The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

The task of a journalist is to document the present moment. And there have been plenty of crazy present moments in India in the last 40 years. Vir Sanghvi joins Amit Varma in episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights on how our society, politics and media have been transformed over the course of his career. He also looks inwards. Also check out: 1. A Rude Life -- Vir Sanghvi. 2. Vir Sanghvi's books on Amazon. 3. Vir Sanghvi's homepage, Twitter and Instagram. 4. Travelling in the Time of Covid -- Vir Sanghvi. 5. Biryani Was Always Meant for the Masses and Not the Kings -- Vir Sanghvi. 6. Don’t Think Too Much of Yourself. You’re an Accident -- Amit Varma. 7. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald. 8. Kanti Bajpai on India vs China -- Episode 234 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 10. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 11. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 12. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 13. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 14. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 15. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 16. The Business of Books -- Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika). 17. Newsman's English -- Harold Evans. 18. Pictures on a Page -- Harold Evans. 19. Steven Van Zandt: Springsteen, the death of rock and Van Morrison on Covid -- Richard Purden. 20. Persuasion -- The newsletter founded by Yascha Mounk. 21. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 22. Econ Talk — Russ Roberts’s podcast. 23. Conversations With Tyler -- Tyler Cowen's podcast. 24. Making Sense -- Sam Harris's podcast. 25. Politics and the Sociopath -- Amit Varma. 26. Public Opinion -- Walter Lippmann. 27. On Bullshit -- Harry Frankfurt. 28. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma. 29. Religion, Food, Indian Society -- Episode 207 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shoba Narayan). 30. The Saffron Trail -- Episode 222 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nandita Iyer). 31. Imaginary Number -- Vijay Seshadri. 32. Sacred Games -- Vikram Chandra. 33. The Powers That Be -- David Halberstam. 34. Ramachandra Guha's books on Amazon. 35. Imagining India -- Nandan Nilekani. 36. Rebooting India -- Nandan Nilekani. 37. An Era of Darkness -- Shashi Tharoor (also published outside India as Inglorious Empire). This episode is sponsored by MapMyGenome. Use the code UNSEEN to get 50% off on their groundbreaking product, Genomepatri. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Back in the 19th century, women were supposed to stay home and learn cooking and needlework -- but some dared to fight the odds and get an education. Some even became doctors. Kavitha Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her new book on six pioneering lady doctors. Also discussed: the craft of writing and storytelling, and the endless possibility for late bloomers. Also check out: 1. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India's First Women in Medicine -- Kavitha Rao. 2. Kavitha Rao's other books on Amazon. 3. I grew up as an Indian expat in Iran, before the revolution -- Kavitha Rao. 4. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen -- Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 5. Crossing Thresholds -- Meera Kosambi. 6. A Fragmented Feminism -- Meera Kosambi. 7. The Art of Narrative Nonfiction -- Episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Samanth Subramanian). 8. Following Fish -- Samanth Subramanian. 9. A Dominant Character -- Samanth Subramanian. 10. Killers of the Flower Moon -- David Grann. 11. The Squid Hunter -- David Grann. 12. David Grann in the New Yorker. 13. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 14. Kerala and the Ivory Throne -- Episode 156 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 15. The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 16. Manu Pillai's books on Amazon. 17. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 18. Ira Mukhoty's books on Amazon. 19. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 20. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World -- Snigdha Poonam. 21. Bad Blood -- John Carreyrou. 22. 52.. 23. Collision -- Bhavya Dore. 24. The #MeToo Movement -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena). 25. Yentl -- Directed by Barbra Streisand (Wikipedia link). 26. The Gate of Angels -- Penelope Fitzgerald. 27. The Blue Flower -- Penelope Fitzgerald. 28. The Bookshop -- Penelope Fitzgerald. 29. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar, featuring Jonathan Haidt. 30. The BJP Before Modi -- Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 31. Superior -- Angela Saini. 32. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon). Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

What exactly is going on between India and China? When cooperation would lead to a win-win game, why is there conflict? Kanti Bajpai joins Amit Varma in episode 234 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his Four Ps framework for understanding this conflict. Also discussed: academia, public intellectuals, how one learns, and why writing and teaching make you a better thinker Also check out: 1. India Versus China : Why They Are Not Friends -- Kanti Bajpai. 2. Roots of Terrorism -- Kanti Bajpai. 3. Kanti Bajpai on Amazon. 4. The China Dude Is in the House -- Episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 5. The Dragon and the Elephant — Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharan & Shibani Mehta). 6. What Does China Want? — Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 7. Understanding Terrorism -- Amit Varma's 2007 review of Alan Krueger's What Makes a Terorrist.8. Soft Power: The Means To Success In World Politics -- Joseph Nye. 9. The Future of Power -- Joseph Nye. 10. Roam Research. 11. Why India and China Are Not Friends -- Kanti Bajpai on The Grand Tamasha podcast, hosted by Milan Vaishnav. 12. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game -- Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 13. The Hedgehog And The Fox -- Isaiah Berlin. 14. Kishore Mahbubani on Amazon. 15. Imagined Communities -- Benedict Anderson. 16. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 17. The Mahatma and the Poet — The Tagore-Gandhi debates. 18. From Heaven Lake -- Vikram Seth. 19. Finding India in China -- Anurag Viswanath. 20. Strangers across the Border -- Reshma Patil. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Public policy may seem like a dull subject fit only for wonks, but it matters: our lives are deeply affected by what our governments do. Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma in episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about his intellectual journey, his private beach and why public policy can be so stimulating. He also answers racy questions from the Twitterverse. If you share Pranay's interest in public policy, you should check out Takshashila's Graduate Certificate in Public Policy (GCPP). Also check out: 1. Anticipating the Unintended -- Pranay Kotasthane's newsletter (with RSJ). 2. Puliyabaazi -- Pranay Kotasthane's podcast (with Saurabh Chandra). 3. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal -- Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 4. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 5. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 6. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter -- Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley). 7. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? -- Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma). 8. Amit Varma's tweet thread soliciting questions for this episode. 9. Examples of Pranay Kotasthane's Mind Maps of books: 1, 2, 3. 10. Coggle. 11. The Lessons of History -- Will Durant. 12. Raj Comics. 13. The China Dude Is in the House -- Episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 14. A Case For Societism -- Pranay Kotasthane. 15. Pranay Kotasthane's Manthan talk on societism. 16. The Indian Dream Podcast episode with Amit Varma. 17. 8 things to unlearn before learning public policy -- Pranay Kotasthane. 18. The Double 'Thank-You' Moment -- John Stossel. 19.  Opportunity Cost Neglect in Public Policy -- Emil Persson and Gustav Tinghög. 20. Whose Money is it Anyway? -- Amit Varma. 21. The 4 Ways to Spend Money -- Milton Friedman. 22. Discover Your Inner Economist -- Tyler Cowen. 23. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 24. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah). 25. Amit Varma's prescient 2017 tweet on the price caps on stents. 26. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen on GST with Devangshu Datta, Vivek Kaul and Shruti Rajagopalan. 26. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread. 27. Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma 28. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Demonetisation with Suyash Rai and Shruti Rajagopalan. 29. The Delhi Smog -- Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 30. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist -- Bruce Yandle. 31. Pigs Don't Fly: The Economic Way of Thinking about Politics -- Russell Roberts. 32. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film -- Amit Varma. 33. Shubhra Gupta's review about which Tapsee Pannu kicked up such a fuss. 34. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 35. Wilson's Interest Group Matrix -- Charles Cameron from The Political Analyst’s Toolkit. 36. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working -- Jonathan Rauch. 37. The Great Redistribution -- Amit Varma. 38. Behave -- Robert Sapolsky. 39. Robert Sapolsky's lectures on YouTube. 40. Elite Imitation in Public Policy -- Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan & Alex Tabarrok). 41. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma. 42. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 43. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 44. The Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash). 45. How the BJP Wins -- Prashant Jha. 46. The BJP's Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 47. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 48. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ashwin Mahesh: 1, 2. 49. Understanding India Through Its Languages -- Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 50. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 51. Governing the Commons -- Elinor Ostrom. 52. Public Choice Theory -- Episode 121 of The Seen and the Unseen. 53. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 54. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 55. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines -- Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 56. The Indian Conservative -- Episode 145 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jaithirth Rao). 57. How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time -- Hal Varian. 58. A Scientist in the Kitchen -- Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 59. Modeling Covid-19 -- Episode 224 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gautam Menon). 60. Narratives on Exchange Rates in India -- Pranay Kotasthane. 61. Taking Stock of Our Economy -- Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik). 62. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro. 63. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs. 64. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister -- Amit Varma (on the importance of reading). 65. Selling Solutions vs Solving Problems -- Lant Pritchett. 66. Policy Paradox -- Deborah Stone. 67. The Mahatma and the Poet -- The Tagore-Gandhi debates. 68. Factfulness -- Hans Rosling. 69. Humankind: A Hopeful History -- Rutger Bregman. 70. A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis -- Eugene Bardach. 71. Essence of Decision -- Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow. 72. Banishing Bureaucracy -- David Osborne. 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.

