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Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India (Oxford UP, 2021) by Dr. Mukulika Banerjee offers a groundbreaking rethinking of democracy, moving beyond its institutional frameworks to focus on its lived, everyday dimensions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the villages of Madanpur and Chishti in India, the book examines how agrarian communities cultivate democratic values—solidarity, reciprocity, and ethical citizenship—through practices embedded in their daily lives. Dr. Banerjee challenges conventional notions of democracy as confined to elections and state institutions, instead presenting it as a process deeply rooted in cultural-social practices and values. She highlights how rural communities, through cooperation in agriculture, rituals, festivals, and even moments of conflict and repair, create and sustain the democratic spirit. In doing so, the book underscores the resilience of these practices, even as procedural democracy faces erosion under broader political and economic pressures. At its core, Cultivating Democracy compels us to reimagine democracy not as an abstract ideal but as a lived and ongoing project shaped by the rhythms of everyday life. Through its rich ethnographic detail and theoretical insight, the book offers profound lessons on the fragility and strength of democracy, making it both a deeply scholarly and urgently relevant work. Rounak Bose is a doctoral student in History at the University of Delaware. His research explores the intersections of caste, religiosities, performances, sacred geographies, and the state, as informing/informed by colonial and postcolonial mobilities and circulatory regimes across South Asia and Indian Ocean networks. Besides these specific research interests, his disciplinary interests revolve across anthropology, linguistics, literature, and the digital humanities. When not reading or writing in the university library, Rounak can be found running along Newark's trails and petting the canines he meets along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India (Oxford UP, 2021) by Dr. Mukulika Banerjee offers a groundbreaking rethinking of democracy, moving beyond its institutional frameworks to focus on its lived, everyday dimensions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the villages of Madanpur and Chishti in India, the book examines how agrarian communities cultivate democratic values—solidarity, reciprocity, and ethical citizenship—through practices embedded in their daily lives. Dr. Banerjee challenges conventional notions of democracy as confined to elections and state institutions, instead presenting it as a process deeply rooted in cultural-social practices and values. She highlights how rural communities, through cooperation in agriculture, rituals, festivals, and even moments of conflict and repair, create and sustain the democratic spirit. In doing so, the book underscores the resilience of these practices, even as procedural democracy faces erosion under broader political and economic pressures. At its core, Cultivating Democracy compels us to reimagine democracy not as an abstract ideal but as a lived and ongoing project shaped by the rhythms of everyday life. Through its rich ethnographic detail and theoretical insight, the book offers profound lessons on the fragility and strength of democracy, making it both a deeply scholarly and urgently relevant work. Rounak Bose is a doctoral student in History at the University of Delaware. His research explores the intersections of caste, religiosities, performances, sacred geographies, and the state, as informing/informed by colonial and postcolonial mobilities and circulatory regimes across South Asia and Indian Ocean networks. Besides these specific research interests, his disciplinary interests revolve across anthropology, linguistics, literature, and the digital humanities. When not reading or writing in the university library, Rounak can be found running along Newark's trails and petting the canines he meets along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science
Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India (Oxford UP, 2021) by Dr. Mukulika Banerjee offers a groundbreaking rethinking of democracy, moving beyond its institutional frameworks to focus on its lived, everyday dimensions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the villages of Madanpur and Chishti in India, the book examines how agrarian communities cultivate democratic values—solidarity, reciprocity, and ethical citizenship—through practices embedded in their daily lives. Dr. Banerjee challenges conventional notions of democracy as confined to elections and state institutions, instead presenting it as a process deeply rooted in cultural-social practices and values. She highlights how rural communities, through cooperation in agriculture, rituals, festivals, and even moments of conflict and repair, create and sustain the democratic spirit. In doing so, the book underscores the resilience of these practices, even as procedural democracy faces erosion under broader political and economic pressures. At its core, Cultivating Democracy compels us to reimagine democracy not as an abstract ideal but as a lived and ongoing project shaped by the rhythms of everyday life. Through its rich ethnographic detail and theoretical insight, the book offers profound lessons on the fragility and strength of democracy, making it both a deeply scholarly and urgently relevant work. Rounak Bose is a doctoral student in History at the University of Delaware. His research explores the intersections of caste, religiosities, performances, sacred geographies, and the state, as informing/informed by colonial and postcolonial mobilities and circulatory regimes across South Asia and Indian Ocean networks. Besides these specific research interests, his disciplinary interests revolve across anthropology, linguistics, literature, and the digital humanities. When not reading or writing in the university library, Rounak can be found running along Newark's trails and petting the canines he meets along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology
Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India (Oxford UP, 2021) by Dr. Mukulika Banerjee offers a groundbreaking rethinking of democracy, moving beyond its institutional frameworks to focus on its lived, everyday dimensions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the villages of Madanpur and Chishti in India, the book examines how agrarian communities cultivate democratic values—solidarity, reciprocity, and ethical citizenship—through practices embedded in their daily lives. Dr. Banerjee challenges conventional notions of democracy as confined to elections and state institutions, instead presenting it as a process deeply rooted in cultural-social practices and values. She highlights how rural communities, through cooperation in agriculture, rituals, festivals, and even moments of conflict and repair, create and sustain the democratic spirit. In doing so, the book underscores the resilience of these practices, even as procedural democracy faces erosion under broader political and economic pressures. At its core, Cultivating Democracy compels us to reimagine democracy not as an abstract ideal but as a lived and ongoing project shaped by the rhythms of everyday life. Through its rich ethnographic detail and theoretical insight, the book offers profound lessons on the fragility and strength of democracy, making it both a deeply scholarly and urgently relevant work. Rounak Bose is a doctoral student in History at the University of Delaware. His research explores the intersections of caste, religiosities, performances, sacred geographies, and the state, as informing/informed by colonial and postcolonial mobilities and circulatory regimes across South Asia and Indian Ocean networks. Besides these specific research interests, his disciplinary interests revolve across anthropology, linguistics, literature, and the digital humanities. When not reading or writing in the university library, Rounak can be found running along Newark's trails and petting the canines he meets along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology
Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India (Oxford UP, 2021) by Dr. Mukulika Banerjee offers a groundbreaking rethinking of democracy, moving beyond its institutional frameworks to focus on its lived, everyday dimensions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the villages of Madanpur and Chishti in India, the book examines how agrarian communities cultivate democratic values—solidarity, reciprocity, and ethical citizenship—through practices embedded in their daily lives. Dr. Banerjee challenges conventional notions of democracy as confined to elections and state institutions, instead presenting it as a process deeply rooted in cultural-social practices and values. She highlights how rural communities, through cooperation in agriculture, rituals, festivals, and even moments of conflict and repair, create and sustain the democratic spirit. In doing so, the book underscores the resilience of these practices, even as procedural democracy faces erosion under broader political and economic pressures. At its core, Cultivating Democracy compels us to reimagine democracy not as an abstract ideal but as a lived and ongoing project shaped by the rhythms of everyday life. Through its rich ethnographic detail and theoretical insight, the book offers profound lessons on the fragility and strength of democracy, making it both a deeply scholarly and urgently relevant work. Rounak Bose is a doctoral student in History at the University of Delaware. His research explores the intersections of caste, religiosities, performances, sacred geographies, and the state, as informing/informed by colonial and postcolonial mobilities and circulatory regimes across South Asia and Indian Ocean networks. Besides these specific research interests, his disciplinary interests revolve across anthropology, linguistics, literature, and the digital humanities. When not reading or writing in the university library, Rounak can be found running along Newark's trails and petting the canines he meets along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies
Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India (Oxford UP, 2021) by Dr. Mukulika Banerjee offers a groundbreaking rethinking of democracy, moving beyond its institutional frameworks to focus on its lived, everyday dimensions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the villages of Madanpur and Chishti in India, the book examines how agrarian communities cultivate democratic values—solidarity, reciprocity, and ethical citizenship—through practices embedded in their daily lives. Dr. Banerjee challenges conventional notions of democracy as confined to elections and state institutions, instead presenting it as a process deeply rooted in cultural-social practices and values. She highlights how rural communities, through cooperation in agriculture, rituals, festivals, and even moments of conflict and repair, create and sustain the democratic spirit. In doing so, the book underscores the resilience of these practices, even as procedural democracy faces erosion under broader political and economic pressures. At its core, Cultivating Democracy compels us to reimagine democracy not as an abstract ideal but as a lived and ongoing project shaped by the rhythms of everyday life. Through its rich ethnographic detail and theoretical insight, the book offers profound lessons on the fragility and strength of democracy, making it both a deeply scholarly and urgently relevant work. Rounak Bose is a doctoral student in History at the University of Delaware. His research explores the intersections of caste, religiosities, performances, sacred geographies, and the state, as informing/informed by colonial and postcolonial mobilities and circulatory regimes across South Asia and Indian Ocean networks. Besides these specific research interests, his disciplinary interests revolve across anthropology, linguistics, literature, and the digital humanities. When not reading or writing in the university library, Rounak can be found running along Newark's trails and petting the canines he meets along the way.
