

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
Amit Varma
The Seen and the Unseen, hosted by Amit Varma, features longform conversations that aim to give deep insights into the subjects being discussed. Timeless and bingeworthy.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 5, 2022 • 4h 39min
Ep 306: The History of the Planning Commission
Society cannot be designed in a top-down way. Central planning was a historic blunder that harmed India -- even though it was conceived by great men with good intentions. Nikhil Menon joins Amit Varma in episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the flawed genius PC Mahalanobis, the planning commission, and his own life as a scholar. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Nikhil Menon on Amazon and University of Notre Dame. 2. Planning Democracy: How A Professor, An Institute, And An Idea Shaped India -- Nikhil Menon. 3. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley). 4. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 5. Sherlock Holmes, Ramayana and Mahabharata. 6. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 8. Political Ideology in India — Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 9. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 10. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 11. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 12. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 13. The Discovery of India -- Jawaharlal Nehru. 14. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 15. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chandra Bhan Prasad). 16. John Locke on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 17. John Dewey on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 18. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 19. Friedrich Hayek on Wikipedia, Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Econlib. 20. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism -- Friedrich Hayek.. 21. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 22. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 23. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 24. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 25. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. On Exactitude in Science (Wikipedia) — Jorge Luis Borges. 28. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 29. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 30. Angus Deaton, John von Neumann, Albert Einstein and Howard Aiken. 31. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Les Misérables -- Victor Hugo. 33. Hardy Boys on Amazon. 34. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 35. Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 36. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 37. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 38. Shahid Amin and Sunil Kumar. 39. 300 Ramayanas -- AK Ramanujan. 40. Nehru’s Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.) 41. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 42. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 43. John McPhee on Amazon. 44. Mumbai Fables -- Gyan Prakash. 45. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 46. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 47. Delhi Reborn: Partition and Nation Building in India's Capital -- Rotem Geva. 48. A People’s Constitution — Rohit De. 49. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati. 50. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 51. India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy -- Ramachandra Guha. 52. Roam Research. 53. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia. 54. Linda Colley on Amazon and Princeton. 55. Gandhi as Mahatma -- Shahid Amin. 56. Tanika Sarkar, Neeladri Bhattacharya and Janaki Nair. 57. The Great Man Theory of History. 58. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. Demystifying GDP — Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 60. Milton Friedman on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Econlib. 61. The Man of System — Adam Smith (excerpted from The Theory of Moral Sentiments). 62. The Idea of India — Sunil Khilnani. 63. The Rocking-Horse Winner -- DH Lawrence. 64. Taylor Sherman and Niraja Gopal Jayal. 65. Kamyab Hum Karke Rahenge -- Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi on central planning. 66. Naya Daur -- BR Chopra. 67. Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein -- Song from Hum Hindustani. 68. Char Dil Char Raahein -- KA Abbas. 69. Jhootha Sach (Hindi) (English) -- Yashpal. 70. Marxvaad Aur Ram Rajya — Karpatri Maharaj. 71. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 72. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 73. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 74. Circe -- Madeline Miller. 75. The Song of Achilles -- Madeline Miller. 76. The Thursday Murder Club -- Richard Osman. 77. Only Murders in the Building. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Central Planning’ by Simahina.

Nov 28, 2022 • 2h 47min
Ep 305: Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track
She's been a journalist for half a century, wrote the definitive book on the Emergency, and is revered for her political insight. Coomi Kapoor joins Amit Varma in episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, Indian politics and the state of our media. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Inside Track -- Coomi Kapoor's column in the Indian Express. 2. The Emergency: A Personal History -- Coomi Kapoor. 3. The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas: An Intimate History of the Parsis -- Coomi Kapoor. 4. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 5. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 6. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph. 7. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 8. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 10. Men Must Step Up Now — Amit Varma. 11. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 12. Arun Shourie,on Amazon and Wikipedia. 13. Kuldip Nayar on Amazon and Wikipedia. 14. The Nagarwala Case. 15. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Vinod Mehta on Amazon and Wikipedia. 17. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 18. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 19. The Turkman Gate Massacre (but read Kapoor's book for the full details!) 20. An Incomplete Life -- Vijaypat Singhania. 21. The Decline of the Congress — Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 22. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 24. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 25. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. All the Light We Cannot See -- Anthony Doerr. 27. Gangubai Kathiawadi and Darlings. 28. Panchayat. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Inside Track’ by Simahina.

