Ep 425: The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
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Embracing Absurdity and Wonder
This chapter explores the philosophical concept of absurdity through personal anecdotes and reflections on life's complexities. It highlights the duality of human experiences, contrasting absurdity with humor while delving into ethical dilemmas and the perspectives of youth. The discussion culminates in a contemplation of the balance between truth and civility, urging a reevaluation of societal norms amid existential uncertainties.
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He reached the top of the corporate world -- and then gave it up to become a writer, with books that probed our deepest questions, and influenced millions of people. Gurcharan Das joins Amit Varma in episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Gurcharan Das on Amazon, Wikipedia, Twitter, LinkedIn, Times of India and his own website. 2. Another Sort of Freedom -- Gurcharan Das. 3. India Unbound -- Gurcharan Das. 4. The Difficulty of Being Good -- Gurcharan Das. 5. Kama: The Riddle of Desire -- Gurcharan Das. 6. Three Plays: Larins Sahib, Mira, 9 Jakhoo Hill -- Gurcharan Das. 7. A Fine Family -- Gurcharan Das. 8. The Elephant Paradigm -- Gurcharan Das. 9. India Grows At Night -- Gurcharan Das. 10. The Dilemma of an Indian Liberal -- Gurcharan Das. 11. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 12. Rashomon -- Akira Kurosawa. 13. Toba Tek Singh -- Sadat Hasan Manto. 14. Imagined Communities -- Benedict Anderson. 15. A Treatise of Human Nature -- David Hume. 16. Tales from the Kathasaritsagara -- Soma Deva (translated by Arshia Sattar). 17. What These Labels Mean -- Episode 107 of Everything is Everything. 18. Economic Facts and Fallacies -- Thomas Sowell. 19. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression -- Amity Shlaes. 20. In Search of Lost Time -- Marcel Proust. 21. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy. 22. War and Peace -- Leo Tolstoy. 23. Pedro Páramo -- Juan Rulfo. 24. Don Quixote -- Miguel De Cervantes. 25. The Great Books of the Western World -- Edited by Mortimer J Adler. 26. The Double 'Thank You' Moment -- John Stossel. 27. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Episode 37 of Everything is Everything. 28. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Nature of the Firm -- Ronald Coase. 30. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 31. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 32. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 34. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. The 1991 Project. 36. The Future of War -- Episode 112 of Everything is Everything. 37. Perpetual Peace -- Immanuel Kant. 38. The Bhagawad Gita. 39. Four Quartets -- TS Eliot. 40. Walden -- Henry David Thoreau. 41. Essays on the Gita -- Sri Aurobindo. 42. Sri Bhagavadgita Rahasya -- Bal Gangadhar Tilak. 43. Many Threads of Hinduism -- Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya. 44. Bourgeois Dignity -- Deirdre McCloskey. 45. The Makropulos Case -- Karel Capek. 46. The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortality -- Bernard Williams. 47. Don't Punish Victimless Crimes -- Episode 73 of Everything is Everything. 48. The Mahabharata. 48. Plato, Aristotle and Karl Marx. 49. Charulata -- Satyajit Ray. 50. The Apu Trilogy -- Satyajit Ray. 51. The Calcutta Trilogy -- Satyajit Ray. 52. Shatranj ke Khiladi -- Satyajit Ray. 53. Duvidha -- Mani Kaul. 54. Cinema Paradiso -- Giuseppe Tornatore. 55. Amarcord -- Federico Fellini. 56. Stolen Kisses -- François Truffaut. 57. Last Year at Marienbad -- Alain Resnais. 58. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis -- Vittorio De Sica. 59. The Prince -- Niccolò Machiavelli. 60. The Leopard -- Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa. 61. The Leopard -- Luchino Visconti. 62. Mozart, Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Kishori Amonkar and Mallikarjun Mansur on Spotify. 63. The plays of Anton Chekhov. 64. The short stories of Anton Chekhov. 65. Four Major Plays -- Federico García Lorca. 66. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald. 67. Waiting for Godot -- Samuel Beckett. 68. Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert. 69. The Brothers Karamazov -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 70. The Stranger -- Albert Camus. 71. The Black Paintings -- Francisco Goya. 72. The Light in Winter -- Episode 97 of Everything is Everything. 73. Virasat-e-Khalsa. 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 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: ‘Two Birds’ by Simahina.
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