Our societies, our norms, our values are all shaped by stories from the past. Devdutt Pattanaik joins Amit Varma in episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, our society and why we should take mythology seriously. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Devdutt Pattanaik on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon and his own website. 2. Myth = Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 3. The Girl Who Chose -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 4. The Boys Who Fought -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 5. Ramayana Versus Mahabharata -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 6. My Gita -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 7. Bahubali: 63 Insights into Jainism -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 8. Sati Savitri -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 9. Business Sutra -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 10. Ahimsa: 100 Reflections on the Harappan Civilization -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 11. Olympus -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 12. Eden -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 13. East vs West -- The Myths That Mystify -- Devdutt Pattanaik's 2009 TED Talk. 14. Today My Mother Came Home -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 15. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Yuganta -- Irawati Karve. 20. Women in Indian History — Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 21. The Jewel in the Crown -- BBC TV series. 22. Heat and Dust -- James Ivory. 23. The Sexual Outlaw -- John Rechy. 24. Bombay Dost and Gay Bombay. 25. The Double ‘Thank You' Moment — John Stossel. 26. The Kama Sutra. 27. Liberty -- Isaiah Berlin. 28. Thought and Choice in Chess -- Adriaan de Groot. 29. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker. 30. The Seven Basic Plots -- Episode 69 of Everything is Everything. 31. The Hero with a Thousand Faces -- Joseph Campbell. 32. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 33. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 33. The egg came before the chicken. 34. The Evolution of Cooperation — Robert Axelrod. 35. The Trees -- Philip Larkin. 36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 37. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 38. Tony Joseph's episode on The Seen and the Unseen. 39. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 40. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 41. Jugalbandi -- Vinay Sitapati. 42. Perfect Days -- Wim Wenders. 43. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 44. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 45. Mary Wollstonecraft and bell hooks. 46. If India Was Five Days Old -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 47. The Road to Freedom — Arthur C Brooks. 48. The Master and His Emissary -- Iain McGilchrist. 49. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 50. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 51. The Elephant in the Brain — Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson. 52. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 53. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants — Peggy Mohan. 55. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 56. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 57. The Golden Bough -- James Frazer. 58. Myth And Reality: Studies In The Formation Of Indian Culture -- DD Kosambi. 59. Srimad Bhagavatam -- Kamala Subramaniam. 60. Boris Vallejo on Instagram, Wikipedia and his own website. 61. The Last Temptation Of Christ -- Nikos Kazantzakis. 62. The Last Temptation Of Christ -- Martin Scorcese. 63. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast. 64. The Poem of the Killing of Meghnad -- Michael Madhusudan Dutt. 65. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt. 66. The Crown -- Created by Peter Morgan. 67. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 68. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 69. The Buddha's Footprint -- Johan Elverskog. 70. A Prehistory of Hinduism -- Manu Devadevan. 71. The ‘Early Medieval' Origins of India -- Manu Devadevan. 72. Unmasking Buddhism -- Bernard Faure. 73. The Red Thread -- Bernard Faure. 74. The Power of Denial -- Bernard Faure. 75. The Thousand and One Lives of the Buddha -- Bernard Faure. 76. A Modern Look At Ancient Chinese Theory Of Language -- Chad Hansen. 77. Hermann Kulke, Umakant Mishra and Ganesh Devy on Amazon. 78. The Hours -- Michael Cunningham. 79. The Hours -- Stephen Daldry. 79. Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization -- Bahata Ansumali Mukhopadhyay. 80. Myth -- Laurence Coupe. This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit's newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It's free! Also check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Story' by Simahina.
Has the general election in India been free and fair? This crucial point is debated and discussed across the country and abroad as the results of the vote come in. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP party will still be the largest in parliament, it has done less well than expected. Has India's election commission done its job properly? In Perspective, we spoke to Mukulika Banerjee, a professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Welcome to this joint Who is voting in 2024 and What Matters Today podcast episode. A quick word about both of these series. Who is voting in 2024 is a series produced by the Geneva Graduate Institute's Albert Hirschman Centre On Democracy focusing on the multiple elections taking place in 2024.What Matters Today, which is produced by the Institute's Communications department, is a current affairs podcast series featuring Geneva Graduate Institute faculty and international experts commenting on the most pressing global issues.Our guests today are Mukulika Banerjee and Gopalan Balachandran.Mukulika is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She specializes in political anthropology and election cultures, among other areas. Having just returned from a few weeks in India, she brings a valuable "on the ground" perspective to this discussion.Gopalan is the Co-Director of the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy and a Professor of International History and Politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute. His areas of expertise include globalization, emerging countries, and diasporas, among others.
In India, the question of whether voters are truly getting what they vote for remains a complex and often debated issue. While elections provide a platform for citizens to express their preferences and hold their representatives accountable, challenges such as electoral misconduct, corruption, and the influence of money and power continue to cast doubt on the efficacy of the electoral process. Moreover, the disconnect between campaign promises and actual governance outcomes further muddles the picture. Despite strides in transparency and electoral reforms, the gap between voter expectations and political realities underscores the need for sustained efforts to enhance accountability, strengthen institutions, and foster a more responsive and inclusive democracy. Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India by Mukulika Banerjee is an anthropological study of the relationship of formal political democracy and the cultivation of active citizenship in one particular rural setting in India, studied from 1998 to 2013. It draws on deep ethnographic engagement with the people and social life in two villages, both during elections and in the time in between them, to show how these two temporalities connect. The analysis shows how an agrarian village society produces the social imaginaries required for democratic and republican values. The ethnographic microscope on a single paddy growing setting allows us to examine how the various social institutions of kinship, economy, and religion are critical sites for the continual civic cultivation of cooperation, vigilance, redistribution, inviolate commitment, and hope—values that are essential for democracy. In this episode of BIC Talks, Author of 'Cultivating Democracy' & Professor of Social Anthropology at LSE - Mukulika Banerjee will present her findings and engage in a conversation with Professor of Public Policy & Governance, Azim Premji University - A Narayana and Political Consultant, Gender & Civic Activist - Tara Krishnaswamy. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in April 2024. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favorite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.
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.
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.
You could think of her as someone who tries to preserve a fading world -- or to chronicle a changing one. Rakhshanda Jalil joins Amit Varma in episode 365 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about literature, language and loss. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rakhshanda Jalil on Twitter, Wikipedia, The Wire, Scroll and Amazon. 2. But You Don't Look Like a Muslim -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 3. Invisible City: The Hidden Monuments of Delhi -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 4. Urdu: The Best Stories of Our Times -- Edited & translated by Rakhshanda Jalil. 5. Liking Progress, Loving Change -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 6. Preeto and Other Stories: The Male Gaze in Urdu -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 7. A Rebel and Her Cause: The Life and Work of Rashid Jahan -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 8. Shahryar: A Life in Poetry -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 9. Release and Other Stories -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 10. The Temple and The Mosque -- Premchand (translated by Rakhshanda Jalil). 11. Fear, Depression in Indian Muslims Is Palpable Even Among Those Who Are ‘Privileged' -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 12. In New India, a Muslim Rose Smells Different From a Hindu Rose -- Rakhshanda Jalil. 13. Aaliya Waziri's essay about her mother Rakhshanda Jalil. 14. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab). 15. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Many Cities of Delhi — Episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rana Safvi). 17. The Age of Average -- Alex Murrell. 18. Order Without Design -- Alain Bertaud. 19. Asar–us–Sanadid -- Syed Ahmed Khan. 20. Basu Da's Bombay. 21. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Stage.in. 24. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 25. The Elephant in the Room -- Kay Ryan. 26. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 27. Malevolent Republic -- Kapil Komireddi. 28. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 29. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 30. Khwaab Baaki Hai -- Ale Ahmad Suroor. 31. Uneasy Lies the Head -- Mayank Austen Soofi. 32. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 33. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 34. Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein -- Song from Hum Hindustani. 35. Tu Hindu Banega Na Musalman Banega -- Song from Dhool Ka Phool, with lyrics by Sahir Ludhainvi. 36. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 37. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 38. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 40. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 41. Here's What's Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 42. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 43. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 45. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 46. Ibn-e Safi on Amazon. 47. Suyash Rai Embraces India's Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. Personal Libraries -- Rakhshanda Jalil's book collection. 49. Charles Dickens, Mills and Boon, Georgette Heyer, Barbara Cartland, Jean-Paul Sartre, James Hadley Chase, Northrop Frye and TS Eliot. 50. Exile and the Kingdom -- Albert Camus. 51. Waiting for Godot -- Samuel Beckett. 52. The Art of Translation — Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 53. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. Raw Umber : A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 58. The Death of Sheherzad -- Initizar Husain (translated by Rakhshanda Jalil). 59. Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 60. Drown -- Junot Diaz. 61. Mehroom -- Raman Negi. 62. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai. 63. Saare Jahaan Se Achha -- Rakesh Sharma speaks to Indira Gandhi. 64. Premchand on Amazon and Wikipedia. 65. The Nature and Purpose of Literature -- Premchand's presidential address at the First All India Progressive Writers' Conference, 1936. 66. The Progressive Writer's Movement. 67. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 68. Patrice Lumumba. 69. Testaments Betrayed -- Milan Kundera. 70. Hum Jo Tarik Rahon Mein Mare Gae -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 71. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 72. Aag Ka Dariya (River of Fire) -- Qurratulain Hyder. 73. Rahman Abbas on Amazon, Wikipedia and Twitter. 74. Tambih -- Shahryar. 75. Bol -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 76. Hum Dekhenge -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 77. Hum Dekhenge -- Faiz. 78. Krishan Chander, Qurratulain Hyder and Ismat Chugtai. 79. Rekhta. 80. The Paradise of Food -- Khalid Jawed (translated by Baran Farooqi). 81. Sturgeon's Law. 82. Imposter Syndrome. 83. 'How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives' -- Amit Varma. 84. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 85. Mirza Ghalib on Rekhta. 86. Faiz Ahmad Faiz on Rekhta. 87. Mujhse Pahli Si Mohabbat Meri Mahbub Na Maang -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz. 88. Hindostan Hamara -- Edited by Jan Nisar Akhtar. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘Change' by Simahina.
