She gave up a corporate career to live a slow life: to travel, to immerse, to write, to learn to see. Arati Kumar-Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 383 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her writing, her photography and the lessons she has learnt by standing still and looking. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:

1. Arati Kumar-Rao on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and her own website. 2. Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink -- Arati Kumar-Rao. 3. The Peepli Project. 4. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Killers of the Flower Moon -- David Grann. 6. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Masanobu Fukuoka and Wendell Berry. 9. India’s Water Crisis — Episode 60 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vishwanath S aka Zenrainman). 10. The American Geographies -- Barry Lopez. 11. The Invisible Gorilla. 12. Letters to a Young Poet -- Rainer Maria Rilke. 13. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor -- Rob Nixon. 14. The Fatal Conceit -- Friedrich Hayek. 15. The Gokhale Bridge fiasco. 16. Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities — Episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Toba Tek Singh -- Sadat Hasan Manto. 18. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 20. Modern South India: A History from the 17th Century to our Times -- Rajmohan Gandhi. 21. Blindness -- José Saramago. 22. The Wreck -- Rabindranath Tagore. 23. Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray and Gulzar. 24. Rachel Carson, Barry Lopez, Nan Shepherd and Robert Macfarlane on Amazon. 25. The Living Mountain -- Nan Shepherd. 26. The Peregrine -- JA Baker. 27. Paul Salopek on Twitter and the Out of Eden Walk. 28. Pradip Krishen on Wikipedia, Amazon and IMDb. 29. Pather Panchali -- Satyajit Ray, 30. The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck. 31. Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck. 32. Call Me American -- Abdi Nor Iftin. 33. Hisham Matar and Kamila Shamsie on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! 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. Episode art: ‘River’ by Simahina.

October 2, 2025

Letters from an American

Administration Declares Armed Conflict with Drug Cartels

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