The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

The evil of caste will be solved not by deliverance from up top but empowerment from down below. Dalit scholar and writer Chandra Bhan Prasad joins Amit Varma in episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why the cure for caste lies in capitalism -- and why his two great heroes are Babasaheb Ambedkar and Adam Smith. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Chandra Bhan Prasad on Twitter, Amazon, Wikipedia. Mercatus, Times of India and Google Scholar. 2. Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs -- Devesh Kapur, D Shyam Babu and Chandra Bhan Prasad. 3. What is Ambedkarism? -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 4. Dalit Phobia: Why Do They Hate Us -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 5. When Adam Smith entered an Ambedkar village -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 6. In defence of suit, boot -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 7. How Piketty got it wrong -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 8. Who was the real Ambedkar? -- Chandra Bhan Prasad. 9. On Ambedkarism, Caste and Dalit Capitalism -- Chandra Bhan Prasad in conversation with Shruti Rajagopalan in the Ideas of India podcast. 10. 'Indian languages carry the legacy of caste' -- Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 11. Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era -- Devesh Kapur, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett and D Shyam Babu. 12. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 13. The Dalit Emancipation Manifesto of 1951 -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 14. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed caste with TM Krishna, Shruti Rajagopalan and Manu Pillai. 15. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen that discussed the 1991 reforms with Shruti Rajagopalan+Ajay Shah, Vinay Sitapati and Montek Singh Ahluwalia. 16. 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. 17. Ramchandra Keh Gaye Siya Se -- Song from Gopi. 18. The Laws of Manu (Manu Smriti) -- The Penguin edition & the Buhler translation. 19. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 20. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 21. Devesh Kapur at University of Pennsylvania. 22. Crusader Sees Wealth as Cure for Caste Bias -- The New York Times profile of Chandra Bhan Prasad by Somini Sengupta. 23. In an Indian Village, Signs of the Loosening Grip of Caste -- The Washington Post piece on Chandra Bhan Prasad by Emily Wax. 24. Small Holdings in India and Their Remedies -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 25. Aims and Objects of the Republican Party of India -- Babasaheb Ambedkar. 26. Ambedkar's memorandum to the British (in Volume 10 of his collected works). 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 by Simahina, in a homage to Gond painting.

Imagine being a young girl growing up in a world of constant curfews, occasional raids, army bunkers outside homes, and the fear that whoever leaves home may not return. Farah Bashir joins Amit Varma in episode 295 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about her childhood in Kashmir — and the act of writing about it. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Farah Bashir on Twitter and Instagram. 2. Rumours of Spring: A Girlhood in Kashmir -- Farah Bashir. 3. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 4. Curfewed Night -- Basharat Peer. 5. The Good Women Of China -- Xinran. 6. Svetlana Alexievich on Amazon. 7. Portrait of a Turkish Family -- Irfan Orga. 8. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Sharon and My Mother-in-Law -- Suad Amiry. 10. Derry Girls on Netflix and Wikipedia. 11. Nazia Hasan on Spotify. 12. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott. 13. Nikaah -- BR Chopra. 14. Things Fall Apart -- Chinua Achebe. 15. Sonnets -- William Shakespeare. 16. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Ghazal -- Agha Shahid Ali. 20. Farah Bashir on the Raw Mango campaign. 21. The Wretched of the Earth -- Frantz Fanon. 22. Kaabil: That Old Regressive Bollywood Strikes Again -- Amit Varma. 23. Georges Simenon on Amazon. 24. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Masaan — Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. 26. Against White Feminism -- Rafia Zakaria. 27. Another Birth and Other Poems -- Forugh Farrokhzad. 28. The Late Bourgeois World -- Nadine Gordimer. 29. Telling Times -- Nadine Gordimer. 30. Kashmir ki Kali -- The Shakti Samanta film starring a Bengali! 31. Territory of Desire -- Ananya Jahanara Kabir. 32. Mahjoor and Habba Khatoon. 33. Ali Saffuddin and Parvaaz on Spotify. 34. Toni Morrison on Amazon. 35. The Patience Stone -- Atiq Rahimi. 36. Elena Ferrante on Amazon. 37. Milkman -- Anna Burns. 38. Paradise Lost -- John Milton. 39. Macbeth -- William Shakespeare. 40. Greta Gerwig on IMDb, Wikipedia and Mubi. 41. Hisham Matar on Amazon. 42. Museum of Innocence -- Orhan Pamuk. 43. Bell Hooks and WG Sebald on Amazon. 44. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 45. Vivian Gornick on Amazon. 46. The Odd Woman and the City — Vivian Gornick. 47. Fierce Attachments -- Vivian Gornick. 48. Shame On Me -- Tessa McWatt. 49. Home Fire -- Kamila Shamsie. 50. Joan Didion and Jane Austen on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here. 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, in a homage to Madhubani painting.