What is the difference between ch*tiya and dusht? Why are vegetarians evil? Why do Indians do the best bench pressing? Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 362 of The Seen and the Unseen for the most fun conversation ever. Really, ever. We got it certified. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Krish Ashok on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, his own website and Spotify/Apple Music/Soundcloud. 2. Naren Shenoy on Twitter, Instagram and Blogspot. 3. We Are All Amits From Africa -- Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 5. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking — Krish Ashok. 7. We want Narendra Shenoy to write a book. 8. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 9. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 10. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 11. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 16. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 17. Narendra Modi on climate change. 18. Yes Minister -- Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 19. Yes Prime Minister -- Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 20. The Overview Effect. 21. The Day Ryan Started Masturbating -- Amit Varma. 22. Security Check -- Varun Grover. 23. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! -- Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 24. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe -- Douglas Adams. 25. Arrival — Denis Villeneuve. 26. The Hidden Life of Trees — Peter Wohlleben. 27. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) — Amit Varma's post with Douglas Adams's puddle quote. 28. Bittu Sahgal on Wikipedia, Instagram, Twitter and Amazon. 29. I Contain Multitudes -- Ed Yong. 30. Song of Myself — Walt Whitman. 31. How I Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes -- Episode 9 of Everything is Everything. 32. Fat Chance -- Robert Lustig on Fructose 2.0. 33. How Sugar & Processed Foods Impact Your Health -- Robert Lustig on The Huberman Lab Podcast. 34. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol -- Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Privacy 3.0 — Rahul Matthan. 36. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Shruti Jahagirdar's Twitter thread on Bournvita. 38. Shruti Jahagirdar is the Sporty One -- Episode 289 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Seven Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 23 of Everything is Everything. 41. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 42. The Walrus and the Carpenter -- Lewis Carroll. 43. There is no Frigate like a Book -- Emily Dickinson. 44. Why I'm Hopeful About Twitter -- Amit Varma. 45. A decontextualized reel of Dr Pal on The Ranveer Show. 46. The Liver Doctor's feisty response to the reel above. 47. The full interview of Dr Pal on The Ranveer Show. 48. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher — Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Dunbar's number. 51. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson. 52. Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. 53. The Selfish Gene -- Richard Dawkins. 54. GianChand Whisky. 55. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health — Amit Varma. 56. Homeopathic Faith — Amit Varma. 57. Homeopathy, quackery and fraud — James Randi. 58. Fallacy of Composition. 59. The Secret to a Happy Marriage -- Mike and Joelle. 60. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud -- William Wordsworth. 61. WD 40 on Amazon. 62. Dog Songs -- Mary Oliver. 63. The Evolution of Cooperation -- Robert Axelrod. 64. The Interpreter -- Amit Varma (on Michael Gazzaniga's split-brain experiments). 65. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 66. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 67. Minority Report -- Steven Spielberg. 68. Free Will -- Sam Harris. 69. Determined: Life Without Free Will -- Robert Sapolsky. 70. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky. 71. Noise -- Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein. 72. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley. 73. Cicada -- Shaun Tan. 74. Don't think too much of yourself. You're an accident — Amit Varma's column on Chris Cornell's death. 75. Are You Just One Version of Yourself? -- Episode 3 of Everything is Everything. 76. Lat Uljhi Suljha Ja Balam -- Bade Ghulam Ali Khan performs Raag Bihag. 77. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture -- Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Danish Husain's anecdote about Mahatma Gandhi and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. 79. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life -- Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. Arijit Singh on Autotune. 81. How Music Works -- David Byrne. 82. Raga Lalita Gauri -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 83. Raag Lalita Gauri (1947) -- Kesarbai Kerkar. 84. Raga Vibhas -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 85. Mohe Rang Do Laal -- Song from Bajirao Mastani. 86. Raag Basanti Kedar -- Mallikarjun Mansur. 87. Travelling through Pakistan; from Karachi to K2 -- Salman Rashid on The Pakistan Experience, hosted by Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. 88. A rare video of Balasaraswathi dancing while singing Krishna Nee Begane. 89. Krishna Nee Begane Baro -- Madras String Quartet. 90. Albela Sajan -- Hard rock adaptation by Krish Ashok and Vijay Kannan. 91. [Don't Fear] The Reaper -- Blue Oyster Cult. 92. Krish Ashok's Sanskrit version of the song above. 93. Purple Haze -- Jimi Hendrix. 94. All That She Wants — Ace of Base. 95. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna). 96. Brown Eyed Girl -- Van Morrison. 97. Astral Weeks -- Van Morrison. 98. Moondance -- Van Morrison. 99. Episode on Astral Weeks in the podcast, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. 100. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 101. Advaita on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 102. Raman Negi on YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Twitter. 103. Greta Van Fleet and The Mars Volta on Spotify. 104. Shakti and Indian Ocean on Spotify. 105. Pink Floyd and Kendrick Lamar on Spotify. 106. Analysis of Food Pairing in Regional Cuisines of India -- Anupam Jain, Rakhi NK and Ganesh Bagler. 107. Krish Ashok's reel explaining the above paper. 108. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 109. How to Show, Not Tell: The Complete Writing Guide -- Diane Callahan. 110. We Love Vaccines! We Love Freedom! -- Episode 27 of Everything is Everything. 111. Math Is Better Than the Brigadier's Girlfriend -- Episode 15 of Everything is Everything. 112. Chintaman and I -- Durgabai Deshmukh. 113. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 114. Lady Doctors -- Kavitha Rao. 115. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast talking about one-way doors and two-way doors. 116. It is immoral to have children. Here's why — Amit Varma. 117. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 118. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything. 119. ChuChuTV. 120. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia — Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 121. The State of the Ukraine War -- Episode 14 of Everything is Everything. 122. King Lear -- William Shakespeare. 123. Churchill: Walking with Destiny -- Andrew Roberts. 124. Churchill and the genocide myth — Zareer Masani. 125. Perplexity. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘'Let's Dance" by Simahina.
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.
Our statues must eat ice cream, our cities must be designed by cardiovascular surgeons, and we must all go to the fifth temple. Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen to banter away a few perfectly good hours. What a waste of time, eh? NO! (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Krish Ashok on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, his own website and Spotify/Apple Music/Soundcloud. 2. Naren Shenoy on Twitter, Instagram and Blogspot. 3. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 5. Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking -- Krish Ashok. 6. Simblified, co-hosted by Narendra Shenoy. 7. We want Narendra Shenoy to write a book. 8. Lohapurusha -- Krish Ashok's Sanskrit Heavy Metal album. 9. The Masala Lab Dal Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok. 10. The Amaklamatic Salad Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok. 11. The Amaklamatic Chutney Recipe Generator -- Krish Ashok. 12. Newton the Alchemist. Gandhi the Black Swan -- Episode 7 of Everything is Everything. 13. Krish Ashok hates computers and this is proof. 14. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 16. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna). 18. 4′33″ -- John Cage. 19. Is the Singularity Near? -- Episode 2 of Everything is Everything. 20. The Formula Behind Every Perfect Pop Song — Seeker. 21. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read. 22. The Cadbury Dairy Milk Mystery -- Krish Ashok. 23. A Poetry Handbook — Mary Oliver. 24. Tvam -- Krish Ashok's version of Rammstein's Du Hast. 25. Du Hast -- Rammstein. 26. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 27. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 30. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 31. The Country Foods channel. 32. Ulhas Kamathe -- The Chicken Leg Piece Guy. 33. Sell the Tiger to Save It — Barun Mitra. 34. The Poultry Map. 35. The Egg Map. 36. Team Pizza or Team Biryani? 37. Gordon tries to make Pad Thai -- The F Word. 38. The Panchatantra. 39. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Kimaham Abhavam -- Krish Ashok's version of Johnny Cash's version of Nine Inch Nails's Hurt. 41. Hurt -- Johnny Cash. 42. Hurt -- Nine Inch Nails. 43. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok. 44. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day — Nilay Patel. 45. The Menu -- Mark Mylod. 46. Cilappatikaram. 47. Dunbar's number. 48. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht's newsletter. 50. Superforecasting -- Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. 51. Essays -- Paul Graham. 52. Nityananda making sense. 53. Uncle Roger. 54. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Never Talk About TURMERIC on Social Media — Abby Philips. 56. The Magic Pill -- Rob Tate. 57. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 58. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. Brandolini's law. 60. Foodpharmer on Instagram. 61. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 62. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 63. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 64. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz. 65. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung. 66. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll. 67. Your Undivided Attention -- Podcast by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin. 68. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 69. 3Blue1Brown on YouTube. 70. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir perform Dhano Dhanne. 72. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 73. Sonnet 18 -- William Shakespeare. 74. Sonnet 18 -- Harriet Walter. 74. Sonnet 18 -- Akala. 75. Sonnet 18 -- David Gilmour. 76. Raga Ahir Bhairav -- Gangubai Hangal. 77. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 78. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 79. Dark Was the Night -- Blind Willie Johnson. 80. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road -- Lucinda Williams. 81. Sweet Old World -- Lucinda Williams. 82. All That She Wants -- Ace of Base. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘Amits' by Simahina.
She's a filmmaker, feminist, artist, writer -- impossible to pin down, a connoisseur of multitudes. Paromita Vohra joins Amit Varma in episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen to shoot the breeze and share her thoughts on Covid, relationships, the garden of consent, how being a misfit can be liberating and what she means by Poetic Feminism. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Paromita Vohra on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, IMDb and Parodevi Pictures. 2. Paromita Vohra's column archives in Mid-Day. 3. Agents of Ishq. 3. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 4. Unlimited Girls (95 mins). 5. Partners in Crime (95 mins). 6. Paromita Vohra interviewed by The Third Eye. 7. Empire of the Sun -- Steven Spielberg. 8. Simple Recipes for Complicated Times -- Peter Griffin's Facebook group. 9. Tsunami Help and Cloudburst Mumbai. 10. Feeding the Hungry in the Pandemic — Episode 210 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ruben Mascarenhas). 11. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. Chekhov's Gun. 13. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Padosan and Kashmir Ki Kali. 15. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. One Foot on the Ground — Shanta Gokhale. 17. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus — John Gray. 18. What Makes Women Happy -- Fay Weldon. 19. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 20. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 21. Asterix, Tintin, Phantom and Mandrake. 22. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 23. Shame -- Salman Rushdie. 24. Amitav Ghosh on Amazon. 25. Anjali Arondekar on Amazon and her own website. 26. Sex, Law, and the Politics of Age: Child Marriage in India, 1891–1937 -- Ishita Pande. 27. Indian Sex Life -- Durba Mitra. 28. The Looking-Glass Self. 29. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 30. Miss Excel on Instagram and TikTok. 31. How an Excel Tiktoker Manifested Her Way to Making Six Figures a Day — Nilay Patel. 32. Tokyo is the new Paris -- Noah Smith. 33. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 34. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai — Karan Johar. 35. Supermen of Malegaon -- Faiza Ahmad Khan. 36. The Overton Window. 37. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 38. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Stage.in. 40. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 41. On Uniform Civil Code, intent matters -- GN Devy. 42. Past Lives -- Celine Song. 43. Joseph Fasano on Twitter. 44. Imaginary Number — Vijay Seshadri. 45. Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women -- Translated by Charles Hallisey. 46. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 47. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph. 48. Why Children Labour (2007) -- Amit Varma. 49. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist -- Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 51. Roots -- Alex Haley. 52. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don't Have To — David Sinclair. 53. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity -- Peter Attia. 54. Chronicle of a Summer -- Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin. 55. Chaalbaaz -- Pankaj Parashar. 56. Topsy-Turvy -- Mike Leigh. 57. Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency -- Chen Chen. 58. i love you to the moon & -- Chen Chen. 59. Chen Chen on Instagram. 60. Rajendra Krishan on Wikipedia, IMDb and Rekhta. 61. Pyar Ke Jahan Ki Nirali Sarkar Hai -- Song from Patang, written by Rajendra Krishan. 62. Ga Ga Ga Gori Gori -- Baba Sehgal. 63. Ek Thi Ladki -- Roop Shorey. 64. Lara Lappa Lara Lappa -- Song from Ek Thi Ladki. 65. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 66. Regrets, None -- Dolly Thakore. 67. Timepass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi -- Protima Bedi. 68. Joan Didion on Amazon. 69. The Odd Woman and the City — Vivian Gornick. 70. We Should All Be Feminists -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 71. Fearless Freedom -- Kavita Krishnan. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘The Dance of Life' by Simahina.
