

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 20, 2021 • 3h 36min
Ep 256: Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism
Data has no ideology, and journalists should always be guided by skepticism. Pramit Bhattacharya joins Amit Varma in episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey learning the craft and the values of analytical journalism. Also check out: 1. Pramit Bhattacharya's writings in Mint. 2. The Importance of Data Journalism -- Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 3. Data Journalism and Indian Politics — Episode 136 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Roshan Kishore). 4. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu). 5. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 6. Growth in a Time of Debt -- The Reinhart–Rogoff paper. 7. Fear the Boom and Bust: Keynes vs. Hayek - The Original Economics Rap Battle! 8. Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek - Economics Rap Battle Round Two. 9. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 10. The Literature Machine -- Italo Calvino. 11. Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson on Amazon. 12. Farmers, Technology and Freedom of Choice: A Tale of Two Satyagrahas -- Amit Varma. 13. Vidarbha's Tryst With BT Cotton -- Pramit Bhattacharya. 14. The State of Our Farmers — Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi). 15. India’s Agriculture Crisis -- Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra and Kumar Anand). 16. Thinking it Through -- The archives of Amit Varma's weekly column for Mint in 2007-8. 17. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri -- Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri). 18. Elena Ferrante's interview about her writing process. 19. Niranjan Rajadhayaksha and Manas Chakravarty in Mint.20. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India -- Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel). 21. Pramit Bhattacharya in conversation with Milan Vaishnav in Grand Tamasha. 22. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 23. The Economic Consequences of the Peace -- John Maynard Keynes. 24. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world -- Amit Varma 25. The Man of System — Adam Smith (excerpted from The Theory of Moral Sentiments). 26. Mohit Satyanand's newsletter. 27. GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History -- Diane Coyle. 28. Dunbar's number on Wikipedia. 29. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon). 30. Zeynep Tufekci, Eric Topol, Bhramar Mukherjee and Gautam Menon on Twitter. 31. How to Make the World Add Up -- Tim Harford. 32. Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India -- Rukmini S. 33. Anti-Intellectualism in American Life -- Richard Hofstadter. 34. Understanding Statistics -- Antony Davies. 35. Anthills of the Savannah -- Chinua Achebe. 36. Elena Ferrante on Amazon. 37. A Gentleman in Moscow — Amor Towles. 38. Our Parliament and Our Democracy -- Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). Check out Amit's online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!

7 snips
Dec 13, 2021 • 2h 55min
Ep 255: Sara Rai Inhales Literature
In India, we inhabit many worlds, and we live in many languages, many literatures. Sara Rai joins Amit Varma in episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her rich life learning to write, learning to read, learning to live. Also check out: 1. Sara Rai on Amazon. 2. “You will be the Katherine Mansfield of Hindi” -- Sara Rai's essay in Caravan. 3. Other Skies -- Sara Rai. 4. Wilderness -- Sara Rai. 5. Premchand's Kazaki And Other Marvellous Tales -- Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by Sara Rai). 6. The City -- CP Cavafy. 7. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 8. The World of Premchand: Selected Short Stories -- Munshi Premchand (translated and with an introduction by David Rubin). 9. Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions From South Asia -- Sheldon Pollock. 10. Blue Is Like Blue -- Vinod Kumar Shukla (translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai). 11. Vinod Kumar Shukla on Amazon. 12. Collected Stories -- Naiyer Masud. 13. Naiyer Masud on Amazon. 14. Georges Simenon, Charles Dickens and Guy de Maupassant on Amazon. 15. The Aim of Literature -- Munshi Premchand. (Another version.) 16. Testaments Betrayed -- Milan Kundera. 17. Jealousy -- Marcel Proust. 18. The Abyss and Other Stories -- Leonid Andreyev. 19. So Much Water So Close To Home -- Raymond Carver. 20. Short Cuts -- Robert Altman. 21. Limits -- Raymond Carver. (Scroll down on that link to find the poem.) 22. Cathedral -- Raymond Carver. 23. Raymond Carver on Amazon. 24. Jean-Paul Sartre, Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka and WG Sebald on Amazon. 25. Rings of Saturn -- WG Sebald. 26. Umrao Jaan Ada (English, Urdu, Hindi) -- Mirza Hadi Ruswa. 27. Jyotsna Milan on Amazon. 28. In Absentia: Where are India’s conservative intellectuals? -- Ramachandra Guha. 29. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 30. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam. 31. Meghadutam -- Kalidasa. 32. Humans of New York. 33. Sturgeon's Law on Wikipedia. 34. Random BOOMER Journalist Says WHAT About Paul Simon??? -- Rick Beato's magnificent rant. 35. The Time a Stiff Caught Fire -- Keith Yates. 36. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai. 37. A House Divided: Origin and Development of Hindi/Urdu -- Amrit Rai. 38. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 39. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 40. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 41. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 42. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 43. East West Street -- Philippe Sands. 44. Group Polarization on Wikipedia. 45. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind -- Gustave le Bon (on crowd psychology). 46. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 47. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan.) 48. Don’t think too much of yourself. You’re an accident -- Amit Varma. 49. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 50. The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy -- Michael McCarthy. 51. H is for Hawk -- Helen Macdonald. 52. The Genius of Birds -- Jennifer Ackerman. 53. Nirmal Verma and Ismat Chugtai on Amazon. 54. The Hidden Life of Trees -- Peter Wohlleben. This episode is sponsored by Intel. This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Dec 6, 2021 • 3h 56min
Ep 254: The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri
He carried cables on a film set. He teamed up with friends named Arvind and Manish to save Delhi. He started a media company that said Boo to advertisers. Abhinandan Sekhri joins Amit Varma in episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen to speak about the many things he's learned during his rich and unconventional life. Also check out: 1. Abhinandan Sekhri on Twitter, Instagram and Newslaundry. 2. Subscribe to Newslaundry. 3. PG Wodehouse on Amazon. 4. War and Peace and The Thorn Birds. 5. The Return of the Native -- Thomas Hardy. 6. Far From the Madding Crowd -- Thomas Hardy. 7. Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare on Amazon. 8. Mills and Boon on Amazon. 9. Rang De Basanti. 10. Amusing Ourselves to Death -- Neil Postman. 11. It is Obscene -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 12. Highway on My Plate. 13. Gustakhi Maaf on NDTV. 14. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barkha Dutt). 15. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma -- Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 16. Dinesh Thakur interviewed by Madhu Trehan. 17. Monsoon Wedding -- Mira Nair. 18. Uday Mahurkar's books on Savarkar and Modi. 19. MSK Vlogs -- Mohammed Salim Khan's YouTube channel. 20. The Power of Imagination -- Mohammed Salim Khan. 21. Public Opinion -- Walter Lippmann. 22. Filhaal -- Meghna Gulzar. 23. Luck is All Around -- Amit Varma. 24. Luck by Chance -- Zoya Akhtar. 25. Accident on the Sets of Devdas. (And then another one.) 26. 'Journalism is a Combat Sport' -- Abhinandan Sekhri. 27. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan.) 28. Our Parliament and Our Democracy -- Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 29. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 30. Em and the Big Hoom -- Jerry Pinto. 31. Shame -- Salman Rushdie. 32. The Ground Beneath Her Feet -- Salman Rushdie. 33. Shalimar the Clown -- Salman Rushdie. 34. Brighton Rock -- Graham Greene. 35. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald. 36. Real Dictators. This episode is sponsored by Intel. This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Nov 29, 2021 • 3h 3min
Ep 253: Our Parliament and Our Democracy
A democracy is not just about voting, The rules of the game have to protect individuals, and institutions have to keep the government accountable. MR Madhavan joins Amit Varma in episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his efforts at empowering MPs and MLAs with knowledge -- and why we should not lose hope in our nation. Also check out: 1. PRS Legislative Research. 2. When You Could Only Buy Two Litres of Milk -- MR Madhavan. 3. The Functioning of the Indian Parliament -- MR Madhavan. 4. Dilli Door Nahin: Engaging With the Policy Process -- MR Madhavan. 5. Ulysses and Dubliners -- James Joyce. 6. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 7. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 8. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 9. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma. 10. Battles Half Won: India's Improbable Democracy -- Ashutosh Varshney. 11. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 12. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De. 13. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 14. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 15. The Federalist Papers -- Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. 16. The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution -- Sujit Choudhry, Madhav Khosla and Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 17. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 18. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla. 19. India’s Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu). 20. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 21. Speech to the Electors of Bristol -- Edmund Burke. 22. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 23. Bindra's Wishlist -- Amit Varma. 24. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh). 25. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know -- Adam Grant. 26. The Gray Man -- Mark Greaney. 27. PG Wodehouse on Amazon. 28. The Three-Body Problem -- Cixin Liu. 29. Project Hail Mary -- Andy Weir. 30. A Gentleman in Moscow -- Amor Towles. 31. The Lincoln Highway -- Amor Towles. 32. The Paper Menagerie -- Ken Liu. This episode is sponsored by Intel. This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

