ep 386: Shashi Verma Made London Move
Our cities have changed -- but the ways in which they are governed and imagined can take time to catch up. Shashi Verma joins Amit Varma in episode 386 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey in thought and action -- and his pioneering work in reshaping urban transport. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shashi Verma on LinkedIn and Centre for London. 2. Shashi Verma on Transport in the 21st Century -- Episode 83 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar. 3. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything. 4. Guns, Germs and Steel -- Jared Diamond. 5. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 6. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 7. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 9. Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance — Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck. 10. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 11. Confronting Constraints: Shashi Verma & Transport for London Tackle a Tough Contract -- Harvard case study. 12. Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure -- Oliver Hart. 13. India: The Dabhol Power Corporation -- Shashi Verma's case study for Harvard Kennedy School. 14. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 15. The Epic of Gilgamesh. 16. Dunbar’s number. 17. The Life and Death of Ancient Cities -- Greg Woolf. 18. The Complete Sherlock Holmes -- Arthur Conan Doyle. 19. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 20. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 21. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 23. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs. 24. The Power Broker — Robert Caro. 25. Michael Beesley and Cost Benefit Analysis -- CD Foster. 26. Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities -- Episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Reclaim the Sky -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok). 28. Status Quo Bias. 29. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 30. Seen/Unseen episodes with singing by Karthik Muralidharan and Ashwini Deshpande -- and no singing by TM Krishna. 31. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 32. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 33. Pyaasa -- Guru Dutt. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘London Calling’ by Simahina.
Mon, 17 Jun 2024 - 5h 02min - 387 - Ep 385: Vinayak Calling Vinayak
To understand modern India, we must understand the history of Hindutva -- and we must wrestle with Savarkar. Vinayak Chaturvedi joins Amit Varma in episode 385 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life and work as a historian -- and the importance of history in shaping the present moment. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) (This episode was recorded in March, 2024.) Also check out: 1. Vinayak Chaturvedi at UC Irvine and Amazon. 2. Hindutva and Violence: VD Savarkar and the Politics of History -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 3. Peasant Pasts – History and Memory in Western India -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 4. Imaginary Homelands -- Salman Rushdie. 5. The Road and No Country for Old Men -- Cormac McCarthy. 6. No Country for Old Men -- Joel and Ethan Coen. 7. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 8. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 9. Partha Chatterjee on Amazon, Wikipedia and Columbia University. 10. The Egg -- Andy Weir. 11. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 14. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran. 15. Some plagiarism complaints against Claudine Gay: 1, 2, 3, 4. 16. The Exquisite Irony of Claudine Gay's Downfall -- Glenn Loury with John McWhorter. 17. Why Did Harvard Cancel Its Best Black Professor? -- Documentary by Rob Montz on the destruction of Roland Fryer. 18. “A White Male Would Probably Already Be Gone” -- Carol Swain interviewed by Christopher Rufo. 19. How one hearing brought down two Ivy League presidents -- Sareen Habeshian. 20. Carlo Ginzburg and Christopher Bayly. 21. The Birth of the Modern World -- CA Bayly. 22. Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire -- CA Bayly. 23. The Indian Ideology -- Perry Anderson. 24. Event, Metaphor, Memory : Chauri Chaura -- Shahid Amin. 25. Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania -- Steven Feierman. 26. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India -- Ranajit Guha. 27. Maps Are Magic -- Episode 44 of Everything is Everything. 28. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 29. Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars -- CA Bayly. 30. The Cheese and the Worms -- Carlo Ginzburg. 31. From Peasant Pasts to Hindutva Futures? -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 32. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 33. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 34. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi. 36. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 37. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 38. Essentials Of Hindutva -- VD Savarkar. 39. Farewell Waltz -- Milan Kundera. 40. A Zone of Engagement -- Perry Anderson. 41. Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas -- Perry Anderson. 42. BR Ambedkar's interview on BBC from 1955. 43. Hindutva before Hindutva: Selected Writings and Discourses of Chandranath Basu in Translation -- Edited by Amiya Sen. 44. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 45. The Many Shades of George Fernandes -- Episode 327 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. The Life and Times of George Fernandes — Rahul Ramagundam. 47. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 48. Annihilation of Caste — BR Ambedkar. 49. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 50. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 51. The Indian War of Independence: 1857 -- VD Savarkar. 52. Savarkar: The True Story of the Father of Hindutva -- Vaibhav Purandare. 53. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 54. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 55. Hindu-Padpaadshahi (Hindi Edition) -- VD Savarkar. 56. Veer Savarkar -- Dhananjay Keer. 57. GS Sardesai, VK Rajwade and Jadunath Sarkar. 58. The Collected Works of MK Gandhi and BR Ambedkar. 59. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 61. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4. 62. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 63. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma and Rana Safvi. 64. John McEnroe plus Anyone -- Edward Said. 65. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste -- Pierre Bourdieu. 66. Lendl, Becker, McEnroe, & Wilander interviewed in the Tennis Legends Podcast. 67. Ben Böhmer, Sultan+Shepard, Nora En Pure, U2 and New Order on Spotify. 68. The Zone of Interest -- Jonathan Glazer. 69. Oldboy -- Park Chan-wook. 70. Burning -- Lee Chang-dong. 71. Memories of Murder -- Bong Joon-ho. 72. Return to Seoul -- Davy Chou. 73. Past Lives -- Celine Song. 74. Monster -- Kore-eda Hirokazu. 75. The Wind From Far Away -- Amit Varma (on Monster among other things). 76. Shoplifters -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 77. Nobody Knows -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 78. Broker -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 79. A Death in the Family -- Book 1 of Karl Ove Knausgaard's A Struggle. 80. In Search Of Lost Time -- Marcel Proust. 81. My Saga -- Karl Ove Knausgaard's essay for NYT. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Historian’ by Simahina.
Mon, 10 Jun 2024 - 4h 38min - 386 - Ep 384: Narayan Ramachandran Is Playing the Long Game
He has lived two lives: first he reached the top of the corporate ladder and became a top banker; and now he is embarked upon the long game of changing India. Narayan Ramachandran joins Amit Varma in episode 384 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about stimulating change, building institutions -- and making ideas and serendipity come together. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Narayan Ramachandran at LinkedIn, Takshashila and Mint. 2. Narayan Ramachandran's quote on timeframes in an interview by Rithika Kumar. 3. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 4. The omnibus volume of BR Nanda's biographies of Gokhale, Gandhi and Nehru. 5. The Road to Serfdom -- Friedrich Hayek. 6. The Constitution of Liberty -- Friedrich Hayek. 7. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 8. Marching For Salt -- Amit Varma. 9. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 10. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Median Voter Theorem. 12. Morgan Hausel's books and podcast. 13. The Fortune at The Bottom of The Pyramid -- CK Prahalad. 14. 'Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman' -- Richard Feynman. 15. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma’s column on reading. 16. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything. 17. Mindset -- Carol S Dweck. 18. Dunbar’s number. 19. How Many Friends Does One Person Need? — Robin Dunbar. 20. Religion, Food, Indian Society — Episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shoba Narayan). 21. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 22. When Ideas Have Sex -- Matt Ridley. 23. Traffic -- Tom Vanderbilt. 24. RSJ's newsletter post on Akio Morita and Japan. 25. Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance — Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck. 26. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World — Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Rick Beato's Ultimate Bundle. 28. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Beware of These Five Fallacies! -- Episode 45 of Everything is Everything. 30. Chip War -- Chris Miller. 31. The Power Law -- Sebastian Mallaby. 32. The Economist, New Yorker and National Geographic. 33. Lords of the Deccan -- Anirudh Kanisetti. 34. Empire of the Mughal -- Alex Rutherford. 35. Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977 -- Abhishek Choudhary. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Puzzle’ by Simahina.
Mon, 03 Jun 2024 - 3h 58min - 385 - Ep 383: Arati Kumar-Rao Took a One-Way Ticket
She gave up a corporate career to live a slow life: to travel, to immerse, to write, to learn to see. Arati Kumar-Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 383 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her writing, her photography and the lessons she has learnt by standing still and looking. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
1. Arati Kumar-Rao on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and her own website. 2. Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink -- Arati Kumar-Rao. 3. The Peepli Project. 4. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Killers of the Flower Moon -- David Grann. 6. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Masanobu Fukuoka and Wendell Berry. 9. India’s Water Crisis — Episode 60 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vishwanath S aka Zenrainman). 10. The American Geographies -- Barry Lopez. 11. The Invisible Gorilla. 12. Letters to a Young Poet -- Rainer Maria Rilke. 13. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor -- Rob Nixon. 14. The Fatal Conceit -- Friedrich Hayek. 15. The Gokhale Bridge fiasco. 16. Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities — Episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Toba Tek Singh -- Sadat Hasan Manto. 18. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 20. Modern South India: A History from the 17th Century to our Times -- Rajmohan Gandhi. 21. Blindness -- José Saramago. 22. The Wreck -- Rabindranath Tagore. 23. Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray and Gulzar. 24. Rachel Carson, Barry Lopez, Nan Shepherd and Robert Macfarlane on Amazon. 25. The Living Mountain -- Nan Shepherd. 26. The Peregrine -- JA Baker. 27. Paul Salopek on Twitter and the Out of Eden Walk. 28. Pradip Krishen on Wikipedia, Amazon and IMDb. 29. Pather Panchali -- Satyajit Ray, 30. The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck. 31. Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck. 32. Call Me American -- Abdi Nor Iftin. 33. Hisham Matar and Kamila Shamsie on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘River’ by Simahina.Mon, 27 May 2024 - 3h 24min - 384 - Ep 382: Kushal Mehra Dives Into Hindu Thought
He describes himself as a dharmik skeptic, and has written a book about how atheism evolved within Hindu philosophy. Kushal Mehra joins Amit Varma in episode 382 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his intellectual evolution-- and his journey as a podcaster. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Kushal Mehra on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and his own website. 2. Nastik: Why I Am Not an Atheist -- Kushal Mehra. 3. The Cārvāka Podcast -- Kushal Mehra's podcast on YouTube. 4. Kushal Mehra's YouTube monologues. 5. 'How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives' -- Amit Varma. 6. Hanlon's Razor. 7. Tim Urban's tweet on getting to know people. 8. The Harm Principle. 9. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 11. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read. 12. Why People Believe Weird Things -- Michael Shermer. 13. Richard Dawkins on the God of the Old Testament. 14. Vinamre Kasanaa and Prakhar Gupta on YouTube. 15. Kushal Mehra on Dostcast. 16. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 17. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference -- Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The God Delusion -- Richard Dawkins. 19. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 20. The Evolution of Cooperation -- Robert Axelrod. 21. A Manual for Creating Atheists -- Peter Boghossian. 22. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 23. Tell Me You Love Me -- Amit Varma. 24. Dr Chatterjee and therealnihal's Instagram post on friendship. 25. The New Atheism and the Four Horsemen. 26. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett on Amazon. 27. ‘Wet Streets Cause Rain’ — Michael Crichton. 28. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 29. Three cultures of atheism: on serious doubts about the existence of God -- Simon Glendinning. 30. Charvaka and Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 31. Tattvopaplavasiṃha — Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 32. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Imagine There’s No Svarga: Rediscovering Cārvāka, India’s 2,700-Year-Old Atheistic Tradition -- Kushal Mehra on Quilette. 34. Moral Foundations Theory, proposed by Jonathan Haidt, Craig Joseph and Jesse Graham. 35. Hitchen's Razor. 36. Consciousness Explained -- Daniel Dennett. 37. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 38. Soul and Sword: The History of Political Hinduism -- Hindol Sengupta. 39. Hind Swaraj -- MK Gandhi. 40. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box — Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Hindutva -- Vinayak Savarkar. 42. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 43. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 44. Rangila Rasul. 45. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 46. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 47. Don't Insult Pasta (2007) -- Amit Varma. 48. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 49. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. The Progress of Humanity -- Episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Steven Pinker). 51. Colours of the Cage -- Arun Ferreira. 52. Modi's Domination: What We Often Overlook -- Keshava Guha. 53. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 54. Anand -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 55. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 56. How Not To Get Trolled -- Amit Varma. 57. The Pursuit of Happyness -- Gabriele Muccino.. 58. Andaz Apna Apna -- Rajkumar Santoshi. 59. I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto -- Tupac Shakur. 60. Shiv Kumar Batalvi on Rekhta. 61. Bulleh Shah on Wikipedia. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Study’ by Simahina.
Sun, 19 May 2024 - 5h 30min - 383 - Ep 381: V Vinay Has Lived a Life of Science
He created the iconic Simputer, and has lived a life that married science and its applications. V Vinay joins Amit Varma in episode 381 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his journey and what it taught him. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. V Vinay on Twitter, LinkedIn, IISC and Google Scholar. 2. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 3. Calculus Made Simple -- H Mulholland. 4. India vs West Indies, 1st Test, Bengaluru, November 22 – 27, 1974. 5. Ram Guha Writes a Letter to a Friend -- Episode 371 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. A Text-book Of Inorganic Chemistry -- JR Partington. 7. Perkin and Kipping's Organic Chemistry -- Stanley F Kipping and Barry Kipping. 8. There’s no speed limit — Derek Sivers. 9. The Botany of Desire -- Michael Pollan. 10. Vishwa Bandhu Gupta on cloud computing & more! 11. Design & Analysis of Computer Algorithms -- Alfred V Aho, John E Hopcroft and Jeffrey D Ullman. 12. A Circuit-Based Proof of Toda′ s Theorem -- Ravi Kannan, H Venkateswaran, V Vinay and Andrew C Yao. 13. Ramesh Hariharan's website. 14. The Little Prince -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. 15. Bruce Sterling on the Simputer in the New York Times. 16. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. James Hadley Chase, Alistair Maclean, Desmond Bagley and Agatha Christie on Amazon. 18. Illusions -- Richard Bach. 19. Jonathan Livingston Seagull -- Richard Bach. 20. Lila -- Robert M Pirsig. 21. The True Believer -- Eric Hoffer. 22. Crime and Punishment -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 23. The Idiot -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 24. Leo Tolstoy's short stories. 25. Essays -- Ralh Waldo Emerson. 26. The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson. 27. Self-Reliance -- Ralph Waldo Emerson. 28. Walden -- Henry David Thoreau. 29. Vinaya Pitaka. 30. Isha Upanishad. 31. Atoms in Motion -- Richard Feynman. 32. Mandukya Upanishad. 33. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 34. The Matrix -- The Wachowskis. 35. Chanakya -- Chandraprakash Dwivedi. 36. Chomana Dudi -- BV Karanth. 37. Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu. 38. Tokyo Story -- Yasujirō Ozu. 39. Departures -- Yôjirô Takita. 40. The Silence of the Lambs -- Jonathan Demme. 41. Notorious -- Alfred Hitchcock. 42. Mr Smith Goes to Washington -- Frank Capra. 43. The Philadelphia Story -- George Cukor. 44. Bringing Up Baby -- Howard Hawks. 45. Casablanca -- Michael Curtiz. 46. Gandhi -- Richard Attenborough. 47. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring -- Kim Ki-duk. 48. Bicycle Thieves -- Vittorio De Sica. 49. Ilaiyaraaja, TM Krishna and MS Subbulakshmi on Spotify. 50. Twenty-Five Twenty-One -- Jung Ji-hyun. 51. Misaeng -- Kim Won-seok. 52. My Ahjusshi -- Kim Won-seok. 53. Succession, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and House. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Searching for Truth’ by Simahina.
Mon, 13 May 2024 - 4h 12min - 382 - Ep 380: Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference
How do women live in India? How do workers live? What impact can economics have in the real world? Sowmya Dhanaraj joins Amit Varma in episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her life, her work and the churn in our society. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sowmya Dhanaraj on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Scholar, Good Business Lab and her own website. 2. Male Backlash and Female Guilt: Women’s Employment and Intimate Partner Violence in Urban India -- Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare. 3. Family structure, education and women’s employment in rural India -- Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare. 4. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box -- Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 7. Tell No One -- Harlan Coben. 8. Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach -- Jeffrey Wooldridge. 9. Econometric Analysis -- William Greene. 10. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 11. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 13. Santosh Desai is Watching You -- Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Challenges of Change: An Experiment Promoting Women to Managerial Roles in the Bangladeshi Garment Sector -- Rocco Macchiavello, Andreas Menzel, Atonu Rabbani & Christopher Woodruff. 16. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 18. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 20. Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare speak to Alice Evans on her podcast. 21. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 23. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 24. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 26. Emergent Ventures. 27. Malini Goyal is the Curious One -- Episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Is Work Fun -- Tyler Cowen. 29. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 30. Housefull Economics. 31. This Passing Moment -- Amit Varma's Housefull Economics piece on Opportunity Cost. 32. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 33. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 34. Evicted -- Matthew Despond. 35. Whole Numbers And Half Truths -- Rukmini S. 36. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 37. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 38. The Great Indian Kitchen -- Jeo Baby. 39. Pariyerum Perumal -- Mari Selvaraj. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Machinery of Society’ by Simahina.
Mon, 06 May 2024 - 4h 28min - 381 - Ep 379: Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity
He's one of the great economists of our times, always focussed on the big questions, no matter how hard they are. Lant Pritchett joins Amit Varma in episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his work and what he has learnt about the world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Lant Pritchett on Google Scholar and his own website. 2. Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 3. Deals and Development: The Political Dynamics of Growth Episodes -- Lant Pritchett, Kunal Sen and Eric Werker. 4. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” -- Lant Pritchett. 5. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? -- Lant Pritchett. 6. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough -- Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 7. Is India a Flailing State?: Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization -- Lant Pritchett. 8. Is Your Impact Evaluation Asking Questions That Matter? A Four Part Smell Test -- Lant Pritchett. 9. The Perils of Partial Attribution: Let’s All Play for Team Development -- Lant Pritchett. 10. Where Has All the Education Gone? -- Lant Pritchett. 11. Looking Like a State: Techniques of Persistent Failure in State Capability for Implementation -- Lant Pritchett. 12. Cents and Sociability: Household Income and Social Capital in Rural Tanzania -- Deepa Narayan and Lant Pritchett. 13. Where Did Development Economics Go Wrong? -- Lant Pritchett speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on Ideas of India. 14. Reforming Development Economics -- Lant Pritchett speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on Ideas of India. 15. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Economics in One Lesson — Henry Hazlitt. 17. The Worldly Philosophers -- Robert L Heilbroner. 18. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 19. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 20. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything (in which Amit talks about Hayek's essay). 21. The Great Wave off Kanagawa. 22. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 24. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 25. The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development — Michael Kremer. 26. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory — Amit Varma. 27. Amadeus -- Milos Forman. 28. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 29. Imagined Communities -- Benedict Anderson. 30. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 31. Accelerating India's Development -- Karthik Muralidharan. 32. An update in 2020 of the Big Stuck in State Capability -- Lant Pritchett. 33. The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy -- Daniel Carpenter. 34. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 35. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott. 36. Dido and Aeneas -- Mark Morris Dance Group. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Lighthouse’ by Simahina.
Mon, 29 Apr 2024 - 4h 09min - 380 - Ep 378: Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan
He is an economist with the soul of a poet. He has studied number theory and is an expert on policy. He has studied Urdu and and dreams in shairi. Rohit Lamba joins Amit Varma in episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss economics, politics, society and our human condition. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rohit Lamba links at Penn State, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Scholar, YouTube and his own website. 2. Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India's Economic Future -- Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba. 3. The Broken Script -- Swapna Liddle. 4. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Six More Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 43 of Everything is Everything, which includes a chapter inspired by Swapna Liddle's book. 6. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 7. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 8. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes -- Zachary D. Carter. 10. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 11. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 12. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 13. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 14. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 17. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 19. Ramcharitmanas -- Tulsidas. 20. Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva -- Janaki Bakhle. 21. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 22. Political Ideology in India — Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 23. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 24. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 25. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 26. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 27. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 29. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Postcard from Kashmir -- Agha Shahid Ali. 31. The Veiled Suite: The Collected Poems -- Agha Shahid Ali. 32. You Can Always Get There From Here -- Mark Strand. 33. Collected Poems — Mark Strand. 34. Variants of chess on chess.com. 35. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world — Amit Varma on Viswanathan Anand. 36. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma on Alpha Zero. 37. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. 38. The History of the Planning Commission -- Episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Menon). 39. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 41. Milton Friedman on Minimum Wage Laws. 42. Main Gautam Nahin Hoon -- Khalilur Rahman Azmi. 43. Lessons from Nirala’s ballad for our battle with covid -- Rohit Lamba. 44. Poker and Life -- Episode 38 of Everything is Everything. 45. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for the Economic Times. 46. What is Populism? — Jan-Werner Müller. 47. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 48. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 49. Dynamism with Incommensurate Development: The Distinctive Indian Model -- Rohit Lamba and Arvind Subramanian. 50. List of Soviet and Russian leaders by height. 51. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma on Demonetisation. 52. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 53. Number Theory. 54. Fermat's Last Theorem. 55. A Beautiful Mind -- Ron Howard. 56. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande — Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. Dilip José Abreu: an elegant and creative economist -- Rohit Lamba. 58. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 59. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 60. Ghummakkad Shastra -- Rahul Sankrityayan. 61. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron — Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 62. The Looking-Glass Self. 63. Jo Bhi Main -- Song from Rockstar with lyrics by Irshad Kamil. 64. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains — Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 65. Politically correct, passive-aggressive: How Indians in the US struggle to decode corporate speak -- Anahita Mukherji. 66. Lincoln -- Steven Spielberg. 67. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 68. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines — Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 69. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 70. The Semiconductor Wars — Episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi). 71. The Smile Curve. 72. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 73. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State — Amit Varma. 74. The Child and the State in India -- Myron Weiner. 75. Where India Goes -- Diane Coffey and Deam Spears. 76. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 77. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 78. South vs North: India’s Great Divide — Nilakantan RS. 79. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ashwin Mahesh: 1, 2, 3. 80. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 81. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee. 82. Snow -- Pamuk. 83. Bahut Door, Kitna Door Hota Hai -- Manav Kaul. 84. Shakkar Ke Paanch Dane -- Manav Kaul.. 85. Poems: 1962–2020 -- Louise Glück. 86. Mahabharata. 87. राम की शक्ति-पूजा -- सूर्यकांत त्रिपाठी निराला. 88. Iqbal and Ahmad Faraz on Rekhta. 89. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Ahmad Faraz. 90. Zindagi Se Yahi Gila Hai Mujhe -- Ahmad Faraz. 91. AR Rahman on Wikipedia and Spotify. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Pick a Tree' by Simahina.
Mon, 22 Apr 2024 - 6h 31min - 379 - Ep 377: Malini Goyal is the Curious One
As a journalist, she always went deep. As an author, she has peeled off layers of Bengaluru -- and Indian society. Malini Goyal joins Amit Varma in episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights -- and the values that shape her work. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Malini Goyal at Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Economic Times. 2. Unboxing Bengaluru: The City of New Beginnings -- Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash. 3. Unboxing Bengaluru -- The website. 4. After Hours With India Inc -- Malini Goyal's podcast. 5. Bindra's Wishlist (2005) -- Amit Varma. 6. Reforming Urban Governance -- Episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen (w V Ravichandar). 7. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. . 8. Malini Goyal's piece on Alang. 9. India's first social media election -- Malini Goyal. 10. Malini Goyal's four-part story on India's liberalisation children: 1, 2, 3, 4. 11. Malini Goyal's series on Hyderabad. 12. ‘Wet Streets Cause Rain’ — Michael Crichton explains Gell-Mann Amnesia. 13. Maruti 800 to Alto 800: A 30-year journey -- Malini Goyal. 14. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for The Economic Times. 15. How large corporations go about picking CXO-level honchos -- Malini Goyal. 16. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 18. Shaili Chopra and the Sisterhood -- Episode 325 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Israel, a startup oasis in the middle of a war zone -- Malini Goyal. 20. The Romantic Idiot -- Samarth Bansal. 21. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Aella's tweet about the slutcloud. 23. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ashwin Mahesh: 1, 2, 3. 24. The Pursuit of Happyness -- Gabriele Muccino. 25. Personal History -- Katherine Graham. 26. Open: An Autobiography -- Andre Agassi. 27. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography -- Walter Isaacson. 26. Einstein: His Life and Universe -- Walter Isaacson.. 27. Alice Munro, Kazuo Ishiguro and Roald Dahl on Amazon. 28. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘There is More Here’ by Simahina.
Mon, 15 Apr 2024 - 3h 55min - 378 - Ep 376: Postcards From Utsav Mamoria
When he travels, he's a man of reflection. When he creates, he's a man of action. Utsav Mamoria joins Amit Varma in episode 376 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his philosophy towards travel, creating and living. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Utsav Mamoria on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. 2. Postcards From Nowhere -- Utsav Mamoria's podcast. 3. The 6% Club.. 4. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani.. 5. The Universe of Chuck Gopal -- Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Getting Meta. -- Chuck Gopal's podcast. 7. The legendary Simblified. 8. Sabbaticalling -- Episode 85 of Simblified (w Utsav Mamoria). 9. The Untravel Show -- Abhishek.Vaid's YouTube show. 10. Chuck Gopal interviews Utsav Mamoria. 12. Horizon -- Barry Lopez. 13. Imaginary Cities -- Darran Anderson. 14. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino. 15. The Hiking Episode -- Episode 35 of Everything is Everything. 16. I Play to Play -- Amit Varma. 17. Unboxing Bengaluru -- Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash. 18. Lords of the Deccan -- Anirudh Kanisetti. 19. Anirudh Kanisetti's podcasts. 20. Are You Just One Version of Yourself? -- Amit Varma. 21. Don't Get Into a Box -- Amit Varma. 22. Shoveling Smoke -- William Mazzarella. 23. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. The Stanford Prison Experiment. 26. Imagined Communities — Benedict Anderson. 27. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 28. Santosh Desai is Watching You — Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Dhadak Dhadak -- Song from Bunty and Babli. 30. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Language of Food -- Dan Jurafsky. 32. Bihar Review -- Kumar Anand's twitter account on Bihar. 33. Interior design for 10 crore kids. 34. Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain -- Episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Amadeus -- Miloš Forman. 36. Arctic Dreams -- Barry Lopez. 37. The Art of Travel -- Alain De Botton. 38. The School of Life. 39. Robert Macfarlane and Pico Iyer on Amazon. 40. Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. 41. Marginlands -- Arati Kumar-Rao. 42. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 43. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 44. Tarana Husain Khan, Sadaf Hussain and Krish Ashok on Amazon. 45. The Language of Cities -- Deyan Sudjic. 46. Italo Calvino on Amazon. 47. When Breath Becomes Air -- Paul Kalanithi. 48. Coke Studio Pakistan. 49. Kabir, Kabir Cafe and Songs of Kabir. 50. The soundtracks of Qala, Udaan and Lootera. 51. Ud Jayega Hans Akela -- Kumar Gandharva. 52. Spotlight -- Tom McCarthy. 53. Grave of the Fireflies -- Isao Takahata. 54. My Neighbour Totoro -- Hayao Miyazaki. 55. Woman in the Dunes -- Hiroshi Teshigahara. 56. Departures -- Yōjirō Takita. 57. Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Majid Majidi, Tahmineh Milani and Yasujirō Ozu. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Travel’ by Simahina.
Mon, 08 Apr 2024 - 4h 16min - 377 - Ep 375: Karthik Muralidharan and the Bureaucrat's Burden
To reform India, you must reform the Indian state. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 375 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his much-awaited new book that has finally released -- and the chapters on it that deal with our bureaucracy. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Karthik Muralidharan on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar, UCSD and CEGIS. 2. Accelerating India's Development -- Karthik Muralidharan. 3. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 4. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 5. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 7. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah). 8. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast. 9. To Kill A Mockingbird -- Harper Lee. 10. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 11. The Elusive Quest for Growth -- William R Easterly. 12. The White Man's Burden -- William R Easterly. 13. The Tyranny of Experts -- William R Easterly. 14. Thomas Sargent's speech at Berkeley. 15. Front-line Courts As State Capacity: Evidence From India -- Manaswini Rao. 16. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 17. BR Ambedkar's speech to the constituent assembly in 1949. 18. State Building -- Francis Fukuyama. 19. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 20. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 21. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 22. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 23. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 25. The Political Economy of Bureaucratic Overload -- Aditya Dasgupta and Devesh Kapur. 26. Red Tape -- Akhil Gupta. 27. Paper Tiger -- Nayanika Mathur. 28. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 29. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 30. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. Annie Hall -- Woody Allen. 32. The withering trend of public employment in India -- CP Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh. 33. The Colonial Constitution — Arghya Sengupta. 34. Arghya Sengupta and the Engine Room of Law — Episode 366 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Active and Passive Waste in Government Spending -- Oriana Bandiera, Andrea Prat and Tommaso Valletti. 36. Lagaan -- Ashutosh Gowariker. 37. List of Soviet and Russian leaders by height. 38. Bureaucratic Indecision and Risk Aversion in India -- Sneha P, Neha Sinha, Avanti Durani and Ayush Patel. 39. A Theory of Misgovernance -- Abhijit Banerjee. 40. Premature load bearing: Doing too much too soon -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 41. Sense and Sensibility -- Jane Austen. 42. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 43. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Montek Singh Ahluwalia). 44. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 45. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 46. How China Escaped the Poverty Trap -- Yuen Yuen Ang. 47. Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities -- Episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. Gangaajal -- Prakash Jha. 49. Building State Capacity: Evidence from Biometric Smartcards in India -- Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukhtankar. 50. Amitabh Bachchan on Twitter. 51. Nick Bloom at Stanford. 52. The Personnel Economics of the Developing State -- Frederico Finan, Benjamin Olken and Rohini Pande. 53. Double for Nothing? Experimental Evidence on an Unconditional Teacher Salary Increase in Indonesia -- Joppe de Ree, Karthik Muralidharan, Menno Pradhan and Halsey Rogers. 54. The Indian Labour Market through the Lens of Public Sector Recruitment -- Kunal Mangal. 55. Timepass: Youth, Class, and the Politics of Waiting in India -- Craig Jeffrey. 56. Karmayogi Bharat. 57. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 58. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 59. A new vision for legal education in India -- Abhishek Singhvi. 60. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Zindagi Toh Bewafa Hai -- Song from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Magic and Files’ by Simahina.
