From Blogging to Theatrical Foundations: A Journey Through Early Influences

Circumstance made him a legend of the quizzing world, but Siddhartha Basu is a man of many parts. He joins Amit Varma in episode 420 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about life, India, the art of asking questions and the answers he has found.

(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Siddhartha Basu on Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram and IMDb. 2. Tree of Knowledge, DigiTok. 3. Quizzitok on YouTube. 4. Middlemarch -- George Eliot. 5. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 6. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 7. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 9. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity — Manu Pillai. 12. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism — Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 13. How to Become a Tyrant -- Narrated by Peter Dinklage. 14. What Is Populism? -- Jan-Werner Müller. 15. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 16. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- Richard Fleischer. 17. The Hedgehog And The Fox — Isaiah Berlin. 18. Trees of Delhi : A Field Guide -- Pradip Krishen. 19. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. Stage.in. 22. Dance Like a Man -- Mahesh Dattani. 23. How Old Are You? -- Rosshan Andrrews. 24. The Mehta Boys -- Boman Irani. 25. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man -- James Joyce. 26. Massey Sahib -- Pradip Krishen. 27. Derek O'Brien talks to Siddhartha Basu -- Episode 6 of the Quizzitok Podcast. 28. Kwizzing with Kumar Varun. 29. Ivanhoe, Treasure Island and Black Beauty. 30. Jane Austen, Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Allan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, James Joyce, TS Eliot and Vivekananda. 31. Ramayana and Mahabharata -- C Rajagopalachari. 32. Paradise Lost -- John Milton. 33. Morte d'Arthur -- Alfred Tennyson. 34. Death of a Salesman -- Arthur Miller. 35. Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Mukul Kesavan, Rukun Advani, Vikram Seth, Shashi Tharoor, Jhumpa Lahiri, I Allan Sealy, Arundhati Roy and William Dalrymple. 36. The Trotter-nama -- I Allan Sealy. 37. The Everest Hotel -- I Allan Sealy. 38. The Life and Times of Altu-Faltu -- Ranjit Lal. 39. Mr Beast on YouTube. 40. The Spectacular Life of Prahlad Kakar — Episode 414 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Ramki and the Ocean of Stories -- Episode 415 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Adolescence -- Created by Stephen Graham & Jack Thorne. 43. Anora -- Sean Baker. 44. Jerry Seinfeld on the results of the Seinfeld pilot. 45. Scam 1992 -- Hansal Mehta. 46. Dahaad -- Created by Reema Kagti & Zoya Akhtar. 47. The Delhi Walla -- Mayank Austen Soofi. 48. Flood of Fire -- Amitav Ghosh. 49. The Shadow Lines -- Amitav Ghosh. 50. The God of Small Things -- Arundhati Roy. 51. Shillong Chamber Choir. 52. The Waste Land -- TS Eliot. 53. Omkara, Maqbool and Haider -- Vishal Bhardwaj. 54. A Tale of Two Cities -- Charles Dickens. 55. William Shakespeare and Henry James. 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: ‘Your Time Starts Now’ by Simahina.