That's What We Said

The quarantine has seen many new content creators come to life, all competing for internet attention, and that prompts the thought- what makes something great? Priyam identifies checkpoints for greatness, and Ved questions society's constructs on fame as a prerequisite, as the duo go deep into what makes things endure, whether great works are ever even spotted, and a lot more!

The U.S. elections are all over the news, and Priyam updates Ved on the latest, while analyzing the curious phenomenon of populism in our times. The duo discuss the reasons for populism, the people who practice it and their attitudes and techniques.

As the 45th anniversary of the Emergency in India approaches, the duo compare and contrast the tenures of Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi as prime ministers of India, exploring the similarities and the differences- both political and personal- that underpin the regimes of two of India's most recognizable leaders.

It's Ved's birthday! Priyam calls him and the two friends discuss the artificiality of celebrations, how people choose to remember people and events, the tools of social remembrance, the culture of pulling down statues, what statues represent, the formation of society's intuition and it's imagination of the future, and a whole lot more...

Post the lockdown, going out to earn or staying safe at home is a dilemma many are facing. That thought sparks a discussion on choice, and the duo dissect the paradigm of choice and how the decisions that we make relate to the ideas of agency, technology, and the market, and if people today actually have as much freedom to choose as they think they do.

Ved and Priyam dissect the fault lines permeating the media industry, from print to broadcast to digital outlets, analysing how structural issues can be addressed in the fourth estate through different methods and motivations.

How do we know we have progressed? Are quantifiable indicators enough, or do we look at changes around us? Ved mentions changes the Covid-19 quarantine has brought in the scenes before his eyes, making Priyam wonder whether progress is visibly made on social levels. That takes the duo's conversation into how people should judge and define progress and they pose and answer new questions- How is the Chinese path to progress different from the American one? How does the media's role shape our perceptions of progress? How does the time period of comparison matter? Is all positive change progress? Are we heading towards a world that's better, or one that's worse? All this, and much more!

The recently re-aired Mahabharata series in India has led to many new interpretations of the Hindu text it is based on. Ved mentions his ire at people misinterpreting the symbolism in it, and Priyam responds by analyzing how the three fundamental mythical structures- Greek, Biblical and Hindu, govern our worldview. The duo question the identity of what is seen as 'Hindu', delve into how the three schools of thought influence our understanding of good and evil, revenge and reformation, growth and glory and scrutinize the three schools of thought. They question- what is said in these myths about fulfilling and responsible living? The passionate conversation crisscrosses across personal thought, lesser=known historical facts, intriguing literary analyses of myths and much more!

Following on from the last episode, this week, the duo explores the ideologies surrounding unrequited love, the awkwardness around romance and in romances, the stigma prevalent in society regarding discussions on sex and related activities, and a whole lot more!

In the midst of the global home-quarantine, Priyam and Ved re-connect after a long time. Ved tells Priyam what Calcutta looks like under the lock-down in India and his take on it, to which Priyam explains how the pandemic has affected his immediate surroundings in the UK, and the philosophical questions it has prompted in him. The duo launch into a detailed discussion on how the global leadership has responded to COVID-19, the possibility of a Chinese century arising out of it, what a post-pandemic world would look like, a bit of what they would have it look like, and a lot more!

Ved and Priyam debate all things love- From what makes romantic love so special to the feasibility of polyamory and from how idealism shapes relationships to the portrayal of different kinds of love in Bollywood, and a whole lot more.

In this Episode, Ved mentions his problems with blanket boycott mentalities, prompting Priyam to explain the idea of cancel culture, and the duo then explore the different contours of the cancel culture taking over social media, the role of political correctness in authoring digital narratives, and a whole lot more!