An ethnographic study of Indian democracy that shows how agrarian life creates values of citizenship and active engagement that are essential for the cultivation of democracy, Cultivating Democracy provides a compelling ethnographic analysis of the relationship between formal political institutions and everyday citizenship in rural India. Dr. Mukulika Banerjee draws on deep engagement with the people and social life in two West Bengal villages between 1998 and 2013 to show how the micro-politics of their day-to-day life builds active engagement with the macro-politics of the state. Her sensitive analysis focuses on several "events" in the life of the villages shows how India's agrarian rural society helps create practices and conceptual space for citizens to be effective participants in India's great democratic exercises. In this episode of BIC Talks, Dr. Banerjee, social anthropologist, scholar and author engages in a coversation with scholar and economist Dr. Vijayendra Rao on the various facets of a functioning democracy and lessons the urban set ups can learn from rural governance. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.
She's been a historian and a filmmaker. She's worked on feminism and caste and Buddhism. She's collected oral histories of India's traumas. She's mentored generations. The legendary Uma Chakravarti joins Amit Varma in episode 332 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her times and her invaluable work towards the pursuit of truth. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Uma Chakkravarti on Wikipedia and Amazon. 2. The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism -- Uma Chakravarti. 3. Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai -- Uma Chakravarti. 4. Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens -- Uma Chakravarti. 5. Delhi Riots: Three Days in the Life of a Nation -- Uma Chakravarti and Nandita Haksar. 6. Thinking Gender, Doing Gender -- Edited by Uma Chakravarti. 7. A Quiet Little Entry -- Uma Chakravarti. 8. Fragments of a Past -- Uma Chakravarti. 9. Ek Inquilab Aur Aaya: Lucknow 1920-1949 -- Uma Chakravarti. 10. Prison Diaries -- Uma Chakravarti. 11. Sexual Violence in Indian Society -- Uma Chakravarti. 12. Restructuring the Path: Inserting Women into History (2000) -- Uma Chakravarti. 13. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar, Rohini Nilekani and Shaili Chopra. 14. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 15. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 17. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 18. Kiran Ahluwalia Finds Our Aam Zameen -- Episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 20. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 21. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 22. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 23. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 24. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 25. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 26. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 27. Therīgāthā on Wikipedia and Amazon. 28. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma — Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Deedar -- Nitin Bose. 30. Diya Jalao Jagmag Jagmag -- Song from Tansen. 31. Do Bigha Zameen -- Bimal Roy. 32. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 34. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — Mary Wollstonecraft. 35. Frankenstein -- Mary Shelley. 36. Amit Varma's episode of The Book Club on Wollstonecraft's book. 37. Amit Varma's episode of The Book Club on Shelley's book. 38. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 41. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 42. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 43. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 45. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 46. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 47. The Beautiful Tree — James Tooley. 48. Hum Dekhenge -- Iqbal Bano. 49. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India -- V Geetha. 50. Let's Read Ambedkar -- Lecture series by V Geetha. 51. Dust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India -- Douglas Ober. 52. The Conversion of the Untouchables -- BR Ambedkar. 53. The Gregorian Chant. 54. Deva Bandha Namma -- Bhimsen Joshi. 55. Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada So Hi Param Pada Pavega -- Bhimsen Joshi. 56. Vaishnav Jan To -- Riyaaz Qawwali. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘Carrying the Torch' by Simahina.
This episode is a live session from Jaipur Literature Festival 2023!
This is a live session from Jaipur Literature Festival 2023!
George Fernandes was an activist, politician, minister, thinker -- and was as complicated as the times he lived in. Rahul Ramagundam joins Amit Varma in episode 327 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his biography of Fernandes, the decades he lived through, and this country that kept changing, changing, changing. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rahul Ramagundam at Jamia Millia Islamia, Amazon, LinkedIn and Google Scholar. 2. The Life and Times of George Fernandes -- Rahul Ramagundam. 3. Gandhi's Khadi: A History of Contention and Conciliation -- Rahul Ramagundam. 4. Including the Socially Excluded -- Rahul Ramagundam. 5. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 6. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 7. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 8. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 9. A shoe store brings together two faces of 2002 Gujarat riots -- The Hindu. 10. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 11. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 12. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 13. The Decline of the Congress — Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 14. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 15. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 16. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma's column on reading. 17. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 18. Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 19. No One Writes to the Colonel -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 20. The Moon is Down -- John Steinbeck. 21. Is Paris Burning? -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 22. Freedom at Midnight -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 23. Hermann Hesse and Henry Miller on Amazon. 24. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 25. Life among the Scorpions -- Jaya Jaitly. 26. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. 27. The Graham Staines murder. 28. Thomas Weber's books on Gandhi. 29. Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track -- Episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 31. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 33. A Prisoner's Scrap-Book -- LK Advani. 34. Prison Diary -- Jayaprakash Narayan. 35. The Power Broker — Robert A Caro. 36. Robert A Caro on Amazon. 37. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 38. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 39. VS Naipaul on Amazon. 40. Idgah (Hindi) (English) -- Munshi Premchand. 41. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Raw Umber: A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 43. Samuel Huntington on Wikipedia and Amazon. 44. Francis Robinson and Barbara Metcalf on Amazon. 45. India in the Persianate Age — Richard Eaton. 46. The New India Foundation. 47. Weapons of the Weak -- James C Scott. 48. The Causes of the Indian Revolt -- Syed Ahmed Khan. 49. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 50. Hindutva — VD Savarkar. 51. Annihilation of Caste -- BR Ambedkar. 52. Gandhi before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 53. Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World -- Ramachandra Guha. 54. Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Amazon. 55. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘The Fist' by Simahina.
Democracy: Quinn Slobodian, Professor of the History of Ideas at Wellesley College, takes Laurie Taylor on the journey of radical libertarians who search for the perfect home, free from the burden of democratic oversight, from Hong Kong to Canary Wharf and the Honduras. What accounts for the explosion of new legal entities, including free ports, gated enclaves, city states and special economic zones? They're joined by Mukulika Banerjee, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics, whose latest study into the lives of West Bengal villagers finds that they promote democratic values in everyday acts of citizenship at a time when Indian democracy is under threat. How do their creative practices around kinship, farming and religion promote republican virtues of cooperation, civility, solidarity and vigilance? Producer: Jayne Egerton
Democracy: Quinn Slobodian, Professor of the History of Ideas at Wellesley College, takes Laurie Taylor on the journey of radical libertarians who search for the perfect home, free from the burden of democratic oversight, from Hong Kong to Canary Wharf and the Honduras. What accounts for the explosion of new legal entities, including free ports, gated enclaves, city states and special economic zones? They're joined by Mukulika Banerjee, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics, whose latest study into the lives of West Bengal villagers finds that they promote democratic values in everyday acts of citizenship at a time when Indian democracy is under threat. How do their creative practices around kinship, farming and religion promote republican virtues of cooperation, civility, solidarity and vigilance? Producer: Jayne Egerton
Women in India are much more than either bechari, badass or bitch -- and they won't be defined any more by the male gaze. Shaili Chopra joins Amit Varma in episode 325 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her learnings and why she won't hold back on her anger. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shaili Chopra on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and her own website. 2. Sisterhood Economy -- Shaili Chopra. 3. SheThePeople.tv and GyTree. 4. Let Her Be Angry -- Shaila Chopra's TEDx Talk. 5. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar and Rohini Nilekani. 6. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 8. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies — Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Mita Kapur -- Episode 322 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 12. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 13. How Social Media Threatens Society — Episode 8 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar, featuring Jonathan Haidt. 14. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani. 15. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 16. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 17. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Mrinal Pande's pieces for Pragati on women in Indian agriculture: 1, 2. 19. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 20. 'What's Your Favourite Position?' -- Shaili Chopra's Instagram post. 21. Imposter Syndrome. 22. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 23. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 24. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 25. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence' — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 26. The Second Sex — Simone de Beauvoir. 27. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 28. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 29. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 30. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Raja Beta Syndrome — Mahima Vashisht. 32. Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative. 33. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 34. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 35. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dabangg, Mardaani, Badhaai Ho, Badhaai Do, Astitva and Lust Stories. 36. Alice Munro, Marilynne Robinson, Mary Oliver and JK Rowling. 39. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 40. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 41. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 42. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 43. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Women at Work — Ep 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 46. The Code Breaker -- Walter Isaacson. 47. Lessons in Chemistry -- Bonnie Garmus. 48. Caste -- Isabel Wilkerson. 49. Normal People -- Sally Rooney. 50. Conversations with Friends -- Sally Rooney. 51. Red, White & Royal Blue -- Casey McQuiston. 52. Curry -- Lizzie Cunningham. 53. Figuring -- Maria Popova. 54. The Marginalian -- Maria Popova's website. 55. Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary -- Anita Anand. 56. Hello, Mum -- Polly Dunbar. 57. Bruno Mars, Blue, Michael Jackson, Amjad Ali Khan, Shobha Gurtu, Shubha Mudgal and Kishori Amonkar on Spotify. 58. Chor Bazari, Prem Ki Naiyya and Girls Like To Swing. 59. Waka Waka -- Shakira. 60. Valeria, Unauthorised Living, Monarca, and High Seas. 61. Sitting Woman -- Henri Matisse. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘The Sisterhood' by Simahina.
Daniella Reyes and Natalie Chen sit down with Mukulika Banerjee—Associate Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In this episode, Mukulika Banerjee expresses her thoughts on recent social movements in India and how taking on a republican mindset will be essential to reviving the constitutional vision for the democractic system in India. She also explains how gaining insight on the ethnographic context of its community alongside its election results can help us to understand the future of Indian democracy.
