The Point Blank Show

Edward Carr, Foreign editor of The Economist takes us through his brilliant special report on US foreign policy. He argues that inspite of a dreadful decade abroad, Americans are unduly pessimistic about their place in the world. The rise of China as a formidable player in world affairs is undisputed, but its economic heft does not yet qualify it to be a geopolitical influence that America wields. In this podcast he talks about some of important keywords that have bothered US in the last few months. Syria, spying, counter insurgency and what are some of the alternatives, if any, to an American dominated international world order. And he does incredibly well in the rapid fire round, right at the end, which is reserved for our friends at The Economist.

In this podcast, Jon Fasman of The Economist talks about his on ground experience of covering the US presidential elections. Over the past few months Jon travelled across the country, attended rallies, conducted interviews, met strangers, filed articles, wrote online, did live blogging, recorded podcasts and met crazy deadlines. To report the greatest political event on the planet, a little bit of insomnia came in handy too. Given a chance, would he do it again. In a heartbeat, he says.

Paul Markillie, the Innovation Editor at The Economist joins us to talk about the magical world of digital manufacturing, the subject of his special report which was published earlier this year. In this 20 minute chat Paul shares his experiences which took him to some interesting places across the world. This third revolution has already taken off. For instance, in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, 23 of the 25 world records in swimming were broken not just because the players trained hard, but they wore body suits which mimicked shark skin making them more hydro-dynamic. It had a lot to do with the new-age manufacturing process which has sprung up new kinds of materials. They help make groundbreaking products cheaply. Although the concept of 3D printing is relatively new, Paul reckons that we may soon see service engineers not having to scratch their heads for that elusive spare part which can fix your washing machine. They could just print that piece of plastic or metal to the exact specifications and get your machine up and running in a jiffy. From making high end jewellery to popping small food filaments for icing your cake, digital manufacturing is an exciting new domain.

The Economists deputy news editor, Simon Wright is so good at dismembering jargons that you might even start to care about knowing a little something about natural gas, the subject of his special report that was published this month. In this podcast, Simon gives us a crash course in Shale gas and explains why is it a big deal that America has started to mine more of it in the last few years. He reckons that it may still take a while for developing countries to get their hands on it, but this discovery could lead to some interesting political repercussions in world economy.

Jon Fasman knows what it takes to be a New York Times best selling author. His book, Geographer's Library published in 2005 has been released into more than a dozen languages and his more recent novel, The Unpossessed City is a major hit. At The Economist, he covers a diverse range of subjects like food, music, chopsticks, politics, Tiger Woods, Dominique Strauss Kahn, global warming and a lot more. In this podcast, talks about American politics, drugs and Atlanta. Incidentally, Jon was working in a building close to the twin towers on September 11, 2001 and he shares his thoughts about where USA stands today, in the midst of very high unemployment rates and terror strikes. For the ones interested to know more about drugs, skip to the 12th minute to hear this father of two young kids having a refreshingly liberal attitude towards solving the problem of drug abuse which plagues not just America, but many other nations.

Philip Coggan, the Capital Markets Editor of The Economist joins us to talk about his special report on Pensions. Things have changed quite a bit since the first pension scheme was introduced by Otto Von Bismarck back in the 19th century. As people in developed countries are living longer, the pressure on the working population is mounting steadily to support the greying economies. In this podcast, Philip suggests different ways to tackle this problem by citing examples of governments which are doing it right and a few others which aren't.

Robert Lane Greene, the International Correspondent of The Economist has released his first book titled, You Are What You Speak. In this podcast, Lane clearly distinguishes the sticklers from the linguists. While he supports those who strive to write and talk by making use of correct grammar, he is against the mindless infatuation with the subject. He also tells us a bit about the process of writing his book while juggling between a day job and learning new languages while at it.

In our film industry, what Amitabh Bachchan or Dilip Kumar is to acting, Nitin Chandrakant Desai is to art direction. The winner of four national awards and many successful movies such as Lagaan, Devdas, Jodha Akbar, Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam, Munnabhai, etc talks about his craft and the challenges of his everyday job. He takes us through his experiece of working with directors like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansai, Danny Boyle and Ashutosh Gowarikar. His job demands him to think on his feet and deliver results in open sets where temperature can soar up to 45 degrees.This podcast charts the journey of the man who once lived in a 10X10 Worli chawl and today is Indias most respected Art Director who still maintains the modesty of a newcomer.

Kenneth Cukier is Japan Business and Finance correspondent of The Economist, but in the last couple of weeks, Kenn has stared at one of the most grueling assignments of his career. He is covering Japans largest earthquake, visiting disaster zones and making sense of the mayhem. In this podcast, Kenneth who is at ground zero salutes the spirit of the Japanese who are ploughing through the crisis with aplomb. He does not mince words while criticizing the Tokyo Electric Power Company which is at the core of the nuclear reactor crisis.