You can lose yourself in cinema -- and you can find yourself in it. Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty join Amit Varma in episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the films in their lives, why we should watch old films, why we should watch new films, why Bollywood and Hollywood and other woods are all great, and why we live in a wonderful technicolor world. This episode is a celebration of cinema! (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Jai Arjun Singh on Twitter and Instagram. 2. Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai -- Subrat Mohanty and Pavan Jha's podcast. 3. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies -- Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Jabberwock — Jai Arjun Singh’s blog. 5. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron: Seriously Funny Since 1983 — Jai Arjun Singh. 6. The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee -- Jai Arjun Singh. 7. Popcorn Essayists: What Movies do to Writers -- Edited by Jai Arjun Singh. 8. The Golden Era -- Subrat Mohanty's YouTube playlist of 100 lesser-known songs from the golden era of Hindi film music (mostly 1935-65). 9. The Unseen Lata -- Subrat Mohanty's YouTube playlist of 54 lesser-heard songs from Lata Mangeshkar, from 1948 to 1976. 10. Old posts by Subrat Mohanty from the Passion For Cinema web archives. 11. Some Spotify playlists, courtesy Nishant Shah, from Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai episodes: 1, 2, 3, 4. 12. Pavan Jha's YouTube channel. 13. The only 1980s Maltova Mum commercial I could locate from the 1980s. (Couldn't find Singer.) 14. Kashmir Ki Kali -- Shakti Samanta. 15. Mughal-E-Azam -- K Asif. 16. Khuda Nigehbaan Ho -- Song from Mughal-E-Azam, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni. 17. Cinema Paradiso -- Giuseppe Tornatore. 18. Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan -- talk show by Tabassum.  19. Old episodes of Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan with RD Burman, Deepti Naval, Anand Bakshi and Bhupinder. 20. The Indiana Jones and Superman franchises. 21. The Evil Dead -- Sam Raimi. 22. Sam Raimi, Wes Craven and John Carpenter. 23. The Fugitive and The Bodyguard. 24. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Milan Kundera. 25. The Antichrist -- Friedrich Nietzsche. 26. The 400 Blows -- Francois Truffaut. 27. Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom -- Pier Paolo Pasolini. 28. Łódź Film School and Andrzej Wajda. 29. Do the Right Thing -- Spike Lee. 30. On Exactitude in Science (Wikipedia) -- Jorge Luis Borges. 31. Titus Andronicus -- William Shakespeare. 32. A Chess Story (previously published as The Royal Game) -- Stefan Zweig. 33. The World of Yesterday -- Stefan Zweig. 34. The Friday the 13th franchise. 35. Tracy and Hepburn -- Garson Kanin. 36. Bhimsen Joshi, Mallikarjun Mansur, Kumar Gandharva and Lata Mangeshkar on Spotify. 37. Vijay Anand, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 38. Guide -- Vijay Anand. 39. Kaagaz Ke Phool -- Guru Dutt. 40. Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini. 41. Shankar–Jaikishan, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra, Mukesh, KA Abbas, Ramanand Sagar and Kidar Sharma. 42. Aag, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Awaara, Barsaat and Shree 420.43. Nargis and Nadira. 44. Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh -- Song from Shree 420, sung by Asha Bhosle and Manna Dey, music by Shankar-Jaikishan, lyrics by Shailendra. 45. Orson Welles. 46. Squid Game on Netflix. 47. The Immediate Experience -- Robert Warshow. 48. Dil Dhadakne Do, Luck by Chance and Gully Boy -- Zoya Akhtar. 49. Casablanca -- Michael Curtiz. 50. Yudh and Tridev -- Rajiv Rai. 51. Amit Varma’s Twitter threads on the MAMI festival from 2018 and 2019. 52. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 53. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir. 54. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo. 55. Pauline Kael on Amazon. 56. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. (And Roger Ebert’s essay on it.) 57. The Dead — John Huston. 58. In the Bedroom -- Todd Field. 59. Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) and Parineeta (Pradeep Sarkar). 60. Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Vikram Seth. 61. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla. 62. PG Wodehouse on Amazon and Wikipedia. 63. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 64. Dharmyug and Dharamvir Bharati. 65. Andha Yug (Hindi) (English) -- Dharamvir Bharati. 66. Suraj ka Satvaan Ghoda -- Dharamvir Bharati. 67. Gunahon Ka Devta — Dharamvir Bharati. 68. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 69. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 70. Anil Biswas, SD Burman, Chitragupt, Roshan, C Ramchandra and Madan Mohan. 71. Naushad and Aan. 72. Maan Mera Ehsan -- Song from Aan, sung by Mohammad Rafi, music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni. 73. Sebastian D'Souza, Anthony Gonsalves, Ghulam Mohammed and Mohammed Shafi. 74. Khayyam and RD Burman. 75. The Long Tail -- Chris Anderson. 76. The Sound of Music -- Robert Wise. 77. Do-Re-Mi -- Song from The Sound of Music. 78. Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi on Spotify. 79. Tosca -- Giacomo Puccini -- performed at Arena di Verona. 80. Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Lizzo and Billie Eilish on Spotify. 81. About That Time -- Lizzo. 82. Renaissance -- Beyoncé. 83. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil -- Karan Johar. 84. Aar Paar, Geeta Dutt and Eminem. 85. Pet Shop Boys, Guns N' Roses, U2, REM and Stone Temple Pilots on Spotify. 86. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. 87. How This Nobel Has Redefined Literature -- Amit Varma. 88. Mera Joota Hai Japani -- Song from Shree 420, sung by Mukesh, music by Shankar-Jaikishen, lyrics by Shailendra. 89. Sahir Ludhianvi and Majrooh Sultanpuri. 90. Do Bigha Zamin -- Bimal Roy. 91. Dharti Kahe Pukaar Ke -- Song from Do Bigha Zamin, sung by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Shailendra. 92. Varun Grover Is in the House -- Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 93. Mondegreen. 94. Tragedy -- Bee Gees. 95. Aap Jaisa Koi -- Song from Qurbani, sung by Nazia Hassan, music by Biddu Appaiah, lyrics by Masth Ali & Shashi Pritam. 96. Ek Akela Is Shaher Mein -- Song from Gharaonda, sung by Bhupinder Singh, music by Jaidev, lyrics by Gulzar. 97. Jonathan Haidt on Amazon. 98. Amar Akbar Anthony and Andrei Tarkovsky. 99. 2001: A Space Odyssey -- Stanley Kubrick. 100. Mirza Ghalib (and the show on him by Gulzar). 101. Roy Lichtenstein, Drowning Girl, Jackson Pollock, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso and the Pre-Raphaelites. 102. The Wire, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. 103. Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorcese, Quentin Tarantino, Coen Brothers and Preston Sturges. 104. Ball of Fire -- Howard Hawks. 105. The Lady Eve -- Preston Sturges. 106. Barbara Stanwyck and Lawrence Olivier. 107. Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma and Alfred Hitchcock. 108. How to Read and Why -- Harold Bloom. 109. Malayankunju -- Sajimon Prabhakar. 110. Muqaddar Ka Sikandar -- Prakash Mehra. 111. Agatha Christie on Amazon and Wikipedia. 112. Nayak -- Satyajit Ray. 113. Prakash Mehra and Kader Khan. 114. Laawaris -- Prakash Mehra. 115. Don and Majboor. 116. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 117. David Cronenberg. 118. Masaan — Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. 119. Moonlight — Barry Jenkins. 120. Chacha Bhatija, Parvarish, Amar Akbar Anthony and Dharam Veer -- Manmohan Desai. 121. Man, Woman and Child -- Erich Segal. 122. Man, Woman and Child (1983 film) -- Dick Richards. 123. Masoom -- Shekhar Kapoor. 124. Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Mrinal Sen and Robert Bresson. 125. Au Hasard Balthazar -- Robert Bresson. 126. Uski Roti -- Mani Kaul. 127. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 128. Calcutta 71 -- Mrinal Sen. 129. Ivan's Childhood, Solaris and Andrei Rublev -- Andrei Tarkovsky. 130. Stanislaw Lem on Amazon and Wikipedia. 131. Cahiers du Cinéma and Mayapuri. 132. Black Friday and Paanch -- Anurag Kashyap. 133. Navdeep Singh, Sudhir Mishra, Neeraj Ghaywan, Raj Kumar Gupta and Rajkumar Kohli. 134. Nagin and Nagina. 135. Jaani Dushman -- Rajkumar Kohli. 136. Three Colors: Blue -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 137. Three Colors: Red -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 138. Three Colors: White -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 139. The Double Life of Veronique -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 140. The legendary Babbar Subhash. 141. Dance Dance -- Babbar Subhash. 142. Aagaya Aagaya Halwa Wala -- Song from Dance Dance. 143. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro -- Kundan Shah. 144. Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar -- Song from CID, sung by Shamshad Begum, Asha Bhosle and Mohammad Rafi., music by OP Nayyar, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. 145. Rote Hue Aate Hain Sab -- Song from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, sung by Kishore Kumar, music by Kalyani-Anandji, lyrics by Anjaan. 146. Kai Baar Yun Bhi Dekha Hai -- Song from Rajnigandha, sung by Mukesh, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Yogesh. 147. Rim Jhim Gire Saawan -- Song from Manzil, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by RD Burman, lyrics by Yogesh. 148. Andrew Sarris and André Bazin. 149. Sergei Eisenstein and the Odessa Steps sequence. 150. Court — Chaitanya Tamhane. 151. Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Shanghai and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! -- Dibakar Banerjee. 152. Jean Renoir. 153. Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu. 154. Tokyo Story -- Yasujirō Ozu. 155. Rashomon -- Akira Kurosawa. 156. The 2012 Sight and Sound poll of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time. 157. Early Summer -- Yasujirō Ozu. 158. Make Way for Tomorrow -- Leo McCarey. 159. Citizen Kane -- Orson Welles. 160. Vertigo -- Alfred Hitchcock. 161. Setsuko Hara. 162. Sara Akash -- Basu Chatterjee. 163. Bhuvan Shome -- Mrinal Sen. 164. KK Mahajan. 165. One Cut of the Dead -- Shin'ichirō Ueda. 166. Unsane -- Steven Soderbergh. 167. Promising Young Woman -- Emerald Fennell. 168. Psycho -- Alfred Hitchcock. 169. Hitchcock's Films Revisited -- Robin Wood. 170. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, Witness, Dead Poet's Society and The Truman Show -- Peter Weir. 171. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. 172. John Ford and Girish Shahane. 173. Everything is Cinema -- Don Palathara. 174. Hi Mom! -- Brian De Palma. 175. Taxi Driver -- Martin Scorcese. 176. Joyful Mystery -- Don Palathara. 177. The Postman Always Rings Twice -- Tay Garnett. 178. Treasure of the Sierra Madre -- John Huston. 179. Noir’s arc - notes on an excellent anthology -- Jai Arjun Singh. 180. Key Largo -- John Huston. 181. Gun Crazy -- Joseph H Lewis. 182. Sullivan's Travels -- Preston Sturges. 183. O Brother, Where Art Thou? -- Coen Brothers. 184. Winchester '73 and Bend of the River -- Anthony Mann. 185. Shaheed (1948) -- Ramesh Saigal, starring Dilip Kumar. 186. Andaz -- Mehboob Khan. 187. Duniya Na Mane -- V Shantaram. 188. Some Like it Hot and Ace in the Hole -- Billy Wilder. 189. Ernst Lubitsch and James Wong Howe. 190. Sweet Smell of Success -- Alexander Mackendrick. 191. Mere Apne -- Gulzar. 192. Haal Chaal Thik Thak Hai -- Song from Mere Apne, sung by Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Gulzar. 193. Mr Sampat -- SS Vasan. 194. Miss Malini -- Kothamangalam Subbu. 195. Mr. Sampath: The Printer Of Malgudi -- RK Narayan. 196. Achhe Din Aa Rahe Hain -- Song from Mr Sampat, sung by Shamshad Begum and ML Vasantakumari, music by Balkrishna Kalla, lyrics by Pandit Indra Chander. 197. Parakh -- Bimal Roy. 198. O Sajna Barkha Bahaar Aayee -- Song from Parakh, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, music by Salil Chowdhury, lyrics by Shailendra. 199. Oonche Log -- Phani Majumdar. 200. Major Chandrakanth -- K Balachander. 201. Jaag Dil-E-Deewana -- Song from Oonche Log, sung by Mohammad Rafi, music by Chitragupt, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. 202. Birendranath Sircar, RC Boral and Timir Baran. 203. PC Barua, Bimal Roy and KL Saigal. 204. Devdas (1936) -- PC Barua. 205. President -- Nitin Bose. 206. Ek Bangla Bane Nyara -- Song from President, sung by KL Saigal, music by RC Boral, lyrcs by Kidar Sharma. 207. Street Singer -- Phani Majumdar. 208. Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Hi Jaye -- Song from Street Singer, sung by KL Saigal, music by RC Boral, lyrics by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. 209. Wajid Ali Shah. 210. Shatranj Ke Khilari -- Satyajit Ray. 211. Duniya, Yeh Duniya, Toofan Mail-- Song from Jawab, sung by Kanan Devi, music by Kamal Dasgupta, lyrics by Pandit Madhur. 212. Rajnigandha -- Basu Chatterjee. 213. Rajnigandha/राजनीगंधा -- Mannu Bhandari. 214. The Conversation -- Francis Ford Coppola. 215. Deer Hunter -- Michael Cimino. 216. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 217. The Godfather: Part 2 -- Francis Ford Coppola. 218. Sisters -- Brian De Palma. 219. Blow Out -- Brian De Palma. 220. Blowup -- Michelangelo Antonioni. 221. The Long Goodbye and Nashville -- Robert Altman. 222. The Missouri Breaks -- Arthur Penn. 223. The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, What's Up, Doc? and Targets -- Peter Bogdanovich. 224. This is Orson Welles -- Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich. 225. Hitchcock -- Francois Truffaut. 226. Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep and To Have and Have Not  -- Howard Hawks. 227. The Big Sleep -- Raymond Chandler. 228. William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway on Amazon. 229. Johny Mera Naam and Jewel Thief -- Vijay Anand. 230. Sholay -- Ramesh Sippy. 231. Back to the Future -- Robert Zemeckis. 232. Mr India -- Shekhar Kapoor. 233. Rahul Rawail, JP Dutta, Mukul Anand and Rajiv Rai. 234. Hathyar and Ghulami -- JP Dutta. 235. Raat Bhat Jaam Se Jaam Takrayega -- Song from Tridev with galaxy of villains. 236. Naseeb -- Manmohan Desai. 237. Dan Dhanoa, Mahesh Anand, Dalip Tahil and Tej Sapru. 238. The Ramsay Brothers! 239. Don't Disturb the Dead: The Story of the Ramsay Brothers -- Shamya Dasgupta. 240. Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche -- Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay. 241. Veerana -- Ramsay Brothers. 242. Purana Mandir -- Ramsay Brothers. 243. Govinda! 244. Ilzaam -- Shibu Mitra. 245. I am a Street Dancer and Main Aaya Tere Liye from Ilzaam. 246. Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction -- Quentin Tarantino. 247. Halloween -- John Carpenter. 248. A Nightmare on Elm Street -- Wes Craven. 249. Scream -- Wes Craven. 250. Terminator 2: Judgment Day -- James Cameron. 251. Mad Max: Fury Road -- George Miller. 252. Nicholas Cage and Keanu Reeves. 253. Wild at Heart -- David Lynch. 254. Red Rock West -- John Dahl. 255. The Last Seduction -- John Dahl. 256. Edward Norton in American History X and Rounders. 257. New Delhi Times -- Ramesh Sharma. 258. Drohkaal -- Govind Niahalani. 259. Gupt and Mohra by Rajiv Rai. 260. Sonam! 261. Wild -- Nicolette Krebitz. 262. Waves -- Trey Edward Shults. 263. Climax -- Gaspar Noé. 264. Mother! -- Darren Aronofsky. 265 Eho — Dren Zherka. 266. The Magic Mountain -- Thomas Mann. 267. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino. 268. Cosmicomics -- Itali Calvino. 269. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller -- Italo Calvino. 270. A House For Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 271. A Bend in the River -- VS Naipaul. 272. Middlemarch -- George Eliot. 273. Mrs Dalloway -- Virginia Woolf. 274. To the Lighthouse -- Virginia Woolf. 275. Decline and Fall -- Evelyn Waugh. 276. Scoop -- Evelyn Waugh. 277. Brighton Rock -- Graham Greene. 278. Brighton Rock (1948 film) -- John Boulting. 279. Kingsley Amis and Martin Amis. 280. Lucky Jim -- Kingsley Amis. 281. The Siege Of Krishnapur -- JG Farrell. 282. Alfie -- Lewis Gilbert. 283. Get Carter -- Mike Hodges. 284. Blame it on Rio -- Stanley Donen. 285. Gangs of Wasseypur -- Anurag Kashyap. 286. Tamas -- Govind Nihalani. This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here. 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, in a homage to Jackson Pollock.

The world we live in is designed by men for men. What is it like to be a woman in this world? Mahima Vashisht joins Amit Varma in episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her experiences documenting all that is unseen by men and lived by women. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Mahima Vashisht on Twitter and Buy Me A Coffee. 2. Womaning in India -- Mahima Vashisht's newsletter. 3. The Womaning in India podcast. 4. The All-Powerful Female Imposter Syndrome -- Mahima Vashisht. 5. Maternity Discrimination is killing women's careers -- Mahima Vashisht. 6. Body shaming women is our favourite national pastime -- Mahima Vashisht. 7. Let's talk about Office Toilets -- Mahima Vashisht. 8. The Raja Beta Syndrome -- Mahima Vashisht. 9. Fabulous Lives of Indian Housewives -- Mahima Vashisht. 10. What is obstetric violence? (Aka my birth story) -- Mahima Vashisht. 11. Women face selective deafness in meetings -- Mahima Vashisht. 12. Lessons from the Tarun Tejpal judgment -- Mahima Vashisht. 13. The Great Indian Dhakosla -- Mahima Vashisht. 14. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 16. Nobody Told Me -- John Lennon. 17. The Sunk Cost Fallacy. 18. Koffee With Karan. 19. An Unsuitable Boy -- Karan Johar. 20. The Nurture Assumption -- Judith Rich Harris. 21. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. 22. Dunning-Kruger Effect (Wikipedia). 23. Poker at Lake Wobegon — Amit Varma. 24. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 25. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 26. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. The Road to Freedom -- Arthur C Brooks. 28. Clarification Regarding Release of Funds to Prasar Bharti -- I&B Ministry press release. 29. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 30. The Darwaza Band campaign with Amitabh Bachchan and Anushka Sharma. 31. The Vidya Balan Nirmal Bharat commercial. 32. Swachh Bharat -- Episode 82 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan. 33. The Good Girls — Sonia Faleiro. 34. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree — Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro). 35. Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. 36. Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar's Swachh Bharat commercial. 37. Twin Peaks -- David Lynch. 38. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 40. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 41. Inside Bill's Brain -- Decoding Bill Gates. 42. Daily Rituals — Mason Currey. 43. Daily Rituals: Women at Work — Mason Currey. 44. The tweet Mahima referred to about Albert Einstein's wife. 45. Eileen Mary O’Connell's tweet about Marie Curie and Mariah Carey. 46. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 47. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee -- Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why — Amit Varma. 50. Men Must Step Up Now — Amit Varma. 51. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock & Dan Gardner. 52. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 53. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 54. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 55. Deep Work — Cal Newport. 56. Invisible Women -- Caroline Criado Perez. 57. The controversy over the woman with an oxygen cylinder cooking in the kitchen. 58. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) -- Amit Varma. 59. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Fearless Freedom — Kavita Krishnan. 61. Why Loiter? — Shilpa Phadke. 62. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions. 63. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 64. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State -- Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 65. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S. 66. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 67. How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings -- Sarah Cooper. 68. Untamed -- Glennon Doyle. 69. Shrill -- Lindy West. 70. Steal Like an Artist -- Austin Kleon. 71. Show Your Work -- Austin Kleon. 72. Keep Going -- Austin Kleon. 73. Hannah Gadsby, Tig Notaro, James Acaster and Karunesh Talwar. 74. And here's Mahima's post with more show notes! This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here. 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, in a tribute to Cubism.

He's one of our finest writers, lyricists, comedians, dissenters -- and the breadth of his work is matched by the depth of his insights. Varun Grover joins Amit Varma in episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and work so far. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Varun Grover on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and IMDb. 2. Masaan -- Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. 3. Aisi Taisi Democracy on YouTube. Twitter and Instagram. 4. Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar -- Directed by Dibakar Banerjee and co-written by Varun Grover. 5. Biksu -- Raj Kumari (illustrations) and Varun Grover (words). 6. Learn Screen Writing -- Varun Grover's course on Front Row. 7. Varun Grover interviewed on Slow Cafe by Neelesh Misra. 8. Guftagoo with Varun Grover. 9. Moh Moh Ke Dhaage -- Lyrics by Varun Grover. 10. Tu Kisi Rail Si -- Lyrics by Varun Grover. 11. Mann Kasturi -- Lyrics by Varun Grover. 12. Network -- Sidney Lumet. 13. Hot Drinks Equal Warm Feelings. 14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 15. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 16. Massive fire breaks out at Chitrakoot ground in Andheri. 17. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 18. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read. 19. Uski Roti -- Mani Kaul. 20. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind — Gustave le Bon. 21. Crowds and Power — Elias Canetti. 22. Nikaah -- BR Chopra. 23. Masoom -- Shekhar Kapur. 24. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 25. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. Stage.in. 27. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 28. Blowin' in the Wind -- Bob Dylan. 29. You're Missing -- Bruce Springsteen. 30. Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh and Dushyant Kumar. 31. M Indicator. 32. Range -- David Epstein. 33. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo. 34. Georges Simenon on Amazon. 35. Fast Car -- Tracy Chapman. 36. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Aadha Gaon -- Rahi Masoom Raza. 38. Biba Sada Dil Morr De -- Nusrat Fatek Ali Khan. 39. Mirza Ghalib on Rekhta. 40. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 41. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From — Tony Joseph. 42. Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, SD Burman, RD Burman and Abida Parveen on Spotify. 43. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck -- Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino. 45. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju -- Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. Songs of Life -- Puneet Aghi. 47. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! -- Sooraj Barjatya. 48. Surabhi. 49. Forrest Gump, Notting Hill and Rambo. 50. Majid Majidi, Abbas Kiorastami and Jafar Panahi. 51. Loha, Farishtay, Border and Gadar. 52. Babel and Amores Perros. 53. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie -- John Cassavetes. 54. Mean Streets and Taxi Driver by Martin Scorcese. 55. Flow: The Psychology of Happiness -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. 56. Ellevoro on Instagram and Trip Advisor. 57. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 58. Gunahon Ka Devta -- Dharamvir Bharati. 59. It is Immoral to Have Children. Here’s Why — Amit Varma. 60. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. 61. The Importance of Satya -- Episode 241 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Uday Bhatia). 62. The Great Man Theory of History. 63. Gaata Rahe Mera Dil -- Lyrics by Shailendra. 64. Surinder Kaur, Asa Singh Mastana, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Parveen Sultana and Noor Jehan on Spotify. 65. Satyajit Ray on Wikipedia, IMDb and Amazon. 66. Agantuk -- Satyajit Ray. 67. The Wind Rises -- Hayao Miyazaki 68. Michael Haneke on Wikipedia and IMDb. 69. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. 70. The Three Colours Trilogy --  Krzysztof Kieślowski. 71. A Short Film About Love --  Krzysztof Kieślowski. 72. A Short Film About Killing --  Krzysztof Kieślowski. 73. The God of Small Things -- Arundhati Roy. 74. Dharamvir Bharati, Harishankar Parsai, Uday Prakash and Manohar Shyam Joshi. 75. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) — Shrilal Shukla. 76. Naiyer Masud on Wikipedia, Rekhta and Amazon. 77. Collected Stories -- Naiyer Masud. 78. Shamsur Rahman Faruqi on Wikipedia, Rekhta and Amazon. 79. Kai Chaand The Sar-e-aasman --  Shamsur Rahman Faruqi. 80. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 81. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire — Luis Buñuel. 82. The Dead -- John Huston. This episode is sponsored by Capital Mind. Check out their offerings here. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.

He was born in a small village in Haryana, built and lost one of the biggest viral sites in the world, and is now building a Netflix for India's dialects. Vinay Singhal joins Amit Varma in episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about what he learnt from Witty Feed, the philosophy behind his new venture Stage, and how India lives, truly lives, in its dialects. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Vinay Singhal on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2. Stage.in. 3. Building Netflix for Bharat (2020) -- Vinay Singhal. 4. What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur (2016) -- Vinay Singhal. 5. 5 Ways to keep people before business (2017) -- Vinay Singhal. 6. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World -- Snigdha Poonam. 7. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 8. SuperSiblings -- Prachi Garg. 9. Wanting -- Luke Burgis. 10. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 11. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 12. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 13. Paper Menagerie -- Ken Liu. 14. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World -- Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 15. The Indus Valley Playbook -- Sajith Pai. 16. India2, English Tax and Building for the Next Billion Users -- Sajith Pai. 17. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 18. Real Steel -- Shawn Levy. 19. The Rocky series. 20. The Martian -- Ridley Scott. 21. The Good Doctor on Netflix. 22. The Hard Thing About Hard Things -- Ben Horowitz. 23. The Infinite Game -- Simon Sinek. 24. Zero to One -- Peter Thiel. 25. The Lean Startup -- Eric Ries. 26. Startup School. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.

In 1947, few people gave us 75 years. Bloody hell, here we are! And it is up to us now to make this country the best version of itself. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss one of our problem areas: the Indian state. Can we fix it? Yes we can! (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Karthik Muralidharan on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and UCSD. 2. Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS) 3. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 4. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 5. General equilibrium effects of (improving) public employment programs: experimental evidence from India -- The paper on NREGA by Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukhtankar. 6. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 7. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 8. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 9. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 10. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah). 11. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism -- Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pramit Bhattacharya). 12. The Paradox of Narendra Modi — Episode 102 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shashi Tharoor). 13. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Montek Singh Ahluwalia). 14. 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. 15. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 16. The Big Fat Surprise — Nina Teicholz. 17. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 18. The Macroeconomist as Scientist and Engineer -- N Gregory Mankiw. 19. The Gated Republic -- Shankkar Aiyar. 20. Despite the State — M Rajshekhar. 21. The Power Broker— Robert Caro. 22. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs. 23. India’s Security State -- Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph). 24. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 25. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 26. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 27. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama. 28. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama. 29. Political Order and Political Decay — Francis Fukuyama. 30. Computer Nahi Monitor -- Episode 5 of season 1 of Panchayat. 31. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India -- Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Courts Redux: Micro-Evidence from India -- Manaswini Rao. 33.  The Checklist Manifesto -- Atul Gawande. 34. Annie Hall -- Woody Allen. 35. The Politics Limerick -- Amit Varma. 36. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 37. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 38. A Theory of Clientelistic Politics versus Programmatic Politics -- Pranab Bardhan and Dilip Mookherjee. 39. Power and Prosperity — Mancur Olson. 40. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh). 41. Premature load bearing: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 42. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 43. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 44. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 45. India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy -- Ramachandra Guha. 46. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 47. Cities and Citizens -- Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 48. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic -- Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 49. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope -- Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world -- Amit Varma on Viswanathan Anand. 51. Running to Stand Still -- U2. 52. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 53. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla. 54. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 55. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia -- Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Pitfalls of Participatory Programs -- Abhijit Banerjee, Rukmini Banerji, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster and Stuti Khemani. 57. Our Parliament and Our Democracy -- Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 58. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 59. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 60. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri). 61. The Tiebout Model. 62. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 63. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma. 64. The Effects of Democratization on Public Goods and Redistribution: Evidence from China -- Nancy Qian, Gerard Padró i Miquel, Monica Martinez-Bravo and Yang Yao. 65. Sneaky Artist Sees the World -- Episode 260 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nishant Jain). 66. Science and Covid-19 -- Episode 221 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anirban Mahapatra). 66. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes -- Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane.). 67. India's states can be laboratories for policy innovation and reform -- Karthik Muralidharan. 68. Clientelism in Indian Villages -- Siwan Anderson, Patrick Francois, and Ashok Kotwal. 69. Patching Development -- Rajesh Veeraraghavan. 70. Opportunity, Choice and the IPL (2008) — Amit Varma. 71. The IPL is Here and Here Are Six Reasons to Celebrate It (2019) — Amit Varma. 72. Climate Change and Our Power Sector -- Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 73. The Delhi Smog -- Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 74. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 75. The Life and Times of Nirupama Rao -- Episode 269 of The Seen and the Unseen. 76. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande -- Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 77. Objects Speak to Annapurna Garimella -- Episode 257 of The Seen and the Unseen. 78. Letters for a Nation: From Jawaharlal Nehru to His Chief Ministers 1947-1963 -- Edited by Madhav Khosla. 79. To Raise a Fallen People -- Rahul Sagar. 80. The Progressive Maharaja -- Rahul Sagar. 81. India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 82. India: A Sacred Geography -- Diana Eck. 83. Unlikely is Inevitable — Amit Varma. 84. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 85. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.

She's skated down tekdis, played volleyball for her state, run through deserts and wrestled a bear with her bare hands. Ok, not the last one. Shruti Jahagirdar joins Amit Varma in episode 289 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss women's sports in India, fitness, nutrition and a world without limits. Also check out: 1. Shruti Jahagirdar on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 2. Halomi Fitness, Shruti Jahagirdar's startup. 3. The Evolution of Cricket -- Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle). 4. Building Sports Ecosystems -- Episode 126 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya). 5. The State of Indian Sport -- Episode 238 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya and Nandan Kamath). 6. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on sport with Ram Guha, Prem Panicker, Sharda Ugra, Ayaz Memon, Snehal Pradhan and Pradeep Magazine. 7. Wait But Why by Tim Urban. 8. This Ramesh Nagdev was a blazing bat -- Makarand Waingankar. 9. Chak De! India -- Shimit Amin. 10. The Sporting Spirit — George Orwell. 11. Allah Ke Bande -- Kailash Kher. 12. Kusha Kapila and the B-Plus Baccha.. 13. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 14. Atomic Habits -- James Clear. 15. Barefoot in the Park -- Neil Simon. 16. Tiger Muay Thai. 17. Former British Boxing Champ Julius Francis knocks out troublemaker. 18. Gimme Mo -- Mohit Satyanand's newsletter. 19. The Bell Hooks quote posted by Shruti Jahagirdar. 20. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 21. The Mary Oliver quote posted by Shruti Jahagirdar. 22. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 23. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz. 24. The Obesity Code — Jason Fung. 25. Nina Teicholz on The Joe Rogan Experience. 26. Wheat Belly -- William Davis.. 27. The Four Quadrants of Conformism -- Paul Graham. 28. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 29. The Diabetes Code -- Jason Fung. 30. Hikikomori. 31. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. 32. Everything is Illuminated -- Liev Schreiber, based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. 33. The White Balloon -- Jafar Panahi. 34. Majid Majidi on Wikipedia and IMDb. 35. Panchayat, Season 2. 36. Schitt's Creek. 37. This is Us. 38. The Playbook- A Coach's Rules for Life. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his podcast, Twitter, Instagram and Substack.

To immerse yourself in literature is to immerse yourself in the world. Chandrahas Choudhury joins Amit Varma in episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about reading, writing, friendship, Mumbai and the guests at his fantasy dinner table. Also check out: 1. Chandrahas Choudhury on Instagram and Amazon. 2. The Middle Stage -- Chandrahas Choudhury's blog. 3. My Country Is Literature -- Chandrahas Choudhury. 4. Days of My China Dragon -- Chandrahas Choudhury. 5. Clouds -- Chandrahas Choudhury. 6. Arzee The Dwarf -- Chandrahas Choudhury. 7. Bamana Arzee -- Chandrahas Choudhury, translated by Sindhubala Choudhury.  8. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Two Men Who Left Third Man Alone -- Amit Varma and Chandrahas Choudhury. 10. The Curse of Knowledge. 11. Eunice De Souza on Amazon. 12. House of the Dead —  Fyodor Dostoevsky. 13. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 14. The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist -- Orhan Pamuk. 15. The Ferment of Our Founders -- Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 16. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies -- Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert. 18. How Fiction Works -- James Wood. 19. Marcel Proust and Karl Ove Knausgaard on Amazon. 20. Six and a Third Acres -- Fakir Mohan Senapati. 21. Is There an Indian Way of Thinking? -- AK Ramanujan. 22. Sara Rai Inhales Literature -- Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes -- Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 24. Cuckold -- Kiran Nagarkar. 25. Robert Bly on Amazon. 26. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 27. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Georges Simenon on Amazon. 29. Beautiful Thing — Sonia Faleiro. 30. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree — Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro). 31. Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay on Amazon. 32. The Business of Books -- Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika). 33. The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- Alice Munro. 34. Against Rang De Basanti -- Chandrahas Choudhury. 35. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 36. A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma. 37. Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek. 38. The City -- CP Cavafy. 39. Junoon on Spotify. 40. Verrier Elwin on Amazon. 41. The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin: An Autobiography. 42. Suite Francaise -- Irène Némirovsky. 43. Taking Stock of Our Republic — Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.

She helped generations of women in India find a voice. She expanded the worldview of countless people. She confronted the horrors of our past and the fissures of our present. Urvashi Butalia joins Amit Varma in episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings. Also check out: 1.  Urvashi Butalia at Zubaan and Amazon. 2. The Other Side of Silence -- Urvashi Butalia. 3. Zubaan Books and Kali for Women. 4. Turning the Page for Feminism -- Nilanjana Roy on Urvashi Butalia. 5. Episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya and Nilanjana Roy. 6. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 8. Tales from the Kathasaritsagara -- Somadeva (translated by Arshia Sattar). 9. The Auschwitz Memorial Twitter account. 10. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Will to Change — Bell Hooks. 12. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 13. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow -- Washington Irving. 14. Mahadevi Varma and Sheila Bhatia. 15. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 17. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 18. The Verdict: Decoding India's Elections -- Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala. 19. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 20. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 21. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri). 22. Towards Equality: Report of the Committee on Status of Women in India (1974). 23. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist -- Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Kamla Bhasin on Wikipedia. 26. Division of Hearts -- Satti Khanna and Peter Chappell. 27. Heer Ranjha. 28. Kumar Gandharva sings Nirgun Bhajans. 29. Reshma sings Bulle Shah. 30. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Spotify. 31. Ek Onkar -- Harshdeep Kaur. 32. Chaudhvin Ka Chand -- Guru Dutt. 33. Pyaasa -- Guru Dutt. 34. A Question of Silence -- Marleen Gorris. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! The illustration for this episode is by Nishant Jain aka Sneaky Artist. Check out his work on Twitter, Instagram and Substack.