A lifetime in diplomacy gave Nirupama Rao an inside view of the making of the first draft of history. She joins Amit Varma in episode 269 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her life lessons -- and what still keeps her buzzing every day. Also check out: 1. Nirupama Rao on Twitter, Substack, Instagram and her own website. Her bio and work are here. 2. The Fractured Himalaya -- Nirupama Rao. 3. A Life in Diplomacy -- Nirupama Rao's talk at Claremont McKenna College.

4. Selected episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on China: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5. Selected episode of The Seen and the Unseen on Foreign Policy: 1, 2. 6. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Glass Cliff. 10. Philip Tetlock on the Art of Forecasting -- Episode 31 of Brave New World (hosted by Vasant Dhar). 11. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. 12. Democracy in Pakistan — Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Hamsini Hariharan.) 13. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh). 14. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain. 15. Nehru’s Debates -- Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (with Tripurdaman Singh & Adeel Hussain.) 16. Talking South Asia: Can Identity Be Crafted Through the Medium of Music? -- A conversation between Nirupama Rao and Ali Sethi. 17. The Tirukkural -- Tiruvalluvar. 18. Collected Poems -- AK Ramanujan. 19. I Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer -- Joan Baez. 20. Joan Baez, Maria Callas, Renée Fleming and Marian Anderson on Spotify. 21. The Collected Tintin. 22. Ekla Chalo Re. 23. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 24. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. In Praise of Shadows -- Junichiro Tanizaki. 26. Some Prefer Nettles -- Junichiro Tanizaki. 27. The Book of Tea -- Kakuzo Okakura. 28. MS Subbulakshmi on Spotify. 29. The Country without a Post Office -- Agha Shahid Ali. 30. The Lark Ascending -- Vaughan Williams. 31. Norma -- Vincenzo Bellini. 32. Casta Diva -- Maria Callas. 33. Connais-Tu Le Pays -- Ambroise Thomas. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!

The Pressure of Finding Your Purpose