Andrew Palmer, the Finance Editor of The Economist joins us to talk about his recently published Special Report on Property. In this podcast, he talks about the importance accorded to property as an asset class and the reasons for its mercurial valuation especially in countries like USA, Spain, Ireland, etc which are currently in a housing soup.

Its hard to believe that a fearless competitor who would charge at lightning speed towards his opponents to tackle a ball which can sometimes fly at 150 miles per hour can be so modest and down to earth with his words. Viren Rasquinha talks about his experience as Indian hockey team captain, the challenges plaguing Indian hockey and the demands of playing an international sport. As a merit ranker in school and an international level sportsman, Viren had the pick of jobs at the Indian School of Business, where he was pursuing his MBA. Instead, he chose to roll up his sleeves and get down to resolving the issues challenging Indian sports players by joining Olympic Gold Quest as COO. Olympic Gold Quest is an organization founded by Geet Seethi and Prakash Padukone that supports top-notch Indian players with the most potential of winning an Olympic Gold medal for India. 1 billion people in India and only 1 individual Olympic gold - Olympic Gold Quest aims to change this. Support Olympic Gold Quest at http://www.olympicgoldquest.in

It was a big surprise when I found out that the lyricist for 3 Idiots and Lage Raho Munnbhai was the same person. Now, in the list of the above two movies, add Parineeta, Khoya Khoya Chand, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and the reason to have Swanand Kirkire on Point Blank is obvious. His abilities are not restricted to song writing. He has been an Assistant director, dialogue writer, music director, and an accomplished singer (think Baanwara Mann). I got a chance to spend some time and record a very candid podcast with Swanand at a farm house. That will explain the occasional buffalo moos, crows cawing and a train passing by.

In this podcast, Rajdeep Sardesai takes us back to his school days and talks passionately about his cricket, table tennis and quizzing before drifting into journalism after studying Law at Oxford University. His dad, Dilip Sardesai, comes to life in the conversation when Rajdeep talks fondly about the values that he grew up on. Rajdeep started his career at a time when Television was yet to make its debut and in his words, Journalism was not as glamourous as it is today. There was a lot of drudgery involved. Rajdeep reasons out why the quality of modern journalism has been in decadence. Yet he is hopeful that this only presents an opportunity for some interesting stories to be told. He believes that news channels will soon be judged on their credibility and integrity and not on how much noise they can make. He also uses strong words against the Quick Fix journalism that Indian media indulges in under the veil of investigative journalism. Like an experienced test match opening batsman, Rajdeep Sardesai plays it safe in the V until the 9th minute and then cuts lose without mincing words in the slog overs right until the last minute.

Anand Patwardhan has spent three decades making documentaries on important political and social issues. Raam Ke Naam, made a year before the Mumbai riots informed the people of the brewing animosity prior to the riots and motivations of political parties that ultimately led to the drastic actions of the Hindu militants. His documentary Father, Son and the Holy War explores in two parts the possibility that the psychology of violence against the other may lie in male insecurity, itself an inevitable product of the very construction of manhood. spite of winning National and International awards for his documentaries, Anand has battled severe censorship for virtually all of his films through decade long battles with the government to ensure his documentaries be aired on National Television. From patriotism to matriarchy to Gandhi, his activism through his chosen medium of documentaries, Anand speaks about this and a lot more.

Santosh Ostwal is a maverick engineer who made it possible for the Indian farmer to trigger his irrigation pump with the help of a mobile phone. Do not rub your eyes. You read it right. As an adolescent, Santosh watched his 82 year old grandfather toil hard during the day and then make multiple rounds to the farm with a walking stick in the middle of the night to switch on the electric pump. This entailed facing the grave risk of being mugged or being attacked by snakes and other wild life among a host of other threats. All this to ensure that the crops are well watered. After this incident, Santosh made up his mind to use his engineering knowledge to make a difference for thousands of farmers who lived the same story.

The Economists Business Affairs Editor joined us to talk about his cover story on the iPad. In this podcast, Tom makes some interesting observations on how the device will be more acceptable by the grandmothers and the members of the non geek world. He also shares his opinions on how the iPad will affect the online publishing and the newspaper industry. Tom is known for speaking his mind on the subject that he loves Apple and Technology and thats exactly what he does in this podcast too.

Born in India, having spent a major part of his life in Australia, and having worked on building Indo-Australian ties both on the government and business level, We can think of no one better than Mr. Neville Roach to shed light on the current state of affairs between India and Australia. The latest and a significant addition to the already enviable bio is Nevilles recent appointment to the Indian Prime Ministers Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians.

