Optimistic nihilism and two-chapter life

Enough serious talk about economics and geopolitics. As the year draws to an end, it's time to sit and chill with friends -- and let the mind meander. Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane join Amit Varma in episode 434 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about friendship, horses, second acts -- and more! (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shruti Rajagopalan on Twitter, Substack, Instagram, her podcast, Ideas of India and her own website. 2. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon, Puliyabaazi and the Takshashila Institution. 3. Emergent Ventures India. 4. The Takshashila Institution. 5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. 6. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. 7. Shruti Rajagopalan Remembers the Angle of the Light -- Episode 410 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 10. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 11. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 12. You're Ugly and You're Hairy and You're Covered in Shit but You're Mine and I Love You — Episode 362 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 13. Long Distance II -- Tony Harrison. 14. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Heart of Disruption -- Episode 86 of Everything is Everything (on Amit's heart issues). 17. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 18. How I Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes -- Episode 9 of Everything is Everything. 19. The Art of Podcasting -- Episode 49 of Everything is Everything. 20. The Art of Reading -- Episode 120 of Everything is Everything. 21. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World — Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Inside the Hearts of Men and Women -- Episode 118 of Everything is Everything. 23. Understanding Human Sexuality -- Episode 126 of Everything is Everything. 24. Kavitha Rao Chases Chatto and Roy -- Episode 416 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible — Episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. The Life and Times of the Takshashila Institution -- Episode 433 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai and Pranay Kotasthane). 27. I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City -- Harry Nilsson. 28. After Virtue -- Alasdair MacIntyre. 29. The Light in Winter -- Episode 97 of Everything is Everything. 30. The Black Paintings -- Francisco Goya. 31. From Strength to Strength -- Arthur Brooks. 32. Songs of Surrender -- U2. 33. Creep -- Radiohead. 34. Choo Lo -- The Local Train. 35. Second Act -- Henry Oliver. 36. BR Ambedkar's Grammar of Anarchy Speech in Hindi on Puliyabaazi. 37. Mohak Mangal, Veritasium, 3Blue1Brown, Jared Owen, Van Neistat and vlogbrothers. 38. We're here because were here -- The vlogbrothers video Amit mentions. 39. Mathematica -- David Bessis. 40. A Sixth Of Humanity — Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian. 41. In Praise of Floods -- James C Scott. 42. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott. 43. Against the Grain -- James C Scott. 44. A Passion for Cycling -- Episode 53 of Everything is Everything. 45. Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design process -- Henrik Karlsson. 46. On agency -- Henrik Karlsson. 47. Notes on the Synthesis of Form -- Christopher Alexander. 48. Anaximander -- Carlo Rovelli. 49. Divya Prakash Dubey: Ek Jeevani -- Episode 399 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Ibnebatuti -- Divya Prakash Dubey. 51. Divya Prakash Dubey and Terry Pratchett on Amazon. 52. His Dark Materials -- Philip Pullman. 53. The Day Ryan Started Masturbating -- Amit Varma. 54. Amit's backscratcher. 55. Notebook LM. 56. Learn LM by Ashish Kulkarni. 57. Bojack Horseman on Netflix. 58. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. This episode is sponsored by The Six Percent Club. Join them to go from content idea to launch in just 45 days! Amit Varma runs a 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. 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: 'Meanderness' by Simahina.