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 - 5h 09min - 376 - Ep 374: Making Policy Fun with Khyati Pathak and Friends
Economics and public policy touch all our lives, and have humanitarian consequences. But isn't it damn boring? No! Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane join Amit Varma in episode 374 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk policy and comics -- and how they came together in their book, We the Citizens. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) I strongly recommend that you check out the courses and the output of the Takshashila Institution. What they do is nothing less than a great public service to India. Also check out: 1. Khyati Pathak on Twitter, Instagram, Substack and her own website of comics. 2. Anupam Manur on Twitter, LinkedIn and the Takshashila Institution. 3. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution. 4. We, The Citizens: Strengthening the Indian Republic -- Khyati Pathak, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane. 5. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane and Khyati Pathak's podcast (co-hosted with Saurabh Chandra). 6. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter. 7. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley. 8. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S Jaitley). 9. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Semiconductor Wars -- Episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi). 11. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 12. Protectionism -- Episode 59 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anupam Manur). 13. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Toan Truong's Twitter thread on learning how to learn. 15. Harvard’s CS50 course. 16. A Bushel is equal to "2 kennings, 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons." 17. A trade deficit with a babysitter (2005) — Tim Harford. 18. 1984 -- George Orwell. 19. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 20. There’s no speed limit -- Derek Sivers. 21. A Deep Dive Into the Indian Military -- Episode 31 of Everything is Everything. 22. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia — Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 23. The State of the Ukraine War -- Episode 14 of Everything is Everything. 24. The Economics of Arms -- Keith Hartley. 25. The Indian Armed Forces — Episode 175 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon). 26. India in the Nuclear Age — Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon). 27. Guns vs Butter. 28. This Passing Moment -- Amit Varma on Opportunity Cost. 29. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 30. Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration -- Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith. 31. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 32. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 33. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 34. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 35. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 36. The Overton Window. 37. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box -- Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Radical Markets -- Eric Posner and E Glen Weyl. 40. Karejwa -- Varun Grover, Ankit Kapoor and Sumit Kumar. 41. Parsai -- Mansi Sharma and Sumit Kumar. 42. So Below -- Sam Wallman. 43. Manjula Padmanabhan is a Forever Outsider -- Episode 372 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Irfan, the Keeper of Memories -- Episode 368 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 47. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 48. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 51. भारतीय भाषाओँ में हमारे अतीत के सुराग़ -- Episode 106 of Puliyabaazi (w Peggy Mohan). 52. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 53. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 54. We, The Citizens: A Review -- Ashish Kulkarni. 55. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 56. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything. 57. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 58. Anupam Manur's piece on water pricing in Bangalore. 59. The Great Redistribution (2015) — Amit Varma. 60. Bootleggers and Baptists: The Education of a Regulatory Economist — Bruce Yandle. 61. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma). 62. We the Living -- Ayn Rand. 63. so you want to be a writer? -- Charles Bukowski. 64. Vijay Kelkar's legendary CD Deshmukh Lecture. 65. In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 66. Why Does the Indian State Both Fail and Succeed? -- Devesh Kapur. 67. Milton Friedman on India. 68. The Dalit Emancipation Manifesto of 1951 — Babasaheb Ambedkar. 69. How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time -- Hal Varian. 70. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. We Want More FSI -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok). 72. Defending the Undefendable -- Walter Block. 73. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 74. Free To Choose -- Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman. 75. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 76. Milton Friedman Speaks -- Collected speeches in a YouTube playlist. 77. The Economist. 78. Free Trade under Fire -- Douglas Irwin. 79. The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye -- Sonny Liew. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Artist’ by Simahina.
Mon, 25 Mar 2024 - 4h 06min - 375 - Ep 373: Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face
He's an entrepreneur who thinks deeply about the world, and some of his ideas could make your brain explode. Deepak VS joins Amit Varma in episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his thoughts on entrepreneurship, education, morality, life and the old hag who sits on your chest. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Deepak VS at Twitter, LinkedIn and his own website. 2. Tilt. 3. Everything flows: Looking back on six years of Tilt -- Deepak VS. 4. Deepak VS on why incubators are broken. 5. Y Combinator. 6. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 7. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 8. 4chan. 9. Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance -- Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck. 10. Nomsita MS Haritashya on Instagram. 11. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 12. Tim Minchin on Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and his own website. 13. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 14. Gaurav Chintamani on Instagram.. 15. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin -- Episode 405 of the Lex Fridman Podcast. 17. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 18. Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking on Amazon. 19. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Zero to One -- Peter Thiel. 21. Angad Daryani at Praan, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.. 22. Ship of Theseus. 23. Dangerous Dave. 24. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus — Ludwig Wittgenstein. 26. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 27. Anatomy of a Folly -- Amit Varma. 28. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 29. The Expanding Circle — Peter Singer. 30. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt. 31. The Ethics of Vegetarianism -- An interview with Peter Singer where he talks about oysters. 32. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Essays — Paul Graham. 34. Free Will -- Sam Harris. 35. Determined: Life Without Free Will -- Robert Sapolsky. 36. Behave -- Robert Saponsky. 37. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas -- Ursula K LeGuin. 38. The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant — Nick Bostrom. 39. Vitalik Buterin Fights the Dragon-Tyrant — Episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Pour Some Sugar on Me -- Amit Varma. 41. The Last Lecture -- Randy Pausch. 42. Poker and Life -- Episode 38 of Everything is Everything. 43. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World — Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen.. 44. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 45. Lucid Dreaming. 46. Sleep Paralysis. 47. The Night Hag. 48. Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants — Episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. The Brothers Karamazov -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 50. House of the Dead -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 51. Titus Andronicus -- William Shakespeare. 52. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track -- Richard Feynman. 53. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 54. Quichotte -- Salman Rushdie. 55. We -- Yevgeny Zamyatin. 56. PG Wodehouse on Amazon and Wikipedia. 57. Storm -- Tim Minchin. 58. The Egg -- Andy Weir. 59. Lifespan -- David Sinclair. 60. Ash Jogalekar's tweet on Chandrasekhar, Fermi and von Neumann. 61. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything. 62. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity -- Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Chal Hut’ by Simahina.
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 - 3h 47min - 374 - Ep 372: Manjula Padmanabhan is a Forever Outsider
She's a comic-strip artist, a playwright, a science fiction author -- a creator who doesn't fit into any box. Manjula Padmanabhan joins Amit Varma in episode 372 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Manjula Padmanabhan on.Amazon, Wikipedia, Instagram, Substack and her own website. 2. Getting There -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 3. Harvest -- Manula Padmanabhan. 4. Escape -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 5. The Island Of Lost Girls -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 6. Blood and Laughter: Plays -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 7. Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 8. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 9. Why We Sleep -- Matthew Walker. 10. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Looking-Glass Self. 12. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Escape With Manjula Padmanabhan (2008) -- Amit Varma. 14. Comedy Vs Mortality -- Amit Varma. 15. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains — Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. How Not To Boil An Egg -- MFK Fisher. 17. Journey To Ixtlan -- Carlos Castaneda. 18. Anton Chekhov on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 19. The classic Derek Guy tweet.. 20. Make Me a Canteen for My Soul — Episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage). 21. Deham -- Govind Nihalani. 22. Watchmen -- Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. 23. Amartya Ghosh on Spotify. 24. Declutter -- Episode 30 of Everything is Everything. 25. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams. 26. Ursula K Le Guin, Ken Liu and Ted Chiang on Amazon. 27. Blue Apron. 28. Penelope Fitzgerald on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 29. Wordle and Words With Friends. 30. The House of Doors -- Tan Twan Eng. 31. The Gift of Rain -- Tan Twan Eng. 32. Fire On The Ganges -- Radhika Iyengar. 33. Amarcord -- Federico Fellini. 34. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 35. The Obscure Object of Desire -- Luis Buñuel. 36. All That Jazz -- Bob Fosse. 37. Star Wars -- George Lucas. 38. Popcorn Essayists: What Movies Do to Writers -- Edited by Jai Arjun Singh. 39. The 400 Blows -- François Truffaut. 40. The Magus -- John Fowles. 41. Through the Looking-Glass -- Lewis Carroll. 42. The Beatles and Pink Floyd on Spotify. 43. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie -- Luis Buñuel. 44. The Phantom of Liberty -- Luis Buñuel. 45. Jean-Claude Carrière on Wikipedia and IMDb. 46. The Mahabharata -- Peter Brook. 47. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Philip Kaufman. 48. I Vitelloni -- Federico Fellini. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Outsider’ by Simahina.
Mon, 11 Mar 2024 - 5h 42min - 373 - Ep 371: Ram Guha Writes a Letter to a Friend
His latest book looks back at a friendship -- and at a world gone by. Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 371 of The Seen and the Unseen to shoot the breeze and share some memories. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon, Twitter and his own website. 2. The Cooking of Books: A Literary Memoir -- Ramachandra Guha. 3. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 5. Taking Stock of Our Republic — Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 6. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 7. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 8. Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals and India -- Ramachandra Guha. 9. Gandhi before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 10. Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World -- Ramachandra Guha. 11. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 12. Environmentalism: A Global History -- Ramachandra Guha. 13. A Corner of a Foreign Field -- Ramachandra Guha. 14. The New India Foundation. 15. Stet: An Editor's Life -- Diana Athill. 16. Of Gifted Voice: The Life and Art of MS Subbulakshmi — Keshav Desiraju. 17. Dunbar’s number. 18. How Many Friends Does One Person Need? -- Robin Dunbar. 19. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 20. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 21. Trapped Inside the Infinite Scroll -- Amit Varma. 22. India vs West Indies, 1st Test, Bengaluru, November 22 - 27, 1974. 23. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 26. Pundits from Pakistan -- Rahul Bhattacharya. 27. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 28. Where Are The Conservative Intellectuals in India (2015) -- Ramachandra Guha. 29. Beethoven Among the Cows -- Rukun Advani. 30. Sharafat Hussain Khan, Latafat Hussain Khan, Lalith Rao, Radhika Mohan Maitra and Buddhadev Das Gupta. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Letter’ by Simahina.
Mon, 04 Mar 2024 - 2h 00min - 372 - Ep 370: Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box
So what if he is an academic? He is also an an original thinker with deep insights about education, elections, colonisation, politics, history, society. Yugank Goyal joins Amit Varma in episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen to throw thought-bomb after thought-bomb at all of us. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
1. Yugank Goyal on Twitter, LinkedIn, EPW, Flame University and Google Scholar. 2. Who Moved My Vote? -- Yugank Goyal and Arun Kumar Kaushik. 3. Documenting India: The Centre for Knowledge Alternatives. 4. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 5. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 6. Harvard's CS50 course. 7. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. 8. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 9. The Superiority of Economists -- Marion Fourcade, Etienne Ollion and Yann Algan. 10. Publish and Perish — Agnes Callard. 11. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran. 12. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Premchand on Amazon and Wikipedia. 15. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir. 16. Maithili Sharan Gupt and Jaishankar Prasad. 17. Kafan -- Premchand. 18. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 19. Is There an Indian Way of Thinking? — AK Ramanujan. 20. The Intimate Enemy -- Ashis Nandy. 21. The Colonial Constitution — Arghya Sengupta. 22. Arghya Sengupta and the Engine Room of Law -- Episode 366 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. The History of British India -- James Mill. 24. SN Balagangadhara (aka Balu) on Amazon and Wikipedia. 25. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 26. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4. 27. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 28. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 30. The Evolution of Everything -- Matt Ridley. 31. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley). 32. The Evolution of Cooperation -- Robert Axelrod. 33. Kantara -- Rishab Shetty. 34. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 35. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 37. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. The People of India -- Herbert Risley. 39. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Gangs of Wasseypur -- Anurag Kashyap. 41. Why Children Labour (2007) -- Amit Varma. 42. Laws Against Victimless Crimes Should Be Scrapped — Amit Varma. 43. Intimate City — Manjima Bhattacharjya. 44. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 46. Politics — A limerick by Amit Varma. 47. India’s Far From Free Markets (2005) — Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal. 48. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 49. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 50. Ramayana, the 1987 serial, on Wikipedia and YouTube. 51. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 52. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 54. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 55. Cycle -- Prakash Kumte. 56. Mulshi Pattern -- Pravin Tarde. 57. The Heathen in His Blindness -- SN Balagangadhara. Amit's newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Look Inside the Box’ by Simahina.Mon, 26 Feb 2024 - 4h 34min - 371 - Ep 369: The Life and Times of Ira Pande
She's a writer. She's a translator. She's as old as this Republic, and she knows it well. Ira Pande joins Amit Varma in episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and her learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ira Pande on Amazon, Goodreads and The Tribune.. 2. Diddi: My Mother's Voice -- Ira Pande. 3. Amader Shantiniketan -- Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 4. Dhano Dhanne — Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir. 5. Pitch Perfect -- Ira Pande's obituary of Jaya Varma. 6. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Old world nationalism -- Ira Pande. 11. Buniyaad on Wikipedia, IMDb and YouTube. 12. Do Bigha Zameen -- Bimal Roy. 13. Ganga Jamuna -- Nitin Bose. 14. Awaara and Shree 420 -- Raj Kapoor. 15. Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar In The Life Of India -- Meghnad Desai. 16. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 17. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 18. The Other Side of Silence — Urvashi Butalia. 19. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Tamas -- Bhisham Sahni. 21. Tamas -- Govind Nihalani. 22. The Secret City -- Robin Gupta. 23. Secret city and more -- Ira Pande. 24. Apradhi Kaun -- Shivani. 25. Apradhini - Women Without Men -- Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 26. T'ta Professor -- Manohar Shyam Joshi (translated by Ira Pande). 27. कसप -- मनोहरश्याम जोशी 28. The Matunga Racket -- Amit Varma. 29. The Day Ryan Started Masturbating -- Amit Varma. 30. The Secret Diary Of Kasturba -- Neelima Dalmia Adhar. 31. Father Dearest -- Neelima Dalmia Adhar. 32..Remain in Me -- Peter Cat Recording Co. 33. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 34. A Life Apart -- Prabha Khaitan (translated by Ira Pande). 35. Ira Pande on Chetan Bhagat. 36. Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya — Episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Stage.in. 39. Try living in the slow lane -- Ira Pande. 40. A Room of One's Own -- Virginia Woolf. 41. Raw Umber -- Sara Rai. 43. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya -- Akshaya Mukul. 44. Here And Hereafter: Nirmal Verma's Life in Literature -- Vineet Gill. 45. Biyaban Me -- Sara Rai. 46. Nabeela Aur Anya Kahaniyan -- Sara Rai. 47. Lapoojhanna -- Ashok Pande. 48. One Foot on the Ground — Shanta Gokhale. 49. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘’She Writes” by Simahina.
Mon, 19 Feb 2024 - 3h 11min - 370 - Ep 368: Irfan, the Keeper of Memories
He's a master of the longform conversation, a connoisseur of the past, a man steeped in culture. Syed Mohd Irfan joins Amit Varma in episode 368 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his times, his learnings -- and Guftagoo! (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Syed Mohd Irfan on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. 2. Guftagoo with Irfan. 3. Guftagoo at Sansad TV. 4. Guftagoo at Rekhta. 5. Interviewing as a tool of archiving of knowledge and memories -- TEDx talk by Syed Mohd Irfan. 6. Preserving Moments: The Significance of Audio-Visual Records -- TEDx talk by Syed Mohd Irfan. 7. Irfan on Memorywala. 8. Irfan interviewed by UnReported India. 9. Ek Mulakaat with Senior Journalist Mr Syed Mohd Irfan. 10. Do Ankhen Barah Haath -- V Shantaram. 11. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 13. Hind Pocket Books. 14. Bhagat Singh, Dhoomil, Krishan Chander, Amrita Pritam, Shivani and Vivekananda. 15. The Story of My Experiments with Truth -- Mohandas Gandhi. 16. Ankur -- Shyam Benegal. 17. Aakrosh -- Govind Nihalani. 18. Premchand on Amazon and Wikipedia. 19. Pita -- Govind Nihalani. 20. Stage Whisper -- Vimal Bhagat. 21. Walk on the Wild Side -- Lou Reed. 22. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Father Returning Home — Dilip Chitre. 24. Guftagoo with Raghuvir Yadav. 25. Guftagoo with Gulzar. 26. Guftagoo with Dr Guri. 27. Guftagoo with Imtiaz Ali. 28. Guftagoo with Jaideep Ahlawat. 29. Guftagoo with Ram Gopal Bajaj. 30. Guftagoo with Mohan Agashe. 31. Guftagoo with Jackie Shroff. 32. Jackie Shroff talks about his mom in Guftagoo. 33. Guftagii with Danish Husain. 34. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. कविवर -- सुरजीत पातर. 36. Irfan's Instagram post on magazines like Madhuri.. 37. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 39. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 39. Kashi ka Assi -- Kashinath Singh. 41. Sone ki Chidiya -- Shaheed Latif. 42. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music -- Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna).. 43. Kumar Gandharva on Spotify. 44. Dhanraj Bhagat, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Balraj Sahni and Ritwik Ghatak. 45. Meghe Dhaka Tara -- Ritwik Ghatak. 46. अपनी खबर -- पांडेय बेचन शर्मा 'उग्र' 47. Pedagogy of the Oppressed -- Paulo Freire. 48. A Pedagogue's Romance -- Krishna Kumar. 49. Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen and Mani Kaul. You can write to Irfan at Irfan.rstv@gmail.com. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Keeper of Memories’ by Simahina.
Mon, 12 Feb 2024 - 4h 31min - 369 - Ep 367: Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi
Delhi has had a mad history -- and that history has shaped our culture, our art, our languages, our society. Swapna Liddle joins Amit Varma in episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen to take us on a walk through space and time. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Swapna Liddle on Facebook, Instagram, Wikipedia and Amazon.. 2. The Broken Script -- Swapna Liddle. 3. Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi -- Swapna Liddle. 4. 14 Historic Walks of Delhi -- Swapna Liddle. 5. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. . 6. Dorothy L Sayers & Agatha Christie on Amazon. 7. The Englishman's Cameo -- Madhulika Liddle. 8. The Golden Age of Murder -- Martin Edwards. 9. ye na thi hamari qismat ki visal-e-yar hota -- Mirza Ghalid. 10. ye masail-e-tasawwuf ye tera bayan ghaalib -- Mirza Ghalib. 11. Use kaun dekh saktaa hai -- Mirza Ghalib. 12. Charlotte's Web -- EB White. 13. Physics for Entertainment -- Yakov Perelman. 14. The Adventures of Dennis -- Viktor Dragunsky. 15. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 16. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 17. Rani Ketki Ki Kahaani -- Insha Allah Khan Insha. 18. Rekhta. 19. When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? -- Jeanne Maglaty. 20. The Thugs Or Phansigars of India -- William Henry Sleeman. 21. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 22. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 23. Delhi Between Two Empires, 1803-1931 -- Narayani Gupta. 24. Percival Spear on Wikipedia and Amazon. 25. Old Delhi: 10 Easy Walks -- Gaynor Barton and Laurraine Malone. 26. The Financial foundations of the British Raj -- Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. 27. Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain -- Episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Women in Indian History — Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 29. Jahangir the Curious — Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma). 30. Public Opinion — Walter Lippman. 31. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 32. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Rakhshanda Jalil Watches the Changing World -- Episode 365 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. The ‘Delhi Renaissance: Indigenous roots of colonial modernity -- A talk by Swapna Liddle. 35. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India — Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel). 36. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4. 37. The Many Cities of Delhi — Episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rana Safvi). 38. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Shahjahanabad’ by Simahina.
Mon, 05 Feb 2024 - 4h 06min - 368 - Ep 366: Arghya Sengupta and the Engine Room of Law
He's been an important force in shaping legal policy over the last decade. He's written an essential book on our constitution. He's worked closely with government -- but done so with a sense of public purpose. Arghya Sengupta joins Amit Varma in episode 366 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his work and his learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Arghya Sengupta on Twitter, LinkedIn, Times of India and Vidhi Center for Legal Policy. 2. The Colonial Constitution -- Arghya Sengupta. 3. Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. 4. Insiders and Outsiders -- Amit Varma. 5. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 6. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 7. Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World -- Episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Apar Gupta Fights the Good Fight -- Episode 353 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State -- Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 13. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments. 14. 'कोस-कोस पर बदले पानी, चार कोस पर वाणी।' 15. Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants -- Episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Ao. 17. Enid Blyton, Five Find-Outers, The Famous Five, Billy Bunter, Just William, Hardy Boys, Three Investigators and Jeffrey Archer. 18. Kane and Abel -- Jeffrey Archer. 19. Bimbo -- Jim Reeves. 20. Chandril Bhattacharya interviewed at Kolkata Literary Meet 2016. (Listen to him 5:40 onwards). 21. Chandrabindoo on Spotify and YouTube. 22. Rabindra Sangeet. 23. The Complete Adventures of Feluda — Satyajit Ray. 24. Chander Pahar (Bengali) -- Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. 25. Sonar Kella -- Satyajit Ray. 26. Donoghue v Stevenson. 27. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus — Ludwig Wittgenstein. 28. Law, Legislation and Liberty -- Friedrich Hayek.
29. Nationalist Thought in a Colonial World -- Partha Chatterjee. 30. The Truth Pill -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. 31. Taxi No 9211 -- Milan Luthria. 32. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 33. The Overton Window. 34. From Addict to Convict -- Neha Singhal, Arpita Mitra and Kaushiki Sanyal. (Scroll down on the page for Punjabi version.) 35. Punjab's drug menace: Secrecy renders women substance abusers 'invisible' -- Neha Singhal & Sumathi Chandrashekaran. 36. End of Life Care in India: A Model Legal Framework 2.0 -- Dhvani Mehta and Akshat Agarwal. 37. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 39. Annihilation of Caste -- BR Ambedkar. 40. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 42. The Federalist Papers — Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. 43. Marching For Salt (2015) -- Amit Varma. 44. Two Concepts of Liberty -- Isaiah Berlin. 45. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 46. Sandipto Dasgupta on the Anxious Administrator. 47. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 48. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 49. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 50. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 51. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back -- Subhashish Bhadra. 52. Of Gods and Men -- Xavier Beauvois. 53. Devi -- Satyajit Ray. 54. Jalsaghar -- Satyajit Ray. 55. Advaita on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 56. Junoon and Coke Studio Pakistan. 57. Now and Then -- The Beatles. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘’The Engine Room of Law” by Simahina.Mon, 29 Jan 2024 - 3h 43min - 367 - Ep 365: Rakhshanda Jalil Watches the Changing World
You could think of her as someone who tries to preserve a fading world -- or to chronicle a changing one. Rakhshanda Jalil joins Amit Varma in episode 365 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about literature, language and loss. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rakhshanda Jalil on Twitter, Wikipedia, The Wire, Scroll and Amazon. 2. But You Don't Look Like a Muslim -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 3. Invisible City: The Hidden Monuments of Delhi -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 4. Urdu: The Best Stories of Our Times -- Edited & translated by Rakhshanda Jalil. 5. Liking Progress, Loving Change -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 6. Preeto and Other Stories: The Male Gaze in Urdu -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 7. A Rebel and Her Cause: The Life and Work of Rashid Jahan -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 8. Shahryar: A Life in Poetry -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 9. Release and Other Stories -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 10. The Temple and The Mosque -- Premchand (translated by Rakhshanda Jalil). 11. Fear, Depression in Indian Muslims Is Palpable Even Among Those Who Are ‘Privileged’ -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 12. In New India, a Muslim Rose Smells Different From a Hindu Rose -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 13. Aaliya Waziri's essay about her mother Rakhshanda Jalil. 14. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab). 15. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Many Cities of Delhi — Episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rana Safvi). 17. The Age of Average -- Alex Murrell. 18. Order Without Design -- Alain Bertaud. 19. Asar–us–Sanadid -- Syed Ahmed Khan. 20. Basu Da’s Bombay. 21. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Stage.in. 24. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 25. The Elephant in the Room -- Kay Ryan. 26. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 27. Malevolent Republic -- Kapil Komireddi. 28. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 29. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 30. Khwaab Baaki Hai -- Ale Ahmad Suroor. 31. Uneasy Lies the Head -- Mayank Austen Soofi. 32. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 33. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 34. Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein -- Song from Hum Hindustani. 35. Tu Hindu Banega Na Musalman Banega -- Song from Dhool Ka Phool, with lyrics by Sahir Ludhainvi. 36. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 37. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 38. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 40. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 41. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 42. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 43. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 45. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 46. Ibn-e Safi on Amazon. 47. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. Personal Libraries -- Rakhshanda Jalil's book collection. 49. Charles Dickens, Mills and Boon, Georgette Heyer, Barbara Cartland, Jean-Paul Sartre, James Hadley Chase, Northrop Frye and TS Eliot. 50. Exile and the Kingdom -- Albert Camus. 51. Waiting for Godot -- Samuel Beckett. 52. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 53. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. Raw Umber : A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 58. The Death of Sheherzad -- Initizar Husain (translated by Rakhshanda Jalil). 59. Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 60. Drown -- Junot Diaz. 61. Mehroom -- Raman Negi. 62. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai. 63. Saare Jahaan Se Achha -- Rakesh Sharma speaks to Indira Gandhi. 64. Premchand on Amazon and Wikipedia. 65. The Nature and Purpose of Literature -- Premchand's presidential address at the First All India Progressive Writers’ Conference, 1936. 66. The Progressive Writer's Movement. 67. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 68. Patrice Lumumba. 69. Testaments Betrayed -- Milan Kundera. 70. Hum Jo Tarik Rahon Mein Mare Gae -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 71. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 72. Aag Ka Dariya (River of Fire) -- Qurratulain Hyder. 73. Rahman Abbas on Amazon, Wikipedia and Twitter. 74. Tambih -- Shahryar. 75. Bol -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 76. Hum Dekhenge -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 77. Hum Dekhenge -- Faiz. 78. Krishan Chander, Qurratulain Hyder and Ismat Chugtai. 79. Rekhta. 80. The Paradise of Food -- Khalid Jawed (translated by Baran Farooqi). 81. Sturgeon's Law. 82. Imposter Syndrome. 83. 'How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives' -- Amit Varma. 84. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 85. Mirza Ghalib on Rekhta. 86. Faiz Ahmad Faiz on Rekhta. 87. Mujhse Pahli Si Mohabbat Meri Mahbub Na Maang -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 88. Hindostan Hamara -- Edited by Jan Nisar Akhtar. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Change’ by Simahina.
Mon, 22 Jan 2024 - 4h 22min - 366 - Ep 364: Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain
Writing helps you find yourself, and shape yourself. Nothing illustrates this better than the life & work of our guest today. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen to continue his journaling in the form of this conversation. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Amitava Kumar on Instagram, Substack, Twitter, Amazon, Vassar and his own website.. 2. The Yellow Book: A Traveller's Diary -- Amitava Kumar. 3. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar.. 4. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh. 6. The White Lioness -- Henning Mankell. 7. The Snow in Ghana -- Ryszard Kapuściński. 8. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 11. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept -- Elizabeth Smart. 13. Open City -- Teju Cole. 14. Intimacies -- Katie Kitamura. 15. Bradford -- Hanif Kureishi. 16. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 17. The Lonely Londoners -- Sam Selvon. 18. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- Alice Munro. 20. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron. 21. Vinod Kumar Shukla on Wikipedia and Amazon. 22. Waiting for the Barbarians -- JM Coetzee. 23. Paris, Texas -- Wim Wenders. 24. Janet Malcolm, Susan Sontag and Joan Didion on Amazon. 25. Iphigenia in Forest Hills -- Janet Malcolm. 26. Butter Chicken in Ludhiana -- Pankaj Mishra. 27. Hermit in Paris -- Italo Calvino. 28. In the Waiting Room -- Elizabeth Bishop. 29. Abandon the Old in Tokyo -- Yoshihiro Tatsumi. 30 The Push Man and Other Stories -- Yoshihiro Tatsumi. 31. Why I Write -- George Orwell. 32. Tum Na Jaane Kis Jahaan Mein Kho Gaye -- Lata Mangeshkar song from Sazaa. 33. Monsoon Wedding -- Directed by Mira Nair, written by Sabrina Dhawan. 34. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Mehdi Hassan. 35. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Ali Sethi. 36. Saaranga Teri Yaad Mein -- Mukesh song from Saranga. 37. Mohabbat Kar Lo Jee Bhar Lo -- Song from Aar Paar. 38. Mera Dil Ye Pukare, Aaja -- Lata Mangeshkar song from Nagin. 39. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars -- Kunal Purohit. 41. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche -- Haruki Murakami. 42. UP Girl Challenges CM Yogi To Arrest Her Over Oxygen Shortage -- Mojo Story. 43. Too Many Hurried Goodbyes -- Amitava Kumar. 44. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 45. Wheatfield with Crows -- Vincent van Gogh. 46. The Wind -- Warren Zevon. 47. El Amor de Mi Vida -- Warren Zevon. 48. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 50. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for The Economic Times. 51. Why I Loved and Left Poker -- Amit Varma. 52. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 53. The Bastiat Prize. 54. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 55. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 56. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 60. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 61. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 62. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 63. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. 64. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 65. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 66. The Undoing Project -- Michael Lewis. 67. The podcasts of Russ Roberts, Sam Harris and Tyler Cowen. 68. Roam Research: A note-taking too for networked thought. 69. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 70. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life -- Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 74. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 75. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 76. Pandemonium in India’s Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay). 77. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri). 78. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 79. Crossing Over With Deepak Shenoy — Episode 271 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 81. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 82. Brave New World -- Hosted by Vasant Dhar. 83. Among the Believers -- VS Naipaul. 84. Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle ka Naata Koi -- Soham Chatterjee sings for his dying mother. 85. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line — Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 86. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher -- Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 87. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil -- Hannah Arendt. 88. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker. 89. Particulate Matter -- Amitava Kumar. 90. A Seventh Man -- John Berger. 91. Khushwant Singh and Ved Mehta on Amazon. 92. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee. 93. Elizabeth Costello -- JM Coetzee. 94. Penelope Fitzgerald, VS Naipaul and Ashis Nandy on Amazon. 95. A House for Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 96. Sabbath's Theater -- Philip Roth. 97. Finding the Centre -- VS Naipaul. 98. Dinesh Thakur, not Dinesh Thakur. 99. Rajnigandha -- Basu Chatterjee. 100. Rules of Writing -- Amitava Kumar. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Storm Is Inside Me’ by Simahina.
Mon, 15 Jan 2024 - 3h 10min - 365 - Ep 363: Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains
He's a poet, art critic, curator, translator, cultural theorist -- and someone who helps make sense of our world. Ranjit Hoskote joins Amit Varma in episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his times and his work. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ranjit Hoskote on Twitter, Instagram and Amazon. 2. Jonahwhale -- Ranjit Hoskote. 3. Hunchprose -- Ranjit Hoskote. 4. I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd -- Translated by Ranjit Hoskote. 5. Poet's nightmare -- Ranjit Hoskote. 6. State of enrichment -- Ranjit Hoskote. 7. Nissim Ezekiel, AK Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar, Keki Daruwalla, Dom Moraes, Dilip Chitre, Gieve Patel, Vilas Sarang, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Agha Shahid Ali, Mani Rao, Mustansir Dalvi, Jerry Pinto, Sampurna Chattarji, Vivek Narayanan and Arundhathi Subramaniam. 8. Ted Hughes, Geoffrey Hill, Seamus Heaney, Sharon Olds, Louise Glück, Jorie Graham and Rita Dove. 9. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. कुँवर नारायण, केदारनाथ सिंह, अशोक वाजपेयी and नागार्जुन. 12. Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Bismillah Khan, Igor Straviksky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Steve Reich and Terry Riley. 13. Palgrave's Golden Treasury: From Shakespeare to the Present. 14. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 15. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 17. Arun Khopkar, Mani Kaul and Clement Greenberg. 18. Stalker -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 19. The Sacrifice -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 20. Ivan's Childhood -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 21. The Color of Pomegranates -- Sergei Parajanov. 22. Ranjit Hoskote's tribute on Instagram to Gieve Patel. 23. Father Returning Home -- Dilip Chitre. 24. Jejuri -- Arun Kolatkar. 25. Modern Poetry in Translation -- Magazine and publisher founded by Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort. 26. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 27. How Music Works — David Byrne. 28. CBGB. 29. New York -- Lou Reed. 30. How This Nobel Has Redefined Literature — Amit Varma on Dylan winning the Nobel Prize. 31. The Fire and the Rain -- Girish Karnad. 32. Vanraj Bhatia on Wikipedia and IMDb. 33. Amit Varma's tweet thread on Jonahwhale. 34. Magic Fruit: A Poetic Trip -- Vaishnav Vyas. 35. Glenn Gould on Spotify. 36. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture -- Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Steven Fowler. 38. Serious Noticing -- James Wood. 39. How Fiction Works -- James Wood. 40. The Spirit of Indian Painting -- BN Goswamy. 41. Conversations -- BN Goswamy. 42. BN Goswamy on Wikipedia and Amazon. 43. BN Goswamy (1933-2023): Sage and Sensitivity -- Ranjit Hoskote. 44. Joseph Fasano's thread on his writing exercises. 45. Narayan Surve on Wikipedia and Amazon. 46. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid — Richard Purden. 47. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 48. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 49. Future Shock -- Alvin Toffler. 50. The Third Wave -- Alvin Toffler. 51. The Long Tail -- Chris Anderson. 52. Ranjit Hoskote's resignation letter from the panel of Documenta. 53. Liquid Modernity -- Zygmunt Bauman. 54. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Panopticon. 56. Tron -- Steven Lisberger. 57. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 58. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 59. Ramchandra Gandhi on Wikipedia and Amazon. 60. Majma-ul-Bahrain (also known as Samudra Sangam Grantha) -- Dara Shikoh. 61. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 62. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 64. पुराण स्थल. 65. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 66. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 67. The Speaking Tree: A Study of Indian Culture and Society -- Richard Lannoy. 68. Clifford Geertz, John Berger and Arthur C Danto. 69. The Ascent of Man (book) (series) -- Jacob Bronowski. 70. Civilization (book) (series) -- Kenneth Clark. 71. Cosmos (book) (series) -- Carl Sagan. 72. Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, Stephen Jay Gould and Oliver Sacks. 73. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla.. 74. Raag Darbari on Storytel. 75. Krishnamurti's Notebook -- J Krishnamurty. 76. Shame -- Salman Rushdie. 77. Marcovaldo -- Italo Calvino. 78. Metropolis -- Fritz Lang. 79. Mahanagar -- Satyajit Ray. 80. A Momentary Lapse of Reason -- Pink Floyd. 81. Learning to Fly -- Pink Floyd, 82. Collected poems -- Mark Strand. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Dancing in Chains’ by Simahina.