Guests featured in this episode:Mukulika Banerjee, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science where she was also the inaugural director of its South Asia Centre from 2015 to 2020. Working at the intersection of social anthropology, politics, and history, Mukulika has published widely on South Asia. She edits also the excellent Routledge series, exploring the political in South Asia. Her most relevant publications to this episode are; Why India Votes [2014] and Cultivating Democracy, Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India.[2021]GlossaryWhat is the caste system in India?(16:15 or p.4 in the transcript)In South Asia, the caste system has been a dominating aspect of social organization for thousands of years. A caste, generally designated by the term jati (“birth”), refers to a strictly regulated social community into which one is born. Some jatis have occupational names, but the connection between caste and occupational specialization is limited. In general, a person is expected to marry someone within the same jati, follow a particular set of rules for proper behavior (in such matters as kinship, occupation, and diet), and interact with other jatis according to the group's position in the social hierarchy. In India virtually all nontribal Hindus and many adherents of other faiths (even Muslims, for whom caste is theoretically anathema) recognize their membership in one of the hereditary social communities. Among Hindus, jatis are usually assigned to one of four large caste clusters, called varnas, each of which has a traditional social function: Brahmans (priests), at the top of the social hierarchy, and, in descending prestige, Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (originally peasants but later merchants), and Shudras (artisans and laborers). The particular varna in which a jati is ranked depends in part on its relative level of “impurity,” determined by the group's traditional contact with any of a number of “pollutants,” including blood, menstrual flow, saliva, dung, leather, dirt, and hair. Intercaste restrictions were established to prevent the relative purity of a particular jati from being corrupted by the pollution of a lower caste. A fifth group, the Panchamas (from Sanskrit panch, “five”), theoretically were excluded from the system because their occupations and ways of life typically brought them in contact with such impurities. They were formerly called the untouchables (because their touch, believed by the upper castes to transmit pollution, was avoided), but the nationalist leader Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi referred to them as Harijan (“Children of God”), a name that for a time gained popular usage. More recently, members of that class have adopted the term Dalit (“Oppressed”) to describe themselves. Officially, such groups are referred to as Scheduled Castes. Those in Scheduled Castes, collectively accounting for roughly one-sixth of India's total population, are generally landless and perform most of the agricultural labor, as well as a number of ritually polluting caste occupations (e.g., leatherwork, among the Chamars, the largest Scheduled Caste). sourceWhat is a panchayat?(26:03 or p.7 in the transcript)Panchayat is the most important adjudicating and licensing agency in the self-government of an Indian caste. There are two types: permanent and impermanent. Literally, a panchayat (from Sanskrit pañca, “five”) consists of five members, but usually there are more; the panchayat has a policy committee, however, often numbering five. The panchayat sits as a court of law. Cases are heard in open meetings in which all members of the caste group concerned are entitled to take part. Any evidence that has any conceivable bearing on the case is admissible; it can be produced by either party, by onlookers, or by members of the council. Types of offenses adjudicated in meetings of the panchayat are breaches of eating, drinking, or smoking restrictions; infractions of marriage rules; breaches of a caste's customs in feast; breaches of its trade rules; the killing of certain animals, notably cows; and the injury of a Brahman. Less commonly, the panchayat handles criminal and civil cases actionable before a court of law. Panchayats of Muslim castes try only a few of the offenses, as the rest fall under fiqh, or Islāmic law. Penalties take the form of fines (paid by distributing sweets to a caste group or by contributing to a caste fund), the obligation to offer a feast to the berādarī (family brotherhood) or to Brahmans, and temporary or permanent excommunication. Pilgrimage and self-humiliation are sometimes levied, but physical punishment is now uncommon. The passing of the Evidence Act by the British in 1872, with its strict rules of admissible evidence, led to a bypassing of the panchayat by some caste members who began to take their cases directly to the state court (see Indian Evidence Act). Some castes try cases that have come up before a state court or retry them after the verdict of the state court has been given. The Congress Party in India made a point of creating village panchayats as local instruments of government, the so-called panchayat raj, or government by panchayats. source Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:• Central European University: CEU• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD• The Podcast Company: Novel Follow us on social media!• Central European University: @CEU• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentreSubscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!
This week on the podcast we celebrate the women of Chatham House for International Women's Day. Joining Bronwen Maddox in the studio are some of the many researchers who work at the institute, and they discuss their experiences working in global affairs and their advice for those wanting to work in public policy. We also discuss India this week. On Monday, Chatham House hosted Rahul Gandhi, a leading Indian politician and former president of the Indian National Congress (INC). We discuss what he had to say about India's internal quandaries and the international perceptions of the country, almost a decade on from the 2014 election that brought Narendra Modi and the BJP to power. In the studio this week with Bronwen is Dr Mukulika Banerjee, until recently the Director of the LSE's South Asia Centre; Rashmin Sagoo the Director of our International Law programme; Anna Aberg from our Environment and Society programme; Armida van Rij from our International Security programme and Isabella Wilkinson, a Research Associate on Cybersecurity here at Chatham House. Read our expertise: In conversation with Rahul Gandhi Debunking common myths about gender and cyber The security gap Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you get your podcasts. Please listen, rate, review and subscribe. Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Sound by Abdul Boudiaf and Alex Moyler.
Samaaj came before Sarkaar and Bazaar. We are more than subjects of the state and consumers of the market. Rohini Nilekani joins Amit Varma in episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life and her learnings, why citizens need to embrace their agency -- and why those with wealth have a special responsibility. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Rohini Nilekani on Amazon, Wikipedia and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. 2. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar : A citizen-first approach -- Rohini Nilekani. 3. Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. 4. Arghyam, EkStep and Pratham Books. 5. The Annual Status of Education (ASER) Report, 2022. 6. Enid Blyton, Just William, Winnie the Pooh, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys on Amazon. 7. A Terrible Beauty -- Peter Watson. 8. Iris Murdoch and VS Ramachandran on Amazon. 9. The Tell-Train Brain -- VS Ramachandran. 10. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti -- Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 11. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho — Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. 12. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 13. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma -- Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Germaine Greer, Nancy Friday and Betty Friedan on Amazon. 15. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale and Arshia Sattar. 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 18. The Will to Change — Bell Hooks. 19. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions. 20. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Imposter Syndrome. 22. Gerald Durrell, The Jungle Book and Black Beauty on Amazon. 23. Indian Institute for Human Settlements. 24. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 25. The Chauri Chaura Incident. 26. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 27. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence — Amit Varma. 28. The Third Pillar — Raghuram Rajan. 29. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 30. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 31. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic — Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 32. Lewis Mumford on Amazon, Wikipedia and Britannica. 33. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. The Median Voter Theorem. 35. Mohammad Zubair's Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad. 36. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma's column on the importance of reading. 37. Janaagraha. 38. Emergent Ventures. 39. Giving Billions Fast, MacKenzie Scott Upends Philanthropy -- Nicholas Kulish. 40. The/Nudge Institute, Give India, Dasra and Bridgespan India. 41. Lewis Hyde on Amazon. 42. The Brass Notebook: A Memoir - Devaki Jain. 43. Breaking Through: A Memoir -- Isher Judge Ahluwalia. 44. My Life in Full -- Indra Nooyi. 45. A Full Life -- Sabira Merchant. 46. Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past and Savarkar: A Contested Legacy -- Vikram Sampath. 47. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘Nurture' by Simahina.