A poet, a journalist, a sportsman, a publishing editor of Indias premier newspaper, a photographer, a traveler, a film maker, all in one lifetime and still going strong. If this were a quiz question, one neednt require any options to choose from. The name that comes at the top of ones mind is that of Pritish Nandy. In this point blank chat with Aditya, Nandy gets candid on his colourful career so far right from his schooling days where his poems would get him plaudits from accomplished writers and female fans to his stint as a successful producer of cult films like Hazaron Khwaishein aaise

Shashi Tharoor Jeetega Zaroor was the campaign slogan that his supporters chanted when a precocious Tharoor was running for the president of his college union. He won then and three decades later, in 2009, Dr Shashi tharoor won again, this time as the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament from the Trivandrum constituency in Kerala. In this podcast, Dr Tharoor talks about his experience as a diplomat at the UN and the eventful transition to Indian politics. In his beautiful and typical story telling style, he shares anecdotes about how he not only connected to the masses on the Internet but more importantly went the extra mile to win the hearts and minds of the labour class. He also shares his views on the unintended controversy that Twitter gave birth to.

I hate to introduce Gautam Rajadhyaksh as a "celebrity photographer". He is much more and you would realize that you you hear hiim talk about his experiences from photo shoots with film personalities, singer, musicians and even businessmen, infact, He earned his trademark while a photoshoot with one of the greatest businessman India has ever seen. We spend time talking about his all things that he is passionate about. I had to wrap up the interview at the 40 min mark and yet we had to leave a lot out! May be I will go back for a sequel but for now enjoy this point blank with Gautam Rajadhyaksh

Devdutt Pattnaik probably has one of the most unique designations that one might come across. He is the Chief Belief Officer at Future Group of Big Bazaar and Pantaloon fame. Devdutt, a student of mythology, has several books to his name and writes several mythology related columns in newspapers. In this point blank, we talk about mythology, its relevance and what one can learn from it. Devdutt presents some very interesting thoughts about mythology that I grew up believing to be true, about preserving heritage structures and how to interpret mythology.

Indicast got a chance to catch up with Sanjay Manjrekar, a technically sound batsmen who doesnt believe in the significance to technique in cricket. We start the conversation talking about about the on field energy during the 1996 India-Pakistan World Cup match and then move on to other topics like why Indians struggled in fielding, his career as a commentator and then his passion for singing. He also talked about his grossly misunderstood article about Sachin Tendulkar, his thoughts about Azharuddin getting into politics as well as the match fixing scandal.

Its a tough gig... to work for one of the most acclaimed publications of the century during the day time, work everyday independently towards writing a book in a half lotus position, research like hell so as to get all the facts and the perspectives right, update a book blog almost daily, then come home late at night to crash on the bed! Andreas Kluth, the humble tech correspondent from The Economist joins us to talk about Hannibal, the Carthaginian general from about 200 BC who marched with an army of elephants over the Alps, defeated the Romans over and over again, but his life ended with an anti-climax; he lost everything and committed suicide! In his book, Andreas intends to draw parallels between Hannibals life and that of our contemperories like Steve Jobs, Al Gore,and may be even Heath Ledger! No, you wont find it in the Self Help aisle of your book store. In this podcast Andreas shares all his views on this very eventful journey of writing his first book which is slate to come out sometime in 2009.

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. Prof Kanu Doshi is back. This time he fires away on Indias convoluted tax structure in a user friendly manner that makes a technical subject like taxation lnteresting and entertaining. All our finance ministers from Chanakya to Chidambaram have steered India through a very eventful journey in the field of taxation and Kanu bhai pulls out fascinating anecdotes from his hat to take us through this ride. Hope you enjoy it!

It is said that having a good conversation is one of the great joys of being human. When Zanny Minton Beddoes, the Economics Editor of The Economist ruthlessly dismembers jargons like foreclosures, sub prime crisis, inter bank rates, etc, all I can say is that I enjoyed every bit of it. Economics is a fascinating field and Zanny makes it palatable for all of us who do not have a background in the subject. In the first few minutes, she lays a solid foundation giving us the whole build up to the current situation in the US followed by where she thinks it will all culminate into. All this and much more in these 30 minutes that Zanny squeezed in from her busy day which she attributes to America facing pretty interesting times. Presenting to you, economics for the common man.

It has been a roller coaster ride for the equity markets over the last few months. From being one of the best investment options, the global markets have fallen to new lows. Recession fears in the US have knocked down stock prices from their high pedestal. But how does one define a recession, and what is its impact on the common man? Can the genesis of this slow down be attributed to a particular event? And more importantly where is all this leading to? Philip Coggan, the Capital Markets editor at The Economist unravels the answers to these questions in this episode of the Point Blank series.