7 snips
Nov 22, 2021 • 3h 9min
Ep 252: The State of Our Economy
Winter is here.The pandemic has receded, but our economy was already in bad shape before Covid struck, which made it plummet further. Where do we stand now? Can we recover? Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand join Amit Varma in episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen to take stock. Also check out: 1. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra. 2. Gimme Mo -- Mohit Satyanand's newsletter. 3. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 4. This is All Because of Rupal Ben -- Episode 5 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand.) 5. Poker and Stock Markets -- Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand). 6. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) -- Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand). 7. India’s Start-Up Ecosystem -- Episode 171 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand). 8. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 9. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 10. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 11. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 12. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) -- Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik). 13. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 14. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 15. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 16. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 17. The City and the City -- China Miéville. 18. The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect. 19. On Bullshit -- Harry Frankfurt. 20. India: Redeeming the Economic Pledge -- Bibek Debroy. 21. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 22. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh). 23. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 24. Pandemonium in India’s Banks -- Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay.) 25. Goodbye Solo -- Ramin Bahrani. 26. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped -- Roger Ebert's review of Goodbye Solo. 27. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma. 28. Fooled by Randomness -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 29. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 30. Kashi Ka Assi -- Kashinath Singh. 31. The Dharma Forest -- Keerthik Sasidharan. 32. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker. 33. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. This episode is sponsored by Intel. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Nov 15, 2021 • 3h 28min
Ep 251: Amit Schandillia, History Communicator
History is often told in such a boring way that it might as well not have happened. And then, there are those who bring it so alive that the present seems so much clearer. Amit Schandillia joins Amit Varma in episode 251 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how his historical storytelling made him a Twitter sensation -- and why both history and storytelling matter in these times. Also check out: 1. Select Twitter threads by Amit Schandillia: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 2. Amit Schandillia on Storytel. 3. Nina’s Journey -- Nina Markovna. 4. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4. 5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 7. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 8. Who We Are and How We Got Here -- David Reich. 9. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 10. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 11. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 12. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati. 13. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi) 14. Churchill's Secret War -- Madhusree Mukerjee. 15. Churchill and the genocide myth -- Zareer Masani. 16. Churchill: Walking with Destiny -- Andrew Roberts. 17. The Expanding Circle -- Amit Varma. 18. A History of European Morals -- WEH Lecky. 19. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress -- Peter Singer. 20. Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America -- John McWhorter. 21. John McWhorter interviewed by Bill Maher and Vasant Dhar. 22. PN Oak on Wikipedia. 23. Tawaif -- Episode 174 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Saba Dewan). 24. The Seen and the Unseen episodes with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma and Rana Safvi. 25. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 26. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 27. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 28. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 29. Archive.org, Google Books, Jstor and ResearchGate. 30. The Big Deal About Blogging -- Amit Varma. 31. The Book Club -- Amit Varma's old show on Storytel. 32. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree -- Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro). 33. Typefully. 34. Sake Dean Mohamed at Internet Archive and Wikipedia. 35. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 36. Public Opinion -- Walter Lippmann. 37. The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads -- Walter Lippmann. 39. Irfan Habib on Amazon. 40. Pilgrim Nation: The Making of Bharatvarsh -- Devdutt Pattanaik. 41. History of Western Philosophy -- Bertrand Russell. 42. The Gulag Archipelago -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 43. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 44. Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire -- Alex von Tunzelmann. 45. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich -- William L Shirer. 46. Hardcore History by Dan Carlin. This episode is sponsored by Intel. This episode is co-sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