Women are not the only victims of patriarchy -- men are also diminished by it. Nikhil Taneja joins Amit Varma in episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss what he has learnt about mental health, young people in India, the epidemic of loneliness in our country -- and the enormous power of storytelling. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 2. Nikhil Taneja on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, IMDb and HT Brunch. 3. Yuvaa. 4. The internet—a toxic love story -- Nikhil Taneja. 5. The pandemic pretence of being ‘okay' -- Nikhil Taneja. 6. Keeping up with the algorithms -- Nikhil Taneja. 7. It is okay for men to cry -- Nikhil Taneja. 8. Reject the mission statement of your gender -- Nikhil Taneja. 9. Kindness: Don't be an A**hole! -- Nikhil Taneja. 10. Why young Indians are lonelier than ever before -- Nikhil Taneja. 11. How stories can heal our divided world -- Nikhil Taneja. 12. Nikhil Taneja on Advertising is Dead with Varun Duggirala. 13. Nikhil Taneja on the Filter Koffee Podcast with Karthik Nagarajan. 14. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted — Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande and Natasha Badhwar. 16. Hitesh Kewalya on Twitter, Instagram and IMDb. 17. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. 18. Dev Anand and Roger Corman. 19. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 21. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Gendered Leadership Course by Angellica Aribam. 23. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 24. Dreamers — Snigdha Poonam. 25. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 26. Beedi Jali Le -- Song from Omkara. 27. NH 10 (Navdeep Singh), Hichki (Siddharth Malhotra), Chhapaak (Meghna Gulzar), Rashmi Rocket (Akarsh Khurana) and Queen (Vikas Bahl). 28. Ghostbusters (2016, Paul Feig) and The Lost City (Nee Brothers). 29. 3 Idiots (Rajkumar Hirani), Dangal (Nitesh Tiwari), Badhaai Ho (Amit Ravindernath Sharma), Kantara (Rishab Shetty) and Thugs of Hindostan (Vijay Krishna Acharya). 30. Aamir Khan on Koffee With Karan (2018). 31. Parasite -- Bong Joon-ho. 32. Asghar Farhadi on Wikipedia and IMDb. 33. Delhi Crime. 34. TikTok and Indian Society -- The online course conducted by Amit Varma, now no longer on offer. 35. Vicky Donor (Shoojit Sircar) and RRR (SS Rajamouli). 36. Salim-Javed. 37. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma's poker column for the Economic Times. 38. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra) and Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (Rakesh Roshan). 39. Dev D (Anurag Kashyap), Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane) and Oye Lucky Oye Lucky (Dibakar Banerjee). 40. Bhuvam Bam, Prajakta Koli and Amit Bhadana. 41. Man's World (Y-Films) and Ki & Ka (R Balki). 42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Mumbai Diaries 26/11 -- NIkhil Advani. 44. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 45. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 46. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 47. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 48. One Cut of the Dead — Shin'ichirō Ueda. 49. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala -- Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 50. Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith (Clerks), Sofia Coppola and Richard Linklater. 51. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 52. Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and Mani Kaul. 53. Andaz Apna Apna (Rajkumar Santoshi), Gunda (Kanti Shah) and Disco Dancer (Babbar Subhash). 54. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht's newsletter. 56. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 57. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 58. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 59. Shravana Kumara, the pious son. 60. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 61. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India's First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 62. Penelope Fitzgerald on Amazon and Wikipedia. 63. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy -- Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 64. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai -- Karan Johar. 65. The Chaos Machine -- Max Fisher. 66. The Social Dilemma -- Jeff Orlowski. 67. The Flying Spaghetti Monster. 68. Coming Out as Bisexual -- Mohit's talk at Main Hoon Yuvaa. 69. Nikhil Taneja's Twitter thread on his anxiety. 70. Nikhil Taneja's Facebook post on his anxiety. 71. Chandrahas Choudhury's Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Turtles All the Way Down -- John Green. 73. Don't think too much of yourself. You're an accident — Amit Varma's column on Chris Cornell's death. 74. The Road to Freedom — Arthur C Brooks. 75. Amit Varma's favourite shower gel. 76. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 77. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Schitt's Creek, Kim's Convenience and Parks and Recreation. 79. Greatest Events of WWII in Colour -- The Netflix docuseries mentioned by Nikhil. 80. Zeynep Tufekci's newsletter, Twitter and column archive. 81. Ed Yong on Twitter, Amazon, The Atlantic and his own website. 82. My Friend Dropped His Pants -- Amit Varma. 83. Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill by Richard Curtis. 84. Project Everyone. 85. Ladies Room, 6 Pack Band and Bang Baaja Baaraat. 86. Maja Ma -- Anand Tiwari. 87. Phone Bhoot, Badhaai Ho and Crash Course. 88. Let's Talk Consent. 89. Queeristan -- Episode 190 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parmesh Shahani).. 90. Gray (Sakshi Gurnani) and Tasalli Se (Tarun Dudeja). 91. Dear Teenage Me.-- A podcast by Yuvaa on Spotify. 92. Humankind: A Hopeful History -- Rutger Bregman. 93. The Stanford Prison Experiment. 94. Invisible Women — Caroline Criado Perez. 95. Will -- Will Smith's autobiography. 96. Homeland Elegies -- Ayad Akhtar. 97. Yearbook -- Seth Rogan. 98. Shamoon Ismail on YouTube and Spotify. 99. Vampire Weekend on YouTube and Spotify. 100. Dev D by Amit Trivedi. 101. Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke -- Song from Nau Do Gyarah, starring Dev Anand. 102. The Before Trilogy by Richard Linklater. 103. Rambling Man -- An interview of Richard Linklater by Nikhil Taneja. 104. Superchor -- Song from Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. 104. Succession, Ted Lasso and Bojack Horseman. 105. Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory -- Raphael Bob-Waksberg. 106. The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkein. 107. The Lord of the Rings -- The films. 108. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. 109. 8 Book Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 110. Weekly Movie Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 111. 80 Marvelous Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 112. Nikhil Taneja's 2020 and 2021 recommendations on Instagram. 113. Nikhil Taneja's 2022 favourites, specially compiled for The Seen and the Unseen. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘I'm not lonely' by Simahina.
She began as a journalist in the pursuit of truth. She went on to embrace activism in the pursuit of justice. Teesta Setalvad joins Amit Varma in episode 302 to talk about all that she learnt from her life and work. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Teesta Setalvad on Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. 2. Foot Soldier of the Constitution -- Teesta Setalvad. 3. Beyond Doubt: A Dossier on Gandhi's Assassination -- Teesta Setalvad. 4. Gujarat: Behind the mirage -- Edited by Teesta Setalvad. 5. Citizens for Justice and Peace. (Also see their About and Twitter pages..) 6. Sabrang India. 7. Teesta Setalvad | A powerful voice for India's human rights movement -- Video feature by Sabrang India. 8. A half baked secularism -- Teesta Setalvad. 9. Hopes for tomorrow -- Teesta Setalvad's speech in Nuremberg. 10. Courts keep me Busy -- Teesta Setalvad. 11. My Hindu Hriday Samrats -- Teesta Setalvad. 12. Teesta Setalvad Refuses to be Silenced. 13. It's vital to recall the sparks of hate that burst into Gujarat's brutal 2002 riots -- Teesta Setalvad. 14. Teesta Setalvad empowers citizens and questions modalities with regards to NRC -- CJP team. 15. Wrong intention, wrong rationale, wrong method -- Teesta Setalvad on CAA-NPR-NRC. 16. Teesta Setalvad addresses massive crowd on CAA, NPR-NRC -- CJP Team. 17. What next for those left out of the NRC? -- Teesta Setalvad. 18. A Home Behind Bars -- Teesta Setalvad. 19. Prisoner of Conscience Teesta Setalvad -- Feminist Dissent. 20. Forced confinement is loss of dignity, says Teesta Setalvad -- Sonam Saigal. 21. The pandemic has put the spotlight on inhumane conditions in Indian prisons -- Teesta Setalvad. 22. Teesta Setalvad's First Interview After Bail by Arfa Khanum Sherwani. 23. My Life: Law and Other Things -- MC Setalvad. 24. Javed Anand in the Indian Express. 25. Basavanna, Narayana Guru, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Eknath, Namdev, Tukaram and the Bhakti Movement. 26. Nanak Was Here -- Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh). 27. Savitribai Phule, Jyotirao Phule and BR Ambedkar. 28. Jogan, starring Nargis, on YouTube and IMDb. 29. Mirabai and Janabai. 30. The Poverty of India -- Dadabhai Naoroji. 31. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India -- Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel). 32. The Indigo Revolt, the Santhal Rebellion, the Tebhaga Movement and Birsa Munda. 33. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 34. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen, 35. Picture of Arvind Kejriwal with portraits of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh in the background. 36. India: Legacies and Challenges of the Land & Forest Rights Movement -- Ashok Chowdhury, Teesta Setalvad, Roma and Divya Kapoor. 37. Forest Rights Act, 2006. 38. The Pathalgadi Movement. 39. Stan Swamy profiled by Scroll, India Today, the Wire, the Times of India and Hindustan Times. 40. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 41. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Romila Thapar and KM Panikkar on Amazon. 44. Romila Thapar interviewed by Teesta Setalvad. 45. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 46. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 47. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 48. India's Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla. 49. P Sainath interviewed by Teesta Setalvad. 50. A People's Constitution — Rohit De. 51. All the President's Men -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. 52. The Citizenship Battles — Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 53. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 54. The Nellie Massacre. 55. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi. 57. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 58. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati. 59. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 60. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 62. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 63. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 64. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 65. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 66. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator economy with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 67. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 68. Prabodhankar Thackeray's life and literature. 69. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 70. Jerry Pinto on Amazon and Instagram. 71. HM Seervai on Amazon and Wikipedia. 72. Dilip D'Souza on Amazon, Twitter and his blog. 73. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 74. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma. 75. Khabar Lahariya. 76. Tamas (the book) -- Bhisham Sahni. 77. Tamas (the film) -- Govind Nihalani. 78. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab). 79. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. Muslims and I -- Vijay Tendulkar. 81. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 82. Undercover: My Journey into the Darkness of Hindutva -- Ashish Khetan. 83. A World of Stopped Watches — Amit Varma. 84. The Banality of Evil. 85. Her rapists were sentenced to life in prison. Now they're free, and she's in hiding -- CNN report on the Bilkis Bano case. 86. The Jyotsna Yagnik judgement in Communalism Combat. 87. Rights and Wrongs: Ordeal by Fire in the Killing Fields of Gujarat -- Editors Guild Fact Finding Mission Report by Aakar Patel, Dileep Padgaonkar and BG Verghese. 88. The Srikrishna Commission report. 89. The Sarkari Mussalman: Life and travails of a soldier educationist -- Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah. 90. India's Security State — Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph). 91. The Silent Coup: A History of India's Deep State — Josy Joseph. 92. Karan Thapar's interviews with AP Shah and Dushyant Dave. 93. Flogging in Kheda. Rape in Kannauj. 94. Rukmini Sees India's Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 95. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S. 96. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 97. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 98. The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune -- Ted Allan and Sydney Gordon. 99. Eduardo Galeano and Orhan Pamuk on Amazon. 100. The Framing of India's Constitution -- Edited by B Shiva Rao. 101. The Constituent Assembly Debates. 102. Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Mallikarjun Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 103. Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman and Charlie Chaplin. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘The Scales of Injustice' by Simahina.
He grew up in Cairo, spent many years writing on the Middle East, saw the Arab Spring coming, and was bureau chief of the Economist in South Asia. Max Rodenbeck joins Amit Varma in episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his experiences in journalism, the lessons he learnt in India, and the troubling ways in which it resembles Egypt. Also check out: 1. Max Rodenbeck on Twitter, The New York Review of Books and Wikipedia. 2. Cairo: The City Victorious -- Max Rodenbeck. 3. Selected stories on India by the Economist: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. 4. The Power of Arabic -- Max Rodenbeck. 5. The Father of Violent Islamism -- Max Rodenbeck. 6. How She Wants to Modify Muslims -- Max Rodenbeck. 7. Bin Laden's Death: Why the Arab World Shrugs -- Max Rodenbeck. 8. The Long Wait -- Max Rodenbeck. 9. Max Rodenbeck interviewed on What I Did Next. 10. Top Gun -- Tony Scott. 11. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 12. Once Upon a Time in the West -- Sergio Leone. 13. Creature Features. 14. Godzilla and Creature From the Black Lagoon. 15. Agatha Christie on Amazon. 16. Tintin on Amazon. 17. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. 18. Enid Blyton on Amazon. 19. The Golden Age of Murder -- Martin Edwards. 20. $41,754,153! -- Brandon Sanderson. 21. Brandon Sanderson's record-breaking Kickstarter campaign ends with $41.7 million -- K Holt. 22. Brandon Sanderson on Amazon and YouTube. 23. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones — Pradip Krishen. 24. Gell-Mann Amnesia. 25. A Nile Journal -- Thomas Gold Appleton. 26. Lawrence Wright on Amazon. 27. Roam Research — and Zettelkasten. 28. US-Bangladesh blogger Avijit Roy hacked to death -- BBC. 29. Inside Bangladesh's killing fields: bloggers and outsiders targeted by fanatics -- Emma Graham-Harrison and Saad Hammadi. 30. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 31. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 32. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee -- Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee.) 33. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 34. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 35. Nehru's Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.) 36. Rukmini Sees India's Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 37. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 38. India's Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 39. The Generation of Rage in Kashmir — David Devadas. 40. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 41. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 42. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 43. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 44. Njáls saga. 45. Honoré de Balzac on Amazon. 46. The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee -- Honoré de Balzac. 47. Michael Pollan on how coffee enabled the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. 48. The Lives of Others -- Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. 49. Yol -- Şerif Gören and Yılmaz Güney. 50. Baden Powell on Spotify. 51. Le Bureau. 52. The Anchoring Effect. 53. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. This episode is sponsored by Paradigm Shift, a new podcast by Microsoft India, produced by ATS Studios and hosted by Harsha Bhogle..Listen to it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or any podcast app of your choice. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.