Mon, 08 Jan 2024 - 4h 01min - 364 - Ep 362: You're Ugly and You're Hairy and You're Covered in Shit but You're Mine and I Love You
What is the difference between ch*tiya and dusht? Why are vegetarians evil? Why do Indians do the best bench pressing? Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 362 of The Seen and the Unseen for the most fun conversation ever. Really, ever. We got it certified. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Krish Ashok on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, his own website and Spotify/Apple Music/Soundcloud. 2. Naren Shenoy on Twitter, Instagram and Blogspot. 3. We Are All Amits From Africa -- Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 5. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking — Krish Ashok. 7. We want Narendra Shenoy to write a book. 8. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 9. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 10. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 11. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 16. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 17. Narendra Modi on climate change. 18. Yes Minister -- Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 19. Yes Prime Minister -- Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 20. The Overview Effect. 21. The Day Ryan Started Masturbating -- Amit Varma. 22. Security Check -- Varun Grover. 23. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! -- Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 24. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe -- Douglas Adams. 25. Arrival — Denis Villeneuve. 26. The Hidden Life of Trees — Peter Wohlleben. 27. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) — Amit Varma’s post with Douglas Adams’s puddle quote. 28. Bittu Sahgal on Wikipedia, Instagram, Twitter and Amazon. 29. I Contain Multitudes -- Ed Yong. 30. Song of Myself — Walt Whitman. 31. How I Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes -- Episode 9 of Everything is Everything. 32. Fat Chance -- Robert Lustig on Fructose 2.0. 33. How Sugar & Processed Foods Impact Your Health -- Robert Lustig on The Huberman Lab Podcast. 34. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Privacy 3.0 — Rahul Matthan. 36. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Shruti Jahagirdar's Twitter thread on Bournvita. 38. Shruti Jahagirdar is the Sporty One -- Episode 289 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Seven Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 23 of Everything is Everything. 41. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 42. The Walrus and the Carpenter -- Lewis Carroll. 43. There is no Frigate like a Book -- Emily Dickinson. 44. Why I'm Hopeful About Twitter -- Amit Varma. 45. A decontextualized reel of Dr Pal on The Ranveer Show. 46. The Liver Doctor's feisty response to the reel above. 47. The full interview of Dr Pal on The Ranveer Show. 48. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher — Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Dunbar’s number. 51. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson. 52. Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. 53. The Selfish Gene -- Richard Dawkins. 54. GianChand Whisky. 55. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health — Amit Varma. 56. Homeopathic Faith — Amit Varma. 57. Homeopathy, quackery and fraud — James Randi. 58. Fallacy of Composition. 59. The Secret to a Happy Marriage -- Mike and Joelle. 60. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud -- William Wordsworth. 61. WD 40 on Amazon. 62. Dog Songs -- Mary Oliver. 63. The Evolution of Cooperation -- Robert Axelrod. 64. The Interpreter -- Amit Varma (on Michael Gazzaniga's split-brain experiments). 65. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 66. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 67. Minority Report -- Steven Spielberg. 68. Free Will -- Sam Harris. 69. Determined: Life Without Free Will -- Robert Sapolsky. 70. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky. 71. Noise -- Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein. 72. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley. 73. Cicada -- Shaun Tan. 74. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 75. Are You Just One Version of Yourself? -- Episode 3 of Everything is Everything. 76. Lat Uljhi Suljha Ja Balam -- Bade Ghulam Ali Khan performs Raag Bihag. 77. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture -- Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Danish Husain’s anecdote about Mahatma Gandhi and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. 79. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life -- Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. Arijit Singh on Autotune. 81. How Music Works -- David Byrne. 82. Raga Lalita Gauri -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 83. Raag Lalita Gauri (1947) -- Kesarbai Kerkar. 84. Raga Vibhas -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 85. Mohe Rang Do Laal -- Song from Bajirao Mastani. 86. Raag Basanti Kedar -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 87. Travelling through Pakistan; from Karachi to K2 -- Salman Rashid on The Pakistan Experience, hosted by Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. 88. A rare video of Balasaraswathi dancing while singing Krishna Nee Begane. 89. Krishna Nee Begane Baro -- Madras String Quartet. 90. Albela Sajan -- Hard rock adaptation by Krish Ashok and Vijay Kannan. 91. [Don't Fear] The Reaper -- Blue Oyster Cult. 92. Krish Ashok's Sanskrit version of the song above. 93. Purple Haze -- Jimi Hendrix. 94. All That She Wants — Ace of Base. 95. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna). 96. Brown Eyed Girl -- Van Morrison. 97. Astral Weeks -- Van Morrison. 98. Moondance -- Van Morrison. 99. Episode on Astral Weeks in the podcast, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. 100. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 101. Advaita on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 102. Raman Negi on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 103. Greta Van Fleet and The Mars Volta on Spotify. 104. Shakti and Indian Ocean on Spotify. 105. Pink Floyd and Kendrick Lamar on Spotify. 106. Analysis of Food Pairing in Regional Cuisines of India -- Anupam Jain, Rakhi NK and Ganesh Bagler. 107. Krish Ashok's reel explaining the above paper. 108. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 109. How to Show, Not Tell: The Complete Writing Guide -- Diane Callahan. 110. We Love Vaccines! We Love Freedom! -- Episode 27 of Everything is Everything. 111. Math Is Better Than the Brigadier's Girlfriend -- Episode 15 of Everything is Everything. 112. Chintaman and I -- Durgabai Deshmukh. 113. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 114. Lady Doctors -- Kavitha Rao. 115. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast talking about one-way doors and two-way doors. 116. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why — Amit Varma. 117. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 118. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything. 119. ChuChuTV. 120. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia — Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 121. The State of the Ukraine War -- Episode 14 of Everything is Everything. 122. King Lear -- William Shakespeare. 123. Churchill: Walking with Destiny -- Andrew Roberts. 124. Churchill and the genocide myth — Zareer Masani. 125. Perplexity. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘’Let's Dance" by Simahina.
Mon, 01 Jan 2024 - 6h 23min - 363 - Ep 361: Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities
Cities are that miraculous technology that bring people together to make us all better, richer, happier. But bad planning, or even too much planning, can turn them into hellholes. Pritika Hingorani joins Amit Varma in episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights on how we should think about cities, how governments do policy, and what economics can bring to urban planning. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pritika Hingorani at Artha Global and Twitter. 2. The Importance of Cities — Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani). 3. Financing urban infrastructure for an evolving India -- Pritika Hingorani, Sharmadha Srinivasan & Harshita Agrawal. 4. Reforming Urban India -- Pritika Hingorani et al. (Page 14 of this report has the map Pritika mentions in the episode.) 5. India Infrastructure Report: Making Housing Affordable -- Various authors. 6. Bombay: The Cities Within -- Sharada Dwiwedi and Rahul Mehrotra. 7. Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities -- Alain Bertaud. 8. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs. 9. Norwegian Wood -- Haruki Murakami. 10. Absolutely on Music -- Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa. 11. Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami on Amazon. 12. Piercing -- Ryu Murakami. 13. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy -- Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 15. Miniature early episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on FSI and Rent Control with Alex Tabarrok, and Slums with Pavan Srinath. 16. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando De Soto. 17. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro. 19. Urban expansion: theory, evidence and practice -- Shlomo Angel. 20. Atlas of Urban Expansion. 21. Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization -- Justin Marozzi. 22. The City and the City -- China Miéville. 23. The Faltering Escalator of Urban Opportunity -- David Autor. 24. The Shane Parrish tweet on WFH. 25. Securing the Home Market -- Alice Amsden. 26. The Elusive Quest for Growth -- William Easterly. 27. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 28. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 29. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic -- Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 30. Parkinson’s Law. 31. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State — Amit Varma. 33. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 34. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 35. The Skeptical Environmentalist — Bjorn Lomborg. 36. London 1870-1914: A City at Its Zenith -- Andrew Saint. 37. Modi’s Lost Opportunity — ep 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz). 38. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 39. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 41. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 42. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 44. Living London History -- The blog Pritika mentions. 45. Good Bye, Lenin -- Wolfgang Becker. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘These Are People’ by Simahina.
Mon, 25 Dec 2023 - 3h 39min - 362 - Ep 360: Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol
The world is changing fast. Technology can be used to empower us -- and also to hack our brains & our lives. What laws do we need to protect our freedoms? Rahul Matthan joins Amit Varma in episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his work on privacy -- and on a new, subtle approach towards data governance. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rahul Matthan on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Trilegal, Substack and his own website. 2. Privacy 3.0: Unlocking Our Data-Driven Future -- Rahul Matthan. 3. The Third Way: India’s Revolutionary Approach to Data Governance -- Rahul Matthan. 4. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World -- Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Roam Research. 7. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia. 8. Tana, Obsidian and Notion. 9. Getting Things Done -- David Allen. 10. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 11. Hallelujah (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Leonard Cohen. 12. Hallelujah (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Jeff Buckley. 13. The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah" -- Alan Light. 14. Hallelujah on Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell. 15. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life -- Anne Lamott. 16. The New Basement Tapes. (Also Wikipedia.) 17. Kansas City -- Marcus Mumford. 18. The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial -- Venkatesh Rao. 19. Vitalik Buterin Fights the Dragon-Tyrant — Episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Paul Graham on Twitter and his own website. (His essays are extraordinary.) 21. Ribbonfarm by Venkatesh Rao. 22. The Network State -- Balaji Srinivasan. 23. Marc Andreessen on Twitter. 24. The Techno-Optimist Manifesto -- Marc Andreessen. 25. Siddhartha Mukherjee and Carlo Rovelli on Amazon. 26. For the Lord (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Rahul Matthan. 27. Predicting the Future -- Rahul Matthan (on Asimov's concept of Psychohistory etc). 28. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature — Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Looking-Glass Self. 30. Panopticon. 31. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture -- Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 33. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 34. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! — Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 35. The Right to Privacy -- Samuel D Warren and Louis D Brandeis. 36. John Locke on Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Wikipedia and Econlib. 37. Build for Tomorrow -- Jason Feifer. 38. Ex Machina -- Alex Garland. 39. Arrival -- Denis Villeneuve. 40. The Great Manure Crisis of 1894 -- Rahul Matthan. 41. Climate Change and Our Power Sector — Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 42. The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect -- Judea Pearl. 43. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma on Alpha Zero. 44. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast, produced by Amit Varma. 45. Human and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare -- Episode 4 of Brave New World (w Eric Topol). 46. The Colonial Constitution -- Arghya Sengupta. 47. Beyond Consent: A New Paradigm for Data Protection -- Rahul Matthan. 48. The Puttaswamy case. 49. Judicial Reforms in India -- Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alok Prasanna Kumar.) 50. Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility among India’s Professional Elite -- Swethaa S Ballakrishnen. 51. Magic Fruit: A Poetic Trip -- Vaishnav Vyas. 52. Hermanos Gutiérrez and Arc De Soleil on Spotify. 53. The Travelling Salesman Problem. 54. The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet -- Jeff Kosseff. 55. Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace -- Lawrence Lessig. 56. Financial Inclusion and Digital Transformation in India -- Suyash Rai. 57. No Time for False Modesty -- Rahul Matthan. 58. In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 59. Once Upon a Prime -- Sarah Hart. 60. The Greatest Invention -- Silvia Ferrara. 61. Surveillance State -- Josh Chin and Liza Lin. 62. Surveillance Valley -- Yasha Levine. 63. Sex Robots and Vegan Meat -- Jenny Kleeman. 64. How to Take Smart Notes -- Sönke Ahrens. 65. The Creative Act -- Rick Rubin. 66. How to Write One Song -- Jeff Tweedy. 67. Adrian Tchaikovsky and NK Jemisin on Amazon. 68. Snarky Puppy. on Spotify and YouTube. 69. Empire Central -- Snarky Puppy. 70. Polyphia on Spotify and YouTube. 71. The Lazarus Project on Jio Cinema. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Protocol’ by Simahina.
Mon, 18 Dec 2023 - 5h 11min - 361 - Ep 359: Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture
He is a writer, an actor, a poet, a storyteller, an anti-storyteller -- and he cares about both the world outside and the one inside. Danish Husain joins Amit Varma in episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Danish Husain on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Wikipedia and IMDb. 2. TheHoshrubaRepertory, Qissebaazi and Poetrification. 3. Danish Husain interviewed by Irfan for Jashn-e-Rekhta. 4. The art of storytelling -- Danish Husain interviewed by Purva Naresh. 5. 'Becoming the story when performing it' -- Danish Husain interviewed by Roanna Gonsalves. 6. The 27 Club. 7. Self-Portrait — AK Ramanujan. 8. The Mysterious Arrival of an Unusual Letter -- Mark Strand. 9. Collected Poems — Mark Strand. 10. Man's Search For Meaning -- Viktor E Frankl. 11. The Importance of Satya — Episode 241 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Uday Bhatia). 12. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 14. Out of Place: A Memoir -- Edward Said. 15. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 17. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 19. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 20. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 21. Santosh Desai is Watching You -- Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Bombay--London--New York -- Amitava Kumar. 24. Fighting Fake News — Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 25. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 26. Life is Elsewhere -- Milan Kundera. 27. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 28. Ignaz Semmelweis on Britannica and Wikipedia. 29. India’s Tryst With Pandemics -- Episode 205 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 30. Age of Pandemics — Chinmay Tumbe. 31. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 32. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 33. Scene: 75 -- Rahi Masoom Raza (translated by Poonam Saxena). 34. Folktales From India — Edited by AK Ramanujan. 35. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 36. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Stage.in. 38. The Age of Average -- Alex Murrell. 39. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! -- Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 40. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 41. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 42. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 43. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 44. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. ‘Indian languages carry the legacy of caste’ — Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 46. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 47. Premchand, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie on Amazon. 48. Milan Kundera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Saul Bellow, Henry Miller and Octavio Paz on Amazon.. 49. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 50. Selected Poems -- Dom Moraes. 51. Theatres of Independence -- Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker. 52. Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chugtai on Amazon. 53. Toba Tek Singh -- Saadat Hasan Manto. 55. How Music Works -- David Byrne. 56. Danish Husain's anecdote about Mahatma Gandhi and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. 57. Poems -- Louise Glück. 58. Harmony in the Boudoir -- Mark Strand. 59. And Then One Day: A Memoir -- Naseeruddin Shah. 60. Kohrra -- Created by Sudip Sharma and directed by Randeep Jha.. 61. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 62. Make Me a Canteen for My Soul — Episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage). 63. The Aaron Levie tweet on the market for cars. 64. 'A feeble no may mean yes': Indian court overturns rape conviction -- Michael Safi. 65. Grace is Poetry -- Danish Husain. 66. Train-Track Figure -- Kay Ryan. 67. अंधा कबाड़ी -- नून मीम राशिद. 68. The Conjurer of Meaning -- Danish Husain. 69. Converse: Contemporary English Poetry by Indians -- Edited by Sudeep Sen. 67. Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English: 2022 -- Edited by Sukrita Paul Kumar & Vinita Agrawal. 68. मत बुरा उस को कहो गरचे वो अच्छा भी नहीं -- कलीम आजिज़. 69. शम्-ए-तन्हा की तरह सुब्ह के तारे जैसे -- इरफ़ान सिद्दीक़ी.. 70. हुस्न-ए-मह गरचे ब-हंगाम-ए-कमाल अच्छा है -- मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब. 71. हिरास -- साहिर लुधियानवी. 72. Separation -- WS Merwin 73. वो जो इक शर्त थी वहशत की उठा दी गई क्या -- इरफ़ान सिद्दीक़ी. 74. तुम्हें डर है. -- गोरख पाण्डेय. 75. शायद कि ये ज़माना उन्हें पूजने लगे -- अब्दुल वहाब सुख़न. 76. Kya sitam hai waqt ka -- Madan Mohan Danish. 77. फ़राज़ अब कोई सौदा कोई जुनूँ भी नहीं -- फ़राज़. 78. कौन-सी बात कहाँ , कैसे कही जाती है -- वसीम बरेलवी. 79. A Plain Landscape -- Danish Husain. 80. इतिहास की कगार -- दानिश हुसैन. 81. Jawaab -- Kumar Ambuj (translated by Danish Husain). 82. Your Touch -- Danish Husain. 83. The Joke -- Milan Kundera. 84. Herzog -- Saul Bellow. 85. Edward Said, Mary Oliver and Toni Morrison on Amazon. 86. Step Across This Line -- Salman Rushdie. 87. Harishankar Parsai, John Kenneth Galbraith and AS Byatt on Amazon. 88. Garam Hawa -- MS Sathyu. 89. Shatranj Ke Khilari -- Satyajit Ray. 90. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppolla. 91. Do Ankhen Barah Haath -- V Shantaram. 92. Mandi -- Shyam Benegal. 93. Party -- Govind Nihalani. 94. Khosla Ka Ghosla! -- Dibakar Banerjee. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Actor as a Builder of Worlds’ by Simahina.
Mon, 11 Dec 2023 - 6h 17min - 360 - Ep 358: The Semiconductor Wars
Semiconductors power much of modern technology -- and thus, our lives and our politics. Pranay Kotasthane and Abhiram Manchi join Amit Varma in episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on how so much geopolitics today centres around chips -- and why its such a big deal. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution. 2. Abhiram Manchi on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and the Takshashila Institution. 3. When the Chips Are Down: A Deep Dive into a Global Crisis -- Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi. 4. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (co-hosted with Saurabh Chandra). 5. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley. 6. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S Jaitley). 7. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter. 8. Siliconpolitik -- The tech newsletter started by Pranay Kotasthane. 9. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 11. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 12. Ilya Sutskever on the dinner invite from Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. 13. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati, with the quote about perfection being the enemy of production). 14. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Chip War -- Chris Miller. 16. The New World Upon Us (2017) -- Amit Varma. 17. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 19. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world -- Amit Varma. 20. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 21. I, Pencil — Leonard Read. 22. The Three Globalizations -- Episode 17 of Everything is Everything. 23. The Great Redistribution (2015) -- Amit Varma. 24. A trade deficit with a babysitter (2005) -- Tim Harford. 25. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker. 26. Paper Tigers, Hidden Dragons -- Douglas B Fuller. 27. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 28. Jawaan -- Atlee. 29. Terry Pratchett on Amazon. 30. Robert Sapolsky and Joseph Henrich on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Fighting for Chips’ by Simahina.
Mon, 04 Dec 2023 - 3h 23min - 359 - Ep 357: Seema Sirohi and the View From Washington
She's covered US-India relations as a foreign correspondent for more than 30 years -- and now she's told that momentous story in a book. Seema Sirohi joins Amit Varma in episode 357 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life as a journalist -- and the love-hate relationship between countries that she saw at close quarters. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Seema Sirohi on Twitter, Economic Times, India Today and Amazon. 2. Friends with Benefits: The India-US Story -- Seema Sirohi. 3. The Luxury Travel Expert on YouTube. 4. The Front Page -- Billy Wilder. 5. The Bhopal Gas Tragedies -- Episode 35 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 6. Playboy Stories: The Best of Forty Years of Short Fiction -- Edited by Alice K Turner. 7. Marginal Revolution -- Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok. 8. Persuasion -- Founded and edited by Yascha Mounk. 9. 9/11 and Pakistan’s economy (2006) -- Amit Varma on the Al Faeda nickname. 10. Government’s End: Why Washington Stopped Working — Jonathan Rauch. 11. Kicking Schoolbags (2006) -- Amit Varma. 12. The Three Globalizations -- Episode 17 of Everything is Everything. 13. Dawn of the third globalisation? -- Ajay Shah. 14. Caste -- Isabel Wilkerson. 15. A People's History of the United States -- Howard Zinn. 16. A Tale of Love and Darkness -- Amos Oz. 17. The Bureau, The Americans, Kohrra and Made in Heaven. 18. To Sir, With Love (the book) -- ER Braithwaite. 19. To Sir, With Love (the film) -- James Clavell.. 20. Doctor Zhivago -- David Lean. 21. A Dry White Season -- Euzhan Palcy. 22. Cry Freedom -- Richard Attenborough's film on Steve Biko. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Foreign Correspondent’ by Simahina.
Mon, 27 Nov 2023 - 3h 40min - 358 - Ep 356: Santosh Desai is Watching You
What is this world we live in, and how did we get here? One of the finest thinkers on this subject is in the house. Santosh Desai joins Amit Varma in episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Indian society and this changing world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Santosh Desai on Twitter, the Times of India, LinkedIn, Futurebrands and his own website. 2. Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense Of Everyday India -- Santosh Desai. 3. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 4. The Slimfit Conspiracy -- Santosh Desai. 5. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Great Indian Rope Trick? -- Santosh Desai. 7. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 8. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! — Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 10. Nick Carter, PG Wodehouse and Arthur Hailey on Amazon. 11. Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco on Amazon. 12. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (1877-1977) — Compiled & edited by Bill Frindall. 13. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma’s column on reading. 14. Dom Moraes on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Poem Hunter. 15. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 16. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 17. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 19. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 20. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam. 21. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 22. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 23. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 24. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 25. The Guilty Pleasures of Digital Dawdling -- Santosh Desai. 26. 30 years on, you can get what you want but don’t know what you need -- Santosh Desai. 27. How traditions give meaning to our lives -- Santosh Desai. 28. The Median Voter Theorem. 29. Mohammad Zubair’s Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad. 30. Inverting the Behaviour Change Paradigm? -- Santosh Desai. 31. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 32. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy -- Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 34. Living Two Lives in Digital India -- Santosh Desai. 35. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 36. The Experience Machine. 37. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 38. Song of Myself — Walt Whitman. 39. Baaba Maal and Advaita on Spotify.. 40. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Paul Cézanne, Krishen Khanna, Jayasri Burman and Gogi Saroj Pal. 41. Sudhir Kakar, Ashis Nandy, Roland Barthes, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong and John Berger on Amazon. 42. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘He Sees Everything’ by Simahina.
Mon, 20 Nov 2023 - 3h 26min - 357 - Ep 355: The Life and Times of KP Krishnan
India has travelled a long way in the last few decades -- and one man had an inside view of the whole process, shaping policy and trying to fix the nation. KP Krishnan joins Amit Varma in episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his extraordinary life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. KP Krishnan at Centre for Policy Research.. 2. KP Krishnan interviewed in CPR Perspectives by Rohan Venkat: Part 1, Part 2. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 4. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 5. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 6. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 7. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis -- Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 9. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) — Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik). 10. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been — Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 11. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World -- Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 13. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 14. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 15. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar — Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra. 17. Why Freedom Matters — Episode 10 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 18. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 19. Ivan Menezes (1959-2023): A personal recollection of his journey -- Arvind Subramanian. 20. College pedigree, daddy’s name, BBC accent no longer golden ticket. India has a growing new elite -- Shekhar Gupta. 21. Memoirs of a Maverick -- Mani Shankar Aiyar. 22. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 23. KM Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra. 24. Rustom -- Tinu Suresh Desai. 25. Kesavananda Bharati v. The State of Kerala Who Wins? -- PK Tripathi. 26. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. The China Model is Broken -- Episode 16 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 28. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 29. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 30. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 31. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 33. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 34. Hindi Against India: The Meaning of DMK -- Mohan Ram. 35. Governments across the world are discovering “homeland economics” -- Callum Williams. 36. Living Two Lives in Digital India -- Santosh Desai. 37. Rahul Matthan on Twitter, Amazon, LinkedIn and Trilegal. 38. Climate Change and Our Power Sector — Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 39. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change — Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Vishnu Sahasranamam - MS Subbulakshmi. 41. Foyle's War -- Created by Anthony Horowitz. 42. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 43. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. The Percy Mistry Report. 46. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 47. The Logic of Collective Action — Mancur Olson. 48. The Alchemy of Finance — George Soros. 49. Amid 2008 meltdown, how short-selling survived a ban -- P Vaidyanathan Iyer. 50. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 51. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on Demonetisation, collected in one Twitter thread. 52. We Also Make Policy -- Subhash Chandra Garg. 53. Parkinson's Law. 54. Shashank Subramanyam, N Ramani and RK Srikantan on Spotify. 55. The Truth Pill -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. 56. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma — Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 57. The Third Way: India’s Revolutionary Approach to Data Governance -- Rahul Matthan. 58. Whole Numbers And Half Truths -- Rukmini S. 59. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 60. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 61. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India -- Narayani Basu. 62. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘A Civil Servant’ by Simahina.
Mon, 13 Nov 2023 - 8h 03min - 356 - Ep 354: Figuring Out Motherhood
Motherhood is a terrifying condition that changes a woman's life forever. Forget coping with it -- how do you even understand it? Priya Mathews and Gunjan Grover Gupta join Amit Varma in episode 354 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss all they have learnt from being mothers, processing the experience, and their cult podcast, The Mommy Mix Tape. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Priya Mathews and Gunjan Grover Gupta on Instagram.. 2. The Mommy Mix Tape -- The most awesome parenting podcast ever by Priya Mathews, Bakul Dua and Gunjan Grover Gupta. 3. The Mommy Mix Tape on Instagram. 4. A Life's Work -- Rachel Cusk. 5. Of Woman Born -- Adrienne Rich. 6. The Child, the Family, and the Outside World -- Donald Winnicott. 7. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra (1, 2), Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar, Rohini Nilekani and Shaili Chopra. 8. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 9. Gaurav Chintamani on Instagram. 10. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel. 11. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 12. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 14. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 16. Pallavi Aiyar Has Seen the World -- Episode 351 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Babies and Bylines — Pallavi Aiyar. 18. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 19. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 20. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 21. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 22. Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World — Episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. The Nurture Assumption -- Judith Rich Harris. 24. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 25. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 26. Happiness Class: A Film by Samina Mishra. 27. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 29. Hold on to Your Kids -- Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté. 30. The Breeders on Disney Hotstar. 31. My Daughter's Mum -- Natasha Badhwar. 32. I Will -- The Beatles. 33. All You Need is Love -- Shelja Sen. 34. The Whole-Brain Child -- Daniel J Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson. 32. Frances Ha -- Noah Baumbach. 33. The Lost Daughter -- Maggie Gyllenhaal. 34. How to Apologize -- David LaRochelle & Mike Wohnoutka. 35. I Talk Like a River -- Jordan Scott & Sydney Smith. 36. Cry, Heart, But Never Break -- Glenn Ringtved & Charlotte Pardi. 37. A Stone For Sascha -- Aaron Becker. 38. Journey -- Aaron Becker. 39. How War Changed Rondo -- Romana Romanyshyn & Andriy Lesiv. 40. The Wanderer -- Peter Van den Ende. 41. Cicada -- Shaun Tan. 42. The Arrival -- Shaun Tan. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Mother Looking Out, Looking In’ by Simahina.
Mon, 06 Nov 2023 - 3h 02min - 355 - Ep 353: Apar Gupta Fights the Good Fight
How does technology affect our rights? Do we need protection from the state and Big Tech? Apar Gupta joins Amit Varma in episode 353 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his battle for digital rights in India. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Apar Gupta on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, IFF and YouTube. 2. Internet Freedom Foundation. (Donate to it!) 3. Apar Gupta's application to the Ashoka Fellowship (effectively a mini-autobiography). 4. IFF Wrapped, Unwrapped -- 2022 year-end event. 5. The Fine Line of Free Speech in India -- Apar Gupta. 6. When lawyers speak, they argue -- Apar Gupta. 7. I Don't Know -- Apar Gupta. 8. The archives of India Law and Technology Blog. 9. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 10. The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad — Episode 302 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Amartya Ghosh on Spotify. 12. Neighbours Envy, Owners Pride -- Onida commercial. 13. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne. 14. Permanent Record -- Edward Snowden. 15. Nehru's India -- Taylor Sherman. 16. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 18. The Shallows -- Nicholas Carr. 19. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Why India Votes— Mukulika Banerjee. 21. Vlogbrothers, Tom Scott and Hardcore History. 22. The Techno-Optimist Manifesto -- Marc Andreeson. 23. Zero to One -- Peter Thiel. 24. Narendra Modi interviewed by Rajeev Shukla. 25. Sacred Games. 26. The Road Ahead -- Bill Gates. 27. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Vladimir Nabokov on Wikipedia and Amazon. 29. The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald. 30. Ruth Bader Ginsberg on Wikipedia and Amazon, 31. The Notebook Trilogy — Agota Kristof. 32. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 33. Jinnah -- Jaswant Singh. 34. Gujarat High Court lifts ban on Jaswant's book on Jinnah -- Saeed Khan. 35. Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. 36. Charges dropped against girls held for Facebook post -- PTI. 37. Nikhil Pahwa on Twitter, LinkedIn, MediaNama and his own site. 38. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Nikhil Pahwa: 1, 2, 3. 39. Chandrahas Choudhury on Instagram, Amazon and The Middle Stage. 40. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature -- Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Kiran Jonnalagadda on Twitter and Hasgeek. 42. Sedition charges dropped against Aseem Trivedi -- PTI. 43. Justice K.S.Puttaswamy(Retd) vs Union Of India. 44. Hello world - and happy Independence Day! (2016) -- Apar Gupta. 45. IFF on Reddit. 46. Twitter and Tear Gas — Zeynep Tufekci. 47. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 48. Anushka Jain's thread on SRK and digital rights. 49. IFF's Aarogya Setu Infographic. 50. The AgriStack: A Primer -- Rohin Garg. 51. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen. 52. The Struggle And The Promise -- Naushad Forbes. 53. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments. 54. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 55. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 56. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 57. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 59. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 60. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 62. Why Freedom Matters — Episode 10 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 63. India’s Far From Free Markets (2005) — Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal. 64. Don’t Insult Pasta (2007) — Amit Varma. 65. The Matunga Racket (2007) — Amit Varma. 66. One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second-Class Citizens (2018) -- Amit Varma. 67. The Colonial Constitution -- Arghya Sengupta. 68. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 69. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh. 70. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De. 71. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 73. Roland Barthes and John Berger on Amazon. 74. Bombay Progressive Artists' Group and Gond art. 75. Bill Evans on Spotify and YouTube. 76. Night Song and Mustt Mustt -- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with Michael Brook. 77. Doppelganger -- Naomi Klein. 78. Automating Inequality -- Virginia Eubanks. 79. The Speaking Constitution -- KG Kannabiran. 80. The Wages of Impunity -- KG Kannabiran. 81. The Good Fight. 82. Court and The Disciple -- Chaitanya Tamhane. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Carrying a Torch’ by Simahina.
Mon, 30 Oct 2023 - 4h 44min - 354 - Ep 352: The Bankable Wisdom of Harsh Vardhan
He's been a consultant, an expert on the financial sector, and now lives a life of the mind. Harsh Vardhan joins Amit Varma in episode 352 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Harsh Vardhan on The Leap Blog, Ideas for India, Money Control and Bloomberg Quint. 2. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 3. Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, Mario Vargas Llosa and VS Naipaul on Amazon. 4. BS Mardhekar on Wikipedia and Amazon. 5. Vijay Tendulkar (Wikipedia, Amazon) and Mahesh Elkunchwar (Wikipedia, Amazon). 6. Mirza Ghalib on Wikipedia and Rekhta. 7. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. What Really Happened? — Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis. 9. Fragile by Design -- Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber. 10. The post-pandemic credit landscape in India -- Rajeswari Sengupta and Harsh Vardhan. 11. ‘Consumerisation’ of banking in India: Cyclical or structural? -- Rajeswari Sengupta and Harsh Vardhan. 12. A decade of credit collapse in India -- Harsh Vardhan. 13. Thinking about financial sector reforms in India -- Rajeswari Sengupta and Harsh Vardhan. 14. The Metamorphosis -- Franz Kafka. 15. Lord of the Flies -- William Golding. 16. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 17. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 18. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. 19. Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World -- Episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Who Is Bharat Mata? -- Edited by Purushottam Agrawal. 21. Kishori Amonkar and Kumar Gandharva on Spotify. 22. The Wonder That Was India -- AL Basham. 23. Romila Thapar on Amazon. 24. Desert Island Discs on BBC. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Bank on Him’ by Simahina.
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 - 3h 04min - 353 - Ep 351: Pallavi Aiyar Has Seen the World
She's been a journalist, travelled the world, lived in nine countries, fought and beaten cancer -- and written about it all in exquisite prose. Pallavi Aiyar joins Amit Varma in episode 351 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pallavi Aiyar on Substack, Amazon, Twitter and her own website. 2. Smoke and Mirrors -- Pallavi Aiyar. 3. Orienting -- Pallavi Aiyar. 4. Babies and Bylines -- Pallavi Aiyar. 5. The Acting Life -- Episode 189 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rasika Dugal and Mukul Chadda). 6. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 7. Orphaned and almost married at 10 -- Pallavi Aiyar about her grandmother. 8. Who's Afraid of Cola Colonialism? -- Pallavi Aiyar. 9. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 12. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Train-Track Figure -- Kay Ryan. 16. The Arias-Aiyar global khichdi -- Pallavi Aiyar. 17. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar's columns and homepage. 19. A tribute to my mother, Gitanjali Aiyar -- Pallavi Aiyar. 20. Confessions of a terrible guru -- Pallavi Aiyar. 21. Children and Death -- Pallavi Aiyar. 22. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar — Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 24. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. The Coming Collapse Of China -- Gordon G Chang. 26. Lord of the Rings -- Pallavi Aiyar. 27. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 28. We Are All Amits From Africa -- Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 29. How The Desperate Norwegian Salmon Industry Created A Sushi Staple -- Jess Jiang. 30. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! -- Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 31. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 32. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 33. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 35. Butter Chicken in Ludhiana -- Pankaj Mishra. 36. An End to Suffering -- Pankaj Mishra. 37. A Room of One's Own -- Virginia Woolf. 38. My Mother's Magic Jar of Happiness -- Pallavi Aiyar. 39. In between the Kingdoms of the Well and Sick -- Pallavi Aiyar. 40. Farewell, good breast -- Pallavi Aiyar. 41. I Am, I Am, I Am -- Maggie O'Farrell. 42. Reggaeton. 43. Bad Bunny on Spotify and YouTube. 44. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. 45. Dead Poets Society -- Peter Weir. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Harbour’ by Simahina.
Mon, 16 Oct 2023 - 3h 12min - 352 - Ep 350: Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World
He built a career and a life through sheer force of will -- and he applies that intentionality to everything in his life. Sudhir Sarnobat joins Amit Varma in episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his learnings and the frameworks he wants to share with others. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Sudhir Sarnobat on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2. How Frameworks -- Sudhir Sarnobat's new venture. 3. Ascent Foundation. 4. The Crypto Masterclass playlist compiled by Sudhir Sarnobat. 5. What is Intellectual Investment Planning? -- Sudhir Sarnobat on CTQ Smartcast. 6. The Teaching Learning Community (TLC), founded by Rajendra Bagwe. 7. Reliable Autotech, Rajendra Bagwe's company. 8. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 9. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 10. Think and Grow Rich -- Napolean Hill. 11. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 12. The Design of Everyday Things -- Don Norman. 13. Bridgital Nation -- N Chandrasekaran and Roopa Purushothaman. 14. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 15. Vitalik Buterin Fights the Dragon-Tyrant -- Episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vitalik Buterin). 16. How I Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes -- Episode 9 of Everything is Everything. 17. Sudhir Sarnobat's tribute to The Seen and the Unseen at ep 200. 18. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 19. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life -- Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. Sudhir Sarnobat's recommendations Writing in English 1. Everything by Paul Graham. 2. Everything at Farnham Street. 3. Everything at Collab Fund. 4. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt. 5. The Great Mental Models -- Shane Parrish. 6. Atomic Habits -- James Clear. 7. The Psychology Of Money -- Morgan Housel. 8. Principles -- Ray Dalio. 9. Deep Work -- Cal Newport. 10. Steve Jobs -- Walter Isaacson. 11. Open -- Andre Agassi. 12. A Gentleman in Moscow -- Amor Towles. 13. Family Matters -- Rohinton Mistry. 14. A Fine Balance -- Rohinton Mistry. 15. A Man Called Ove -- Fredrik Backman. 16. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine -- Gail Honeyman. 17. Ghachar Ghochar -- Vivek Shanbhag (translated by Srinath Perur). Writing in Marathi 1. Vyakti ani Valli -- PL Deshpande. 2. Batatyachi Chal -- PL Deshpande. 3. Asa Mi Asami -- PL Deshpande. 4. Apurvai -- PL Deshpande. 5. Purvrang -- PL Deshpande. 6. Mahimchi Khadi -- Madhu Mangesh Karnik. 7. Mrutyunjay -- Shivaji Sawant. 8. Swami -- Ranjeet Desai. 9. Shrimanyogi -- Ranjeet Desai. 10. Radheya -- Ranjeet Desai. 11. Yayati -- VS Khandekar. 12. Duniyadari -- Suhas Shirvalkar. 13. Partner -- VP Kale. Movies 1. Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 2. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro — Kundan Shah. 3. Dil Chahta Hai -- Farhan Akhtar. 4. Delhi Belly -- Abhinay Deo. 5. Dil Dhadakne Do -- Zoya Akhtar. 6. Lunchbox -- Ritesh Batra. 7. Wake Up Sid -- Ayan Mukerji. 8. Dhobi Ghat -- Kiran Rao. 9. Masaan — Neeraj Ghaywan. 10. Gangs of Wasseypur -- Anurag Kashyap. 11. A Wednesday -- Neeraj Pandey. 12. Mandela -- Madonne Ashwin. 13. The Great Indian Kitchen -- Jeo Baby. 14. Kumbalangi Nights -- Madhu C. Narayanan. 15. Gamak Ghar -- Achal Mishra. 16. The Banshees of Inisherin -- Martin McDonagh. 17. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. 18. Three Colors: Red -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 19. Three Colors: White -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 20. Three Colors: Blue -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 21. Jait Re Jait -- Jabbar Patel. 22. Sinhasan -- Jabbar Patel. 23. Umbartha -- Jabbar Patel. 24. Court -- Chaitanya Tamhane. 25. Harishchandrachi Factory -- Paresh Mokashi. 26. Doghi -- Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar. 27. Dombivali Fast -- Nishikanth Kamath. English OTTs and Mini-series Game of Thrones, Mad Men, The West Wing, The Wire, The Newsroom, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Ted Lasso, Mindhunter, Chernobyl and The Queen's Gambit. Indian OTTSDahaad, Guns and Gulabs, The Bear, Kohrra, Asur and Modern Love Chennai. Restaurants Konkan Cafe, Thai Pavilion, Americano, Bombay Canteen, O Pedro, Masala Library, Cin Cin, Hakkasan, Nutcracker, Masque, Thai Naam, Hotel Surekha, Hotel Prakash, Ashok Vadapav, Udyan Ganesh Bhaji Pav, Sri Krishna Vada/Kande Pohe Samosa (Manju cha Vada), Mamledaar Misal, Dhangar, Divatya Budhalya, Marz-O-Rin Sandwiches, Samosas in Cafe Naaz, Karavalli, Ponnusamy, Arsalan, Flury's, Peter Cat, Aheli, 6 Ballygunge Place, Nizam's Rolls and Jhaal Moori. Perfumes Terre d'Hermes, Bleu de Chanel, Acqua di Gio, CK One, Sauvage, Boss Infinite, Luna Rossa Ocean and Tom Ford Noir Extreme. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Seekar’ by Simahina.
Mon, 09 Oct 2023 - 5h 23min - 351 - Ep 349: The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran
Why did the Middle East fall behind Europe despite being in a similar state in 1000 AD? How do modern authoritarians benefit from our tendency to falsify our preferences? Timur Kuran joins Amit Varma in episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his learnings from history -- and what they teach us about today. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Timur Kuran on Twitter, Wikipedia, Google Scholar and Duke University. 2. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 3. The Long Divergence -- Timur Kuran. 4. Freedoms Delayed -- Timur Kuran. 5. You Will Know Them By Their Unpopular Views -- Bryan Caplan. 6. The Hindu Equilibrium -- Deepak Lal. 7. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. James M Buchanan, Albert O Hirschman, Mancur Olson, Thomas Schelling and Kenneth Arrow. 10. The Logic of Collective Action -- Mancur Olson. 11. Micromotives and Macrobehavior -- Thomas Schelling. 12. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty -- Albert O Hirschman. 13. A Theory of Justice — John Rawls. 14. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 15. A Trump wave is on the way (2016) -- Glenn Reynolds. 16. It’s Cascading Trump, It’s Cascading Modi! (2016) -- Amit Varma. 17. Instapundit -- Glenn Reynolds's blog. 18. Marginal Revolution. 19. Bari Weiss on Twitter, Substack and her own website. 20. VS Naipaul on Amazon. 21. Solomon Asch's experiments. 22. Irreversible Damage -- Abigail Shrier. 23. Luxury Beliefs. 24. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 25. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 26. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma. 27. The Beautiful Tree — James Tooley. 28. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 30. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando De Soto. 31. Belling the Cat. 32. Oppenheimer -- Christopher Nolan. 33. Censored -- Margaret E Roberts.. 34. The Art of Not Being Governed -- James C Scott. 35. Domination & the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts -- James C Scott. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ by Simahina.
Mon, 02 Oct 2023 - 5h 19min - 350 - Ep 348: Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants
From Ganja Park in Kolkata to lock-ups in 13 countries, he has travelled the world and lived through mad times. Devangshu Datta joins Amit Varma in episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Bengalis who make bombs, Gujaratis who make fetish costumes, his river pirate ancestors and how Only Fans has disrupted Pornhub. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Devangshu Datta on Twitter and Business Standard. 2. Previous (miniature) episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Devangshu Datta: 1, 2, 3. 3. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 5. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 6. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 7. Godwin's Law. 8. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 9. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 10. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 11. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 12. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher — Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama -- David Remnick. 14. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu. 15. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 16. 'How big is your Madhya Pradesh?' -- Mamata Banerjee asks a party worker to lose weight. 17. Patriots, Poets and Prisoners: Selections from Ramananda Chatterjee's The Modern Review, 1907-1947 -- Edited by Anikendra Sen, Devangshu Datta and Nilanjana S Roy. 18. The State of Indian Sport — Episode 238 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya & Nandan Kamath). 19. Early Indians -- Tony Joseph. 20. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 21. All Quiet on the Western Front -- Erich Maria Remarque. 22. The Dosadi Experiment (featuring Jorj X. McKie) -- Frank Herbert. 23. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia -- Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 24. Lost Victories -- Erich von Manstein. 25. Basic Chess Endings -- Reuben Fine. 26. The Tamilian Gentleman Who Took on the World — Amit Varma. 27. The New World Upon Us -- Amit Varma on Alpha Zero. 28. Alpha Zero -- Episode 51 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devangshu Datta). 29. Google’s AlphaZero Destroys Stockfish In 100-Game Match — Mike Klein (with Peter Heine Nielson's quote on a superior species playing chess). 30. Skynet (Terminator). 31. Neuromancer -- William Gibson. 32. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson. 33. Why Children Labour (2007) — Amit Varma. 34. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm -- Kim Cattrall and Mark Levinson. 36. Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones. 37. The Matunga Racket (2007) -- Amit Varma. 38. Colleen Hoover on Amazon, Instagram, Wikipedia and her own website. 39. The Business of Books — Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika). 40. New in Chess. 41. Amartya Ghosh on Spotify. 42. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. 'Wet Streets Cause Rain' -- Michael Crichton explains Gell-Mann Amnesia. 44. How to generate black money in India (2013) -- TEDx Talk by Devangshu Datta. 45. Poker and Stock Markets — Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand). 46. Once Upon a Prime -- Sarah Hart. 47. Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe on Amazon. 48. Professor Moriarty. 49. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon. 50. A Gentleman in Moscow -- Amor Towles. 51. NK Jemisin and Ursula K Le Guin on Amazon. 52. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 -- Antony Beevor. 53. The Spanish Civil War (playlist with all six parts of the docu-series). 54. The Sandman on Netflix. 55. The Sandman -- Neil Gaiman. 56. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal -- Mikhail Tal. 57. Dune and Blade Runner 2049 -- Denis Villeneuve. 58. India’s War: The Making of Modern South Asia -- Srinath Raghavan. 59. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Chess Board’ by Simahina.
Mon, 25 Sep 2023 - 5h 28min - 349 - Ep 347: India's Massive Pensions Crisis
It might seem to be a subject that would interest only wonks and retirees, but "pensions can reshape an entire society." Ajay Shah and Renuka Sane join Amit Varma in episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why -- and to take a deep dive into the crisis India is facing right now. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
1. Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack. 2. Renuka Sane on Twitter and The Print. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 4. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 5. XKDR Forum (where Ajay Shah is co-founder). 6. TrustBridge (where Renuka Sane is research director). 7. The Project Oasis Report (2000). 8. A sustainable and scalable approach in Indian pension reform (2005) -- Ajay Shah. 9. Towards estimating India’s implicit pension debt on account of civil service employees (2006) -- Gautam Bhardwaj and Surendra A Dave. 10. Pension guarantees are subtle (2006) -- Ajay Shah. 11. Understanding the Indian financial environment (2015) -- Ajay Shah. 12. The way forward with one-rank-one-pension (2015) -- Ajay Shah and Renuka Sane. 13. Stay the course on the NPS (2018) -- Ajay Shah. 14. Fund management that you buy (2022) -- Ajay Shah. 15. The NPS challenge (2022) -- Ajay Shah. 16. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy -- Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 18. Whose Money is it Anyway? -- Amit Varma. 19. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 20. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on GST: 1, 2, 3. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Wilderness’ by Simahina.Mon, 18 Sep 2023 - 3h 10min - 348 - Ep 346: The Seema Goswami Files
She's been a journalist, an editor, a columnist, a novelist -- someone who sees the world and writes it down. Seema Goswami joins Amit Varma in episode 346 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and times, and what they taught her. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Seema Goswami on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon and her own site. 2. Seema Goswami's column in HT Brunch. 3. Woman on Top -- Seema Goswami. 4. Race Course Road -- Seema Goswami. 5. Madam Prime Minister -- Seema Goswami. 6. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. One Foot on the Ground — Shanta Gokhale's brilliant memoir. 8. I Feel Bad About My Neck -- Nora Ephron. 9. Swim against the stereotypes -- Seema Goswami. 10. Zeenat Aman on Instagram. 11. The Culture Code -- Clotaire Rapaille. 12. Jane Austen on Amazon and Wikipedia. 13. Photographic memory -- Seema Goswami. 14. Cameo: Personalized videos from your favorite stars. 15. The West Wing -- Aaron Sorkin. 16. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 17. Kohrra and Dahaad. 18. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Self-Portrait — AK Ramanujan. 20. The Complete Works of George Bernard Shaw. 21. Georgette Heyer, Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew, James Hadley Chase and Alistair MacLean on Amazon. 22. SJ Bennett's murder mysteries. 23. Manu Pillai on Amazon and The Seen and the Unseen (1, 2, 3, 4). 24. Madhulika Liddle's Muzaffar Jang mysteries. 25. The Malory Towers collections by Enid Blyton: 1, 2, 3, 4. 26. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. 27. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher -- Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair. 29. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity — Peter Attia. 30. Peter Attia on the Huberman Lab Podcast. 31. Pandemic Praise -- Seema Goswami. 32. Blooming Glory -- Seema Goswami. 33. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Why I Loved and Left Poker — Amit Varma. 35. The archives of Amit Varma’s poker column for the Economic Times, Range Rover. 36. Amarcord -- Federico Fellini. 37. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 39. Chourangi, Dhamaka and Semma. 40. The Slow Fire Chef on Twitter. 41. Mahabelly, Savya Rasa and Jamun. 42. The Romantic Idiot -- Samarth Bansal. 43. Cut the Clutter with Shekhar Gupta. 44. Mojo Story on YouTube. 45. Faye D'Souza on YouTube and Instagram. 46. Faye D'Souza doing stand-up comedy on One Mic Stand. 47. Larking About -- Seema Goswami. 48. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 50. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 51. Seema Goswami's Instagram post on her mother and grandmother. 52. The Simple Knot -- Seema Goswami. 53. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 54. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 55. The Imitation Game -- Seema Goswami. 56. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 57. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 59. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Shashi Tharoor on Amazon. 61. The Paradox of Narendra Modi — Episode 102 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shashi Tharoor). 62. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 63. Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery -- Yashowardhan Mishra. 64. Daniel Silva, Clare Mackintosh and Elizabeth Jane Howard on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Write it Down’ by Simahina.
Mon, 11 Sep 2023 - 3h 19min - 347 - Ep 345: Economic Learnings of India for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Bihar
If Bihar was a country, it would be both one of the largest and one of the poorest in the world. How did we get here? What can we do? Mohit Satyanand and Kumar Anand join Amit Varma in episode 345 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their insights from a lifetime of study -- and a road trip they took last year. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Mohit Satyanand (Twitter, Instagram, IMdB) and Kumar Anand (Twitter). 2. Gimme Mo -- Mohit Satyanand's newsletter. 3. Power of Ideas -- Kumar Anand's blog. 4. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Kumar Anand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6. Politics — A limerick by Amit Varma. 7. The Right to Property — Ep 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 8. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film — Amit Varma. 9. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist -- Bruce Yandle. 10. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 11. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra -- Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 13. Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation -- Episode 336 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 15. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 16. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 17. Return to Good Riddance : A Cameo of Contemporary Patna -- Sankarshan Thakur. 18. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. A Matter of Rats — Amitava Kumar. 20. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Not Anurag Behar, Not Smriti Irani, Ramchandara’s Wife Knows Best What’s Good For Her Kids -- Kumar Anand. 22. Education & the Industrial Revolution -- EG West. 23. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar -- Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Barun Mitra, Philosopher and Practitioner — Episode 264 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Gobar Kababs -- Picture by Mohit Satyanand. 26. Snapshots from Bihar: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 -- Pictures by Kumar Anand. 27. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 28. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 29. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 31. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 32. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 33. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty — Albert O Hirschman. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Inside Bihar’ by Simahina.
Mon, 04 Sep 2023 - 3h 15min - 346 - Ep 344: Manisha Pande Watches the News
She's a journalist, a satirist and a connoisseur of bullshit. Manisha Pande joins Amit Varma in episode 344 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her learnings and the lamentable state of our nation and our journalism. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Manisha Pande on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Newslaundry. 2. TV Newsance. 3. Newslaundry. 4. Rahul Gandhi interviewed by Arnab Goswami (2014), Samdish and Curly Tails. 5. Newslaundry on the BeerBiceps collab with MyGov. 6. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 7. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 9. S Jaishankar on The Ranveer Show. 10. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Looking-Glass Self. 12. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Doors, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Bob Dylan, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Cat Stevens. 14. Highway 61 Revisited -- Bob Dylan. 15. Blonde and Blonde -- Bob Dylan. 16. Blood on the Tracks -- Bob Dylan. 17. Fyodor Dostoyevsky on Britannica, Wikipedia and Amazon. 18. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. What the moral lessons for journalists quitting Republic TV miss out -- Manisha Pande. 20. What women think of Narendra Modi -- Manisha Pande. 21. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 22. The Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast episode after Gino Mader's death. 23. The TV Newsance episode on Seema Haidar and Piyush Goyal. 24. The Lallantop video on the vegetable vendor. 25. The Barkha Dutt Files — Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barkha Dutt). 26. We all live in a Cannibal Holocaust -- Amit Varma. 27. Cannibal Holocaust -- Ruggero Deodato. 28. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 29. Narendra Modi interviewed by Akshay Kumar. 30. Why we report on the media -- Manisha Pande. 31. Kean -- Jean-Paul Sartre. 32. Cross Purpose -- Albert Camus. 33. Oscar Wilde, Vijay Tendulkar, RK Narayan, Nida Fazli, 34. Collected Plays -- Girish Karnad. 35. Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977 -- Abhishek Choudhary. 36. Diddi: My Mother's Voice -- Ira Pande. 37. The Way Things Were -- Aatish Taseer. 38. India: A Wounded Civilization -- VS Naipaul. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Watch’ by Simahina.
Mon, 28 Aug 2023 - 3h 26min - 345 - Ep 343: We Are All Amits From Africa
Our statues must eat ice cream, our cities must be designed by cardiovascular surgeons, and we must all go to the fifth temple. Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen to banter away a few perfectly good hours. What a waste of time, eh? NO! (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Krish Ashok on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, his own website and Spotify/Apple Music/Soundcloud. 2. Naren Shenoy on Twitter, Instagram and Blogspot. 3. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 5. Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking -- Krish Ashok. 6. Simblified, co-hosted by Narendra Shenoy. 7. We want Narendra Shenoy to write a book. 8. Lohapurusha -- Krish Ashok's Sanskrit Heavy Metal album. 9. The Masala Lab Dal Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok. 10. The Amaklamatic Salad Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok. 11. The Amaklamatic Chutney Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok. 12. Newton the Alchemist. Gandhi the Black Swan -- Episode 7 of Everything is Everything. 13. Krish Ashok hates computers and this is proof. 14. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 16. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna). 18. 4′33″ -- John Cage. 19. Is the Singularity Near? -- Episode 2 of Everything is Everything. 20. The Formula Behind Every Perfect Pop Song — Seeker. 21. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read. 22. The Cadbury Dairy Milk Mystery -- Krish Ashok. 23. A Poetry Handbook — Mary Oliver. 24. Tvam -- Krish Ashok's version of Rammstein's Du Hast. 25. Du Hast -- Rammstein. 26. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 27. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 30. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 31. The Country Foods channel. 32. Ulhas Kamathe -- The Chicken Leg Piece Guy. 33. Sell the Tiger to Save It — Barun Mitra. 34. The Poultry Map. 35. The Egg Map. 36. Team Pizza or Team Biryani? 37. Gordon tries to make Pad Thai -- The F Word. 38. The Panchatantra. 39. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Kimaham Abhavam -- Krish Ashok's version of Johnny Cash's version of Nine Inch Nails's Hurt. 41. Hurt -- Johnny Cash. 42. Hurt -- Nine Inch Nails. 43. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok. 44. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day — Nilay Patel. 45. The Menu -- Mark Mylod. 46. Cilappatikaram. 47. Dunbar's number. 48. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 50. Superforecasting -- Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. 51. Essays -- Paul Graham. 52. Nityananda making sense. 53. Uncle Roger. 54. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Never Talk About TURMERIC on Social Media — Abby Philips. 56. The Magic Pill -- Rob Tate. 57. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 58. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. Brandolini's law. 60. Foodpharmer on Instagram. 61. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 62. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 63. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 64. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz. 65. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung. 66. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll. 67. Your Undivided Attention -- Podcast by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin. 68. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 69. 3Blue1Brown on YouTube. 70. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir perform Dhano Dhanne. 72. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 73. Sonnet 18 -- William Shakespeare. 74. Sonnet 18 -- Harriet Walter. 74. Sonnet 18 -- Akala. 75. Sonnet 18 -- David Gilmour. 76. Raga Ahir Bhairav -- Gangubai Hangal. 77. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 78. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 79. Dark Was the Night -- Blind Willie Johnson. 80. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road -- Lucinda Williams. 81. Sweet Old World -- Lucinda Williams. 82. All That She Wants -- Ace of Base. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Amits’ by Simahina.
Mon, 21 Aug 2023 - 4h 59min - 344 - Ep 342: Vitalik Buterin Fights the Dragon-Tyrant
Everything about the world must be rethought -- and Vitalik Buterin is on it. He joins Amit Varma and guest co-host Ajay Shah in episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss currencies, freedom, political philosophy, community, aging and why we need not be too scared of men with guns. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Vitalik Buterin on Twitter and his own website. 2. Ending Aging -- Aubrey de Grey. 3. The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant -- Nick Bostrom. 4. Issue # 1 of Bitcoin Magazine. 5. The World of Warcraft origin story. 6. Human Action -- Ludwig von Mises. 7. Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand. 8. Thomas Sowell on Amazon, Wikipedia and his own website. 9. Frédéric Bastiat’s writings at Bastiat.org and Amazon. 10. The Bastiat-Proudhon Debate. 11. True Names -- Vernon Vinge. 12. The Overton Window. 13. In Defense of Alternative Cryptocurrencies (2013) -- Vitalik Buterin. 14. Convex and Concave Dispositions -- Vitalik Buterin. 15. Arrow's impossibility theorem. 16. Credible Auctions: A Trilemma -- Mohammad Akbarpour and Shengwu Li. 17, Crypto currencies and conventional currencies will both evolve -- Ajay Shah. 18. How Bitcoin Can Actually Help Iranians and Argentinians (2013) -- Vitalik Buterin. 19. Law, Legislation and Liberty -- Friedrich Hayek. 20. The Wandering Earth -- Frant Gwo, based on the book by Cixin Liu. 21. 3 Body Problem -- David Benioff, DB Weiss and Alexander Woo, based on the book by Cixin Liu. 22. The Studio Ghibli Collection. 23. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress -- Robert Heinlein. 24. Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant -- Video by CGP Grey. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Vitalik’ by Simahina.
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 - 3h 29min - 343 - Ep 341: The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar
She's one of our finest thinkers, and has devoted her life to public policy and building this country. Yamini Aiyar joins Amit Varma in episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her learnings and how the Indian state can be reformed. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Yamini Aiyar at Twitter, Deccan Herald, Hindustan Times and Center for Policy Research. 2. The Curious Case of the Powerful yet Powerless Bureaucrat -- BSC Seminar with Yamini Aiyar. 3. Rules Vs. Responsiveness -- A talk by Yamini Aiyar at IIM-A. 4. The State of the State: Strengthening India's Governance Capabilities -- Panel discussion featuring Yamini Aiyar and moderated by Amit Varma. 5. Rewriting the Grammar of the Education System: Delhi’s Education Reform (A Tale of Creative Resistance and Creative Disruption) -- Yamini Aiyar et al. 6. The Post Office Paradox: A Case Study of the Block Level Education Bureaucracy -- Yamini Aiyar and Shrayana Bhattacharya. 7. Rights, Accountability and Citizenship: Examining India’s Emerging Welfare State -- Yamini Aiyar and Michael Walton. 8. Citizen vs labharthi? Interrogating the welfare state -- Yamini Aiyar. 9. The Looking-Glass Self. 10. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 11. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 12. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Overton Window. 14. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 15. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 16. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 17. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change — Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. India’s Far From Free Markets (2005) — Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal. 20. Pure Magic -- Kumkum Chadha on Shankara Pillai Krishna Kumar. 21. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 22. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 23. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 24. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 26. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy — Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. The RISE Programme. 28. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 29. Is the Singularity Near? -- Episode 2 of Everything is Everything. 30. My Hero, Oppenheimer -- Episode 5 of Everything is Everything. 31. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 32. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 33. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 35. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen. 36. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley. 37. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 38. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 39. Making Bureaucracy Work: Norms, Education and Public Service Delivery in Rural India -- Akshay Mangla. 40. Is India a Flailing State? — Lant Pritchett. 41. James Manor on Amazon. 42. The Hedgehog And The Fox — Isaiah Berlin. 43. Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977 -- Abhishek Choudhary. 44. Planning Democracy: How A Professor, An Institute, And An Idea Shaped India — Nikhil Menon. 45. The History of the Planning Commission -- Episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Menon). 46. Nehru's India -- Taylor Sherman. 47. Hindutva and Violence -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 48. The Thursday Murder Club -- Richard Osman. 49. Lessons in Chemistry -- Bonnie Garmus. 50. Agatha Christie on Amazon. 51. Dahaad, Kohrra, Scoop and Crash Course in Romance. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Build It’ by Simahina.
Mon, 07 Aug 2023 - 4h 31min - 342 - Ep 340: Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher
He's a philosopher, a political theorist, a runner, a wine lover, an Ambedkarite -- and he used to be a Dharma Bum. Aakash Singh Rathore joins Amit Varma in episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his unusual journey and his unconventional insights. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Aakash Singh Rathore on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Amazon, Deccan Herald and his own website. 2. Poorva Paksha -- Aakash Singh Rathore's columns in Deccan Herald. 3. Indian Political Theory: Laying the Groundwork for Svaraj -- Aakash Singh Rathore. 4. Ambedkar's Preamble: A Secret History of the Constitution of India -- Aakash Singh Rathore. 5. Becoming Babasaheb: The Life and Times of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Volume 1): Birth to Mahad (1891-1929) -- Aakash Singh Rathore. 6. Vision for a Nation: Paths and Perspectives -- Edited by Aakash Singh Rathore and Ashis Nandy. 7. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 8. Cathedral — Raymond Carver. 9. Both Sides Now -- Joni Mitchell. 10. Some ancient wisdom for the modern world -- Aakash Singh Rathore. 11. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling. 12. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man -- Marshall McLuhan. 13. Understanding Media -- Marshall McLuhan. 14. Phaedrus -- Plato. 15. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 16. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 17. Philosophy, Cognition and Writing: A Talk on the Writing Process -- Aakash Singh Rathore. 18. Ghare Baire / Home and the World -- Rabindranath Tagore. 19. Ghare Baire -- Satyajit Ray. 20. Citizen Kane — Orson Welles. 21. A Movable Feast -- Ernest Hemingway. 22. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Murder in Mahim — Jerry Pinto. 24. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line -- Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll. 26. The Dharma Bums -- Jack Kerouac. 27. The Beat Generation. 28. Kicking Schoolbags -- Amit Varma. 29. The Sex Pistols and Clash. 30. Unsatisfied — The Replacements. 31. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 32. Yukio Mishima on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 33. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra -- Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Life and Mission -- Dhananjay Keer. 35. CB Khairmode's 12-volume Marathi biography of Ambedkar. 36. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 37. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu). 38. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 39. Hind Swaraj -- Mohandas Gandhi. 40. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 41. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 42. The centre-Left in India is more concerned with dirty politics -- Aakash Singh Rathore interviewed by Caravan. 43. Coriolanus -- William Shakespeare. 44. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee -- Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 46. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World — Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 47. Relativity: The Special And The General Theory -- Albert Einstein. 48. I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) -- Aakash Singh Rathore. 49. Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers -- Jeremy Corbell. 50. The Fermi Paradox. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Running to Find the Light’ by Simahina.