6 snips
Nov 8, 2021 • 3h 56min
Ep 250: Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy
Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy are cult figures who transcend the universe of ordinary podcast guests. One of them, a renowned storyteller, joins Amit Varma in episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. Which one? Who knows? Schrödinger's Shenoy. Also check out: 1. Simblified, co-hosted by Narendra Shenoy. 2. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 3. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. EconTalk (hosted by Russ Roberts) and Conversations With Tyler (hosted by Tyler Cowen). 5. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 6. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 7. Getting Meta, hosted by Deepak Gopalakrishnan. 8. Why I Am Not a Christian -- Bertrand Russell. 9. A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma. 10. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why -- Amit Varma. 11. The Paperclip Maximiser. 12. Self-Esteem (and a Puddle) -- Amit Varma. 13. Dekalog -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. (And Roger Ebert's essay on it.) 14. Restaurant Regulations in India -- Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 15. We want Narendra Shenoy to write a book. 16. Masala Lab -- Krish Ashok. 17. Deep Work -- Cal Newport. 18. How to Escape From the Shallows -- Amit Varma. 19. Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative. 20. Collected Poems -- Mark Strand. 21. Duty Calls -- XKCD. 22. Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity. 23. On Bullshit -- Harry G Frankfurt. 24. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 25. Kashi Ka Assi -- Kashinath Singh. 26. Sam Harris on Amazon. 27. 3Blue1Brown on YouTube. 28. TheBackyardScientist on YouTube. 29. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 30. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 31. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 32. Early Indians -- Tony Joseph. 33. Thinking Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. 34. PG Wodehouse on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by Intel. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Nov 1, 2021 • 2h 58min
Ep 249: Dial C For Snehal Pradhan
C is for Cricket. C is also for Creator. Snehal Pradhan, former fast bowler for the Indian team and current superstar creator, joins Amit Varma in episode 249 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights on both these ecosystems. Also check out: 1. Snehal Pradhan's website, newsletter, YouTube Channel, Instagram and Twitter. 2. An Equal Hue -- Senhal Pradhan, Karunya Keshav and Sidhanta Patnaik. 3. The Fire Burns Blue: A History of Women's Cricket in India -- Karunya Keshav and Sidhanta Patnaik. 4. A Day in the Life of an IPL Cricket Commentator -- Snehal Pradhan. 5. The Writing Habit behind the Spirit of Cricket -- Snehal Pradhan. 6. Why I regret my Cricket Coaching Journey -- Snehal Pradhan. 7. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 8. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World, featuring Jonathan Haidt in conversation with Vasant Dhar. 9. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors -- Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. India Women v Pakistan Women, May 9, 2008 -- Snehal Pradhan's official ODI debut. 11. How to Film the Most Epic Coffee B Roll -- Peter McKinnon. 12. Why Virat Kohli is right to leave out Ravichandran Ashwin -- Snehal Pradhan. 13. Trainer Tips -- Nicholas Oyzon's Pokemon Go Vlog. 14. The State of Indian Sport -- Episode 238 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya & Nandan Kamath). 15. The Sports, Law and Policy Centre. 16. Ladies and Lords: A History of Women’s Cricket in Britain -- Rafaelle Nicholson. 17. Opportunity, Choice and the IPL (2008) — Amit Varma. 18. Double Trouble with Smriti and Jemi -- YouTube playlist of Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues's talk show. 19. Earlier sports-related episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Harsha Bhogle, Sharda Ugra, Joy Bhattacharjya, Ramachandra Guha, Prem Panicker, Gideon Haigh+Prem Panicker, Joy Bhattacharjya+Nandan Kamath and Ayaz Memon. 20. Earlier episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala and Neelesh Misra. This episode is sponsored by Intel. This episode is co-sponsored by CricHeroes, the national app of Cricketistan. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

4 snips
Oct 25, 2021 • 3h 26min
Ep 248: The Decline of the Congress