This episode is a live session from Jaipur Lit Fest. Nationhood, Patriotism and Deshbhakti: Saket Suman, Makarand R Paranjape, Gurmehar Kaur and Badri Narayan in conversation with Mukulika Banerjee.
How did one of the greatest nonviolent movements in history emerge from within the supposedly violent Pathans of the wild frontier? Why do poor people in India vote even though there seems to be no point to it? Why does an ancient garment like the sari endure -- but democracy seem in peril? Mukulika Banerjee joins Amit Varma in episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the questions that kept her up at night -- and the lessons they hold for us. Also check out:1. Mukulika Banerjee at LSE, Google Scholar, Amazon and Twitter. 2. The Pathan Unarmed -- Mukulika Banerjee. 3. Why India Votes -- Mukulika Banerjee. 4. Cultivating Democracy -- Mukulika Banerjee. 5. The Sari -- Mukulika Banerjee and Daniel Miller. 6. Muslim Portraits: Everyday Lives in India -- Edited by Mukulika Banerjee. 7. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Thomas Hardy on Amazon. 9. Maxim Gorky, Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov on Amazon. 10. The Proposal -- Anton Chekhov. 11. Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew on Amazon. 12. The House of the Dead -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 13. An American Werewolf in London -- John Landis. 14. The Emergency: A Personal History -- Coomi Kapoor. 15. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma. 16. India's Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 17. The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett. 18. Abdul Ghaffar Khan: Faith Is A Battle -- DG Tendulkar. 19. Kabuliwala -- Rabindranath Tagore. 20. Kabuliwala (1961 film) -- Hemen Gupta. 21. 'That Killed Cat Lives With Me' -- Isaac Asimov's quote. 22. The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock -- TS Eliot. 23. The Life and Times of Nirupama Rao -- Episode 269 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The #MeToo Movement -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena). 25. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 26. 'Tell a Sanghi/Bhakt at a job interview...' -- SirKazamJeevi's tweet. 27. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 28. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 29. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 30. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 31. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope -- Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon). 33. Can the Subaltern Speak? -- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. 34. Gangubai Kathiawadi -- Sanjay Leela Bhansali. 35. Nehru's Debates -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain). 36. Mahanagar -- Satyajit Ray. 37. Everybody Lies -- Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 38. The Truth About Ourselves -- Amit Varma. 39. Electoral Politics in the Time of Change -- Yogendra Yadav 40. The Economics of Voting -- Amit Varma on Rational Ignorance. 41. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking -- Amit Varma on Lal Bihari Mritak. 42. Well Done, Abba -- Shyam Benegal. 43. Rukmini Sees India's Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 44. The Ferment of Our Founders -- Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 45. Women in Rajniti and Lokniti -- Mukulika Banerjee (Go to page 19 to read). 46. Nick Hornby on Amazon. 47. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh). 48. Collective Effervescence on Wikipedia. 49. The Manchester School of Anthropology. 50. Desert Island Discs on BBC. 51. Deshe Bideshe (Bengali) (English) -- Syed Mujtaba Ali. 52. Uday Bhawalkar performs Raag Bhairav. 53. Dhrupad by Ustad Mohiuddin Dagar. 54. Songs of the Earth -- Soumik Datta. 55. Messengers -- Soumik Datta. This episode is sponsored by Paradigm Shift, a new podcast by Microsoft India, produced by ATS Studios and hosted by Harsha Bhogle..Listen to it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or any podcast app of your choice. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Illustration by Khyati Pathak.
We live in times when all Indian Muslims are forced to be aware of their Muslimness. Hussain Haidry joins Amit Varma in episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his art and these difficult times we live in. Also check out: 1. Hussain Haidry on Twitter, Instagram and IMDb. 2. Hindustani Musalmaan -- Hussain Haidry. 3. Lat -- Hussain Haidry. 4. 10 Poems recommended by Hussain Haidry -- Chalchitra Talks. 5. Being Muslim in India -- Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab). 6. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 7. The City and the City -- China Miéville. 8. Nida Fazli and Dushyant Kumar at Rekhta. 9. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 10. Shantaram -- Gregory David Roberts. 11. A Fine Balance -- Rohinton Mistry. 12. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 13. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope -- Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 14. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 15. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 16. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 17. Muslim Portraits: Everyday Lives in India -- Edited by Mukulika Banerjee. 18. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley's Father's Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen (w RSJ). 19. Mohammad Zubair's Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad. 20. Malevolent Republic -- Kapil Komireddi. 21. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 23. Arvind Kejriwal's tweet after the abrogation of Article 370. 24. The tweets by Atishi Marlena and Raghav Chadha. 25. Sangham Sharanam Gachchami -- Vijai Trivedi. 26. Ranga Hari on Amazon. 27. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De. 28. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma. 29. Most of Amit Varma's writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread. 30. Hussain Haidry's Twitter thread on blocking. 31. Alishan Jafri on Twitter. 32. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Aadha Gaon -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 34. Chai Coffee -- Hussain Haidry. 35. You're Missing -- Bruce Springsteen. 36. Hussain Haidry interviewed by Ravish Kumar. 37. Imtiaz Dharker on Amazon. 38. Dugg Duggi Dugg -- Song from Jugni. Lyrics by Shellee, music by Clinton Cerejo. 39. Qarib Qarib Singlle on Spotify. 40. Tanha Begum -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Rochak Kohli. 41. Mukkabaaz on Spotify. 42. Haathapai -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Rachita Arora. 43. Blond Balma -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Rachita Arora. 44. Tu Kahaan Hai -- Song from Tripling. Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Nilotpal Bora. 45. Patang -- Song from Tripling. Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Nilotpal Bora. 46. Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Vishal Dadlani. 47. Bandar Baant -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Bandish Projekt. 48. Bahut Hua Samman -- Lyrics by Hussain Haidry, music by Rachita Arora. 49. Ankahi Kahaniya -- Amnibus film that includes Madhyantara, with a screenplay by Hussain Haidry, and directed by Abhishek Chaubey. 50. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie -- Luis Buñuel. 51. Laakhon Mein Ek, Season 2 -- Written by Hussain Haidry. 52. लोहे के स्वाद -- Hussain Haidry. 53. Talkhiyan -- Sahir Ludhianvi. 54. Sahir Ludhianvi, Nida Fazli, Ahmad Faraz, Jaun Eliya, Rahat Indori, Waseem Barelvi, Munawwar Rana, Abbas Tabish, Rehman Faris, Azhar Faragh, Ameer Imam, Naeem Sarmad, Nomaan Shauque, Ali Zaryoun, Tehzeeb Hafi and Umair Najmi on Rekhta. 55. Fahrenheit 451 -- Ray Bradbury. 56. Rangeela -- Ram Gopal Varma. 57. Ghulam -- Vikram Bhatt 58. On the Waterfront -- Elia Kazan. 59. Get Out -- Jordan Peele. 60. Fandry -- Nagraj Manjule. 61. Where is the Friend's Home? -- Abbas Kiarostami. 62. Soiyega Mat - Hussain Haidry. This episode is sponsored by The Desi Crime Podcast. You'll find them on all podcast apps. The illustration for this episode is one-off offering by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram, Substack and episode 260 of The Seen and the Unseen. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free!
Emily Tamkin, the US editor of the New Statesman, interviews Mukulika Banerjee about her new book Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India. They discuss the farmers' protests that eventually led to a government U-turn in India, the history of Indian rural politics and the health of democracy in the subcontinent. If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk Further reading: India reveres its democracy, but the room for dissent is shrinkingClaims of conspiracy behind India's farmers' protests carry a warning for the worldHow a farmers' protest in India evolved into a mass movement that refuses to fadeHow India's farmers' protests went global See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In September 2020, India's Parliament passed three farm reform bills that the government claimed would radically change the way in which agriculture was practiced in the country. Yet, just over twelve months later, the same government announced its intention to repeal those laws—a major concession to large-scale, dogged protests launched by farmers in northern India. The repeal of the farm reform laws, hailed by many observers as a short-term victory for struggling farmers, has also raised complex questions about the future of agriculture in a rapidly urbanizing India. To consider some of these questions, Milan is joined on the podcast this week by Harish Damodaran. Harish is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, where he is enjoying a sabbatical from his day job as national rural affairs and agriculture editor at The Indian Express. Harish and Milan talk about the state of Indian agriculture, the motivations behind the farm reform laws, and the complex reasons the government eventually withdrew them. Plus, the two discuss the next stage of farmers' demands and what this setback does to the larger push for agrarian reform. Harish Damodaran, “In burying farm laws, Govt may have held off demand for right to MSP,” Indian Express, November 20, 2021. Harish Damodaran, “Farm Bills 2020: Actual text vs perception,” Indian Express, September 21, 2020.Mukulika Banerjee, “The Rural Roots of Citizenship and Democracy in India,” Grand Tamasha, November 9, 2021.Yamini Aiyar and Mekhala Krishnamurthy, “The farm laws: Why this is not a 1991 moment,” Hindustan Times, November 26, 2021.
