Pontificating Across The Pond

On May 18, 1974, India conducted a 'peaceful' nuclear explosion - which came on the heels of vivisecting Pakistan. The intervening decades have seen nuclear adventures and misadventures, plans for pre-emptive strikes created and shelved and we ended the millennium with nuclear tests on both sides of the border. India's journey since, has been responsible and respectful - but did the tests help India achieve her aims? Would Prime Minister MMS' deal with the US have been possible without the impetus created by Pokhran II in 1998?

WTI's May Contract exchanged hands at -$37/bbl a day before expiry. Is this indicative of a wider supply glut or do US's unique inland dynamics make this a one-off? More importantly, can India expect to get free oil? The Special Forces debate in India is an old one and re-surfaced when 5 soldiers from the elite 4 Para (SF) lost their lives combating infiltrators. Although this loss was brought about by freak circumstance, is the debate anywhere being close to settled? Read Uday's article on negative oil here https://bit.ly/NegativeOil and the Indian Special Forces here http://bit.ly/TNIXIV

As the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps across the world - Som and Uday talk about the twin crises of leadership and the pandemic itself. The pain this pandemic has inflicted is not to be trifled with - but when we do come out the other end, what will our relationship with our governments look like? Business as usual or a brave new world?

"India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi went on a charm offensive in the US. Som and Uday discuss what this means for India's foreign policy, that is, if it means anything at all. But more importantly, how India might be using a civilisational approach to her diaspora. In his Independence speech, Modi also announced the creation of the role of a Chief of Defence Staff - a recommendation of the Kargil War Committee from 2001. The history of this role, though, goes much deeper. Lord Mountbatten wanted India to continue to have a Commander-in-Chief, but the politicians of the day scuttled it. Is the CDS a C-in-C's new avatar or will it be a watered down post in an environment of single service primacy? "

The Indian government scrapped Article 370, which granted Jammu & Kashmir special status, on 5 August 2019. This historic move has seen many reactions and repucussions - but Som and Uday delve deeper into why the Western press has seen fit to be (intentionally) one sided and omit key facts, why the Kashmiri identity is NOT threatened and how the "Kashmir issue" is truly an internal issue, or at best bilateral. Of course, the government did not get everything right and that includes parliamentary discourse. We decouple Patel and Nehru's successes and failures at our own peril - because nation building continued well into the 1960s. Here are Uday's writings on Kashmir; http://bit.ly/TNIXXXI, http://bit.ly/TNIXXIX, http://bit.ly/TNIXIX

Operation Vijay - the operation to evict Pakistani infiltrators from the commanding heights in Drass, Kargil, Leh and Mushkoh valley was successfully concluded on 26 July 1999. Som and Uday, in this episode, discuss the events leading up to Kargil, but from a Pakistani point of view. India debunked some Pakistani assumptions emphatically - while falling prey to a 20 year old template in late 2001. The global media lapped up images from the India side and this was the genesis of the American and Israeli shift towards India - decisively. All these facets go beyond the individual stories which the media chooses to focus on; but these are the broad contours which are at play in times of War and Peace. Uday's story on the gensis of Kargil and Bofors can be found here - http://bit.ly/TNIXXX and http://bit.ly/TNIXV"

In this episode, Som and Uday delve deeper into the budget - not the 'bahi-khata', but its contents. Uday tries to explain why lowering the fiscal deficit target in a slowing economy is seldom a good move, but with states spending massively and the large off-budget spending, the meaning of the fiscal deficit itself is diluted. Over at the RBI - an institution which is supposed to regulate the lifeblood of the economy, the Banks and NBFCs, we lose another capable (deputy) governor. Monocle isn't a name which instantly springs to mind when you talk about travel, leisure or even civic activism - but Som tells us why creating a space for conversations and reverting to print are just two reasons we should respect the various forums Monocle operates. And yes, he thinks it is one of the most important companies in the world today.

In this episode, Som and Uday discuss Kashmir - the past which brought us to the present and what the future holds as Sardar Patel's second coming assumes the Home Affairs portfolio. Political satire has a rich and long history in democracies across the world, but what role does it play when truth becomes the best form of political satire? Uday's writings on Kashmir can be found here - http://bit.ly/TNIXIX, http://bit.ly/TNIXXIX and http://bit.ly/Balakot

In this episode, we talk about the new Armed Forces Special Operations Command (AFSOD) and what it means for our security architecture. Why the high hopes for Modi 2.0 are justified and what economic and social agenda are high priority. Leadership and why oranizations can become rudderless under ineffectual leaders - bonus points for linking this to Congress' abject electoral performance. Links to the articles referenced from Uday’s blog : The National Identity XIV: Inside the Special Forces’ identity crisis - https://bit.ly/2WroF6w The National Identity XXV: Doval Durbar - https://bit.ly/2F5G6iH

In this episode we break down the Masood Azhar story and it’s impact on India and it’s neighbors, and the world as a whole. We also talk about Indian web series that are piquing our interest and the countdown to the results of India’s most defining elections.

Back in the day while we were roommates in Chennai and Bangalore, we would have many long debates and conversations on the country and the many forces making it what it is today, right from politics to culture to it's history. We used to also have long conversations over many cups of coffee on the many happenings across the world. All in all, it's a well researched conversation on our worlds and it's moving wheels. So we thought, we should continue the conversation over a podcast and involve you in some of our thoughts. We intend to come back with an episode as often as we can, the moment we find matters that require some pontification across the pond.