Mon, 31 Jul 2023 - 4h 54min - 341 - Ep 339: The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra
She's a filmmaker, feminist, artist, writer -- impossible to pin down, a connoisseur of multitudes. Paromita Vohra joins Amit Varma in episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen to shoot the breeze and share her thoughts on Covid, relationships, the garden of consent, how being a misfit can be liberating and what she means by Poetic Feminism. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Paromita Vohra on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, IMDb and Parodevi Pictures. 2. Paromita Vohra's column archives in Mid-Day. 3. Agents of Ishq. 3. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 4. Unlimited Girls (95 mins). 5. Partners in Crime (95 mins). 6. Paromita Vohra interviewed by The Third Eye. 7. Empire of the Sun -- Steven Spielberg. 8. Simple Recipes for Complicated Times -- Peter Griffin's Facebook group. 9. Tsunami Help and Cloudburst Mumbai. 10. Feeding the Hungry in the Pandemic — Episode 210 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ruben Mascarenhas). 11. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. Chekhov's Gun. 13. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Padosan and Kashmir Ki Kali. 15. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. One Foot on the Ground — Shanta Gokhale. 17. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus — John Gray. 18. What Makes Women Happy -- Fay Weldon. 19. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 20. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 21. Asterix, Tintin, Phantom and Mandrake. 22. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 23. Shame -- Salman Rushdie. 24. Amitav Ghosh on Amazon. 25. Anjali Arondekar on Amazon and her own website. 26. Sex, Law, and the Politics of Age: Child Marriage in India, 1891–1937 -- Ishita Pande. 27. Indian Sex Life -- Durba Mitra. 28. The Looking-Glass Self. 29. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 30. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok. 31. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day — Nilay Patel. 32. Tokyo is the new Paris -- Noah Smith. 33. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 34. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai — Karan Johar. 35. Supermen of Malegaon -- Faiza Ahmad Khan. 36. The Overton Window. 37. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 38. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Stage.in. 40. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 41. On Uniform Civil Code, intent matters -- GN Devy. 42. Past Lives -- Celine Song. 43. Joseph Fasano on Twitter. 44. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 45. Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women -- Translated by Charles Hallisey. 46. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 47. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph. 48. Why Children Labour (2007) -- Amit Varma. 49. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist -- Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 51. Roots -- Alex Haley. 52. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair. 53. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity -- Peter Attia. 54. Chronicle of a Summer -- Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin. 55. Chaalbaaz -- Pankaj Parashar. 56. Topsy-Turvy -- Mike Leigh. 57. Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency -- Chen Chen. 58. i love you to the moon & -- Chen Chen. 59. Chen Chen on Instagram. 60. Rajendra Krishan on Wikipedia, IMDb and Rekhta. 61. Pyar Ke Jahan Ki Nirali Sarkar Hai -- Song from Patang, written by Rajendra Krishan. 62. Ga Ga Ga Gori Gori -- Baba Sehgal. 63. Ek Thi Ladki -- Roop Shorey. 64. Lara Lappa Lara Lappa -- Song from Ek Thi Ladki. 65. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 66. Regrets, None -- Dolly Thakore. 67. Timepass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi -- Protima Bedi. 68. Joan Didion on Amazon. 69. The Odd Woman and the City — Vivian Gornick. 70. We Should All Be Feminists -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 71. Fearless Freedom -- Kavita Krishnan. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Dance of Life’ by Simahina.
Mon, 24 Jul 2023 - 4h 48min - 340 - Ep 338: The Nuances of Intensive Care
There are few spaces in the world more intense than an intensive care unit, where life hangs in the balance, where nothing can be taken for granted. Nitin Arora joins Amit Varma in episode 338 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about the history and evolution of intensive care, what Covid taught him and why he speaks more Punjabi in Birmingham than in Amritsar. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Nitin Arora on Twitter, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Those We Carry. 2. The Beginner's Guide to Intensive Care -- Nitin Arora and Shondipon K Laha. 3. Nitin Arora on the Simblified podcast: 1, 2, 3, 4. 4. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 5. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine -- Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 7. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 8. The Medical Council of India — Episode 8 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath). 9. Critical: Stories from the front line of intensive care medicine -- Matt Morgan. 10. The Armchair Economist -- Stephen Landsburg. 11. Being Mortal -- Atul Gawande. 12. Platoon -- Oliver Stone. 13. Freakonomics -- Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. 14. The Darwin Awards. 15. Oxygen cylinders or Irish nuns?. 15, The Checklist Manifesto -- Atul Gawande. 16. When Breath Becomes Air -- Paul Kalanithi. 17. Thinking Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Intensive Care’ by Simahina.
Mon, 17 Jul 2023 - 3h 32min - 339 - Ep 337: Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window
To live the examined life, we have to examine our own desires. Luke Burgis joins Amit Varma in episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights into human nature -- and to talk about his own evolution as a person and a thinker. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Luke Burgis on Twitter, Instagram and his own website. 2. Wanting -- Luke Burgis. 3. Anti-Mimetic -- Luke's newsletter. 4. Ride/Drive -- Another newsletter by Luke. 5. Speaking Out (Of Order) -- Luke Burgis. 6. Podcast Heroes -- Luke Burgis. 7. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 8. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 9. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 10. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 11. Getting out from under the influencers -- Luke Burgis on Look Ma' No Hands, Laura Max Rose's podcast. 12. Marshall McLuhan on Britannica, Wikipedia and Amazon. 13. The Power of Mimetic Desire -- Luke Burgis on The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish. 14. Dietrich von Hildebrand on Wikipedia and Amazon. 15. Leisure: The Basis of Culture -- Josef Pieper. 16. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Dunbar's Number. 18. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 19. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 20. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 21. How the Language of Therapy Took Over Dating -- Dani Blum. 22. The Pathless Path -- Paul Millerd. 23. How To Find Your True Desires -- Luke Burgis on Paul Millerd's Pathless Path podcast. 24. Songs of Surrender -- U2. 25. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature -- Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Gurwinder Bhogal's recent megathread -- and his tweet about the learning pyramid. 27. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Man's Search For Meaning -- Viktor Frankl. 29. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Mystagogues Wanted -- Luke Burgis. 31. Cormac McCarthy on Amazon. 32. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity -- Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 34. What People Are Really Doing When They Play Hard to Get -- Luke Burgis. 35. The Two Gentlemen of Verona -- William Shakespeare. 36. Blood Meridian -- Cormac McCarthy. 37. Aesop's Fables. 38. The Crisis of Political Imagination -- Glenn Tinder. 39. A Hidden Life -- Terrence Malick. 40. Paterson -- Jim Jarmusch. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Look' by Simahina.
Mon, 10 Jul 2023 - 4h 17min - 338 - Ep 336: Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation
In a democracy, every vote should be equal. But in India, that's not the case. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 336 of The Seen and the Unseen to give a detailed primer into the complex issue of Delimitation -- and to suggest her own radical solution. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shruti Rajagopalan on Twitter, Substack, Instagram and her podcast, Ideas of India. 2. Demography, Delimitation, and Democracy -- Shruti Rajagopalan's detailed post on Delimitation. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. 4. India’s Emerging Crisis of Representation -- Milan Vaishnav and Jamie Hintson. 5. Of Openings and Possibilities -- Pranay Kotasthane on Delimitation. 6. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 7. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy -- Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 8. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Amit Varma on the Creator Economy -- A recent episode of the Ideas of India podcast. 11. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature -- Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Prism -- Gurwinder Bhogal's Substack newsletter. 13. Public Choice Theory — Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Public Choice: A Primer — Eomonn Butler. 15. Public Choice -- Politics Without Romance -- James M Buchanan. 16. Politics Without Romance -- Amit Varma's column archives for Bloomberg Quint. 17. David Hume on Britannica, Wikipedia and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 18. Adam Smith on Britannica, Wikipedia and Amazon. 19. James M Buchanan on Britannica, Wikipedia, Econlib and Amazon. 20. Gordon Tullock on Wikipedia, Econlib, Mercatus and Amazon. 21. The Calculus of Consent — James M Buchanan and Gordon Tullock. 22. Democracy in Deficit -- James M Buchanan and Richard E Wagner. 23. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments. 24. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State -- Episode 33 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 26. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma. 27. The Political Theory of a Compound Republic -- Vincent Ostrom. 28. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 29. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 30. Great Soul -- Joseph Lelyveld. 31. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 32. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 33. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 34. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 35. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 36. Nehru’s Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.) 37. Coalition Politics and Economic Development -- Irfan Nooruddin. 38. The Laffer Curve. 39. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 40. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 41. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 42. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 43. Eppur si muove. 44. Jagdish Bhagwati's co-written defence of demonetisation, and Shruti Rajagopalan's co-written rebuttal. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Figure it Out’ by Simahina.
Mon, 03 Jul 2023 - 3h 21min - 337 - Ep 335: A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia
The war in Ukraine may seem distant -- but it affects us all in a million unseen ways. Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen to deliver an in-depth masterclass on exactly what is going on. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack. 2. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 3. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 4. Rising to the China Challenge -- Gautam Bambawale, Vijay Kelkar, Raghunath Mashelkar, Ganesh Natarajan, Ajit Ranade and Ajay Shah. 5. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy — Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai). 6. Conflict in Ukraine: A timeline (2014 - present) -- Nigel Walker for House of Commons Library. 7. RUSI's commentary on Ukraine. 8. Rand Corporation's archive on the war. 9. Understanding the Russo-Ukranian War: A Guide From War on the Rocks. 10. Foreign Affairs articles on Ukraine, Russia and China. 11. Maps that update every day from Deep State and War Mapper. 12. YouTubers to follow on this subject: Perun, Timothy Snyder, Anders Puck Nielsen, The Telegraph, Silicon Curtain and William Spaniel. 13. Wind and solar power generated more electricity in the EU last year than gas did. Here’s how -- Stefan Ellerbeck. 14. Economic stress in Russia -- Ajay Shah. 15. More ammo: Improving resilience against extreme surges in demand -- Ajay Shah. 16. Downstream from the Ukraine war -- Gautam Bambawale and Ajay Shah. 17. Bloodlands -- Timothy Snyder. 18. Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine -- Anne Applebaum. 19. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56 -- Anne Applebaum. 20. On Tyranny -- Timothy Snyder. 21. What is Populism? -- Jan-Werner Müller. 22. Tyranny in the Post-Truth Universe (2017) -- Amit Varma. 23. Why Both Modi and Trump are Textbook Populists (2017) -- Amit Varma. 24. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 25. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 26. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 27. Arthur Koestler and Boris Pasternak on Amazon. 28. Annual Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (2005) -- Vladimir Putin. 29. Requiem -- Anna Akhmatova. 30. Russian court orders closure of country’s oldest human rights group -- Andrew Roth on the ban of Memorial. 31. The Resource Curse. 32. Leo Tolstoy, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Vasily Grossman. 33. Dersu Uzala -- Akira Kurosawa. 34. Servant of the People -- The show in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy starts as the president of Ukraine. 35. Volodymyr Zelenskyy plays the piano with his penis. 36. How Corruption Destroys Armies - Theft, Graft, and Russian failure in Ukraine -- Perun. 37. An excerpt from Wittgenstein's diary -- Parul Sehgal on Twitter. 38. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus -- Ludwig Wittgenstein. 39. The Innovator's Dilemma -- Clayton M Christensen. 40. National Security Strategy of Japan. 41. Suspicious deaths of Russian businesspeople (2022–2023). 42. ‘Stop the war.’ 44 Top Russian Players Publish Open Letter To Putin — Sam Copeland. 43. Alexander Grischuk’s emotional press conference after Russia invaded Ukraine. (Watch from 4:20.) 44. India must detach from Russia -- Renuka Sane. 45. Helping India Replace Russia in the Value Arms Market -- Vasabjit Banerjee and Benjamin Tkach. 46. After Ukraine, Where Will India Buy its Weapons? -- Vasabjit Banerjee and Benjamin Tkach. 47. For Whom the Bell Tolls -- Ernest Hemingway. 48. For Whom the Bell Tolls -- John Donne. 49. Night of the Long Knives. 50. Anton Geraschenko's tweet after the Wagner backdown. 51. Mad Max: Fury Road — George Miller. 52. Max Seddon's tweet about Yevgeny Prigozhin. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘War’ by Simahina.
Mon, 26 Jun 2023 - 5h 17min - 336 - Ep 334: Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy
He was a physician, and then an IAS officer, and then a universally-respected politician. Jayaprakash Narayan joins Amit Varma in episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his lifelong quest to complete our task of nation-building. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
1. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 2. The State of Indian Politics — Episode 50 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 3. The Myth of Sisyphus (Amazon) (Wikipedia) -- Albert Camus. 4. Factfulness — Hans Rosling. 5. The best stats you’ve ever seen — Hans Rosling. 6. What’s Consolation For An Atheist? (2008) -- Amit Varma. 7. Barun Mitra, Philosopher and Practitioner -- Episode 264 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 9. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State -- Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 11. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State — Amit Varma. 12. Rajesh Jain and Dhan Vapasi -- Episode 94 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Team of Rivals — Doris Kearns Goodwin. 14. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 15, The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer -- Amit Varma. 16. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 17. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 18. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 19. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 20. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 21. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 23. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 24. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 25. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 26. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan). 27. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 28. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 29. Animal Farm -- George Orwell. 30. Guns, Germs And Steel -- Jared Diamond. 31. Yuval Noah Harari on Amazon. 32. The Economic Government of the World: 1933-2023 -- Martin Daunton. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Build’ by Simahina.Mon, 19 Jun 2023 - 3h 46min - 335 - Ep 333: Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State
India is like a caged tiger -- and the cage is unseen by most and difficult to break through. Subhashish Bhadra joins Amit Varma in episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe the many ways in which the Indian state holds back the Indian people -- and also to introspect on his own journey. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Subhashish Bhadra on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. 2. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back -- Subhashish Bhadra. 3. Freedom at Midnight -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 4. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) -- Marvin Gaye. 6. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Yeh Honsla -- Song from Dor. 10. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature -- Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Perils of Audience Capture — Gurwinder Bhogal. 12. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 13. The State of Our Farmers — Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil). 14. The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer -- Amit Varma. 15. Power and Prosperity — Mancur Olson. 16. A Tale Of Two Bandits: Naxals And The Indian State -- Amit Varma. 17. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 18. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh. 19. The Narrow Corridor: How Nations Struggle for Liberty -- Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. 20. Paul Graham’s essays. 21. Malevolent Republic — Kapil Komireddi. 22. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 23. A New Idea of India -- Harsh Madhusudan and Rajeev Mantri. 24. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 25. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Ep 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 26. The Transformative Constitution -- Gautam Bhatia. 27. The Great Repression — Chitranshul Sinha. 28. India’s Sedition Law — Episode 146 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chitranshul Sinha). 29. Georges Simenon on Amazon. 30. The Road to Serfdom — Friedrich Hayek. 31. Leviathan -- Thomas Hobbes. 32. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 33. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 34. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 36. Minimum government, maximum governance: A manifesto for a limited state -- Reuben Abraham and Vivek Dehejia. 37. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 38. India's Far From Free Markets (2005) -- Amit Varma in the Wall Street Journal. 39. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 40. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 41. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 42. The Delhi Smog — Ep 40 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 43. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 44. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 45. Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track — Episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. Memories of a Father -- TV Eachara Varier. 47. Flying Spaghetti Monster. 48. Don’t Insult Pasta (2007) — Amit Varma. 49. Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India -- Abhinav Chandrachud. 50. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 51. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century -- Yuval Noah Harari. 52. Rethinking Public Institutions in India -- Edited by Devesh Kapur, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Milan Vaishnav. 53. Black Mirror on Netflix. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Cage’ by Simahina.
Mon, 12 Jun 2023 - 3h 15min - 334 - Ep 332: The Life and Times of Uma Chakravarti
She's been a historian and a filmmaker. She's worked on feminism and caste and Buddhism. She's collected oral histories of India's traumas. She's mentored generations. The legendary Uma Chakravarti joins Amit Varma in episode 332 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her times and her invaluable work towards the pursuit of truth. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Uma Chakkravarti on Wikipedia and Amazon. 2. The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism -- Uma Chakravarti. 3. Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai -- Uma Chakravarti. 4. Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens -- Uma Chakravarti. 5. Delhi Riots: Three Days in the Life of a Nation -- Uma Chakravarti and Nandita Haksar. 6. Thinking Gender, Doing Gender -- Edited by Uma Chakravarti. 7. A Quiet Little Entry -- Uma Chakravarti. 8. Fragments of a Past -- Uma Chakravarti. 9. Ek Inquilab Aur Aaya: Lucknow 1920-1949 -- Uma Chakravarti. 10. Prison Diaries -- Uma Chakravarti. 11. Sexual Violence in Indian Society -- Uma Chakravarti. 12. Restructuring the Path: Inserting Women into History (2000) -- Uma Chakravarti. 13. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar, Rohini Nilekani and Shaili Chopra. 14. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 15. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 17. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 18. Kiran Ahluwalia Finds Our Aam Zameen -- Episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 20. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 21. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 22. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 23. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 24. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 25. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 26. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 27. Therīgāthā on Wikipedia and Amazon. 28. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma — Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Deedar -- Nitin Bose. 30. Diya Jalao Jagmag Jagmag -- Song from Tansen. 31. Do Bigha Zameen -- Bimal Roy. 32. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 34. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — Mary Wollstonecraft. 35. Frankenstein -- Mary Shelley. 36. Amit Varma’s episode of The Book Club on Wollstonecraft’s book. 37. Amit Varma's episode of The Book Club on Shelley's book. 38. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 41. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 42. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 43. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 45. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 46. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 47. The Beautiful Tree — James Tooley. 48. Hum Dekhenge -- Iqbal Bano. 49. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India -- V Geetha. 50. Let's Read Ambedkar -- Lecture series by V Geetha. 51. Dust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India -- Douglas Ober. 52. The Conversion of the Untouchables -- BR Ambedkar. 53. The Gregorian Chant. 54. Deva Bandha Namma -- Bhimsen Joshi. 55. Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada So Hi Param Pada Pavega -- Bhimsen Joshi. 56. Vaishnav Jan To -- Riyaaz Qawwali. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Carrying the Torch’ by Simahina.
Mon, 05 Jun 2023 - 5h 46min - 333 - Ep 331: Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature
It is not the world that is the problem but the flawed ways in which we think about it. Gurwinder Bhogal joins Amit Varma in episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his interest in meta-cognition -- and what it reveals about us and the world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Gurwinder Bhogal on Substack and Twitter. 2. My Story -- Gurwinder Bhogal. 3. Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things -- Gurwinder Bhogal. 4. The Perils of Audience Capture -- Gurwinder Bhogal. 5. Skin in the Game -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 6. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. 7. The Looking-Glass Shelf. 8. Nikocado Avocado -- Nicholas Perry's YouTube channel. 9. God is Not Great -- Christopher Hitchens. 10. The Coddling of the American Mind — Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. 11. A Biologist Explains Why Sex Is Binary -- Colin Wright. 12. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Think About Thinking’ by Simahina.
Mon, 29 May 2023 - 2h 08min - 332 - Ep 330: Eric Weinstein Won't Toe the Line
He's a freethinker who's never been scared to rattle orthodoxies. Eric Weinstein joins Amit Varma in episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how he became the man he is. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Eric Weinstein on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and his own website. 2. Eric Weinstein on The Joe Rogan Experience (1, 2) and Lex Fridman (1, 2, 3, 4). 3. Eric Weinstein in Karjat, 1986. 4. The Road Not Taken -- Robert Frost. 5. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening -- Robert Frost. 6. Total Love -- Gur Bentwich. 7. Eric Weinstein in Kiev, 1989. 8. Eric Weinstein meets a harmonica friend. 9. The 27 Club. 10. Umwelt. 11. John Mayer and Blake Mills on Spotify. 12. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Desire -- Clementine Von Radics. 14. The Is-Ought Problem. 15. The Naturalistic Fallacy. 16. The Big Questions — Steven E Landsburg. 17. Hindi Nationalism — Alok Rai. 18. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron — Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 19. Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth-Century India — Jahnavi Phalkey. 20. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 21. Unlikely is Inevitable — Amit Varma. 22. Poisson Point Process. 23. The Major-General song from The Pirates of Penzance. 24. The HMS Pinafore song. 25. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma (on Alpha Zero). 26. Alfred Hitchcock and The Beach Boys. 27. Roger Ebert on Mulholland Drive and Memento. 28. Joe Morgenstern and Bonnie and Clyde. 29. Creep -- Radiohead. 30. The Perils of Audience Capture -- Gurwinder Bhogal (on 'The Looking-Glass Self; and more). 31. David Bowie and Madonna. 32. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) -- Green Day. 33. I Can't Stand the Rain -- Ann Peebles. 34. Fast Car -- Tracy Chapman. 35. Planet Claire -- The B52s. 36. Dunning-Kruger Effect. 37. Imposter Syndrome. 38. Bethany Hamilton on Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram and her own website. 39. FOO Camp. 40. Gad Saad's poll on Like vs Respect. 41. Mary Oliver and Mark Strand. 42. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 43. The Great Brain -- John D Fitzgerald. 44. Pippi Longstocking -- Astrid Lindgren. 45. Tom Lehrer on Spotify. 46. Eric Weinstein on Kung Fu Panda. 47. Kung Fu Panda -- John Stevenson. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Endless Possibility’ by Simahina.
Mon, 22 May 2023 - 2h 53min - 331 - Ep 329: Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World
He gave up a staggeringly successful career to live a quiet life -- and now he shares his wisdom with us. Murali Neelakantan joins Amit Varma in episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life he has lived and the lessons he has learnt. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Murali Neelankantan on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2. An Idea of a Law School -- NR Madhava Menon, Murali Neelakantan and Sumeet Malik. 3. Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya -- Episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 6. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why — Amit Varma. 7. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 8. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Casino Royale -- Martin Campbell. 11. Schrödinger's cat. 12. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 13. Right to Education: Just another law -- Meera Neelakantan. 14. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 16. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 17. Major Navneet Vats SM. 18. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair. 19. The Lifespan Podcast by David Sinclair. 20. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 21. Loss Aversion. 22. Aandhi -- Gulzar. 23. Nowhere Near -- Yo La Tengo. 24. Dil Hi To Hai Na Sang o Hishat -- Abida Parveen. 25. Ranjish hi Sahi -- Mehdi Hasan. 26. Old Man -- Neil Young. 27. Oscar Wilde on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho -- Jagjit Singh. 29. Bonjour Tristesse -- Françoise Sagan. 30. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 31. Politics and the Sociopath (2014) — Amit Varma. 32. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 33. The Expanding Circle — Peter Singer. 34. Dunbar's number. 35. Rankthings.io by Aella and David. 36. Aella on Twitter and Substack. 37. Ye Humse Na Hoga -- Javed Akhtar. 38. All You Who Sleep Tonight -- Vikram Seth. 39. GCN +. 40. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. SVB, Banking and the State of the Economy -- Episode 323 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah and Mohit Satyanand). 43. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change -- Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Laws Against Victimless Crimes Should Be Scrapped — Amit Varma. 45. One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second-Class Citizens — Amit Varma. 46. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 47. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (on isomorphic mimicry, with Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 48. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 49. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 51. The Wealth of Nations -- Adam Smith. 52. The Theory of Moral Sentiments — Adam Smith. 53. Humesha Der Kar Deta Hoon Main -- Muneer Niazi. 54. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines — Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 55. Rustom -- Tinu Suresh Desai on the Nanavati case. 56. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 58. Mohit Satyanand on Twitter and Substack. 59. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 60. Richard Dawkins on unpleasant gods. 61. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life -- Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 62. Three Hundred Verses: Musings on Life, Love and Renunciation -- Bhartrihari. 63. Drug Price Controls -- Episode 29 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath). 64. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma — Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 65. Bottle of Lies — Katherine Eban. 66. The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. 67. Fire in the Blood -- Dylan Mohan Gray. 68. New York Stories -- Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen. 69. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 70. Kumārasambhava -- Kalidasa. 71. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking -- Susan Cain. 72. Goodbye, Mr Chips -- Sam Wood. 73. Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil -- Jim Goddard. 74. What Money Can't Buy -- Michael Sandel.
75. Tum Bilkul Hum Jaise Nikle -- Fehmida Riaz. 76. Kuchh Log Tumhein Samjhaaenge -- Fehmida Riaz. 77. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘This is the World’ by Simahina.Tue, 16 May 2023 - 6h 50min - 330 - Ep 328: Kiran Ahluwalia Finds Our Aam Zameen
Her career spans decades and genres, and she's brought together worlds that seldom meet. Kiran Ahluwalia joins Amit Varma in episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her music and the ethic that binds it all together. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Song Timecodes: Rabba Ru: 34:56 Har Khayal : 01:06:00 Awara : 02:00:12 Dil: 03:08:30 Zindagi : 04:11:45 Pancake: 4:16:56 Jaane Jahan : 04:21:13 Mustt Mustt: 04:27:25 Hayat: 04:31:40 We Sinful Women : 4:36:40 Also check out: 1. Kiran Ahluwalia on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and her own website. 2. Kashish: Attraction -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 3. Beyond Boundaries -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 4. Kiran Ahluwalia -- Kiran Ahluwalia. (Also see this.) 5. Wanderlust -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 6. Aam Zameen: Common Ground -- Kiran Ahluwalia (featuring Tinariwen and Terakaft). 7. Sanata: Stillness -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 8. 7 Billion -- Kiran Ahluwalia. (Also see this.) 9. Kiran Ahluwalia interviewed by Asia Blog. 10. Kalpana Bharat, Narendra Datar, Padma Talwalkar and Vithal Rao. 11. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The War Against Cliche — Martin Amis. 16. Lament from Night Song -- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with Michael Brook. 17. Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hasan. 18. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 19. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 20. Souad Massi on Spotify and YouTube Music. 21. Pink Moon -- Nick Drake. (And also Amit's favourite Nick Drake song, Northern Sky.) 22. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Cities of Sleep -- Shaunak Sen. 24. All That Breathes -- Shaunak Sen. 25. Saving Face -- Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge. 26. My Octopus Teacher -- Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed. 27. Metamorphosis -- Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper. 28. Shooting Indians -- Ali Kazimi. 29. Kaifinama -- Sumantra Ghosal. 30. Garm Hava -- MS Sathyu. 31. Nainsukh -- Amit Dutta. 32. The Fall -- Tarsem Singh. 33. Timbuktu -- Abderrahmane Sissako. (Also check out the soundtrack.) 34. The Square -- Ruben Östlund. 35. Triangle of Sadness -- Ruben Östlund. 36. The Innocents -- Anne Fontaine. 37. Border -- Ali Abbasi. 38. The Hedgehog -- Mona Achache. 39. A Fraction Of The Whole -- Steve Toltz. 40. What is the What -- Dave Eggers. 41. Barabbas -- Pär Lagerkvist. 42. Tinariwen, Amadou & Mariam, Fatoumata Diawara, Khaira Arby, Tufail Niazi, Vithal Rao, Padma Talwalkar, Ulhas Kashalkar and Venkatesh Kumar on Spotify. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Listen to the Music’ by Simahina.
Mon, 08 May 2023 - 4h 42min - 329 - Ep 327: The Many Shades of George Fernandes
George Fernandes was an activist, politician, minister, thinker -- and was as complicated as the times he lived in. Rahul Ramagundam joins Amit Varma in episode 327 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his biography of Fernandes, the decades he lived through, and this country that kept changing, changing, changing. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rahul Ramagundam at Jamia Millia Islamia, Amazon, LinkedIn and Google Scholar. 2. The Life and Times of George Fernandes -- Rahul Ramagundam. 3. Gandhi's Khadi: A History of Contention and Conciliation -- Rahul Ramagundam. 4. Including the Socially Excluded -- Rahul Ramagundam. 5. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 6. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 7. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 8. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 9. A shoe store brings together two faces of 2002 Gujarat riots -- The Hindu. 10. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 11. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 12. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 13. The Decline of the Congress — Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 14. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 15. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 16. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma’s column on reading. 17. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 18. Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 19. No One Writes to the Colonel -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 20. The Moon is Down -- John Steinbeck. 21. Is Paris Burning? -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 22. Freedom at Midnight -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 23. Hermann Hesse and Henry Miller on Amazon. 24. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 25. Life among the Scorpions -- Jaya Jaitly. 26. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. 27. The Graham Staines murder. 28. Thomas Weber's books on Gandhi. 29. Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track -- Episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 31. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 33. A Prisoner's Scrap-Book -- LK Advani. 34. Prison Diary -- Jayaprakash Narayan. 35. The Power Broker — Robert A Caro. 36. Robert A Caro on Amazon. 37. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 38. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 39. VS Naipaul on Amazon. 40. Idgah (Hindi) (English) -- Munshi Premchand. 41. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Raw Umber: A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 43. Samuel Huntington on Wikipedia and Amazon. 44. Francis Robinson and Barbara Metcalf on Amazon. 45. India in the Persianate Age — Richard Eaton. 46. The New India Foundation. 47. Weapons of the Weak -- James C Scott. 48. The Causes of the Indian Revolt -- Syed Ahmed Khan. 49. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 50. Hindutva — VD Savarkar. 51. Annihilation of Caste -- BR Ambedkar. 52. Gandhi before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 53. Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World -- Ramachandra Guha. 54. Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Amazon. 55. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Fist’ by Simahina.
Mon, 01 May 2023 - 4h 31min - 328 - Ep 326: Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life
He taught international relations for a living, and he lived Indian culture -- food, clothes, music, films, languages, the whole package. Pushpesh Pant joins Amit Varma in episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his times and this beautiful country he loves so much. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pushpesh Pant on Amazon, Twitter and YouTube. 2. India: Cookbook -- Pushpesh Pant. 3. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Devi : Tales Of The Goddess In Our Time -- Mrinal Pande. 9. Amader Shantiniketan — Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 10. 2001: A Space Odyssey — Stanley Kubrick. 11. In Praise of Slowness -- Carl Honore. 12. Tabiyat: Medicine and Healing in India and Other Essays -- Farokh Erach Udwadia. 13. Things to Leave Behind -- Namita Gokhale. 14. Raag Pahadi -- Namita Gokhale, translated by Pushpesh Pant. 15. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 17. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Lahron Ke Rajhans (Hindi) -- Mohan Rakesh. 19. India: A Sacred Geography -- Diana Eck. 20. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna). 21. An Equal Music -- Vikram Seth. 22. The Wonder That Was India -- AL Basham. 23. Dhano Dhanne -- Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir. 24. Ira Pande's obituary of Jaya Varma. 25. Ira Pande on Amazon. 26. Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya -- Episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Constantine Cavafy, André Gide and Jean Genet. 28. The Counterfeiters -- André Gide. 29. Death in Venice -- Thomas Mann. 30. Collected Poems 1954 - 2004 -- Dom Moraes. 31. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Phir Ek Din Aisa Aayega -- Ali Sardar Jafri. 33. Zindagi -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 34. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 35. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 36. Kishore Mahbubani on Amazon. 37. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie — Luis Buñuel. 38. Chance and Necessity -- Jacques Monod. 39. Try Anything Twice -- Peter Cheyney. 40. Rakesh Raghunathan on YouTube. 41. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 42. Cooking the world's oldest known curry -- Soity Banerjee. 43. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Stage.in. 45. The Slow Fire Chef on Twitter. 46. Marginal Revolution posts on books. 47. The Myth of the Holy Cow -- DN Jha. 48. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 49. The Lady’s Dressing Room -- Jonathan Swift. 50. My Friend Dropped His Pants -- Amit Varma. 51. A Paean to the Paan -- Pushpesh Pant. 52. Vairagya Shatak (Hindi) -- Bhartihari. 53. Bhaja Govindam -- Adi Shankara. 54. Rainer Maria Rilke and Meer Taqi Meer. 55. Titash Ekti Nadir Naam -- Ritwik Ghatak. 56. Jukti Takko Aar Gappo -- Ritwik Ghatak. 57. Teesri Kasam -- Basu Bhattacharya. 58. Duniya Banane Wale -- Song from Teesri Kasam. 59. Guide — Vijay Anand. 60. Caurapañcāśikā -- Bilhana. 61. Dagar Brothers, Siyaram Tiwari, Vidya Rao and TM Krishna. 62. A Southern Music — TM Krishna. 63. The Raga-Ness of Ragas -- Deepak S Raja.. 64. NAD - Understanding Raga Music -- Sandeep Bagchee. 65. Form in Indian and Western Music -- Chetan Karnani. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Feast’ by Simahina.
Mon, 24 Apr 2023 - 5h 24min - 327 - Ep 325: Shaili Chopra and the Sisterhood
Women in India are much more than either bechari, badass or bitch -- and they won't be defined any more by the male gaze. Shaili Chopra joins Amit Varma in episode 325 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her learnings and why she won't hold back on her anger. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shaili Chopra on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and her own website. 2. Sisterhood Economy -- Shaili Chopra. 3. SheThePeople.tv and GyTree. 4. Let Her Be Angry -- Shaila Chopra's TEDx Talk. 5. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar and Rohini Nilekani. 6. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 8. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies — Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Mita Kapur -- Episode 322 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 12. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 13. How Social Media Threatens Society — Episode 8 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar, featuring Jonathan Haidt. 14. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani. 15. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 16. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 17. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Mrinal Pande’s pieces for Pragati on women in Indian agriculture: 1, 2. 19. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 20. 'What's Your Favourite Position?' -- Shaili Chopra's Instagram post. 21. Imposter Syndrome. 22. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 23. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 24. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 25. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 26. The Second Sex — Simone de Beauvoir. 27. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 28. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 29. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 30. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Raja Beta Syndrome — Mahima Vashisht. 32. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 33. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 34. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 35. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dabangg, Mardaani, Badhaai Ho, Badhaai Do, Astitva and Lust Stories. 36. Alice Munro, Marilynne Robinson, Mary Oliver and JK Rowling. 39. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 40. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 41. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 42. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 43. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Women at Work — Ep 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 46. The Code Breaker -- Walter Isaacson. 47. Lessons in Chemistry -- Bonnie Garmus. 48. Caste -- Isabel Wilkerson. 49. Normal People -- Sally Rooney. 50. Conversations with Friends -- Sally Rooney. 51. Red, White & Royal Blue -- Casey McQuiston. 52. Curry -- Lizzie Cunningham. 53. Figuring -- Maria Popova. 54. The Marginalian -- Maria Popova's website. 55. Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary -- Anita Anand. 56. Hello, Mum -- Polly Dunbar. 57. Bruno Mars, Blue, Michael Jackson, Amjad Ali Khan, Shobha Gurtu, Shubha Mudgal and Kishori Amonkar on Spotify. 58. Chor Bazari, Prem Ki Naiyya and Girls Like To Swing. 59. Waka Waka -- Shakira. 60. Valeria, Unauthorised Living, Monarca, and High Seas. 61. Sitting Woman -- Henri Matisse. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Sisterhood’ by Simahina.
Mon, 17 Apr 2023 - 4h 22min - 326 - Ep 324: Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya
Agyeya was a writer, a rebel, a soldier, a lover-- and a man who shaped modern Hindi literature. Akshaya Mukul joins Amit Varma in episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life of this remarkable man -- as well as the art of biography and the state of the nation. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Akshaya Mukul on Amazon and Twitter. 2. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya -- Akshaya Mukul. 3. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 4. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 5. Agyeya on Wikipedia, Amazon, Kavitakosh and Hindwi. 6. Shekhar: Ek Jeevani (Hindi) (English) -- Agyeya. 7. Dunning-Kruger Effect. 8. Poker at Lake Wobegon — Amit Varma. 9. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 10. Siddharth Chowdhury on Amazon. 11. The Power Broker — Robert Caro. 12. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs. 13. Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing -- Robert Caro. 14. Robert Caro on Amazon. 15. John Richardson's books on Pablo Picasso. 16. Sontag: Her Life and Work -- Benjamin Moser. 17. Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector -- Benjamin Moser. 18. Stephen Kotkin's volumes on Joseph Stalin. 19. Hilary Spurling's volumes on Henri Matisse. 20. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 21. Gandhi Before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 22. Here And Hereafter: Nirmal Verma's Life in Literature -- Nirmal Verma. 23. Ian Kershaw's books on Adolf Hitler. 24. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE — Amit Varma. 25. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 26. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. To the Book -- WS Merwin. 28. Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh, Raghuvir Sahay, Nagarjun, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Jainendra Kumar. 29. Frida: The Biography of Frida Kahlo -- Hayden Herrera. 30. Maya C Popa, Ilya Kaminsky, Mary Oliver, Nâzım Hikmet, Nizar Qabbani and Forugh Farrokhzad. 31. Francis Newton Souza, VS Gaitonde and Krishen Khanna. 32. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 33. The Shah Bano case. 34. Hindi Modernism: Rethinking Agyeya and His Times -- Edited by Vasudha Dalmia. 35. Raw Umber : A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 36. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The email conversation between Pankaj Mishra and Amit Chaudhuri. 38. Rahul Sankrityayan on Wikipedia and Amazon. 39. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron -- Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 40. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 41. Frank Sinatra Has a Cold -- Gay Talese. 42. Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me -- Ada Calhoun. 43. Sunita -- Jainendra Kumar. 44. Song of Myself, 51 -- Walt Whitman. 45. Tar Saptak. 46. Suraj Ka Saatwaan Ghoda -- Dharamvir Bharti. 47. Patrick French on Amazon and Wikipedia. 48. Leon Edel and James Atlas. 49. The Art of Biography No 1 -- Leon Edel interviewed by Jeanne McCulloch for Paris Review.50. Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet -- James Atlas. 51. The Shadow in the Garden: A Biographer's Tale -- James Atlas. 52. The Most of Nora Ephron -- Nora Ephron. 53. What Makes Women Happy -- Fay Weldon. 54. Keeda Jadi Ki Khoj Mein -- Anil Yadav. 55. Bhuvanesh Komkali, Mukul Shivputra, Amir Khan and Alladiya Khan. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Writing on the Wall’ by Simahina.
Mon, 10 Apr 2023 - 4h 15min - 325 - Ep 323: SVB, Banking and the State of the Economy
What happened at SVB? Is our banking system in crisis? What are we to make of our economy? Ajay Shah and Mohit Satynanand join Amit Varma in episode 323 of The Seen and the Unseen to tackle these complicated questions and more. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ajay Shah (Twitter, Substack) and Mohit Satyanand (Twitter, Substack). 2. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 4. Ajay Shah on currencies and crypto (1, 2, 3), an RBI misstep, the third globalisation, NBFCs and banks (1, 2), digital payments, the resolution corporation (1, 2), interest rate mismatch, voting in the MPC, the importance of low and stable inflation and the mispricing of risks. 5. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand). 6. The State of Our Economy -- Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand). 7. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 8. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 9. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 10. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World -- Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 12. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 13. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 15. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 16. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok. 17. Public Opinion — Walter Lippman. 18. The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads — Walter Lippman. 19. Watching the Wheels -- John Lennon. (Amit also loves Chris Cornell's version.) 20. You’re Missing — Bruce Springsteen. 21. The End of Silicon Valley (Bank) -- Ben Thompson on Stratechery. 22. This Banking Crisis Won’t Wreck the Economy -- Tyler Cowen. 23. SVB Took the Wrong Risks -- Matt Levine. 24. Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market -- Walter Bagehot. 25. Moral Hazard and the Cantillon Effect. 26. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 27. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 28. Austrian Economics: An Introduction -- Steven Horwitz. 29. Friedrich Hayek: The ideas and influence of the libertarian economist -- Eamonn Butler. 30.The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 31. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 32. Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology -- Chris Miller. 33. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 34. Why Pramila Devi Uses Her Chappals Sparingly -- Sayantan Bera. 35. Where Are the Customers' Yachts? -- Fred Schwed Jr. 36. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 37. Jimi Hendrix on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 38. Neil Young on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Madness of Money’ by Simahina.
Mon, 03 Apr 2023 - 3h 16min - 324 - Ep 322: The Life and Times of Mita Kapur
She's been an author, an entrepreneur, a literary agent, an organiser of events and a mother -- but her finest achievement is perhaps her making of herself. Mita Kapur joins Amit Varma in episode 322 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life she has lived, and what it has taught her. Much talk of writing, food, patriarchy and motherhood. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Mita Kapur at Siyahi, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and her own website. 2. The F Word -- Mita Kapur. 3. Siyahi -- A Literary Consultancy. 4. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Objects Speak to Annapurna Garimella — Episode 257 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The Business of Books — Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika). 8. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma's column on reading. 9. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Harry Potter, Twilight and the Rick Riordan books. 11. Mills and Boon on Wikipedia, Amazon and their own website. 12. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya — Akshaya Mukul. 13. Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew on Amazon. 14. Arthur Hailey, Nathaniel Hawthorne, TS Eliot, Leon Uris, Harold Robbins and James Hadley Chase on Amazon. 15. Wheels -- Arthur Hailey. 16. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 17. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 18. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 20. South India Would Like to Have a Word -- Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 21. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 23. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 24. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 25. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 27. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 29. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 30. Chuck Palahniuk and Susan Sontag on Amazon. 31. Kitchen -- Banana Yoshimoto. 32. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Karthika Nair and Sampurna Chattarji on Amazon. 34. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers — Ali Abdaal. 36. Imposter Syndrome. 37. In a Silent Way -- Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 38. Pavan Varma on Wikipedia and Amazon. 39. Make Me a Canteen for My Soul -- Episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage). 40. Choco Butterscotch Barks — Amit Varma’s favourite dessert of all time. 41. Daastan-e-Dastarkhan: Stories and Recipes from Muslim Kitchens -- Sadaf Hussain. 42. Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Suzanne Vega, Tom's Diner, Rufus Wainwright, Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, Harry Styles and Sam Smith on Spotify. 43. The Book of Goose -- Yiyun Li. 44. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers -- Yiyun Li. 45. Valeria, The Cook of Castamar, Daughter From Another Mother, Gentefied and Velvet Colección on Netflix. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘A Girl and Her Books’ by Simahina.
Mon, 27 Mar 2023 - 4h 15min - 323 - Ep 321: Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World
He's a renowned economist, he's worked in the IMF, he's an Asia specialist and he loves India. Josh Felman joins Amit Varma in episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his times, and all that he has learnt about economics and human beings. This episode is co-hosted by Ajay Shah. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Josh Felman on Twitter, Project Syndicate, JH Consulting and The Marginal Economist. 2. Why India Can’t Replace China -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 3. Three Globalization Shocks Could Hurt China and Help India -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 4. India's Size Illusion -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 5. India’s Stalled Rise -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 6. Are Intellectuals Killing Convergence? -- Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman. 7. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah) 8. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.. 9. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 10. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 11. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 12. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been — Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 14. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 15. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 16. Pandemonium in India’s Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay.) 17. The State of Our Economy (Nov 2021) -- Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand.) 18. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) — Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik). 19. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 20. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand). 21. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 22. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 23. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 24. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 26. Maya on IMDb and Wikipedia. 27. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Stage.in. 29. Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things -- Gurwinder. 30. The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization -- Bryan Ward-Perkins. 31. Richard Clarida and Thomas Laubach. 32. Thomas Laubach remembered by Ila Patnaik and Ajay Shah. 33. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 34. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 35. A History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 36. I, Pencil — Leonard Read. 37. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome — Mary Beard. 38. Mussolini: A Biography — Dennis Mack Smith. 39. Mussolini — RJB Bosworth. 40. The Great Dictator — Charlie Chaplin. 41. The chair-raising scene between Adenoid Hynkel and Benzino Napaloni. 42. Far Far Away on IMDb and Wikipedia — Amos Why. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘A Man, A Dog and the World’ by Simahina.
Mon, 20 Mar 2023 - 4h 21min - 322 - Ep 320: South India Would Like to Have a Word
India is run in a top-down way with a Northern bias -- and this is a problem. Nilakantan RS joins Amit Varma in episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how and why our Southern states perform so much better -- and are punished for it. Also discussed: virtue ethics, the charms of Madras and the dangers of storytelling. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Nilakantan RS on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. 2. South vs North: India's Great Divide -- Nilakantan RS. 3. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Lessons in Investing (and Life) — Episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Deepak Shenoy). 5. Crossing Over With Deepak Shenoy -- Episode 271 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza.. 8. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Phineas Gage. 10. The Great Man Theory of History. 11. Pandemonium in India’s Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay). 12. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 13. On Bullshit — Harry Frankfurt. 14. The Facts Do Not Matter — Amit Varma. 15. Facts Don’t Matter. Stories do -- Amit Varma. 16. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why -- Amit Varma. 17. Better Never to Have Been -- David Benator. 18. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 19. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 20. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Beyond Words: Philosophy, Fiction, and the Unsayable -- Timothy Cleveland. 23. Consider the Hamiltonian. 24. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Murder in Mahim — Jerry Pinto. 26. Mallikarjun Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 26. Paul Krugman on the internet in 1998. 27. The naked man with an egg -- Amit Varma's prompt and ChatGPT's reply. 28. The Liberal Nationalism of Nitin Pai -- Episode 318 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Adam Gopnik, Michel Martin, Paul Harding and Timothy Gowers. 31. Tinkers -- Paul Harding. 32. Eraserhead -- David Lynch. 33. There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing -- Adam Grant. 34. The variants on Chess.com. 35. A Summons to Memphis -- Peter Taylor. 36. Virtue Ethics on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 37. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu. 38. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu). 39. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 40. The Indus Valley Playbook — Sajith Pai. 41. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 42. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 43. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 45. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma. 46. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 47. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes — Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 48. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 49. Arrow's Impossibility Theorem. 50. Athenian Democracy and Socrates. 51. Plato (or Why Philosophy Matters) -- Episode 109 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rebecca Goldstein). 52. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 53. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).. 54. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 55. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mahadev Govind Ranade and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar. 56. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani. 57. The Walk -- Robert Walser. 58. So Long, See You Tomorrow -- William Maxwell. 59. All Aunt Hagar's Children -- Edward P Jones. 60. The Known World -- Edward P Jones. 61. Slow Man -- JM Coetzee. 62. The Changeling -- Kenzaburo Oe. 63. Earthlings -- Sayaka Murata. 64. Birth of a Theorem -- Cedric Villani. 65. Gilead -- Marilynne Robinson. 66. If I Survive You -- Jonathan Escoffery. 67. Donnie Darko -- Richard Kelly. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Conflict’ by Simahina.
Mon, 13 Mar 2023 - 3h 59min - 321 - Ep 319: Jahnavi and the Cyclotron
It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone possessed of an obsession will run into the forces of inertia. Jahnavi Phalkey joins Amit Varma in episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her history of nuclear physics in India, the men who brought a cyclotron to Chandigarh to study the world -- and her own quest to make common people love science. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Jahnavi Phalkey on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 2. Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth-Century India -- Jahnavi Phalkey. 3. Cyclotron -- Jahnavi Phalkey (Password: cyclotron_2020). 4. Science Gallery Bengaluru. 5. Re:Collect India. 6. CV Raman, Meghnad Saha and Homi Jehangir Bhabha. 7. Because the Night -- Patti Smith. 8. CBGB. 9. Venus -- Television. 10. Just Kids -- Patti Smith. 11. Patti Smith's Instagram post on Tom Verlaine. 12. Ward Morehouse on Wikipedia and UMass Amherst. 13. Rahul Sankrityayan on Wikipedia and Amazon. 14. A House for Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 15. Satyajit Ray's Oscar acceptance speech. 16. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 17. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 18. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 19. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 20. Scum Manifesto -- Valerie Solanas. 21. The History Boys — Alan Bennett. 22. Children are Topple. 23. Yuganta — Irawati Karve. 24. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne (on Wikipedia and YouTube). 25. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma -- Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 29. Ursula Le Guin, Mary Oliver, Mark Strand and Tom Waits. 30. The Sopranos and The Wire. 31. Binaca Geetmala. 32. Tumhe Ho Na Ho -- Runa Laila. 33. Diva -- Annie Lennox. 34. Dire Straits, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Patti Smith on Spotify. 35. Kishori Amonkar and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 36. Tosca — Giacomo Puccini — performed at Arena di Verona. 37. Vissi d'arte -- From Tosca by Puccini, performed by Maria Callas. (And the lyrics.) 38. Gloria -- Patti Smith. (And the Van Morrison/Them original.) 39. Horses -- Patti Smith. 40. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 41. Leviathan and the Air-Pump -- Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer. 42. The Moomin books by Tove Jansson. 43. Lawrence and His Laboratory -- JL Heilbron and Robert W Seidel. 44. A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes -- Rodrigo Garcia. 45. Ironic -- Alanis Morisette. 46. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 47. Behave — Robert Sapolsky. 48. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 49. $800,000 to Zero – The FASCINATING History of DaVinci Resolve — Alex Jordan of Learn Color Grading. 50. Justice with Michael Sandel. 51. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 52. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz. 53. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 54. Falsifiability. 55. The Logic of Scientific Discovery -- Karl Popper. 56. Merchants of Doubt -- Naomi Oreskes and Erik M Conway. 57. Priyanka Pulla on Twitter and LinkedIn. 58. The Ultimate Pocket Camera: Insta360 X3! -- Marques Brownlee. 59. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 60. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Volumes 1 to 98. 61. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 62. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine -- Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Hortus Malabaricus. 64. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health — Amit Varma. 65. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 66. In a Silent Way -- Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 67. Raymond Carver on Amazon. 68. Cathedral -- Raymond Carver. 69. Joseph Epstein on Amazon and Wikipedia. 70. Wisława Szymborska on Poetry Foundation, Amazon and Wikipedia. 71. The Foundation Series -- Isaac Asimov. 72. Abbey Road -- The Beatles. 73. The Man Who Sold the World -- David Bowie. 74. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro — Kundan Shah. 75. The 400 Blows — Francois Truffaut. 76. Delicatessen -- Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. 77. La Haine -- Mathieu Kassovitz. 78. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan:1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. 79. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Void Stares Back’ by Simahina.
Mon, 06 Mar 2023 - 4h 49min - 320 - Ep 318: The Liberal Nationalism of Nitin Pai
The task of nation-building did not end with our founders, and does not stop at our politicians. It's up to us to build the India we want to see. Nitin Pai joins Amit Varma in episode 318 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his learnings and his liberal nationalism. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Nitin Pai on his own website, Mint & Mastodon . 2. The Nitopadesha -- Moral Tales for Good Citizens. 3. The archives of The Acorn, Nitin Pai's blog. And its current avatar. 4. Nitin Pai's ideas, notes and current research and teaching. 5. The Takshashila Institution. 6. Seven Tenets of Indian Nationalism -- Nitin Pai. 7. In support of a liberal nationalism -- Nitin Pai. 8. A republic - if we can keep it -- Nitin Pai. 9. Saving the Nation From Nationalists -- Nitin Pai. 10. The real problem is that we have too little republic -- Nitin Pai. 11. The operating system of liberal democracy needs a major upgrade -- Nitin Pai. 12. Social harmony is a matter of national interest -- Nitin Pai. 13. Liberal democracies must protect their citizens’ minds from being hacked -- Nitin Pai. 14. Understanding Foreign Policy — Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai). 15. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy -- Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai). 16. The City and the City — China Miéville. 17. The State of Our Economy -- Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand). 18. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 19. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 20. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 21. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 22. The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People — Michael Shermer. 23. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 24. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress — Peter Singer. 25. How the BJP Wins — Prashant Jha. 26. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 27. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 29. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward -- Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar : A citizen-first approach — Rohini Nilekani. 31. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind — Gustave le Bon. 32. Crowds and Power — Elias Canetti. 33. EO Wilson on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 34. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on Modi, Mao and locusts). 35. FAQ: Why Anna Hazare is wrong and Lok Pal a bad idea -- Nitin Pai. 36. Sadanand Dhume on Twitter -- and this podcast! 37. Social media is an existential threat to civilisation -- Nitin Pai. 38. Reframing the social media policy debate -- Nitin Pai. 39. The coming regulation of social media is an opportunity for India -- Nitin Pai. 40. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 41. Thinking Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman. 42. Human — Michael S Gazzaniga. 43. The Interpreter — Amit Varma. 44. The Elephant in the Brain -- Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson. 45. Freedom to Think -- Susie Alegre. 46. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll. 47. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 48. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 49. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. The original Takshashila. 51. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 52. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 53. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 54. Nikita -- Elton John. 55. The Importance of Cities — Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani). 56. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Arthashastra -- Kautilya 58. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 59. Emergent Ventures. 60. Friedrich Hayek on Wikipedia, Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Econlib. 61. Milton Friedman on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Econlib. 62. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma -- Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence — Amit Varma. 64. The Generation of Rage in Kashmir — David Devadas. 65. Counterinsurgency Warfare — David Galula. 66. We Won’t Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace — Amit Varma. 67. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 68. Think the Unthinkable (2008) -- Vir Sanghvi. 69. Independence Day for Kashmir (2008) -- Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar. 70. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 71. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 72. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Why Read the Classics? — Italo Calvino. 74. History Of Western Philosophy -- Bertrand Russell. 75. Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud -- Peter Watson. 76. Arthashastra -- Kautilya (translated by Shama Shastri). 77. The Upanishads. 78. The Mahabharata -- translated by Bibek Debroy. 79. Brihatkatha, Kathasaritsagara, Panchatantra and Hitopadesha. 80. Charvaka and Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 81. Tattvopaplavasiṃha -- Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 82. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams. 83. Catch 22 -- Joseph Heller. 84. Commanding Hope -- Thomas Homer-Dixon. 85. Paul Auster, David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami, Ryu Murakami and Terry Pratchett on Amazon. 86. Piercing -- Ryu Murakami. 87. 2021 - The Year in Fiction -- Nitin Pai. 88. Bhimsen Joshi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Radiohead, Norah Jones, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Himesh Reshammiya and Yehudi Menuhin on Spotify. 89. Take Five -- The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Bigger Picture’ by Simahina.
Mon, 27 Feb 2023 - 5h 32min - 319 - Ep 317: Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward
Samaaj came before Sarkaar and Bazaar. We are more than subjects of the state and consumers of the market. Rohini Nilekani joins Amit Varma in episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life and her learnings, why citizens need to embrace their agency -- and why those with wealth have a special responsibility. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Rohini Nilekani on Amazon, Wikipedia and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. 2. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar : A citizen-first approach -- Rohini Nilekani. 3. Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. 4. Arghyam, EkStep and Pratham Books. 5. The Annual Status of Education (ASER) Report, 2022. 6. Enid Blyton, Just William, Winnie the Pooh, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys on Amazon. 7. A Terrible Beauty -- Peter Watson. 8. Iris Murdoch and VS Ramachandran on Amazon. 9. The Tell-Train Brain -- VS Ramachandran. 10. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 11. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho — Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. 12. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 13. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma -- Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Germaine Greer, Nancy Friday and Betty Friedan on Amazon. 15. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale and Arshia Sattar. 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 18. The Will to Change — Bell Hooks. 19. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions. 20. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Imposter Syndrome. 22. Gerald Durrell, The Jungle Book and Black Beauty on Amazon. 23. Indian Institute for Human Settlements. 24. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 25. The Chauri Chaura Incident. 26. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 27. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence — Amit Varma. 28. The Third Pillar — Raghuram Rajan. 29. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 30. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 31. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic — Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 32. Lewis Mumford on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 33. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. The Median Voter Theorem. 35. Mohammad Zubair’s Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad. 36. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma's column on the importance of reading. 37. Janaagraha. 38. Emergent Ventures. 39. Giving Billions Fast, MacKenzie Scott Upends Philanthropy -- Nicholas Kulish. 40. The/Nudge Institute, Give India, Dasra and Bridgespan India. 41. Lewis Hyde on Amazon. 42. The Brass Notebook: A Memoir - Devaki Jain. 43. Breaking Through: A Memoir -- Isher Judge Ahluwalia. 44. My Life in Full -- Indra Nooyi. 45. A Full Life -- Sabira Merchant. 46. Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past and Savarkar: A Contested Legacy -- Vikram Sampath. 47. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Nurture’ by Simahina.
Mon, 20 Feb 2023 - 3h 30min - 318 - Ep 316: In a Silent Way
He's a guitarist, a composer, a producer, an audio engineer and a teacher. Gaurav Chintamani joins Amit Varma in episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his reflections on music and life. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Gaurav Chintamani at Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, SACAC and his own website. 2. Advaita on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 3. Raman Negi on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 4. The Dirt Machine on YouTube Music, YouTube and Spotify. 5. Grounded in Space -- Advaita. 6. The Silent Sea -- Advaita. 7. Shaksiyat -- Raman Negi. 8. Mehroom -- Raman Negi. 9. Lullaby for the Anxious Bones -- Raman Negi. 10. It's About Time -- The Dirt Machine. 11. Kleptocrat -- The Dirt Machine + Amartya Ghosh (The song that started with dripping water). 12. Carol of the Bells -- Ishaan Chintamani. 13. Gaurav Chintamani on the School of Bass Podcast. 14. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Hard work vs. Long work -- Seth Godin. 16. Warren Mendonsa Plays the Universal Pentatonic — Episode 273 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Beatles on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 18. Bob Dylan on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 19. Choo Lo -- The Local Train. 20. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 21. Four Thousand Weeks -- Oliver Burkeman. 22. Redemption Song -- Bob Marley. 23. The Beach (book) -- Alex Garland. 24. The Beach (film) -- Danny Boyle. 25. John Cage on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 26. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 27. Over the Hills and Far Away -- Led Zeppelin. 28. Amit Varma's favourite lofi playlists on YouTube and Spotify. 29. Music for Airports -- Brian Eno. 30. The Formula Behind Every Perfect Pop Song — Seeker. 31. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 32. Deezer -- The French streaming service that Gaurav mentions. This is how they pay their artists. 33. Entry and Exit in Agriculture -- Episode 1 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath and Karthik Shashidhar). 34. Altitude -- Advaita on The Dewarists. 35. A Hard Day's Night -- The Beatles. 36. Thriller -- Michael Jackson. 37. Guns N' Roses, Pantera and The Doors. 38. The Sky is Crying -- Stevie Ray Vaughan. 39. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies — Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Lou Majaw on YouTube Music and Spotify. 41. Acquired Senses (a demo version) -- HFT. 42. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity -- Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Jeff Beck on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 45. Jimi Hendrix on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 46. Imposter Syndrome. 47. Aakar Patel on Twitter. 48. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 49. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 50. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 51. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair. 52. Waking Up - A New Operating System for Your Mind -- Sam Harris. 53. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 54. Dirty Mind -- Jeff Beck. 55. The Haas Effect. 56. The Advaita jam in the Kolkata hotel room. 57. Here, There and Everywhere -- Geoff Emerick. 58. Paul McCartney listens to John Lennon's Beautiful Boy. 59. Watching the Wheels -- John Lennon. 60. Chris Cornell's covers of Watching the Wheels, Redemption Song, Long As I Can See The Light, Nothing Compares 2 U, I Will Always Love You and Thunder Road. 61. Penny Lane -- The Beatles. 62. Strawberry Fields Forever -- The Beatles. 63. The Bends -- Radiohead. 64. The White Album -- The Beatles. 65. Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street and Goat's Head Soup -- The Rolling Stones. 66. Time out of Mind -- Bob Dylan. 67. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 68. A Day in the Life -- The Beatles. 69. Stevie Wonder on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 70. Friends, Crime, & The Cosmos -- Abhishek Upmanyu. 71. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 72. Somebody That I Used To Know -- Mike Dawes. 73. Happy -- Pharrell Williams. 74. Blow by Blow -- Jeff Beck. 75. Cause We've Ended as Lovers -- Jeff Beck. 76. Miles Davis on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 77. Bitches Brew -- MIles Davis. 78. Pat Metheny on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 79. John Scofield on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 80. I Can See Your House from Here -- Pat Metheny and John Scofield. 81. SD Burman on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 82. John Williams on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 83. The Study of Orchestration -- Samuel Adler. 84. Maurice Ravel on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 85. Claude Debussy on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 86. Johann Sebastian Bach on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 87. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major -- Johann Sebastian Bach, played by Yo Yo Ma. 88. Thomas Dybdahl on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 89. The Old Man and the Sea -- Ernest Hemingway. 90. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald. 91. Crime and Punishment — Fyodor Dostoevsky. 92. Atomic Habits — James Clear. 93. Stanley Kubrick on IMDb and Wikipedia. 94. Martin Scorsese on IMDb and Wikipedia. 95. Goodfellas -- Martin Scorsese. 96. Raging Bull -- Martin Scorsese. 97. Bernard Herrmann. 98. Psycho -- Alfred Hitchcock. 99. The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. 100. Seven Samurai -- Akira Kurosawa.. 101. The Girl From Kashmir — Episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Farah Bashir). 102. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 103. Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu. 104. Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks -- David Lynch. 105. Taxi Driver, New York Stories, Casino, Kundun and Silence -- Martin Scorsese. 106. A Whiter Shade of Pale -- Procul Harum. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Pieces of Me’ by Simahina.
Mon, 13 Feb 2023 - 6h 26min - 317 - Ep 315: Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma
The Ramayana is not one book, but a living text with countless versions across languages, each reflecting the values of its time and place. Arshia Sattar joins Amit Varma to share her insights from decades of study. Also discussed: the art of translation -- and our search for dharma. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Arshia Sattar on Amazon, Open and Wikipedia. 2. Valmiki's Ramayana -- Translated by Arshia Sattar. 3. Maryada: Searching for Dharma in the Ramayana -- Arshia Sattar. 4. Lost Loves: Exploring Rama's Anguish -- Arshia Sattar. 5. AK Ramanujan on Amazon and Wikipedia. 6. Wendy Doniger on Amazon and Wikipedia. 7. Alf Hiltebeitel on Amazon and Wikipedia. 8. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 9. On Hinduism and The Hindus — Wendy Doniger. 10. Yuganta — Irawati Karve. 11. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 12. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 13. 'I Have a Dream' (video) (transcript) -- Martin Luther King. 14. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 15. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 14. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 15. The Shah Bano case, the Sati at Deorala and the banning of Satanic Verses. 16. 1968: The Year that Rocked the World -- Mark Kurlanksy. 17. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Girish Karnad on Amazon and Wikipedia. 19. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 20. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 21. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 22. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 23. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 24. Nissim Ezekiel on Amazon, Wikipedia and All Poetry. 25. The Seven Basic Plots — Christopher Booker. 26. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 27. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho — Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. 28. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen on Mughal history with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma, Rana Safvi and Manimugdha Sharma. 29. Tales from the Kathasaritsagara -- Somadeva (translated by Arshia Sattar). 30. The Second Game of Dice -- Amit Varma. 31. Range Rover -- The archives of Amit Varma's column on poker for the Economic Times. 32. Critical Theory and Structuralism. 33. The Missing Queen -- Samhita Arni. 34. Ramcharitmanas (Hindi) (English) (Wikipedia) -- Tulsidas. 35. Krittivasi Ramayan (Bengali) (Wikipedia) -- Krittibas Ojha. 36. The Kamba Ramayana -- Translated by PS Sundaram. 37. The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer. 38. David Shulman on Amazon and Wikipedia. 39. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on demonetisation). 40. Bimal Krishna Matilal on Amazon and Wikipedia. 41. Dharma: Dimensions of Asian Spirituality -- Alf Hiltebeitel. 42. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 43. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 44. The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology -- Wendy Doniger. 45. Raja Ravi Varma. 46. Shoodhra Tapasvi -- Kuvempu. 47. Ludwig Wittgenstein on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 48. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 49. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto -- Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 51. RRR -- SS Rajamouli. 52. The Girish Karnad Podcasts: The Rover Has No Fear of Memories -- An oral history enabled by Arshia Sattar and Anmol Tikoo. 53. This Life At Play: Memoirs -- Girish Karnad. 54. Kind of Blue -- Miles Davis. 55. Elena Ferrante on Amazon. 56. The Door -- Magda Szabó. 57. The Mahabaharata -- Peter Brook. 58. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire — Luis Buñuel. 59. The Unbearable Lightness of Being — Philip Kaufman. 60. The Line -- An Apple Original podcast. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Searching for Dharma’ by Simahina.
Mon, 06 Feb 2023 - 4h 28min - 316 - Ep 314: The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto
Poet, novelist, translator, journalist, crime fiction writer, children's book author, teacher, math tutor: now here is a man who contains multitudes. Jerry Pinto joins Amit Varma in episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Jerry Pinto on Instagram, Amazon and his own website. 2. Em and the Big Hoom -- Jerry Pinto. 3. The Education of Yuri -- Jerry Pinto. 4. Murder in Mahim -- Jerry Pinto. 5. A Book of Light -- Edited by Jerry Pinto. 6. Baluta -- Daya Pawar (translated by Jerry Pinto). 7. I Have Not Seen Mandu -- Swadesh Deepak (translated by Jerry Pinto). 8. Cobalt Blue -- Sachin Kundalkar (translated by Jerry Pinto). 9. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale -- Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. ‘Sometimes I feel I have to be completely invisible as a poet’ -- Jerry Pinto's interview of Adil Jussawalla. 11. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 12. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Big Questions — Steven E Landsburg. 14. Unlikely is Inevitable — Amit Varma. 15. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 16. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 18. Dreamers — Snigdha Poonam. 19. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 20. The History Boys -- Alan Bennett. 21. The Connell Guide to How to Write Well -- Tim de Lisle. 22. Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut -- Marcus Du Sautoy. 23. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir. 24. A Mathematician's Apology -- GH Hardy. 25. The Man Who Knew Infinity -- Robert Kanigel. 26. David Berlinski and Martin Gardner on Amazon, and Mukul Sharma on Wikipedia.. 27. Range Rover -- The archives of Amit Varma's column on poker for The Economic Times. 28. Luck is All Around -- Amit Varma. 29. Stoicism on Wikipedia, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Britannica. 30. House of the Dead — Fyodor Dostoevsky. 31. Black Beauty -- Anna Sewell. 32. Lady Chatterley's Lover -- DH Lawrence. 33. Mr Norris Changes Trains -- Chistopher Isherwood. 34. Sigrid Undset on Amazon and Wikipedia. 35. Some Prefer Nettles -- Junichiro Tanizaki. 36. Things Fall Apart — Chinua Achebe. 37. Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy on Amazon. 38. Orientalism -- Edward Said. 39. Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Kurt Vonnegut on Amazon. 40. Johnny Got His Gun -- Dalton Trumbo. 41. Selected Poems -- Kamala Das. 42. Collected Poems -- Kamala Das. 43. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones — Pradip Krishen. 44. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 45. Tosca -- Giacomo Puccini. 46. Civilisation by Kenneth Clark on YouTube and Wikipedia. 47. Archives of The World This Week. 48. Dardi Rab Rab Kardi -- Daler Mehndi. 49. Is Old Music Killing New Music? — Ted Gioia. 50. Mother India (Mehboob Khan) and Mughal-E-Azam (K Asif). 51. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 52. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. Collected Poems — Mark Strand. 54. Forgive Me, Mother -- Eunice de Souza. 55. Porphyria's Lover -- Robert Browning. 56. Island -- Nissim Ezekiel. 57. Paper Menagerie — Ken Liu. 58. Jhumpa Lahiri on Writing, Translation, and Crossing Between Cultures — Episode 17 of Conversations With Tyler. 59. The Notebook Trilogy — Agota Kristof. 60. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar. 62. Nissim Ezekiel on Amazon, Wikipedia and All Poetry. 63. Adil Jussawalla on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poetry International. 64. Eunice de Souza on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poetry International. 65. Dom Moraes on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poem Hunter. 66. WH Auden and Stephen Spender on Amazon. 67. Pilloo Pochkhanawala on Wikipedia and JNAF. 68. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poetry Foundation. 69. Amar Akbar Anthony -- Manmohan Desai. 67. Ranjit Hoskote on Amazon, Instagram, Twitter, Wikipedia and Poetry International. 71. Arundhathi Subramaniam on Amazon, Instagram, Wikipedia, Poetry International and her own website. 72. The Red Wheelbarrow -- William Carlos Williams. 73. Mary Oliver's analysis of The Red Wheelbarrow. 74. A Poetry Handbook — Mary Oliver. 75. The War Against Cliche -- Martin Amis. 76. Seamus Heaney on Amazon, Wikipedia and Poetry Foundation. 77. The world behind 'Em and the Big Hoom' -- Jerry Pinto interviewed by Swetha Amit. 78. Jerry Pinto interviewed for the New York Times by Max Bearak. 79. Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and GV Desani on Amazon. 80. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 81. Graham Greene, W Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley on Amazon. 82. Surviving Men -- Shobhaa De. 83. Surviving Men -- Jerry Pinto. 84. The Essays of GK Chesterton. 85. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 86. City Improbable: Writings on Delhi -- Edited by Khushwant Singh. 87. Bombay, Meri Jaan -- Edited by Jerry Pinto and Naresh Fernandes. 88. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 89. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 90. Wanting -- Luke Burgis. 91. Kalpish Ratna and Sjowall & Wahloo on Amazon. 92. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 93. Ashad ka Ek Din -- Mohan Rakesh. 94. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy (translated by Constance Garnett). 95. Gordon Lish: ‘Had I not revised Carver, would he be paid the attention given him? Baloney!’ -- Christian Lorentzen.. 96. Sooraj Barjatya and Yash Chopra. 97. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 98. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma. 99. Phineas Gage. 100. Georges Simenon on Amazon and Wikipedia.. 101. The Interpreter -- Amit Varma on Michael Gazzaniga's iconic neuroscience experiment. 102. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.. 103. Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert. 104. Self-Portrait — AK Ramanujan. 105. Ivan Turgenev, Ryu Murakami and Patricia Highsmith on Amazon. 106. A Clockwork Orange -- Anthony Burgess. 107. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 110. Playwright at the Centre: Marathi Drama from 1843 to the Present — Shanta Gokhale. 111. Kubla Khan -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 112. Girish Shahane, Naresh Fernandes, Suketu Mehta, David Godwin and Kiran Desai. 113. The Count of Monte Cristo -- Alexandre Dumas. 114. Pedro Almodóvar and Yasujirō Ozu. 115. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 116. The Lives of the Poets -- Samuel Johnson. 117. Lives of the Women -- Various authors, edited by Jerry Pinto. 118. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma. 119. On Bullshit — Harry Frankfurt. 120. The Facts Do Not Matter — Amit Varma. 121. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 122. Modi’s Lost Opportunity — Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz). 123. Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala. 124. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 125. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 126. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 127. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma.. 128. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 129. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 130. The Saturdays -- Elizabeth Enwright. 131. Summer of My German Soldier -- Bette Greene. 132. I am David -- Anne Holm. 133. Tove Jannson and Beatrix Potter on Amazon. 134. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkien. 135. Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness -- William Styron. 136. An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness -- Kay Redfield Jamison. 137. Searching for Swadesh -- Nirupama Dutt.. 138. Parsai Rachanawali -- Harishankar Parsai. 139. Not Dark Yet (official) (newly released outtake) -- Bob Dylan.. 140. How This Nobel Has Redefined Literature -- Amit Varma on Dylan winning the Nobel Prize.. 141. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma. 142. PG Wodehouse on Amazon and Wikipedia. 143. I Heard the Owl Call My Name -- Margaret Craven. 144. 84, Charing Cross Road -- Helen Hanff. 145. Great Expectations, Little Dorrit and Bleak House -- Charles Dickens. 146. Middlemarch -- George Eliot. 147. The Pillow Book -- Sei Shonagon. 148. The Diary of Lady Murasaki -- Murasaki Shikibu. 149. My Experiments With Truth -- Mohandas Gandhi. 150. Ariel -- Sylvia Plath. 151. Jejuri -- Arun Kolatkar. 152. Missing Person -- Adil Jussawalla. 153. All About H Hatterr -- GV Desani. 154. The Ground Beneath Her Feet -- Salman Rushdie. 155. A Fine Balance -- Rohinton Mistry. 156. Tales from Firozsha Baag -- Rohinton Mistry. 157. Amores Perros -- Alejandro G Iñárritu. 158. Samira Makhmalbaf on Wikipedia and IMDb. 159. Ingmar Bergman on Wikipedia and IMDb. 160. The Silence, Autumn Sonata and Wild Strawberries - Ingmar Bergman. 161. The Mahabharata. 162. Yuganta — Irawati Karve. 163. Kalyug -- Shyam Benegal. 164. The Hungry Tide -- Amitav Ghosh. 165. On Hinduism and The Hindus -- Wendy Doniger. 166. I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd — Lal Dĕd (translated by Ranjit Hoskote). 167. The Essential Kabir -- Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 168. The Absent Traveller -- Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 169. These My Words: The Penguin Book of Indian Poetry -- Edited by Eunice de Souza and Melanie Silgardo. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘He is Reading’ by Simahina.
Mon, 30 Jan 2023 - 8h 04min - 315 - Ep 313: The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti
Public policy may seem arcane and complicated, a field only for geeks. But all our lives are shaped by it. Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley join Amit Varma in episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe their efforts to make policy great again. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy -- Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley. 2. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter. 3. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra). 4. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy -- Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 7. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 8. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 9. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 10. Angus Maddison's chart on GDP through the ages. 11. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 13. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Bhaktamal -- Nabha Dass. 15. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. 16. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 17. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 18. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Overton Window. 20. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 21. Where Did Development Economics Go Wrong? -- Shruti Rajagopalan speaks to Lant Pritchett on the Ideas of India podcast. 22. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working -- Jonathan Rauch. 23. Public Opinion — Walter Lippmann. 24. Democracy in America — Alexis De Tocqueville. 25. Yeh Jo Public Hai Sab Janti Hai -- Song from Roti. 26. Price Controls Lead to Shortages and Harm the Poor -- Amit Varma. 27. Amit Varma’s prescient 2017 tweet on the price caps on stents. 28. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Tu Kisi Rail Si — Lyrics by Varun Grover. 30. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People -- Michael Shermer. 32. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 33. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress — Peter Singer. 34. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama. 35. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama. 36. Political Order and Political Decay — Francis Fukuyama. 37. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 38. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking — Amit Varma. 39. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist — Bruce Yandle. 40. Zanjeer (Prakash Mehra) and Gol Maal (Hrishikesh Mukherjee). 41. A People’s Constitution— Rohit De. 42. Laws Against Victimless Crimes Should Be Scrapped -- Amit Varma. 43. We All Gamble. Make It Legal -- Devangshu Datta. 44. Yes We Cannabis! -- Devangshu Datta. 45. Prohibition doesn’t work. Tax Alcohol Instead -- Devangshu Datta. 46. Legalise Prostitution to Fight Trafficking -- Amit Varma. 47. Sea of Poppies -- Amitav Ghosh. 48. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 49. Rent Control — Ep 14 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok). 50. A Theory of Justice — John Rawls. 51. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 52. Politics and Money -- Amit Varma's limerick. 53. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 54. Power and Prosperity — Mancur Olson. 55. Swaminathan S Aiyar at Times of India, Amazon and his own website. 56. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 57. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 58. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on GST: 1, 2, 3. 59. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State — Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 60. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 61. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? — Amit Varma. 62. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 63. A Beast Called Government (2007) -- Amit Varma. 64. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 65. Policy Paradox – The Art of Political Decision Making — Deborah Stone. 66. Bara -- UR Ananthamurthy 67. Sookha -- MS Sathyu's film based on Bara, 68. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy -- Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai). 69. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker. 70. The Third Pillar -- Raghuram Rajan. 71. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar : A citizen-first approach -- Rohini Nilekani. 72. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 73. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 74. Frédéric Bastiat’s writings at Bastiat.org and Amazon. 75. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 76. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 77. Econ Talk — Russ Roberts’s podcast. 78. Conversation and Society — Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 79. The Economist as Scapegoat -- Russ Roberts. 80. Bollywood's New Capitalist Hero (2007) -- Amit Varma. 81. Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! -- Saaed Mirza. 82. Scam 1992 -- Hansal Mehta. 83. Bharat Ane Nenu -- Koratal Siva. 84. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 85. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 86. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 87. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma. 88. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 89. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 90. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic — Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 91. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 92. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 93. The Solution -- Bertolt Brecht. 94. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine -- Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 95. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 96. The Multitudes of Our Maharajahs -- Episode 244 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 97. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 98. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho -- Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. 99. Crimemaster Gogo in the house! Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Graveyard of Good Intentions’ by Simahina.
Mon, 23 Jan 2023 - 4h 14min - 314 - Ep 312: Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change
He is an IAS officer who has just co-written a book about Gandhian social workers in Vidarbha. Ashutosh Salil joins Amit Varma in episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the difficult work of bringing about change from within society -- and from within the state. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Ashutosh Salil on Twitter, Amazon and Outlook. 2. Being the Change: In the Footsteps of the Mahatma -- Ashutosh Salil and Barkha Mathur. 3. Friendship Day: An IAS Officer Recollects His Childhood Friend -- Ashutosh Salil. 4. Nomad’s Diary: An IAS Officer Tries To Find The Meaning Of Home -- Ashutosh Salil. 5. Singing Frogs & Sinking Roads: Experiencing The Monsoons In Smalltown Bihar -- Ashutosh Salil. 6. Writer's Diary: Walking Down The Memory Lane -- Ashutosh Salil. 7. Learning From Tribals -- Ashutosh Salil. 8. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Stage.in. 10. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 11. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 12. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Sharda Sinha on Spotify and YouTube. 14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 15. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 16. Maithili Thakur on Spotify and YouTube. 17. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 18. The Darbhanga Gharana on Wikipedia and YouTube. 19. Chhannulal Mishra on Spotify and YouTube. 20. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 24. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 25. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 26. Friedrich Hayek on Wikipedia, Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Econlib. 27. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 28. Tory MP visibly furious over party chaos -- Guardian News. 29. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 30. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 31. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic -- Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 32. Mission Shaurya on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 33. Poorna -- Directed by Rahul Bose. 34. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 35. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 36. Where There is no Doctor -- David Werner. 37. Chinki Sinha at Outlook and Twitter. 38. Rohinton Mistry and WG Sebald on Amazon. 39. The Imposter Syndrome. 40. Kumar Gandharva on Spotify and YouTube. 41. Nirbhay Nirgun -- Kumar Gandharva. 42. Prahlad Singh Tipanya on YouTube. 43. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya -- Akshaya Mukul. 44. Shekhar: A Life -- Agyeya. 45. Shekhar: Ek Jeevani -- Agyeya. 46. The Life and Times of George Fernandes -- Rahul Ramagundam. 47. Man's Search for Meaning -- Viktor Frankl. 48. Kantara -- Rishab Shetty. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Being the Change’ by Simahina.
Mon, 16 Jan 2023 - 3h 52min - 313 - Ep 311: The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale
She's been a novelist, a playwright, a critic, an essayist, a memoirist, a journalist, a writer for cinema and a historian of theatre -- in both English and Marathi. Shanta Gokhale joins Amit Varma in episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her remarkable life and times. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Shanta Gokhale on Amazon, Wikipedia and her own website. 2. One Foot on the Ground -- Shanta Gokhale. 3. Living With Father: A Memoir -- Shanta Gokhale. 4. आमची आई : इंदिरा गोपाळ गोखले -- Shanta Gokhale. 5. The Engaged Observer: The Selected Writings of Shanta Gokhale -- Edited by Jerry Pinto. 6. Rita Velinkar (Marathi) (English) -- Shanta Gokhale. 7. Tya Varshi/Crowfall (Marathi) (English) -- Shanta Gokhale. 8. Playwright at the Centre: Marathi Drama from 1843 to the Present -- Shanta Gokhale. 9. Shivaji Park: Dadar 28: History, Places, People -- Shanta Gokhale. 10. Satyadev Dubey: A Fifty-Year Journey Through Theatre -- Edited by Shanta Gokhale. 11. The Scenes We Made: An Oral History of Experimental Theatre in Mumbai -- Edited by Shanta Gokhale. 12. Avinash: The Indestructible -- Shanta Gokhale. 13. Smritichitre: The Memoirs of a Spirited Wife -- Lakshmibai Tilak (translated by Shanta Gokhale). 14. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 15. The Adda at the End of the Universe -- Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 16. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Never Never Nest -- Cedric Mount. 18. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mrinal Pande). 19. The Female Eunuch -- Germaine Greer. 20. The Second Sex -- Simone de Beauvoir. 21. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 22. Agarkar’s Donkeys: A Meditation on God — Amit Varma. 23. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Kavita Krishnan Files — Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 26. The Will to Change — bell hooks. 27. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 28. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. 29. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 30. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 31. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress — Peter Singer. 32. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 33. Phineas Gage. 34. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 35. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 36. Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram, Arun Kolatkar and Dilip Chitre. 37. GN Devy on Amazon and Wikipedia. 38. Navyug Vachanmala and Arun Vachan -- PK Atre's series for elementary school and middle school respectively. 39. The State of Our Farmers — Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil). 40. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Storytel. 43. Pu La Deshpande, Raag Darbari and Kashi Ka Assi on Storytel. 44. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Stage.in. 46. A Doll's House -- Henrik Ibsen. 47. Looking for Ibsen in Maharashtra -- Shanta Gokhale. 48. The Vintage Book Of Indian Writing 1947 - 1997 -- Edited by Salman Rushdie and Elizabeth West. 49. The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature -- Edited by Amit Chaudhuri. 50. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 51. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 52. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 53. Namdeo Dhasal on Amazon and Wikipedia. 54. Alice Munro on Amazon and Wikipedia. 55. Squid Game on Netflix. 56. Yada Kadachit (Part 1) (Part 2) -- Written and directed by Santosh Pawar. 57. Sakharam Binder (Marathi) (English) -- Vijay Tendulkar. 58. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 59. सप्तरंगी कोरिया एक अनुभव -- Sudha Hujurbajar-Tumbe. 60. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity -- Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Alice in Wonderland -- Lewis Carroll. 62. Charles Dickens, William Wordsworth, JB Priestley, George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare on Amazon. 63. The Lost Daughter -- Elena Ferrante. 64. The Lost Daughter -- The film by Maggie Gyllenhaal. 65. The Shadow Lines -- Amitav Ghosh. 66. Enid Blyton on Amazon. 67. This Life At Play: Memoirs -- Girish Karnad. 68. Sunil Shanbag and Shanta Gokhale in conversation with Girish Karnad. 69. Aranyer Din Ratri -- Satyajit Ray. 70. Messy: How to Be Creative and Resilient in a Tidy-Minded World -- Tim Harford. 71. A Room of One's Own -- Virginia Woolf. 72. A Passage to India -- EM Forster. 73. Kumar Shahani on Wikipedia and IMDb. 74. Middlemarch -- George Eliot. 75. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy. 76, Far From the Madding Crowd -- Thomas Hardy. 77. Vanity Fair -- William Makepeace Thackeray. 78. Ulysses -- James Joyce. 79. Picnic at Hanging Rock -- Peter Weir. 80. Why Read the Classics? -- Italo Calvino. 81. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 82. Hercule Poirot on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 83. The Golden Age of Murder — Martin Edwards. 84. PG Wodehouse on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 85. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 86. The Creative Process: A Symposium -- Edited by Brewster Ghiselin. 87. Nissim Ezekiel and Satyadev Dubey. 88. Avadhya -- CT Khanolkar. 89. Masaan — Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. 90. Tanjore Painting and Prabhakar Barwe. 91. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 92. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 93. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 94. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 95. Memoirs -- Habib Tanvir. 96. Sulabha Deshpande on Wikipedia and IMDb. 97. Sunil Shanbag on Wikipedia, IMDb and Instagram. 98. Atul Pethe on Book My Show and Facebook. 99. Shanta Gokhale's cameo in Ardh Satya (at 1:36:10). 100. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 101. Bend it Like Beckham -- Gurinder Chadha. 102. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 103. Indira Sant on Amazon and Wikipedia. (And a translation of Ekti by Vinay Dharwadkar.) 104. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 105. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 106. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 107. Ranjit Hoskote, Arundhati Subramaniam and Jerry Pinto on Amazon. 108. Alt News, The News Minute and Scroll. 109. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 110. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 111. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 112. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on Demonetisation). 113. Enabled by technology, young Indians show what it means to be a citizen — Amit Varma. 114. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health — Amit Varma. 115. The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad -- Episode 302 of The Seen and the Unseen. 116. Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert. 117. The Brothers Karamazov -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 118. The World as India -- Susan Sontag. In addition to the links above, Shanta recommended: Books: Women in Love (DH Lawrence), Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka), Ways of Seeing (John Berger), 84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff), The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway), The Tin Drum (Gunter Grass), The Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace, Hungry Tide (all Amitav Ghosh), Solo (Rana Dasgupta), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera), Respected Sir (Naguib Mahfouz), One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez), Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie), The Sense of an Ending, Flaubert's Parrot, The Noise of Time, Levels of Life (all Julian Barnes). Hindustani Classical Vocal: Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Padma Talwalkar, Dinkar Kaikini, Venkatesh Kumar, Ulhas Kashalkar, Uday Bhawalkar (dhrupad), Mukul Shivputra. Carnatic Vocal: MS Subbulakshmi, DK Pattamal, TM Krishna, Sanjay Subrahmanyan. Instrumental: TR Mahalingam (flautist), Lalgudi Jayaraman (violin). Others: Geet Varsha (Kumar Gandharva), Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo (Farida Khanum), Dnyaneshwari (Lata Mangeshkar). This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Reading the World’ by Simahina.
Mon, 09 Jan 2023 - 8h 08min - 312 - Ep 310: Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine
Known online as The Liver Doctor, he's a crusader against quackery of all sorts. Cyriac Abby Philips joins Amit Varma in episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey to becoming a doctor-scientist, the breakthroughs in his field, what he has learnt as a physician -- and the dangers of 'alternative medicine.' (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Abby Philips on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google Scholar, Rajagiri Hospital and The Morning Context. 2. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma -- Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 3. The Practice of Medicine -- Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 4. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 5. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health -- Amit Varma. 6. Homeopathic Faith -- Amit Varma. 7. Bad Science -- Ben Goldacre. 8. Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial -- Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. 9. Homeopathy, quackery and fraud -- James Randi. 10. Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker. 11. Doctor, heal thyself -- Suresh K Pandey and Vidushi Sharma on the shorter life expectancy of doctors in India. 12. Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart — Gerd Gigerenzer, Peter M Todd and the ABC Research Group on ‘fast and frugal heuristics’). 13. The Medical Council of India -- Episode 8 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath). 14. Abby Philips's tweet about how cirrhosis can be reversed. 15. A Phase 3 Trial of Pirfenidone in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis -- Various authors for the ASCEND study group. 16. Repurposing Pirfenidone for Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis-related Cirrhosis: A Case Series -- Cyriac Abby Philips and others. 17. Regression of Human Cirrhosis: Morphologic Features and the Genesis of Incomplete Septal Cirrhosis -- Ian R Wanless, Eisuke Nakashima and Morris Sherman. 18. Reversal of Liver Cirrhosis: A Desirable Clinical Outcome and Its Pathogenic Background -- Flavia Bortolotti and Maria Guido. 19. Ignaz Semmelweis on Britannica and Wikipedia. 20. The Diabetes Code -- Jason Fung. 21. The perfect treatment for diabetes and weight loss -- Interview of Jason Fung. 22. Intestinal microbiota contributes to individual susceptibility to alcoholic liver disease -- M Llopis and others. 23. Fecal microbiota manipulation prevents dysbiosis and alcohol-induced liver injury in mice -- Gladys Ferrere and others. 24. Some of Abby Philips's papers on stool transplants: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 25. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Karthik Muralidharan: 1, 2, 3. 26. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 27. Fecal enema as an adjunct in the treatment of pseudomembranous enterocolitis -- Ben Eiseman and others. 28. Duodenal Infusion of Donor Feces for Recurrent Clostridium difficile -- Els van Nood and others. 29. There is no safe level of alcohol consumption -- Abby Philips. 30. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 31. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz. 32. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung. 33. Priyanka Pulla on Twitter and LinkedIn. 34. Abby Philips and Krish Ashok's Instagram post on Ayurveda. 35. Edzard Ernst on Twitter and his own website. 36. The studies on nanoparticles in homeopathy from IIT Bombay and Belgium. 37. Parents guilty of manslaughter over daughter's eczema death -- Harriet Alexander. 38. Never Talk About TURMERIC on Social Media -- Abby Philips. 39. Abby Philips's video on Arsenic Album. 40. Clinical outcomes, histopathological patterns, and chemical analysis of Ayurveda and herbal medicine associated with severe liver injury -- Abby Philips and others. 41. Abby Philips's paper on Herbalife products causing fatal acute liver failure. 42. Paper about Herbalife®-related patient death removed after company threatens to sue the journal -- Elizabeth Bik. (Also, her tweets: 1, 2.) 43. Retraction Watch on the controversy. 44. The Jaslok study on the harmful effects of Giloy, commonly used in Ayurveda. 45. Subsequent studies on the harm that Giloy does from New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Delhi again, Delhi one more time, Lucknow, Mumbai and a large multicenter study. 46. As COVID Surged, India Had a Silent Outbreak of Giloy-Induced Liver Injury -- Banjot Kaur. 47. Blankets -- Craig Thompson. 48. Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir -- Tom Hart. 49. Robot Dreams -- Sara Varon. 50. The Complete Maus -- Art Spiegelman. 51. Bone -- Jeff Smith. 52. V For Vendetta -- Alan Moore and David Lloyd. 53. Cinema Paradiso -- Giuseppe Tornatore. 54. Tigertail -- Alan Yang. 55. The Town -- Ben Affleck. 56. I Saw the Devil -- Jee-woon Kim. 57. The Roundup -- Lee Sang-yong. 58. Memories of Murder -- Bong Joon-ho. 59. The Night Of and True Detective. 60. Pink Floyd, Def Leppard and Metallica on Spotify. 61. Bon Jovi, Manowar and Savatage on Spotify. 62. Sleep -- Savatage. 63. The Police, Sting, Cyndi Lauper and Imagine Dragons on Spotify. 64. The master thread by Abby Philips of his Twitter mega threads. This episode is sponsored by MapMyGenome. Use the code UNSEEN to get 25% off all their products, especially MedicaMap. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Good Doctor’ by Simahina.
Mon, 02 Jan 2023 - 4h 24min - 311 - Ep 309: The Adda at the End of the Universe
As 2022 draws to a close, it's time to chill. Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas join Amit Varma in episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen to share wit, wisdom and life lessons that are priceless. There is cricket, there is singing, there are great bad jokes -- never has insight been so much fun! (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Roshan Abbas at Instagram, Twitter and his own website. 2. Vikram Sathaye at Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. 3. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Kommune on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 5. Speechless — Roshan Abbas and Siddharth Banerjee. 6. What the Duck With Vikram Sathaye -- Vikram Sathaye's talk show on YouTube. 7. How Sachin Destroyed My Life -- Vikram Sathaye. 8. Vikram Sathaye's breakout performance at the 2004 Ceat Cricket Awards. 9. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 10. The Loneliness of the Indian Man -- Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 11. Pu La Deshpande. 12. Roam Research. 13. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia. 14. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 15. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 16. Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify and YouTube. 17. Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder -- Arnold Schwarzenegger. 18. Papa Kehte Hain -- Mahesh Bhatt. 19. Ghar Se Nikalte Hi -- Song from Papa Kehte Hain. 20. Tarkash -- Javed Akhtar. 21. Vijay Tendulkar and Satyadev Dubey. 22. Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega, directed by Tim Burton & others. 23. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 24. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 25. The BarberShop with Shantanu. 26. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Stage.in. 28. Parasite — Bong Joon-ho. 29. Sunandan Lele on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook. 30. Atomic Habits — James Clear. 31. The Love Fools on Instagram, Zomato and Facebook. 32. Behave — Robert Sapolsky. 33. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 34. Seinfeld -- Created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. 35. 3 Deewarein (Nagesh Kukunoor), Satta (Madhur Bhandarkar) and Dil Vil Pyar Vyaar (Anant Mahadevan). 36. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 37. Vijay Gokhale on Amazon. 38. The Evolution of Cricket — Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle). 39. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 40. Nudge -- Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. 41. Japan fans clean up the stadium after defeat to Croatia. 42. Euphoria on Hotstar/HBO. 43. Why I'm Hopeful About Twitter -- Amit Varma. 44. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To -- David Sinclair. 45. The Lifespan Podcast by David Sinclair. 46. Huberman Lab. 47. Muse: EEG-Powered Meditation & Sleep Headband. 48. Factfulness — Hans Rosling. 49. Genepath Diagnostics. 50. Abby Philips on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google Scholar. 51. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 52. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz. 53. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung. 54. Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker. 55.The Swimmers -- Sally El Hosaini. 56. Khakee: The Bihar Chapter -- Created by Neeraj Pandey. 57. Bihar Diaries -- Amit Lodha. 58. Angad Daryani of Praan on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 59. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 60. Jonathan Haidt on Amazon, Twitter, Google Scholar and his own website. 61. Anatomy of the Vertical Invader -- IMRB International. 62. Josh Talks and The Lallantop. 63. The full Cristiano Ronaldo Interview With Piers Morgan. 64. Anumita Nadesan on Spotify, YouTube and Instagram. 65. Kusha Kapila on Instagram and YouTube. 66. I Boiled My Buttocks for a Week -- Amit Varma. 67. Propah Lady -- Puma commercial directed by Reema Sengupta. 68. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 69. Glimpses from the event with Zakir Hussain and Sachin Tendulkar. 70. Phineas Gage. 71. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 72. Why We Choke — Amit Varma. 73. Garden -- The app for staying in touch. 74. A Creator of the Floating World — Episode 218 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Varun Duggirala). 75. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron. 76. Coverage of the Bawraas by YourStory, Times of India and Hindustan Times. 77. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Monsoon Wedding -- Mira Nair. 79. How to Be Successful -- Sam Altman. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Time For Adda’ by Simahina.
Mon, 26 Dec 2022 - 7h 17min - 310 - Ep 308: Saaz Aggarwal Enters a Vanished Homeland
Borders and nation states can sometimes seek to divide communities -- but isn't that a bit like cutting water with a knife? Saaz Aggarwal joins Amit Varma in episode 308 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her work chronicling the history and culture of the Sindhi people -- and her own rich life as a writer and artist. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Saaz Aggarwal on Amazon, Instagram, LinkedIn, Scroll, Open and her own website. 2. Sindh: Stories from a Vanished Homeland -- Saaz Aggarwal. 3. Sindhi Tapestry: Reflections on the Sindhi Identity -- Saaz Aggarwal. 4. The Amils of Sindh: A Narrative History of a Remarkable Community -- Saaz Aggarwal. 5. Losing Home: Finding Home -- Saaz Aggarwal, with illustrations by Subhodeep Mukherjee. 6. The Six Sigma Dabbawalas of Mumbai -- Samatvam Academy. 7. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 8. Frédéric Bastiat’s writings at Bastiat.org and Amazon. 9. Remembering Frédéric Bastiat (2007) — Amit Varma. 10. Autobiography of Malcolm X -- Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley. 11. A Shot At History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold -- Abhinav Bindra with Rohit Brijnath. 12. Odyssey: My Journey Through Life -- Nandlal P Tolani with Saaz Aggarwal. 13. Veda Aggarwal's website. 14. Comparative Advantage. 15. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. ‘Indian languages carry the legacy of caste’ — Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 18. Vipassana meditation at Dhamma.org. 19. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 20. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 21. Rekhta. 22. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Stage.in. 24. Nanak Was Here — Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh). 25. Songs of Kabir -- Kabit, translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 26. Doorway To Sindh -- Aruna Madnani's project. 27. In defence of suit, boot — Chandra Bhan Prasad. 28. The Good Lion -- Ernest Hemingway. 29. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 30. Eye Cosmetic ‘Surma’: Hidden Threats of Lead Poisoning -- K Goswami, 31. Nandita Bhavnani on Amazon and YouTube. 32. Toba Tek Singh -- Sadat Hasan Manto. 33. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 34. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 35. Beyond the Rainbow -- Murli Melwani. 36. Kurt Vonnegut, Philip Roth, Douglas Adams, Leslie Thomas and PG Wodehouse on Amazon. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Tapestry’ by Simahina. *** Errata: Contrary to what I said in the introduction to this episode, It was Saaz's mother and not Saaz who was born a Bijlani. Apologies! -- AV
Mon, 19 Dec 2022 - 3h 44min - 309 - Ep 307: Suyash Rai Embraces India's Complexity
Indian society, the Indian state and the Indian economy are all complex beasts that defy simple narratives. Suyash Rai joins Amit Varma in episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how he has tried to make sense of it all -- and how he tries to make a difference. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Suyash Rai at Carnegie India, Twitter and The Print. 2. Ideas and Institutions -- The Carnegie India newsletter co-written by Suyash Rai. 3. Interpreting India -- The Carnegie India podcast sometimes hosted by Suyash Rai. 4. Carnegie India's YouTube Channel. 5. Demonetisation -- Episode 2 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 6. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 7. Suyash Rai on GDP growth: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 8. Suyash Rai on public finance: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 9. Suyash Rai on the financial system: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 10. Suyash Rai on changes in state-capital relations in recent years: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 11. Suyash Rai on the judiciary: 1, 2. 12. Suyash Rai on utopian laws that do not work in practice: 1, 2, 3. 13. Suyash Rai on Demonetisation: 1, 2, 3, 4. 14. Paper Menagerie — Ken Liu. 15. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life -- Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Conquest and Community: The Afterlife of Warrior Saint Ghazi Miyan -- Shahid Amin. 17. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 18. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 19. The Undiscovered Self: The Dilemma of the Individual in Modern Society -- CG Jung. 20. A Memoir of Mary Ann -- By Dominican Nuns (introduction by Flannery O'Connor). 21. Nathaniel Hawthorne on Amazon and Wikipedia. 22. Flannery O’Connor and “A Memoir of Mary Ann” -- Daniel J Sundahl. 23. GK Chesterton on Amazon and Wikipedia. 24. Alasdair MacIntyre on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 25. The Moral Animal -- Robert Wright. 26. Gimpel the Fool -- Isaac Bashevis Singer (translated by Saul Bellow). 27. George Orwell on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Frédéric Bastiat on Amazon and Wikipedia. 29. Reflections on Gandhi -- George Orwell. 30. Interview of Harshal Patel in Breakfast With Champions. 31. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 32. The Facts Do Not Matter — Amit Varma. 33. The Hippocratic Oath. 34. Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart -- Gerd Gigerenzer, Peter M Todd and the ABC Research Group on 'fast and frugal heuristics'). 35. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 36. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin). 37. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood -- Howard Pyle. 38. Ivanhoe -- Walter Scott. 39. The Swiss Family Robinson -- Johann David Wyss. 40. Treasure Island -- Robert Louis Stevenson. 41. One Hundred Years of Solitude — Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 42. Saul Bellow on Amazon and Wikipedia. 43. Dangling Man -- Saul Bellow. 44. Salman Rushdie, Philip Roth, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Bernard Malamud on Amazon. 45. Aristotle on Amazon, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 46. Plato on Amazon, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 47. Gorgias -- Plato. 48. The Dialogues of Plato. 49. Ramayana, Mahabharata and Amar Chitra Katha. 50. Nausea -- Jean-Paul Sartre. 51. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 52. Political Ideology in India — Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 53. Against Sainte-Beuve and Other Essays -- Marcel Proust. 54. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 55. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. The Aristocratic Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville -- Suyash Rai. 57. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 58. Ronald Dworkin on Amazon and Wikipedia. 59. Immanuel Kant on Amazon, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 60. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 61. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma. 62. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 63. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do And Why They Do It -- James Q Wilson. 64. The Moral Sense -- James Q Wilson. 65. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 66. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama. 67. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama. 68. Political Order and Political Decay — Francis Fukuyama. 69. Going from strong as in scary to strong as in capable -- Suyash Rai and Ajay Shah. 70. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy. 72. Utilitarianism on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 73. Practical Ethics -- Peter Singer. 74. Reasons and Persons -- Derek Parfit. 75. The Repugnant Conclusion. 76. Governing the Commons -- Elinor Ostrom. 77. A Pragmatic Approach to Data Protection -- Suyash Rai. 78. Technology and the Lifeworld -- Don Ihde. 79. Postphenomenology -- Don Ihde. 80. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 81. Looking at Lucas’s Question After Seventy-five Years of India’s Independence -- Suyash Rai. 82. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 83. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 84. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 85. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 86. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 87. Douglass North and Albert O Hirschman. 88. The Intellectual Odyssey of Albert Hirschman -- Suyash Rai. 89. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 90. Democracy in America -- Alexis De Tocqueville. 91. Tocqueville and the Nature of Democracy -- Pierre Manent. 92. The Populist Century -- Pierre Rosanvallon. 93. The Theory of Populism According to Pierre Rosanvallon -- Suyash Rai. 94. After Virtue -- Alasdair MacIntyre. 95. Philosophy of Technology -- Don Ihde. 96. Technology and the Virtues -- Shannon Vallor. 97. Nihilism and Technology -- Nolen Gertz. 98. Lant Pritchett on Amazon, Google Scholar and his own website. 99. Harnessing Complexity -- Robert Axelrod and Michael D Cohen. 100. Mahabharata, Odyssey, Divine Comedy and Rashmirathi. 101. Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar on Spotify. 102. Andrei Rublev -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 103. Andrei Tarkovsky, Luis Buñuel, Akira Kurosawa and Satyajit Ray. 104. Mission Impossible, Bad News Bears and Anand. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Past and the Future' by Simahina.
Mon, 12 Dec 2022 - 6h 14min - 308 - Ep 306: The History of the Planning Commission
Society cannot be designed in a top-down way. Central planning was a historic blunder that harmed India -- even though it was conceived by great men with good intentions. Nikhil Menon joins Amit Varma in episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the flawed genius PC Mahalanobis, the planning commission, and his own life as a scholar. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Nikhil Menon on Amazon and University of Notre Dame. 2. Planning Democracy: How A Professor, An Institute, And An Idea Shaped India -- Nikhil Menon. 3. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley). 4. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 5. Sherlock Holmes, Ramayana and Mahabharata. 6. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 8. Political Ideology in India — Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 9. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 10. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 11. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 12. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 13. The Discovery of India -- Jawaharlal Nehru. 14. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 15. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chandra Bhan Prasad). 16. John Locke on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 17. John Dewey on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 18. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 19. Friedrich Hayek on Wikipedia, Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Econlib. 20. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism -- Friedrich Hayek.. 21. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 22. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 23. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 24. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 25. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. On Exactitude in Science (Wikipedia) — Jorge Luis Borges. 28. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 29. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 30. Angus Deaton, John von Neumann, Albert Einstein and Howard Aiken. 31. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Les Misérables -- Victor Hugo. 33. Hardy Boys on Amazon. 34. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 35. Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 36. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 37. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 38. Shahid Amin and Sunil Kumar. 39. 300 Ramayanas -- AK Ramanujan. 40. Nehru’s Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.) 41. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 42. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 43. John McPhee on Amazon. 44. Mumbai Fables -- Gyan Prakash. 45. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 46. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 47. Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India's Capital -- Rotem Geva. 48. A People’s Constitution — Rohit De. 49. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati. 50. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 51. India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy -- Ramachandra Guha. 52. Roam Research. 53. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia. 54. Linda Colley on Amazon and Princeton. 55. Gandhi as Mahatma -- Shahid Amin. 56. Tanika Sarkar, Neeladri Bhattacharya and Janaki Nair. 57. The Great Man Theory of History. 58. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 60. Milton Friedman on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Econlib. 61. The Man of System — Adam Smith (excerpted from The Theory of Moral Sentiments). 62. The Idea of India — Sunil Khilnani. 63. The Rocking-Horse Winner -- DH Lawrence. 64. Taylor Sherman and Niraja Gopal Jayal. 65. Kamyab Hum Karke Rahenge -- Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi on central planning. 66. Naya Daur -- BR Chopra. 67. Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein -- Song from Hum Hindustani. 68. Char Dil Char Raahein -- KA Abbas. 69. Jhootha Sach (Hindi) (English) -- Yashpal. 70. Marxvaad Aur Ram Rajya — Karpatri Maharaj. 71. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 72. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 73. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 74. Circe -- Madeline Miller. 75. The Song of Achilles -- Madeline Miller. 76. The Thursday Murder Club -- Richard Osman. 77. Only Murders in the Building. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Central Planning’ by Simahina.
Mon, 05 Dec 2022 - 4h 38min - 307 - Ep 305: Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track
She's been a journalist for half a century, wrote the definitive book on the Emergency, and is revered for her political insight. Coomi Kapoor joins Amit Varma in episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, Indian politics and the state of our media. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Inside Track -- Coomi Kapoor's column in the Indian Express. 2. The Emergency: A Personal History -- Coomi Kapoor. 3. The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas: An Intimate History of the Parsis -- Coomi Kapoor. 4. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 5. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 6. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph. 7. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 8. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 10. Men Must Step Up Now — Amit Varma. 11. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 12. Arun Shourie,on Amazon and Wikipedia. 13. Kuldip Nayar on Amazon and Wikipedia. 14. The Nagarwala Case. 15. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Vinod Mehta on Amazon and Wikipedia. 17. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 18. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 19. The Turkman Gate Massacre (but read Kapoor's book for the full details!) 20. An Incomplete Life -- Vijaypat Singhania. 21. The Decline of the Congress — Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 22. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 24. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 25. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. All the Light We Cannot See -- Anthony Doerr. 27. Gangubai Kathiawadi and Darlings. 28. Panchayat. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Inside Track’ by Simahina.
Mon, 28 Nov 2022 - 2h 46min - 306 - Ep 304: Make Me a Canteen for My Soul
Food is more than just sustenance for the body. Food contains stories, memories, emotions, and the ingredients of the self. Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage join Amit Varma in episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe their journeys in food, from starting cult restaurants like Bombay Canteen and O Pedro, to setting up the pathbreaking Bombay Sweet Shop, to now taking that deeper dive into the role food plays in our society. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Sameer Seth (LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter) and Yash Bhanage (LInkedIn, Instagram and Twitter). 2. Hunger Inc on LinkedIn and its own website. 3. Bombay Canteen on Instagram and its own website. 4. O Pedro on Instagram and its own website. 5. Bombay Sweet Shop on Instagram and its own website. 6. Choco Butterscotch Barks -- Amit Varma's favourite dessert of all time. 7. Enthu Cutlet. 8. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 9. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 10. Religion, Food, Indian Society -- Episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shoba Narayan). 11. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 12. Haruki Murakami on Amazon. 13. Setting the Table -- Danny Meyer. 14. Sameer Seth's Instagram post on Floyd Cardoz. 15. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Will Guidara on Wikipedia, Instagram, Twitter and TED. 17. The boys behind The Bombay Canteen are hungry for more -- Shrabonti Bagchi. 18. Shoe Dog -- Phil Knight. 19. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time — Amit Varma. 20. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 21. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 22. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 23. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Stage.in. 25. The Fat Duck -- Heston Blumenthal's restaurant. 25. Tesouro by Firefly. 26. Chef's Table and Masterchef. 27. Saransh Goila and Ranveer Brar on YouTube. 28. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 29. Barkha Cardoz's talk on Floyd Cardoz at The Welcome Conference. 30. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. Creativity, Inc -- Ed Catmull. 32. Delivering Happiness -- Tony Hsieh. 33. Talk Like TED -- Carmine Gallo. 34. Yash Bhanage's Instagram prank on his head of marketing. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Sustenance’ by Simahina.
Mon, 21 Nov 2022 - 3h 40min - 305 - Ep 303: The Loneliness of the Indian Man
Women are not the only victims of patriarchy -- men are also diminished by it. Nikhil Taneja joins Amit Varma in episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss what he has learnt about mental health, young people in India, the epidemic of loneliness in our country -- and the enormous power of storytelling. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 2. Nikhil Taneja on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, IMDb and HT Brunch. 3. Yuvaa. 4. The internet—a toxic love story -- Nikhil Taneja. 5. The pandemic pretence of being ‘okay’ -- Nikhil Taneja. 6. Keeping up with the algorithms -- Nikhil Taneja. 7. It is okay for men to cry -- Nikhil Taneja. 8. Reject the mission statement of your gender -- Nikhil Taneja. 9. Kindness: Don't be an A**hole! -- Nikhil Taneja. 10. Why young Indians are lonelier than ever before -- Nikhil Taneja. 11. How stories can heal our divided world -- Nikhil Taneja. 12. Nikhil Taneja on Advertising is Dead with Varun Duggirala. 13. Nikhil Taneja on the Filter Koffee Podcast with Karthik Nagarajan. 14. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted — Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande and Natasha Badhwar. 16. Hitesh Kewalya on Twitter, Instagram and IMDb. 17. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. 18. Dev Anand and Roger Corman. 19. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 21. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Gendered Leadership Course by Angellica Aribam. 23. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 24. Dreamers — Snigdha Poonam. 25. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 26. Beedi Jali Le -- Song from Omkara. 27. NH 10 (Navdeep Singh), Hichki (Siddharth Malhotra), Chhapaak (Meghna Gulzar), Rashmi Rocket (Akarsh Khurana) and Queen (Vikas Bahl). 28. Ghostbusters (2016, Paul Feig) and The Lost City (Nee Brothers). 29. 3 Idiots (Rajkumar Hirani), Dangal (Nitesh Tiwari), Badhaai Ho (Amit Ravindernath Sharma), Kantara (Rishab Shetty) and Thugs of Hindostan (Vijay Krishna Acharya). 30. Aamir Khan on Koffee With Karan (2018). 31. Parasite -- Bong Joon-ho. 32. Asghar Farhadi on Wikipedia and IMDb. 33. Delhi Crime. 34. TikTok and Indian Society -- The online course conducted by Amit Varma, now no longer on offer. 35. Vicky Donor (Shoojit Sircar) and RRR (SS Rajamouli). 36. Salim-Javed. 37. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s poker column for the Economic Times. 38. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra) and Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (Rakesh Roshan). 39. Dev D (Anurag Kashyap), Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane) and Oye Lucky Oye Lucky (Dibakar Banerjee). 40. Bhuvam Bam, Prajakta Koli and Amit Bhadana. 41. Man's World (Y-Films) and Ki & Ka (R Balki). 42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Mumbai Diaries 26/11 -- NIkhil Advani. 44. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 45. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 46. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 47. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 48. One Cut of the Dead — Shin’ichirō Ueda. 49. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala -- Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 50. Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith (Clerks), Sofia Coppola and Richard Linklater. 51. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 52. Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and Mani Kaul. 53. Andaz Apna Apna (Rajkumar Santoshi), Gunda (Kanti Shah) and Disco Dancer (Babbar Subhash). 54. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 56. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 57. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 58. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 59. Shravana Kumara, the pious son. 60. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 61. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 62. Penelope Fitzgerald on Amazon and Wikipedia. 63. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy -- Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 64. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai -- Karan Johar. 65. The Chaos Machine -- Max Fisher. 66. The Social Dilemma -- Jeff Orlowski. 67. The Flying Spaghetti Monster. 68. Coming Out as Bisexual -- Mohit's talk at Main Hoon Yuvaa. 69. Nikhil Taneja's Twitter thread on his anxiety. 70. Nikhil Taneja's Facebook post on his anxiety. 71. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Turtles All the Way Down -- John Green. 73. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 74. The Road to Freedom — Arthur C Brooks. 75. Amit Varma's favourite shower gel. 76. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 77. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Schitt's Creek, Kim's Convenience and Parks and Recreation. 79. Greatest Events of WWII in Colour -- The Netflix docuseries mentioned by Nikhil. 80. Zeynep Tufekci’s newsletter, Twitter and column archive. 81. Ed Yong on Twitter, Amazon, The Atlantic and his own website. 82. My Friend Dropped His Pants -- Amit Varma. 83. Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill by Richard Curtis. 84. Project Everyone. 85. Ladies Room, 6 Pack Band and Bang Baaja Baaraat. 86. Maja Ma -- Anand Tiwari. 87. Phone Bhoot, Badhaai Ho and Crash Course. 88. Let's Talk Consent. 89. Queeristan -- Episode 190 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parmesh Shahani).. 90. Gray (Sakshi Gurnani) and Tasalli Se (Tarun Dudeja). 91. Dear Teenage Me.-- A podcast by Yuvaa on Spotify. 92. Humankind: A Hopeful History -- Rutger Bregman. 93. The Stanford Prison Experiment. 94. Invisible Women — Caroline Criado Perez. 95. Will -- Will Smith's autobiography. 96. Homeland Elegies -- Ayad Akhtar. 97. Yearbook -- Seth Rogan. 98. Shamoon Ismail on YouTube and Spotify. 99. Vampire Weekend on YouTube and Spotify. 100. Dev D by Amit Trivedi. 101. Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke -- Song from Nau Do Gyarah, starring Dev Anand. 102. The Before Trilogy by Richard Linklater. 103. Rambling Man -- An interview of Richard Linklater by Nikhil Taneja. 104. Superchor -- Song from Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. 104. Succession, Ted Lasso and Bojack Horseman. 105. Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory -- Raphael Bob-Waksberg. 106. The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkein. 107. The Lord of the Rings -- The films. 108. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. 109. 8 Book Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 110. Weekly Movie Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 111. 80 Marvelous Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 112. Nikhil Taneja's 2020 and 2021 recommendations on Instagram. 113. Nikhil Taneja's 2022 favourites, specially compiled for The Seen and the Unseen. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘I'm not lonely' by Simahina.
Mon, 14 Nov 2022 - 7h 23min - 304 - Ep 302: The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad
She began as a journalist in the pursuit of truth. She went on to embrace activism in the pursuit of justice. Teesta Setalvad joins Amit Varma in episode 302 to talk about all that she learnt from her life and work. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Teesta Setalvad on Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. 2. Foot Soldier of the Constitution -- Teesta Setalvad. 3. Beyond Doubt: A Dossier on Gandhi's Assassination -- Teesta Setalvad. 4. Gujarat: Behind the mirage -- Edited by Teesta Setalvad. 5. Citizens for Justice and Peace. (Also see their About and Twitter pages..) 6. Sabrang India. 7. Teesta Setalvad | A powerful voice for India’s human rights movement -- Video feature by Sabrang India. 8. A half baked secularism -- Teesta Setalvad. 9. Hopes for tomorrow -- Teesta Setalvad's speech in Nuremberg. 10. Courts keep me Busy -- Teesta Setalvad. 11. My Hindu Hriday Samrats -- Teesta Setalvad. 12. Teesta Setalvad Refuses to be Silenced. 13. It’s vital to recall the sparks of hate that burst into Gujarat’s brutal 2002 riots -- Teesta Setalvad. 14. Teesta Setalvad empowers citizens and questions modalities with regards to NRC -- CJP team. 15. Wrong intention, wrong rationale, wrong method -- Teesta Setalvad on CAA-NPR-NRC. 16. Teesta Setalvad addresses massive crowd on CAA, NPR-NRC -- CJP Team. 17. What next for those left out of the NRC? -- Teesta Setalvad. 18. A Home Behind Bars -- Teesta Setalvad. 19. Prisoner of Conscience Teesta Setalvad -- Feminist Dissent. 20. Forced confinement is loss of dignity, says Teesta Setalvad -- Sonam Saigal. 21. The pandemic has put the spotlight on inhumane conditions in Indian prisons -- Teesta Setalvad. 22. Teesta Setalvad’s First Interview After Bail by Arfa Khanum Sherwani. 23. My Life: Law and Other Things -- MC Setalvad. 24. Javed Anand in the Indian Express. 25. Basavanna, Narayana Guru, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Eknath, Namdev, Tukaram and the Bhakti Movement. 26. Nanak Was Here -- Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh). 27. Savitribai Phule, Jyotirao Phule and BR Ambedkar. 28. Jogan, starring Nargis, on YouTube and IMDb. 29. Mirabai and Janabai. 30. The Poverty of India -- Dadabhai Naoroji. 31. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India -- Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel). 32. The Indigo Revolt, the Santhal Rebellion, the Tebhaga Movement and Birsa Munda. 33. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 34. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen, 35. Picture of Arvind Kejriwal with portraits of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh in the background. 36. India: Legacies and Challenges of the Land & Forest Rights Movement -- Ashok Chowdhury, Teesta Setalvad, Roma and Divya Kapoor. 37. Forest Rights Act, 2006. 38. The Pathalgadi Movement. 39. Stan Swamy profiled by Scroll, India Today, the Wire, the Times of India and Hindustan Times. 40. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 41. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Romila Thapar and KM Panikkar on Amazon. 44. Romila Thapar interviewed by Teesta Setalvad. 45. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 46. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 47. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 48. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla. 49. P Sainath interviewed by Teesta Setalvad. 50. A People’s Constitution — Rohit De. 51. All the President's Men -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. 52. The Citizenship Battles — Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 53. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 54. The Nellie Massacre. 55. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi. 57. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 58. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati. 59. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 60. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 62. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 63. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 64. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 65. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 66. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator economy with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 67. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 68. Prabodhankar Thackeray's life and literature. 69. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 70. Jerry Pinto on Amazon and Instagram. 71. HM Seervai on Amazon and Wikipedia. 72. Dilip D'Souza on Amazon, Twitter and his blog. 73. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 74. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma. 75. Khabar Lahariya. 76. Tamas (the book) -- Bhisham Sahni. 77. Tamas (the film) -- Govind Nihalani. 78. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab). 79. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. Muslims and I -- Vijay Tendulkar. 81. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 82. Undercover: My Journey into the Darkness of Hindutva -- Ashish Khetan. 83. A World of Stopped Watches — Amit Varma. 84. The Banality of Evil. 85. Her rapists were sentenced to life in prison. Now they’re free, and she’s in hiding -- CNN report on the Bilkis Bano case. 86. The Jyotsna Yagnik judgement in Communalism Combat. 87. Rights and Wrongs: Ordeal by Fire in the Killing Fields of Gujarat -- Editors Guild Fact Finding Mission Report by Aakar Patel, Dileep Padgaonkar and BG Verghese. 88. The Srikrishna Commission report. 89. The Sarkari Mussalman: Life and travails of a soldier educationist -- Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah. 90. India’s Security State — Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph). 91. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph. 92. Karan Thapar's interviews with AP Shah and Dushyant Dave. 93. Flogging in Kheda. Rape in Kannauj. 94. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 95. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S. 96. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 97. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 98. The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune -- Ted Allan and Sydney Gordon. 99. Eduardo Galeano and Orhan Pamuk on Amazon. 100. The Framing of India's Constitution -- Edited by B Shiva Rao. 101. The Constituent Assembly Debates. 102. Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Mallikarjun Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 103. Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman and Charlie Chaplin. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Scales of Injustice’ by Simahina.
Mon, 07 Nov 2022 - 5h 02min - 303 - Ep 301: Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life
Her acclaimed personal essays explore motherhood, marriage and this modern world -- and hold up a mirror to all of us. Natasha Badhwar joins Amit Varma in episode 301 to speak about her life and her writing. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Natasha Badhwar on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, LinkedIn, The Tribune and Mint Lounge. 2. My Daughters' Mum -- Natasha Badhwar. 3. Immortal for a Moment -- Natasha Badhwar. 4. Natasha Badhwar's newsletter on Substack. 5. Natasha Badhwar's old blog on Blogspot. 6. Natasha Badhwar's Memoir Writing Course. 7. Parenthood -- Episode 43 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Natasha Badhwar). 8. Reconciliation: Karwan e Mohabbat’s Journey of Solidarity through a Wounded India -- Edited by Harsh Mander, John Dayal and Natasha Badhwar. 9. Karwan e Mohabbat. 10. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Jonathan Haidt in conversation with Vasant Dhar in episode 8 of Brave New World. 14. Why my daughters don’t go to school anymore -- Natasha Badhwar interviewed by Manisha Natarajan. (Full video.) 15. The most important lesson learnt as an #unschooling parent -- Natasha Badhwar. 16. School forced me to put parts of myself inside a box -- Sahar Beg (Natasha's daughter). 17. Meet the unschooling girls -- Homeschooling India Community. 18. The Joys of Walking Out -- Natasha Badhwar and Sahar Beg. 19. How Children Fail -- John Holt. 20. Unsatisfied -- The Replacements. 21. To Fail Without Feeling Like A Failure -- Natasha Badhwar. 22. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 23. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar. 25. Sholay — Ramesh Sippy. 26. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 27. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 28. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 29. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? -- Harsh Mander. 31. The real difference between my husband and me -- Natasha Badhwar. 32. Self-Portrait -- AK Ramanujan. 33. The Girl From Kashmir -- Episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Farah Bashir). 34. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Roger Ebert and me: How tragedy and Twitter bonded us across continents -- Natasha Badhwar. 36. In Conversation with Roger Ebert -- Natasha Badhwar. 37. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo. 38. Roger Ebert's essay on Dekalog. 39. A welcome note for new husbands and wives -- Natasha Badhwar. 40. Five things to learn from the man you love -- Natasha Badhwar. 41. Deep Work — Cal Newport. 42. Fatherhood is a funny thing -- Natasha Badhwar. 43. El Amor de Mi Vida -- Warren Zevon. 44. Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck and JD Salinger on Amazon. 45. Cyrano De Bergerac -- Edmond Rostand. 46. Sweet Thursday -- John Steinbeck. 47. The Catcher in the Rye -- JD Salinger. 48. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee. 49. The Colour Purple -- Alice Walker. 50. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 51. Imposter Syndrome. 52. What we say and what we mean, the fine art of small talk -- Natasha Badhwar. 53. Kabhi Hum Khoobsurat -- Nayyara Noor. 54. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 55. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott. 56. Hayao Miyazaki on IMDb, Wikipedia and Britannica. 57. Ponyo -- Hayao Miyazaki. 58. Natasha's favourite shows: Bad Buddy, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, The Dragon Prince and The Good Place. 59. Masaan — Neeraj Ghaywan. 60. Mirch Masala -- Ketan Mehta. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Examined Life’ by Simahina.
Mon, 31 Oct 2022 - 5h 48min - 302 - Ep 300: The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Our selves are nebulous, the world is complex and the times they are a-changin'. Pratap Bhanu Mehta joins Amit Varma in episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen for a freewheeling chat about how to make sense of all of this. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen, where Amit Varma answers questions from his guests. 2. Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Twitter, Amazon and the Indian Express. 3. What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 4. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) — Amit Varma’s post with Douglas Adams’s puddle quote. 5. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 6. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 7. Francis Fukuyama on Amazon. 8. Ideas of India: The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta discusses Adam Smith with Shruti Rajagopalan. 9. Conversation and Society -- Russ Roberts discusses Adam Smith with Amit Varma in episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Human — Michael S Gazzaniga. 11. The Interpreter — Amit Varma. 12. Free Will on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 13. Free Will — Sam Harris. 14. Immanuel Kant on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 15. The Median Voter Theorem. 16. 'Thinking and Reflecting' and 'The Thinking of Thoughts': Gilbert Ryle's essays on 'thick description' and Winks vs Twitches, also found in Collected Essays. 17. Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture -- Clifford Geertz. 18. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 19. The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast -- Arkotong Longkumer. 20. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 21. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 22. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident -- Amit Varma's column on Chris Cornell's death. 23. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence -- Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Scientism. 25. Ludwig Wittgenstein on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 26. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 27. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 29. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 30. Agarkar’s Donkeys: A Meditation on God -- Amit Varma. 31. Faust, as portrayed by Christopher Marlowe and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 32. The Measure of a Man -- Episode 9, Season 2, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Wikipedia entry). 33. Ex Machina -- Alex Garland. 34. Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy -- David Chalmers. 35. Yoga Vasistha. 36. On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings -- William James. 37. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 38. The Experience Machine -- Robert Nozick. (Wikipedia entry.) 39. Utilitarianism: For and Against -- JJC Smart and Bernard Williams. 40. Reasons and Persons -- Derek Parfit. 41. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 42. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy -- Bernard Williams. 43. Bernard Williams on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 44. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 45. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 46. Friedrich Hayek on Amazon, Econlib, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 47. The Dark Side of Democracy -- Michael Mann. 48. Jayaprakash Narayan on proportional representation. 49. Pakistan or the Partition of India — BR Ambedkar. 50. Don’t Insult Pasta (2007) — Amit Varma. 51. Manish Sisodia invokes ‘Rajput’ caste amidst CBI probe -- Janta Ka Reporter. 52. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs — Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad. 54. Beware of Half Victories -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 55. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Carl Schmitt on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 57. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. Justin Amash on why he left the Republican Party. 59. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 60. Rational Ignorance. 61. The Economics of Voting — Amit Varma on Rational Ignorance. 62. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma on the importance of reading. 64. John Aubrey's biography of Thomas Hobbes. 65. Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Frideric Handel and Felix Mendelssohn on Spotify. 66. Digital Concert Hall -- Berliner Philharmoniker. 67. Berliner Philharmoniker on YouTube, Twitter and their own website. 68. Nikhil Banerjee on Spotify, YouTube and Wikipedia. 69. Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light -- The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel. 70. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin). 71. Premchand’s Kazaki And Other Marvellous Tales — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by Sara Rai). 72. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Yeh Premchand Hai -- Apoorvanand. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Radiant Knowledge’ by Simahina.
Mon, 24 Oct 2022 - 4h 18min
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