For more than fifteen years, the scholar Mukulika Banerjee has been deeply embedded in the social and political life of two villages in the state of West Bengal—studying developments there, both during elections and between them. Her new book, “Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India,” is a deeply researched study of Indian democracy that shows how agrarian life creates values of citizenship and active engagement that are essential for the cultivation of democracy. Mukulika Banerjee is an associate professor in social anthropology at the London School of Economics, and she joins Milan on the podcast this week to discuss the importance of India's status as a “republic,” what B.R. Ambedkar got wrong about rural life, and popular misconceptions about agriculture. Plus, the two discuss the evolution of Bengali politics and the regional roots of illiberalism. Mukulika Banerjee, “Elections as Communitas,” Social Research, Spring 2011. Mukulika Banerjee, “A small ‘feastie' in a Republic's anniversary,” Indian Express, January 26, 2020. Pradeep K. Chhibber and Amit Ahuja, “Why the Poor Vote in India: 'If I Don't Vote, I Am Dead to the State,'” Studies in International Comparative Development, 2012. Christophe Jaffrelot, “Narendra Modi and India's New Political System,” Grand Tamasha, October 5, 2021.
Even though the world is richer today than ever before, a large number of people do not share in those riches, even in democracies. So, what does living in a democracy mean for people who simultaneously confront persistent deprivations and increasing inequalities? Do people living in poverty absorb the universalistic ideas associated with democracy? Or do their precarious lives overwhelm them so much so that they cannot act beyond particularistic concerns? These are the questions that Indrajit Roy tackles in Politics of the Poor: Negotiating Democracy in Contemporary India. Indrajit Roy is Senior Lecturer in Global Development Politics at the University of York. "Why the subaltern chose, not Hindutva, but Trinamool in Bengal""India: a year after Narendra Modi's re-election the country's democracy is developing fascistic undertones""Contesting Consensus. Disputing Inequality: Agonistic Subjectivities in Rural Bihar"Twitter: Indrajit Roy Dan Banik In Pursuit of Developmenthttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/
On 6th May, Mamata Banerjee was sworn as Chief Minister of West Bengal for a third term after leading her party to a landslide victory in the State elections against India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).In this episode of World Review from the New Statesman, Jeremy Cliffe and Emily Tamkin are joined by Dr. Mukulika Banerjee of the London School of Economics to explore what the BJP's defeat in West Bengal means for Indian politics.They also discuss India's ongoing Covid-19 crisis, and take a listener question looking ahead to India's national elections in 2024.To submit a question for You Ask Us, please email podcasts@newstatesman.co.ukRead Emily's article for the New Statesman: Will the BJP’s defeat in West Bengal prove a turning point in Indian politics?Subscribing to the New Statesman helps us keep making these podcasts. You can get 12 weeks for just £12 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Ajume H. Wingo, Christophe Jaffrelot, Gideon Levy, Makarand R. Paranjape and Mukulika Banerjee in conversation with Milan Vaishnav. While the notion of democracy had its birth in Ancient Greece and gained currency in the 18th century revolutions in France and America, it was in the 20th century that it became a global aspiration. Yet each nation that professes allegiance to democracy has a shifting definition of what the concept entails. A distinguished panel of speakers examine the constitutional safeguards as well as the civic attitudes that define the critical parameters of democractic process. Christophe Jaffrelot's recent publications include India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977, The Majoritarian State: How Hindu Nationalism is Changing India, and Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste. Ajume H. Wingo has published widely on liberal democratic philosophy and politics, particularly on institutional building in places where there are non-liberal democratic or illegitimate political institutions. He is the author of Veil Politics in Liberal Democratic States. Gideon Levy is a journalist and author of The Punishment of Gaza. Mukulika Banerjee was the inaugural director of the LSE South Asia Center and is associate professor in social anthropology at the London School of Economics. Her books include Why India Votes?, and the recently completed monograph, Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India. Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics. A crucial conversation on the pulse and vital parameters of democracy around the world. This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFColorado2020.
Bee Rowlatt, Edward Chancellor, Nick Robins, Swapan Dasgupta, William Dalrymple and Zareer Masani discuss the age of iconoclasm with Mukulika Banerjee in the closing debate of #JLFLondonAtBL2020 Britain is full of statues of men once regarded as imperial heroes, many of whom are responsible for acts of loot and pillage that would now be classified as war crimes. This house believes the time has now come to remove them to a museum of colonialism. The JLF closing debate is a much-loved session that always sets pulses racing – watch out for the drummer… This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFLondonAtBL2020.
Navin Chawla and Mukulika Banerjee in conversation with John Elliott. India is the world’s largest democracy. It has faced daunting challenges, sustaining democratic institutions against all odds. Its vigorous political system remains credible and sound in its fundamentals with nearly 900 million citizens, young and old, exercising their constitutionally given freedom to choose in what remains a disciplined and peaceable process. A session that examines the results of the recent national elections as well as the strengths and fault lines in India’s democratic convictions with former Election Commission of India head Navin Chawla, writer and academic Mukulika Banerjee in conversation with journalist John Elliott. This episode is a live session from #ZEEJLFatBL2019.
James Crabtree and Avi Singh in conversation with Mukulika Banerjee. This episode is a live session from #ZEEJLFatBL2019.
Shashi Tharoor, Wajahat S. Khan, Romesh Gunesekera and Prashant Kidambi in conversation with Mukulika Banerjee. Cricket in South Asia has become a symbol of national identity and a surrogate battleground between competing nationalisms. Prashant Kidambi’s Cricket Country: An Indian Odyssey in the Age of Empire tells the story of the first all Indian cricket tour of Britain and Ireland and how the idea of India took shape on the cricket field. Emmy-nominated multimedia journalist Wajahat S. Khan has co-authored Game Changer, a riveting memoir of Shahid Afridi, one of modern cricket's most controversial and accomplished practitioners. Indian politician and bestselling author Shashi Tharoor and acclaimed Sri Lankan author Romesh Gunesekera have written extensively on the sport. In conversation with writer and academic Mukulika Banerjee, they speak of how cricket has helped fashion the imagined communities of both empire and nation. This episode is a live session from #ZEEJLFatBL2019.
On Thursday, the BJP-led government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept back to power for a second consecutive term. This episode of Stepwell, which was recorded on 20th April while polling was still on, provides an insight into why the 2019 general election was radically different from any other. In the episode, Patrick French talks to Mukulika Banerjee, the Director of the South Asia Centre at the LSE, about why Indians come out to vote (5:37) and why voting itself could be seen as a reinforcement of formal citizenship (9:59). Banerjee discusses EVMs and ways the voting system could be improved (13:05), how political parties have used and misused booth-wise polling data (17:05) and why the 2019 elections were radically different for multiple reasons, including WhatsApp and electoral bonds (18:30). Using her observations in the field, Mukulika accurately predicts why the BJP would make substantial gains in West Bengal (24:10). Finally, they dissect whether India is part of a global trend of rising populist nationalism that can be seen in other liberal democracies such as the USA and UK. (28:10)
Patrick French talks to Mukulika Banerjee, the Director of the South Asia Centre at LSE, about why India votes, why the 2019 elections were radically different, how our voting system could be improved, whether India is part of the global trend of rising populist nationalism that can be seen in other liberal democracies, EVMs, electoral bonds and much more.
We discuss the ways clothes feel versus the way they look, and Autograph’s brilliant Omar Victor Diop exhibition. See links below. Fanshawe mantua at Museum of London (1753): https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/85096.html Lynn Sorge-English, Stays and Body Image in London: The Staymaking Trade, 1680-1810 (2011): https://www.routledge.com/Stays-and-Body-Image-in-London-The-Staymaking-Trade-16801810/Sorge-English/p/book/9781138661424 Daniel Miller, Mukulika Banerjee, The Sari (2008): https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-sari-9781847883148/ Honoré-Victorin Daumier, De l'utilité de la crinoline pour frauder l'octroi (1857), Art Institute of Chicago: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/84651 Omar Victor Diop at Autograph (2018): https://autograph.org.uk/exhibitions/liberty-diaspora Omar Victor Diop website: https://www.omarviktor.com/ Omar Victor Diop interviewed for Paris Photo (2016): https://vimeo.com/190321094 Omar Victor Diop at Design Indaba (2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auWl6z733O4 Arpita Shah at Autograph: https://autograph.org.uk/exhibitions/purdah-the-sacred-cloth Arpita Shah website: http://arpitashah.com/
Populism - Laurie Taylor explores the origins, meaning and rise of populist politics, across the Left as well as the Right. He's joined by Mukulika Banerjee, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, LSE; Luke March, Deputy Head of Politics and International Relations at Edinburgh University and Thomas Osborne, Leverhulme Research Fellow in Liberalism & Political Ethics and Prof of Social & Political Theory at the University of Bristol. Producer: Jayne Egerton.
Why India Votes? (Routledge, 2014) is the latest book by Mukulika Banerjee and is a deep, engaging and continually surprising account of elections in India. Weaving together ethnographic research in field sites across the country, the book privileges the voice of ordinary voters as they experience the campaign, play with language and enter the polling booth. The answer to Why India Votes? is as complex as it is fascinating and the book will be of interest to scholars of South Asia and democracy, as well as general readers who want to understand the world’s largest regularly organized event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why India Votes? (Routledge, 2014) is the latest book by Mukulika Banerjee and is a deep, engaging and continually surprising account of elections in India. Weaving together ethnographic research in field sites across the country, the book privileges the voice of ordinary voters as they experience the campaign, play with language and enter the polling booth. The answer to Why India Votes? is as complex as it is fascinating and the book will be of interest to scholars of South Asia and democracy, as well as general readers who want to understand the world’s largest regularly organized event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why India Votes? (Routledge, 2014) is the latest book by Mukulika Banerjee and is a deep, engaging and continually surprising account of elections in India. Weaving together ethnographic research in field sites across the country, the book privileges the voice of ordinary voters as they experience the campaign, play with language and enter the polling booth. The answer to Why India Votes? is as complex as it is fascinating and the book will be of interest to scholars of South Asia and democracy, as well as general readers who want to understand the world’s largest regularly organized event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why India Votes? (Routledge, 2014) is the latest book by Mukulika Banerjee and is a deep, engaging and continually surprising account of elections in India. Weaving together ethnographic research in field sites across the country, the book privileges the voice of ordinary voters as they experience the campaign, play with language and enter the polling booth. The answer to Why India Votes? is as complex as it is fascinating and the book will be of interest to scholars of South Asia and democracy, as well as general readers who want to understand the world’s largest regularly organized event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices