Introduction

The task of a journalist is to document the present moment. And there have been plenty of crazy present moments in India in the last 40 years. Vir Sanghvi joins Amit Varma in episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights on how our society, politics and media have been transformed over the course of his career. He also looks inwards. Also check out: 1. A Rude Life -- Vir Sanghvi. 2. Vir Sanghvi's books on Amazon. 3. Vir Sanghvi's homepage, Twitter and Instagram. 4. Travelling in the Time of Covid -- Vir Sanghvi. 5. Biryani Was Always Meant for the Masses and Not the Kings -- Vir Sanghvi. 6. Don’t Think Too Much of Yourself. You’re an Accident -- Amit Varma. 7. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald. 8. Kanti Bajpai on India vs China -- Episode 234 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 10. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 11. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 12. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 13. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 15. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 16. The Business of Books -- Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika). 17. Newsman's English -- Harold Evans. 18. Pictures on a Page -- Harold Evans. 19. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid -- Richard Purden. 20. Persuasion -- The newsletter founded by Yascha Mounk. 21. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 22. Econ Talk — Russ Roberts’s podcast. 23. Conversations With Tyler -- Tyler Cowen's podcast. 24. Making Sense -- Sam Harris's podcast. 25. Politics and the Sociopath -- Amit Varma. 26. Public Opinion -- Walter Lippmann. 27. On Bullshit -- Harry Frankfurt. 28. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma. 29. Religion, Food, Indian Society -- Episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shoba Narayan). 30. The Saffron Trail -- Episode 222 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nandita Iyer). 31. Imaginary Number -- Vijay Seshadri. 32. Sacred Games -- Vikram Chandra. 33. The Powers That Be -- David Halberstam. 34. Ramachandra Guha's books on Amazon. 35. Imagining India -- Nandan Nilekani. 36. Rebooting India -- Nandan Nilekani. 37. An Era of Darkness -- Shashi Tharoor (also published outside India as Inglorious Empire). This episode is sponsored by MapMyGenome. Use the code UNSEEN to get 50% off on their groundbreaking product, Genomepatri. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.