Daniel Franklin is The Economists Executive Editor and the Editor-in-Chief of economist.com. He completes quarter of a century in the organisation this year! He wouldnt be too happy if I say that modesty is his middle name, because he is a man who despises tired metaphors and insipid language. This podcast is a lesson in humility as much as it is on What makes the Economist have a cult following?

A lot has been said about the Union Budget 2008 already. The experts have fashionably shunted this as a shamelessly populist and a cloyingly sweet Budget. So, do we need another voice adding to the noise? Yes, if the voice is that of Prof Kanu H Doshi who is reputed to create music in all the cacophony. In this Podcast, he does not play the proverbial Economist with one hand. He is point blank and opinionated in all matters from the Rs. 60,000 tax waiver awarded to the farmers and the sops extended to the working middle class. And he is a brilliant story teller and explains certain economic jargons like the multiplier effect and Retained Earnings in a simple manner! He unleashes his witty remarks at the fag end of the podcast which will have you in splits. Heard about a finance whizard with a sense of humor? Well, thats Kanu H Doshi for you or like his friends call him, Kanu bhai!

Adam Roberts, the News Editor of economist.com is fresh from having penned a brilliant Special Report (published at least once a month) on Migration and its impact on the lives of billions from across the planet. His report estimates that there are around 200 million migrants across the world which make up 3 per cent of the population. This number will only grow and so will the xenophobia surrounding it. Adam opens up 4 minutes into his candid talk and we end up talking about the lighter side of Migration as well - Its called Chicken Tikka Masala! Listen to know what we mean!

Harsha Bhogle is a man with multiple personalities. When he is not in the commentary box, he contributes as a columnst in The Indian Express and writes on espnstar. While he has an art to draw opinions from the experts in the commentary box, he is forthright and calls spade a spade in his writings. Its a 30 MB download but worth it.

Brendan Greeley is the Web 2.0 Guy of The Economist. Currently, a week old in the organisation (at the time of the conversation) literally this one man army is spending his time to help The Economist embrace the nuances of the new media! He has shuffled many roles over the past few years and had also served as the Blogger in Chief of the public radio show, Open Source of which he was the founding member. In this candid conversation, Brendan and his sense of humor reign throughout!

The beatific smile of Gurcharan Das is a function of myriad personalities that live within him. In this podcast, he is his modest self, describing his early life and his time as a the VP and MD of PG Worldwide and more. An unabashed supporter of capitalism, he believes that the business of the Government is not to be in business. However, he maintains throughout that healthy competition is a result of strong governance and enlightened regulation. He says, Our economy grows at night when theGovernment is asleep. Unlike china, where the success is induced by the state, ours is a success despite the state.

Anns work is akin to intense method acting which actors like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino use to get under the skin of the character that they play. While the two actors do that once or twice a year for a role and a few million dollars, Ann has mastered the art week after week by writing about anyone who is merely famous (read: Anna Nicole Smith) or unexpectedly facinating like Inder Jit Rikhye, the peacemaker from India.

In this talk about telecom convergence and the mesmerising magical world of mobile telephony, broadband, and Internet TV, Tom orchestrates a perfect symphony by explaining in a jargon free language that the distinctions between these technologies are blurring. He believes utility and substance coupled with stlye and grace in products such as iPhone makes them a beautiful combination. And then, the talk reaches a crescendo when he responds to my diffident accusation that technology is overwhelming us and that we are growing too fast for our own comfort.

This week, we chat up with James Astill from The Economist, the recepient of the annual Gerald R. Ford prize for distinguished reporting in National Defence. James business card a few months ago read, Defence and Terrorism Correspondent. Meeting terrorists or fairly rough characters as he likes to call them is an occupational hazard for someone who bears the tag of a Defence Correspondent. Over the past decade, hes visited Cuba, Sudan, Congo, Afghanistan and many more places including a 6 year stint with Islamabad. In this 20 min talk, James gives us his hands on insights on Pakistan. James feels that Indias sometimes friendly neighbour is changing and that it is Indias turn to extend its hand for peace.

This week, listen to us chat up with Andreas Kluth , the award winning journalist from The E onomist, who has been lauded for his contribution in Media reporting. His survey on New Media is reader friendly, crisp and interspersed with humor. Go read the series of articles here . They are a gold mine of information for anyone wanting to know about the new media!

Avnish Bajaj, co-founder of Baazee.com and now with Matrix Partners. He agreed to have an informal conversation about enterpreneurship, VC funding and about his journey as an entrepreneur to a VC. The interview is a bit long (40 mins) but contains a lot of experiential thoughts.