The Congress Party once dominated Indian politics. Today, it's on the outside looking in. Rahul Verma joins Amit Varma in episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the complex social and political factors behind this massive decline. Also check out: 1. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 2. Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India -- Pradeep K Chhibber and Rahul Verma. 3. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 4. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 5. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 6. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 7. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 8. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 9. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 10. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Emergency of 1975 -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash). 12. India’s Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 13. The Business of Winning Elections -- Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh). 14. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 15. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking -- Amit Varma. 16. Caste in Indian Politics -- Rajni Kothari. 17. Politics In India -- Rajni Kothari. 18. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma. 19. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 20. Myron Weiner, Saadat Hasan Manto, Shivani and Harishankar Parsai on Amazon. 21. Murdahiya -- Dr Tulsiram. 22. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) -- Shrilal Shukla. 23. Dynastic parties: Organization, finance and impact -- Pradeep Chhibber. 24. 24 Akbar Road -- Rashid Kidwai. 25. Congress after Indira: Policy, Power, Political Change -- Zoya Hasan. 26. The future of the Congress party -- A Conversation between Yamini Aiyar, Zoya Hasan and Rahul Verma. 27. Why big companies squander brilliant ideas -- Tim Harford. 28. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? -- Amit Varma. 29. Mahua Moitra interviewed by Barkha Dutt. 30. Democracy without Associations -- Pradeep K Chibber. 31. Are You Anchored to the Past? -- Amit Varma. This episode is sponsored by Intel. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

56 snips
Oct 18, 2021 • 3h 33min
Ep 247: The Business of Winning Elections
Our political parties suck at governance but excel at narratives, as that's what wins them elections. Shivam Shankar Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his experiences at the heart of different political machines. Also check out: 1. How to Win an Indian Election -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 2. The Art Of Conjuring Alternate Realities -- Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan. 3. LAMP Fellowships. 4. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites. 5. Why I Am Resigning From the BJP -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 6. Is Parliament’s questions system broken? — Here’s how to fix it! -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 7. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on China, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 8. In Absentia: Where are India’s conservative intellectuals? -- Ramachandra Guha. 9. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 10. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 11. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam. 12. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 13. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled -- Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 14. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 15. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 16. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 17. Hamsini Hariharan's tweet on 'Indic'. 18. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 19. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma. 20. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive! 21. Fighting Fake News -- Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 22. Range Rover -- The archives of Amit Varma's poker columns for the Economic Times. 23. A Tale Of Two Bandits: Naxals And The Indian State -- Amit Varma 24. Power and Prosperity -- Mancur Olson. 25. When Crime Pays — Milan Vaishnav. 26. Crime in Indian Politics -- Episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Milan Vaishnav). 27. Politics -- A limerick by Amit Varma. 28. Government's End -- Jonathan Rauch. 29. The Anti-Defection Law -- Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 30. The Barkha Dutt Files -- Episode 243 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barkha Dutt). 31. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 32. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 33. How the BJP wins: Inside India’s Greatest Election Machine -- Prashant Jha. 34. The BJP’s Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 35. Politics and the Sociopath -- Amit Varma. 36. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 37. The Dictator's Handbook -- Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. 38. The Psychology of Money -- Morgan Housel. 39. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph. 40. India’s Security State -- Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph). 41. Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.