34 snips
Nov 21, 2022 • 3h 41min
Ep 304: Make Me a Canteen for My Soul
Food is more than just sustenance for the body. Food contains stories, memories, emotions, and the ingredients of the self. Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage join Amit Varma in episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe their journeys in food, from starting cult restaurants like Bombay Canteen and O Pedro, to setting up the pathbreaking Bombay Sweet Shop, to now taking that deeper dive into the role food plays in our society. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Sameer Seth (LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter) and Yash Bhanage (LInkedIn, Instagram and Twitter). 2. Hunger Inc on LinkedIn and its own website. 3. Bombay Canteen on Instagram and its own website. 4. O Pedro on Instagram and its own website. 5. Bombay Sweet Shop on Instagram and its own website. 6. Choco Butterscotch Barks -- Amit Varma's favourite dessert of all time. 7. Enthu Cutlet. 8. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 9. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 10. Religion, Food, Indian Society -- Episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shoba Narayan). 11. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 12. Haruki Murakami on Amazon. 13. Setting the Table -- Danny Meyer. 14. Sameer Seth's Instagram post on Floyd Cardoz. 15. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Will Guidara on Wikipedia, Instagram, Twitter and TED. 17. The boys behind The Bombay Canteen are hungry for more -- Shrabonti Bagchi. 18. Shoe Dog -- Phil Knight. 19. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time — Amit Varma. 20. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 21. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 22. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 23. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Stage.in. 25. The Fat Duck -- Heston Blumenthal's restaurant. 25. Tesouro by Firefly. 26. Chef's Table and Masterchef. 27. Saransh Goila and Ranveer Brar on YouTube. 28. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 29. Barkha Cardoz's talk on Floyd Cardoz at The Welcome Conference. 30. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. Creativity, Inc -- Ed Catmull. 32. Delivering Happiness -- Tony Hsieh. 33. Talk Like TED -- Carmine Gallo. 34. Yash Bhanage's Instagram prank on his head of marketing. 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! Episode art: ‘Sustenance’ by Simahina.

18 snips
Nov 14, 2022 • 7h 24min
Ep 303: The Loneliness of the Indian Man
Women are not the only victims of patriarchy -- men are also diminished by it. Nikhil Taneja joins Amit Varma in episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss what he has learnt about mental health, young people in India, the epidemic of loneliness in our country -- and the enormous power of storytelling. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 2. Nikhil Taneja on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, IMDb and HT Brunch. 3. Yuvaa. 4. The internet—a toxic love story -- Nikhil Taneja. 5. The pandemic pretence of being ‘okay’ -- Nikhil Taneja. 6. Keeping up with the algorithms -- Nikhil Taneja. 7. It is okay for men to cry -- Nikhil Taneja. 8. Reject the mission statement of your gender -- Nikhil Taneja. 9. Kindness: Don't be an A**hole! -- Nikhil Taneja. 10. Why young Indians are lonelier than ever before -- Nikhil Taneja. 11. How stories can heal our divided world -- Nikhil Taneja. 12. Nikhil Taneja on Advertising is Dead with Varun Duggirala. 13. Nikhil Taneja on the Filter Koffee Podcast with Karthik Nagarajan. 14. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted — Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande and Natasha Badhwar. 16. Hitesh Kewalya on Twitter, Instagram and IMDb. 17. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. 18. Dev Anand and Roger Corman. 19. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 21. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Gendered Leadership Course by Angellica Aribam. 23. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 24. Dreamers — Snigdha Poonam. 25. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 26. Beedi Jali Le -- Song from Omkara. 27. NH 10 (Navdeep Singh), Hichki (Siddharth Malhotra), Chhapaak (Meghna Gulzar), Rashmi Rocket (Akarsh Khurana) and Queen (Vikas Bahl). 28. Ghostbusters (2016, Paul Feig) and The Lost City (Nee Brothers). 29. 3 Idiots (Rajkumar Hirani), Dangal (Nitesh Tiwari), Badhaai Ho (Amit Ravindernath Sharma), Kantara (Rishab Shetty) and Thugs of Hindostan (Vijay Krishna Acharya). 30. Aamir Khan on Koffee With Karan (2018). 31. Parasite -- Bong Joon-ho. 32. Asghar Farhadi on Wikipedia and IMDb. 33. Delhi Crime. 34. TikTok and Indian Society -- The online course conducted by Amit Varma, now no longer on offer. 35. Vicky Donor (Shoojit Sircar) and RRR (SS Rajamouli). 36. Salim-Javed. 37. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s poker column for the Economic Times. 38. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra) and Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (Rakesh Roshan). 39. Dev D (Anurag Kashyap), Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane) and Oye Lucky Oye Lucky (Dibakar Banerjee). 40. Bhuvam Bam, Prajakta Koli and Amit Bhadana. 41. Man's World (Y-Films) and Ki & Ka (R Balki). 42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Mumbai Diaries 26/11 -- NIkhil Advani. 44. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 45. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 46. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 47. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 48. One Cut of the Dead — Shin’ichirō Ueda. 49. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala -- Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 50. Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith (Clerks), Sofia Coppola and Richard Linklater. 51. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 52. Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and Mani Kaul. 53. Andaz Apna Apna (Rajkumar Santoshi), Gunda (Kanti Shah) and Disco Dancer (Babbar Subhash). 54. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 56. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 57. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 58. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 59. Shravana Kumara, the pious son. 60. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 61. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 62. Penelope Fitzgerald on Amazon and Wikipedia. 63. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy -- Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 64. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai -- Karan Johar. 65. The Chaos Machine -- Max Fisher. 66. The Social Dilemma -- Jeff Orlowski. 67. The Flying Spaghetti Monster. 68. Coming Out as Bisexual -- Mohit's talk at Main Hoon Yuvaa. 69. Nikhil Taneja's Twitter thread on his anxiety. 70. Nikhil Taneja's Facebook post on his anxiety. 71. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Turtles All the Way Down -- John Green. 73. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident — Amit Varma’s column on Chris Cornell’s death. 74. The Road to Freedom — Arthur C Brooks. 75. Amit Varma's favourite shower gel. 76. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 77. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Schitt's Creek, Kim's Convenience and Parks and Recreation. 79. Greatest Events of WWII in Colour -- The Netflix docuseries mentioned by Nikhil. 80. Zeynep Tufekci’s newsletter, Twitter and column archive. 81. Ed Yong on Twitter, Amazon, The Atlantic and his own website. 82. My Friend Dropped His Pants -- Amit Varma. 83. Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill by Richard Curtis. 84. Project Everyone. 85. Ladies Room, 6 Pack Band and Bang Baaja Baaraat. 86. Maja Ma -- Anand Tiwari. 87. Phone Bhoot, Badhaai Ho and Crash Course. 88. Let's Talk Consent. 89. Queeristan -- Episode 190 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parmesh Shahani).. 90. Gray (Sakshi Gurnani) and Tasalli Se (Tarun Dudeja). 91. Dear Teenage Me.-- A podcast by Yuvaa on Spotify. 92. Humankind: A Hopeful History -- Rutger Bregman. 93. The Stanford Prison Experiment. 94. Invisible Women — Caroline Criado Perez. 95. Will -- Will Smith's autobiography. 96. Homeland Elegies -- Ayad Akhtar. 97. Yearbook -- Seth Rogan. 98. Shamoon Ismail on YouTube and Spotify. 99. Vampire Weekend on YouTube and Spotify. 100. Dev D by Amit Trivedi. 101. Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke -- Song from Nau Do Gyarah, starring Dev Anand. 102. The Before Trilogy by Richard Linklater. 103. Rambling Man -- An interview of Richard Linklater by Nikhil Taneja. 104. Superchor -- Song from Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. 104. Succession, Ted Lasso and Bojack Horseman. 105. Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory -- Raphael Bob-Waksberg. 106. The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkein. 107. The Lord of the Rings -- The films. 108. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. 109. 8 Book Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 110. Weekly Movie Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 111. 80 Marvelous Recommendations by Nikhil Taneja on Chalchitra Talks. 112. Nikhil Taneja's 2020 and 2021 recommendations on Instagram. 113. Nikhil Taneja's 2022 favourites, specially compiled for The Seen and the Unseen. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘I'm not lonely' by Simahina.

69 snips
Nov 7, 2022 • 5h 2min
Ep 302: The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad
She began as a journalist in the pursuit of truth. She went on to embrace activism in the pursuit of justice. Teesta Setalvad joins Amit Varma in episode 302 to talk about all that she learnt from her life and work. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Teesta Setalvad on Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. 2. Foot Soldier of the Constitution -- Teesta Setalvad. 3. Beyond Doubt: A Dossier on Gandhi's Assassination -- Teesta Setalvad. 4. Gujarat: Behind the mirage -- Edited by Teesta Setalvad. 5. Citizens for Justice and Peace. (Also see their About and Twitter pages..) 6. Sabrang India. 7. Teesta Setalvad | A powerful voice for India’s human rights movement -- Video feature by Sabrang India. 8. A half baked secularism -- Teesta Setalvad. 9. Hopes for tomorrow -- Teesta Setalvad's speech in Nuremberg. 10. Courts keep me Busy -- Teesta Setalvad. 11. My Hindu Hriday Samrats -- Teesta Setalvad. 12. Teesta Setalvad Refuses to be Silenced. 13. It’s vital to recall the sparks of hate that burst into Gujarat’s brutal 2002 riots -- Teesta Setalvad. 14. Teesta Setalvad empowers citizens and questions modalities with regards to NRC -- CJP team. 15. Wrong intention, wrong rationale, wrong method -- Teesta Setalvad on CAA-NPR-NRC. 16. Teesta Setalvad addresses massive crowd on CAA, NPR-NRC -- CJP Team. 17. What next for those left out of the NRC? -- Teesta Setalvad. 18. A Home Behind Bars -- Teesta Setalvad. 19. Prisoner of Conscience Teesta Setalvad -- Feminist Dissent. 20. Forced confinement is loss of dignity, says Teesta Setalvad -- Sonam Saigal. 21. The pandemic has put the spotlight on inhumane conditions in Indian prisons -- Teesta Setalvad. 22. Teesta Setalvad’s First Interview After Bail by Arfa Khanum Sherwani. 23. My Life: Law and Other Things -- MC Setalvad. 24. Javed Anand in the Indian Express. 25. Basavanna, Narayana Guru, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Eknath, Namdev, Tukaram and the Bhakti Movement. 26. Nanak Was Here -- Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh). 27. Savitribai Phule, Jyotirao Phule and BR Ambedkar. 28. Jogan, starring Nargis, on YouTube and IMDb. 29. Mirabai and Janabai. 30. The Poverty of India -- Dadabhai Naoroji. 31. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India -- Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel). 32. The Indigo Revolt, the Santhal Rebellion, the Tebhaga Movement and Birsa Munda. 33. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 34. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen, 35. Picture of Arvind Kejriwal with portraits of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh in the background. 36. India: Legacies and Challenges of the Land & Forest Rights Movement -- Ashok Chowdhury, Teesta Setalvad, Roma and Divya Kapoor. 37. Forest Rights Act, 2006. 38. The Pathalgadi Movement. 39. Stan Swamy profiled by Scroll, India Today, the Wire, the Times of India and Hindustan Times. 40. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 41. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Romila Thapar and KM Panikkar on Amazon. 44. Romila Thapar interviewed by Teesta Setalvad. 45. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 46. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 47. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 48. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla. 49. P Sainath interviewed by Teesta Setalvad. 50. A People’s Constitution — Rohit De. 51. All the President's Men -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. 52. The Citizenship Battles — Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 53. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 54. The Nellie Massacre. 55. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi. 57. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 58. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati. 59. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 60. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 62. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 63. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 64. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 65. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 66. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator economy with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 67. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 68. Prabodhankar Thackeray's life and literature. 69. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 70. Jerry Pinto on Amazon and Instagram. 71. HM Seervai on Amazon and Wikipedia. 72. Dilip D'Souza on Amazon, Twitter and his blog. 73. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 74. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma. 75. Khabar Lahariya. 76. Tamas (the book) -- Bhisham Sahni. 77. Tamas (the film) -- Govind Nihalani. 78. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab). 79. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. Muslims and I -- Vijay Tendulkar. 81. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 82. Undercover: My Journey into the Darkness of Hindutva -- Ashish Khetan. 83. A World of Stopped Watches — Amit Varma. 84. The Banality of Evil. 85. Her rapists were sentenced to life in prison. Now they’re free, and she’s in hiding -- CNN report on the Bilkis Bano case. 86. The Jyotsna Yagnik judgement in Communalism Combat. 87. Rights and Wrongs: Ordeal by Fire in the Killing Fields of Gujarat -- Editors Guild Fact Finding Mission Report by Aakar Patel, Dileep Padgaonkar and BG Verghese. 88. The Srikrishna Commission report. 89. The Sarkari Mussalman: Life and travails of a soldier educationist -- Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah. 90. India’s Security State — Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph). 91. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph. 92. Karan Thapar's interviews with AP Shah and Dushyant Dave. 93. Flogging in Kheda. Rape in Kannauj. 94. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 95. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S. 96. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 97. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 98. The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune -- Ted Allan and Sydney Gordon. 99. Eduardo Galeano and Orhan Pamuk on Amazon. 100. The Framing of India's Constitution -- Edited by B Shiva Rao. 101. The Constituent Assembly Debates. 102. Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Mallikarjun Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 103. Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman and Charlie Chaplin. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Scales of Injustice’ by Simahina.

38 snips
Oct 31, 2022 • 5h 49min
Ep 301: Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life
Her acclaimed personal essays explore motherhood, marriage and this modern world -- and hold up a mirror to all of us. Natasha Badhwar joins Amit Varma in episode 301 to speak about her life and her writing. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Natasha Badhwar on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, LinkedIn, The Tribune and Mint Lounge. 2. My Daughters' Mum -- Natasha Badhwar. 3. Immortal for a Moment -- Natasha Badhwar. 4. Natasha Badhwar's newsletter on Substack. 5. Natasha Badhwar's old blog on Blogspot. 6. Natasha Badhwar's Memoir Writing Course. 7. Parenthood -- Episode 43 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Natasha Badhwar). 8. Reconciliation: Karwan e Mohabbat’s Journey of Solidarity through a Wounded India -- Edited by Harsh Mander, John Dayal and Natasha Badhwar. 9. Karwan e Mohabbat. 10. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Jonathan Haidt in conversation with Vasant Dhar in episode 8 of Brave New World. 14. Why my daughters don’t go to school anymore -- Natasha Badhwar interviewed by Manisha Natarajan. (Full video.) 15. The most important lesson learnt as an #unschooling parent -- Natasha Badhwar. 16. School forced me to put parts of myself inside a box -- Sahar Beg (Natasha's daughter). 17. Meet the unschooling girls -- Homeschooling India Community. 18. The Joys of Walking Out -- Natasha Badhwar and Sahar Beg. 19. How Children Fail -- John Holt. 20. Unsatisfied -- The Replacements. 21. To Fail Without Feeling Like A Failure -- Natasha Badhwar. 22. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 23. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar. 25. Sholay — Ramesh Sippy. 26. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 27. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 28. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 29. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? -- Harsh Mander. 31. The real difference between my husband and me -- Natasha Badhwar. 32. Self-Portrait -- AK Ramanujan. 33. The Girl From Kashmir -- Episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Farah Bashir). 34. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Roger Ebert and me: How tragedy and Twitter bonded us across continents -- Natasha Badhwar. 36. In Conversation with Roger Ebert -- Natasha Badhwar. 37. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo. 38. Roger Ebert's essay on Dekalog. 39. A welcome note for new husbands and wives -- Natasha Badhwar. 40. Five things to learn from the man you love -- Natasha Badhwar. 41. Deep Work — Cal Newport. 42. Fatherhood is a funny thing -- Natasha Badhwar. 43. El Amor de Mi Vida -- Warren Zevon. 44. Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck and JD Salinger on Amazon. 45. Cyrano De Bergerac -- Edmond Rostand. 46. Sweet Thursday -- John Steinbeck. 47. The Catcher in the Rye -- JD Salinger. 48. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee. 49. The Colour Purple -- Alice Walker. 50. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 51. Imposter Syndrome. 52. What we say and what we mean, the fine art of small talk -- Natasha Badhwar. 53. Kabhi Hum Khoobsurat -- Nayyara Noor. 54. Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen. 55. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott. 56. Hayao Miyazaki on IMDb, Wikipedia and Britannica. 57. Ponyo -- Hayao Miyazaki. 58. Natasha's favourite shows: Bad Buddy, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, The Dragon Prince and The Good Place. 59. Masaan — Neeraj Ghaywan. 60. Mirch Masala -- Ketan Mehta. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Examined Life’ by Simahina.

33 snips
Oct 24, 2022 • 4h 19min
Ep 300: The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Our selves are nebulous, the world is complex and the times they are a-changin'. Pratap Bhanu Mehta joins Amit Varma in episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen for a freewheeling chat about how to make sense of all of this. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen, where Amit Varma answers questions from his guests. 2. Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Twitter, Amazon and the Indian Express. 3. What Have We Done With Our Independence? -- Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 4. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) — Amit Varma’s post with Douglas Adams’s puddle quote. 5. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 6. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 7. Francis Fukuyama on Amazon. 8. Ideas of India: The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta discusses Adam Smith with Shruti Rajagopalan. 9. Conversation and Society -- Russ Roberts discusses Adam Smith with Amit Varma in episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Human — Michael S Gazzaniga. 11. The Interpreter — Amit Varma. 12. Free Will on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 13. Free Will — Sam Harris. 14. Immanuel Kant on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 15. The Median Voter Theorem. 16. 'Thinking and Reflecting' and 'The Thinking of Thoughts': Gilbert Ryle's essays on 'thick description' and Winks vs Twitches, also found in Collected Essays. 17. Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture -- Clifford Geertz. 18. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 19. The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast -- Arkotong Longkumer. 20. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 21. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 22. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident -- Amit Varma's column on Chris Cornell's death. 23. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence -- Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Scientism. 25. Ludwig Wittgenstein on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 26. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 27. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 29. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 30. Agarkar’s Donkeys: A Meditation on God -- Amit Varma. 31. Faust, as portrayed by Christopher Marlowe and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 32. The Measure of a Man -- Episode 9, Season 2, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Wikipedia entry). 33. Ex Machina -- Alex Garland. 34. Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy -- David Chalmers. 35. Yoga Vasistha. 36. On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings -- William James. 37. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 38. The Experience Machine -- Robert Nozick. (Wikipedia entry.) 39. Utilitarianism: For and Against -- JJC Smart and Bernard Williams. 40. Reasons and Persons -- Derek Parfit. 41. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 42. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy -- Bernard Williams. 43. Bernard Williams on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 44. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 45. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 46. Friedrich Hayek on Amazon, Econlib, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 47. The Dark Side of Democracy -- Michael Mann. 48. Jayaprakash Narayan on proportional representation. 49. Pakistan or the Partition of India — BR Ambedkar. 50. Don’t Insult Pasta (2007) — Amit Varma. 51. Manish Sisodia invokes ‘Rajput’ caste amidst CBI probe -- Janta Ka Reporter. 52. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs — Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad. 54. Beware of Half Victories -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 55. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Carl Schmitt on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 57. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. Justin Amash on why he left the Republican Party. 59. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 60. Rational Ignorance. 61. The Economics of Voting — Amit Varma on Rational Ignorance. 62. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma on the importance of reading. 64. John Aubrey's biography of Thomas Hobbes. 65. Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Frideric Handel and Felix Mendelssohn on Spotify. 66. Digital Concert Hall -- Berliner Philharmoniker. 67. Berliner Philharmoniker on YouTube, Twitter and their own website. 68. Nikhil Banerjee on Spotify, YouTube and Wikipedia. 69. Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light -- The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel. 70. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin). 71. Premchand’s Kazaki And Other Marvellous Tales — Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by Sara Rai). 72. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Yeh Premchand Hai -- Apoorvanand. 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! Episode art: ‘Radiant Knowledge’ by Simahina.

11 snips
Oct 17, 2022 • 5h 34min
Ep 299: The Reflections of Samarth Bansal
What should a newsroom report on? Does journalism know its own purpose? Do we? What ethics should we live by, and why? Samarth Bansal joins Amit Varma in episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about living the examined life, and asking the fundamental questions. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Samarth Bansal on Twitter and his own website. 2. The Interval -- Samarth Bansal's newsletter. 3. Truth Be Told -- Samarth Bansal's Food and Fitness newsletter with Shashank Mehta and others. 4. Journalists refer to themselves as storytellers. Is that a mistake? -- Samarth Bansal. 5. Why the event-oriented structure of news doesn't help in understanding how the world works -- Samarth Bansal. 6. A different way to think about Indian media -- Samarth Bansal. 7. Sugar-coated conspiracies: How ‘publication bias’ amplifies half-truths -- Samarth Bansal. 8. How I approach and manage my freelance journalism career -- Samarth Bansal. 9. Thoughts and observations on data journalism in India -- Samarth Bansal. 10. Why I am relearning statistics -- Samarth Bansal. 11. The Wire’s TekFog investigation: A futile search for evidence -- Samarth Bansal. 12. Indian pollsters are doing fine. Here is how forecasts work -- Samarth Bansal. 13. Lessons learnt from my 52-week workout streak -- Samarth Bansal. 14. The pursuit of truth with Samarth Bansal -- An interview by In Old News. 15. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature -- Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 19. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 20. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 22. Strangers Drowning -- Larissa MacFarquhar. 23. Larissa MacFarquhar on Getting Inside Someone's Head -- Episode 58 of Conversations With Tyler. 24. Dil Dhadakne Do -- Zoya Akhtar. 25. Kapoor & Sons -- Shakun Batra. 26. Why are India's housewives killing themselves? -- Soutik Biswas. 27. Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho -- Jagjit Singh's ghazal from Arth. 28. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence -- Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Amit Varma's tweet on winning the Asian Championships of Match Poker. 30. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 31. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Dead Poets Society -- Peter Weir. 33. Amusing Ourselves to Death — Neil Postman. 34. Deep Work — Cal Newport. 35. Ira Glass on the Creative Process. 36. The Parable of the Pottery Class. 37. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky. 38. The Biology of Good and Evil -- Robert Sapolsky speaks to Sam Harris in episode 91 of The Making Sense Podcast. 39. Robert Sapolsky's biology lectures on YouTube. 40. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. 41. The Overconfidence Game -- Episode 6 of Against the Rules with Michael Lewis. 42. Men Explain Things to Me -- Rebecca Solnit. 43. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 44. Free Will on Wikipedia, Brittanica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 45. Free Will -- Sam Harris. 46. The Blind Watchmaker -- Richard Dawkins. 47. The CBS 60 Minutes documentary on the Indian Institute of Technology. 48. Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. 49. A Student's Guide to Startups -- Paul Graham. 50. Paul Graham's essays. 51. Coursera and Udacity. 52. The Last Lecture -- Randy Pausch. 53. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. 54. The Blank Slate — Steven Pinker. 55. The Moral Animal -- Robert Wright. 56. Ezra Klein Interviews Noam Chomsky. 57. Dhanya Rajendran Fights the Gaze -- Episode 267 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. Tamasha -- Imtiaz Ali. 59. The Turn of the Tortoise -- TN Ninan. 60. Bad Blood -- John Carreyrou. 61. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma (on Demonetisation). 62. Enabled by technology, young Indians show what it means to be a citizen -- Amit Varma. 63. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Aakar Patel: 1, 2. 64. Adults in the Room -- Yanis Varoufakis. 65. Larry Summers at Harvard, Wikipedia, Twitter and his own website. 66. India's 50 Most Powerful People of 2009 -- List by Business Week including, heh, Amit Varma. 67. The theory of the interlocking public. 68. CRISPR gene editing. 69. Genetic Engineering -- Episode 165 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shambhavi Naik). 70. The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz -- Brian Knappenberger. 71. I Hate the News -- Aaron Swartz. 72. Everybody Loves a Good Drought -- P Sainath. 73. Why everyone hates the mainstream media -- Andrew Potter. 74. Income Tax department raids Dainik Bhaskar premises across the country -- The Hindu. 75. Apar Gupta and Internet Freedom Foundation. 76. The Revolt of the Public -- Martin Gurri. 77. The best stats you've ever seen -- Hans Rosling. 79. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma. 80. Introduction to the Human Brain -- Nancy Kanwisher. 81. Future Shock -- Alvin Toffler. 82. The Trial of the Chicago 7 -- Aaron Sorkin. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Reflection’ by Simahina.

Oct 10, 2022 • 4h 25min
Ep 298: The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande
Her pioneering work has helped us understand how caste and gender remain huge problems in India. But her past goes beyond numbers, into a rich history of aajobas and aajis and theatre and song. Ashwini Deshpande joins Amit Varma in episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how she used her economist's gaze to understand our social problems -- and how films and music also played their part. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Ashwini Deshpande on Twitter, Ashoka, Google Scholar, Amazon and her own website. 2. The Grammar of Caste -- Ashwini Deshpande. 3. Why are Indian Women not employed? -- Ashwini Deshpande's talk for Manthan. 4. What Women Do: Is it even "work"? -- A seminar by Ashwini Deshpande at Ashoka. 5. The New Grammar of Caste -- Ashwini Deshpande's talk at JNU. 6. Gender and Caste Discrimination and Affirmative Action in India -- Ashwini Deshpande speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on the Ideas of India podcast. 7. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad -- Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Mahima Vashisht and Alice Evans. 9. Amit Varma's tweet with Ashwini Deshpande's viral and potentially award-winning vocal performance. 10. Archaeology and the Public Purpose -- Nayanjot Lahiri. 11. Rahimatpur: Town along the Kamandalu -- GP Deshpande. 12. Satyashodhak (out-of-print book) (YouTube) -- GP Deshpande. 13. Uddhwasta Dharmashala (Marathi) (English)-- GP Deshpande. 14. Thelma and Louise -- Ridley Scott. 15. Jyoti Subhash, Amruta Subhash, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Ebrahim Alkazi, Rohini Hattangadi, Jayadev Hattangadi, Manohar Singh, Sai Paranjpye, Arun Joglekar, Shriram Lagoo and Amol Palekar. 16. Ghashiram Kotwal -- Vijay Tendulkar. 17. Jai Santoshi Maa -- Vijay Sharma. 18. English Vinglish -- Gauri Shinde. 19. Satyajit Ray and Manmohan Desai. 20. Qurbani -- Feroz Khan. 21. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala -- Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 22. Dance Dance — Babbar Subhash. 23. Aagaya Aagaya Halwa Wala — Song from Dance Dance. 24. Ek Aur Ek Gyarah -- David Dhawan. 25. Baba Sehgal and ML Sondhi. 26. The Man Who Resides in Music -- PL Deshpande on Malikarjun Mansur, translated by Ashwini Deshpande. 27. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy -- Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Chhoti Si Baat -- Basu Chatterjee. 29. Raj Kumar's famous dialogue from Waqt. 30. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande and Manik Bhide. 31. Yuval Noah Harari on Amazon. 32. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. 33. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Kaushik Basu and Amazon, Twitter, Wikipedia and his own website. 35. Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? -- Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan. 36. Race At Work: Realities of Race and Criminal Record in the NYC Job Market -- Devah Pager and Bruce Western. 37. Walking the Talk? What Employers Say Versus What They Do -- Devah Pager and Lincoln Quillian. 38. The Economics of Discrimination -- Gary Becker. 39. How Gary Becker Saw the Scourge of Discrimination -- Kevin Murphy. 40. The Theory of Discrimination -- Kenneth Arrow. 41. What Has Economics to Say About Racial Discrimination? -- Kenneth Arrow. 42. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 43. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 44. Who is the Identifiable Victim?: Caste Interacts with Sympathy in India -- Ashwini Deshpande and Dean Spears. 45. Identifiable victim effect. 46. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study -- Thomas Sowell. 47. Dominant or Backward? Political Economy of the Demand for Quotas by Jats, Patels and Marathas -- Ashwini Deshpande and Rajesh Ramachandran. 48. (In)Visibility, Care and Cultural Barriers: The Size and Shape of Women's Work in India -- Ashwini Deshpande and Naila Kabeer. 49. Norms that matter -- Ashwini Deshpande and Naila Kabeer. 50. The gendered effects of droughts -- Farzana Afridi, Kanika Mahajan and Nikita Sangwan. 51. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Gendered Division of Paid and Unpaid Work -- Ashwini Deshpande. 52. Women’s Work in India: Evidence from changes in time use between 1998 and 2019 -- Nicholas Li. 53. Dropping Out, Being Pushed Out or Can’t Get in? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women -- Ashwini Deshpande and Jitendra Singh. 54. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 55. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 56. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan). 58. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 59. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 60. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 61. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 62. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 63. Ret Samadhi -- Geetanjali Shree. 64. Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya -- Mohammed Rafi song from Hum Dono. 65. Court — Chaitanya Tamhane. 66. The Disciple — Chaitanya Tamhane. 67. Line of Duty, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton, Shetland, The Good Wife, The Good Fight and Giri/Haji. 68. The Good Doctor -- Damon Galgut. 69. Gangubai Kathiawadi -- Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: 'Patriarchy' by Simahina.

206 snips
Oct 3, 2022 • 4h 8min
Ep 297: Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence
We're in the 21st century, and it would seem that the world is finally moving towards gender equality, right? Not so fast. Alice Evans joins Amit Varma in episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss why some parts of the world are crawling slower than others. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Alice Evans on her blog, website, YouTube, podcast, Google Scholar, King's College and Twitter. 2. Rocking Our Priors -- Alice Evans's podcast. 3. Ten Thousand Years of Patriarchy, Updated! -- Alice Evans. 4. An Intellectual History of the Patriarchy -- Alice Evans. 5. Friendships and Women's Liberation -- Alice Evans. 6. 3 Things I Got Wrong About Patriarchy -- Alice Evans. 7. What Don't We Know About Patriarchy? -- Alice Evans. 8. Overcoming the Global Despondency Trap -- Alice Evans. 9. Ideas of India: The Great Gender Divergence -- Alice Evans on Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast. 10. Ideas of India: Female Friendships and Fraternal Capital -- Alice Evans on Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast. 11. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed gender with Shrayana Bhattacharya, Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Urvashi Butalia, Namita Bhandare, Manjima Bhattacharjya and Mahima Vashisht. 12. Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome. 13. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 14. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan). 15. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 16. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 17. Chup: Breaking the Silence About India’s Women -- Deepa Narayan. 18. Terror as a Bargaining Instrument -- Francis Bloch and Vijayendra Rao. 19. Russia: Bill to Decriminalize Domestic Violence -- Human Rights Watch. 20. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 21. Climate Change and Our Power Sector -- Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah). 22. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker. 23. Emergent Ventures prizes for best new and recent blogs -- Tyler Cowen. 24. Zotero -- Your Personal Research Assistant. 25. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread. 26. On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough -- Alberto Alesina, Paola Giuliano, Nathan Nunn. 27. The Ties That Bound -- Barbara A Hanawalt. 28. Jared Diamond and Paul Collier on Amazon. 29. Pseudoerasmus.-- Blog about economic history & comparative development. 30. Daron Acemoglu on Amazon. 31. Naila Kabeer on Twitter, LSE, her own website.and Google Scholar. 32. Sylvia Chant at LSE and Google Scholar. 33. Claudia Goldin at Harvard and Google Scholar. 34. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 35. Tony Joseph’s episode of The Seen and the Unseen. 36. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 37. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 38. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 39. On the Economic Origins of Restricting Women’s Promiscuity -- Anke Becker. 40. Herding, Warfare, and a Culture of Honor: Global Evidence -- Yiming Cao, Benjamin Enke, Armin Falk, Paola Giuliano and Nathan Nunn. 41. The Politics of Marriage in Medieval India: Gender and Alliance in Rajasthan -- Sabita Singh. 42. The Ulema-State Alliance: A Barrier to Democracy and Development in the Muslim World -- Ahmet T Kuru. 43. Gendered Morality -- Zahra Ayubi. 44. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 45. Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare speak to Alice Evans on her podcast. 46. Structural Transformation and Employment Generation in India -- Amit Basole. 47. Networks and Misallocation: Insurance, Migration, and the Rural-Urban Wage Gap -- Kaivan Munshi and Mark Rosenzweig. 48. Curse of the Mummy‐Ji: The Influence of Mothers‐In‐Law on Women in India -- S Anukriti, Catalina Herrera‐Almanza, Praveen Pathak and Mahesh Karra. 49. Gender, Intersectionality and Smartphones in Rural West Bengal -- Sirpa Tenhunen. 50. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 51. The Rise and Fall of Imperial China: The Social Origins of State Development -- Yuhua Wang. 52. Penis pins. 53. Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa -- Nwando Achebe. 54. The Enlightened Economy: Britain and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1850 -- Joel Mokyr. 55. The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa -- Nathan Nunn and Leonard Wantchekon. 56. Michael Pollan on coffee. 57. Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions -- Alberto Alesina, Reza Baqir and William Easterly. 58. The Progress of Humanity -- Episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Steven Pinker). 59. Claiming the State -- Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner. 60. Capable Women, Incapable States -- Poulami Roychowdhury. 61. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 62. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 63. Honour and Shame: Women in Modern Iraq -- Sana Al-Khayyat. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art by Simahina.