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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

447 episodes — Page 2 of 9

S1 Ep 395Ep 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.

Aug 19, 20244h 15m

S1 Ep 394Ep 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.

Aug 12, 20242h 54m

S1 Ep 393Ep 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.

Aug 5, 20244h 22m

S1 Ep 392Ep 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. 6

Jul 29, 20243h 54m

S1 Ep 391Ep 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.

Jul 22, 20244h 21m

S1 Ep 390Ep 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.

Jul 15, 20244h 29m

S1 Ep 389Ep 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.

Jul 7, 20243h 50m

S1 Ep 388Ep 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 Ef

Jul 1, 20243h 50m

S1 Ep 387Ep 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

Jun 24, 20249h 53m

S1 Ep 386Ep 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.

Jun 17, 20245h 2m

S1 Ep 385Ep 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 Or

Jun 10, 20244h 38m

S1 Ep 384Ep 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.

Jun 3, 20243h 58m

S1 Ep 383Ep 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.

May 27, 20243h 24m

S1 Ep 382Ep 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.

May 19, 20245h 30m

S1 Ep 381Ep 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.

May 13, 20244h 12m

S1 Ep 380Ep 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.

May 6, 20244h 28m

S1 Ep 379Ep 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.

Apr 29, 20244h 9m

S1 Ep 378Ep 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 Ah

Apr 22, 20246h 31m

S1 Ep 377Ep 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.

Apr 15, 20243h 55m

S1 Ep 376Ep 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.

Apr 8, 20244h 16m

S1 Ep 375Ep 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.

Apr 1, 20245h 9m

S1 Ep 374Ep 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 Regula

Mar 25, 20244h 6m

S1 Ep 373Ep 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.

Mar 18, 20243h 47m

S1 Ep 372Ep 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.

Mar 11, 20245h 42m

S1 Ep 371Ep 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.

Mar 4, 20242h 0m

S1 Ep 370Ep 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.

Feb 26, 20244h 34m

S1 Ep 369Ep 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.

Feb 19, 20243h 11m

S1 Ep 368Ep 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 [email protected]. 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.

Feb 12, 20244h 31m

S1 Ep 367Ep 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.

Feb 5, 20244h 6m

S1 Ep 366Ep 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.

Jan 29, 20243h 43m

S1 Ep 365Ep 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.

Jan 22, 20244h 22m

S1 Ep 364Ep 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 Im

Jan 15, 20243h 10m

S1 Ep 363Ep 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: 'D

Jan 8, 20244h 1m

S1 Ep 362Ep 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

Jan 1, 20246h 23m

S1 Ep 361Ep 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.

Dec 25, 20233h 39m

S1 Ep 360Ep 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

Dec 18, 20235h 11m

S1 Ep 359Ep 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

Dec 11, 20236h 17m

S1 Ep 358Ep 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.

Dec 4, 20233h 23m

S1 Ep 357Ep 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.

Nov 27, 20233h 40m

S1 Ep 356Ep 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.

Nov 20, 20233h 26m

S1 Ep 355Ep 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 Indi

Nov 13, 20238h 3m

S1 Ep 354Ep 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.

Nov 6, 20233h 2m

S1 Ep 353Ep 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 Im

Oct 30, 20234h 44m

S1 Ep 352Ep 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.

Oct 23, 20233h 4m

S1 Ep 351Ep 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 -- JRR Tolkien. 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.

Oct 16, 20233h 12m

S1 Ep 350Ep 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

Oct 9, 20235h 23m

S1 Ep 349Ep 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.

Oct 2, 20235h 19m

S1 Ep 348Ep 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.

Sep 25, 20235h 28m

S1 Ep 347Ep 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.

Sep 18, 20233h 10m

S1 Ep 346Ep 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.

Sep 11, 20233h 19m