The problem with the past is that it's over. How can we enter distant history and understand what happened? Language is one way. Peggy Mohan joins Amit Varma in episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights on what the evolution of our languages reveals about how we got here.  Also check out: 1. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages -- Peggy Mohan. 2. Peggy Mohan's books on Amazon. 3. Amit Varma's Twitter thread on episodes of The Seen and the Unseen about India. 4. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 5. India = Migration -- Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 6. The Art of Translation -- Episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arunava Sinha). 7. The Indianness of Indian Food -- Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 8. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish) (English) -- Gabriel García Márquez. 9. Songs of Kabir -- Translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 10. Essential Kabir -- Translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 11. I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd -- Translated by Ranjit Hoskote. 12. On Language -- Noam Chomsky. 13. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language -- Steven Pinker. 14. The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor -- Translated by WM Thackston Jr. 15. Guns, Germs and Steel: Jared Diamond. 16. Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism -- Niles Eldredge & Steven Jay Gould. (Also, criticism of it.) 17. Genesis of Ṛgvedic Retroflexion -- Madhav Deshpande. 18. Linguistics, Style and Writing in the 21st Century -- A talk by Steven Pinker. 19. Hindi Nationalism -- Alok Rai. 20. A House Divided: Origin and Development of Hindi/Hindavi -- Amrit Rai. 21. Hindustani Musalmaan - Hussain Haidry. 22. Hum Kagaz Nahin Dikhayenge -- Varun Grover. 23. The Emperor of All Maladies -- Siddhartha Mukherjee. 24. The Song of the Dodo -- David Quammen. 25. The Tangled Tree -- David Quammen. 26. Spillover -- David Quammen. 27. Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by Wondrium. Check out their series, The Story of Human Language. For free unlimited access for 14 days, click here. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Bollywood lost him, journalism wasted him, and thank goodness for that. Manoj Kewalramani, the foreign policy analyst also known as The China Dude, joins Amit Varma in episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his brilliant new book on post-Covid China, Smokeless War. Also discussed: Lokhandwala Cafes and the art of building narratives. Also check out: 1. Smokeless War: China's Quest for Geopolitical Dominance -- Manoj Kewalramani. 2. Eye on China -- Manoj Kewalramani's newsletter. (+ older archives at Pragati.) 3. The Takshashila Institution. 4. What Does China Want? -- Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 5. Chinese Foreign Policy -- Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 6. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal -- Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 7. The Dragon and the Elephant -- Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharan & Shibani Mehta). 8. Keeping India Safe -- Episode 219 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sushant Singh). 9. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 10. Profit = Philanthropy -- Amit Varma. 11. Under the Dome -- Documentary by Chai Jing. 12. The Invention of China -- Bill Hayton. 13. China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy -- Peter Martin. 14. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 15. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 16. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma (on Mao, sparrows, great leaps etc). 17. Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice — David Galula. 18. We Won’t Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace — Amit Varma. 19. Policy Paradox – The Art of Political Decision Making -- Deborah Stone. 20. Homeopathic Faith (2010) -- Amit Varma. 21. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 22. Where Anna Hazare Gets It Wrong -- Amit Varma. 23. Sample SSR consipracy theory: He's alive! 24. NCovMemory repository in English. 25. Terminus 2049. 26. Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City -- Fang Fang. 27. COVID-19, China and Anatomy of Fang Fang Phenomenon -- Hemant Adlakha. 28. Wealth and Power: China's Long March to the Twenty-first Century -- Orville Schell & John Delury.  29. Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism -- Maria Repnikova. 30. The China Questions – Critical Insights into a Rising Power -- Edited by Jennifer Rudolph & Michael Szonyi. 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.

His writing is self-reflective, his humour is self-deprecatory, and he's one of our finest writers on cinema. Jai Arjun Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how he to came to love cinema -- and how that love changed shape as he did. Also check out: 1. Jabberwock -- Jai Arjun Singh's blog. 2. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron: Seriously Funny Since 1983 -- Jai Arjun Singh. 3. The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee -- Jai Arjun Singh. 4. Popcorn Essayists -- Edited by Jai Arjun Singh. 5. Seeing is believing? An essay about encounters with religious cinema -- Jai Arjun Singh. 6. Meandering thoughts on the consumer-art relationship, glorification vs depiction, etc -- Jai Arjun Singh. 7. In praise of “commercial” acting -- Jai Arjun Singh. 8. One Moment Please -- Jai Arjun Singh's column for the Hindu. 9. Jai Arjun Singh at Mint Lounge, Scroll and First Post. 10. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 11. Lessons in Investing (and Life) -- Episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Deepak Shenoy). 12. Two Girls Hanging From a Tree -- Episode 209 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sonia Faleiro). 13. A Writer Learns to See -- Episode 215 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Annie Zaidi). 14. Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide 1991. 15. Amit Varma's Twitter threads on the MAMI festival from 2018 and 2019. 16. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 17. The House of the Dead -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 18. Psycho -- Alfred Hitchcock. 19. The 1980s films mentioned in this episode: Meri Jung, Mr India, Parinda, Tezaab, Eeshwar, Awaargi, Karma, Chameli Ki Shaadi, Saaheb, Teri Meherbaniya, Ghulami, Hathyar, Arjun. 20. Dogme 95 (on Wikipedia). 21. Sholay -- Ramesh Sippy.22. Jai Arjun Singh's many writings on Sholay. 23. We all live in a Cannibal Holocaust -- Amit Varma. 24. Ghost Stories -- Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee & Karan Johar. 25. Eyes Without a Face -- Georges Franju. 26. Amarcord & I Vitelloni -- Federico Fellini. 27. Moonlight -- Barry Jenkins. 28. David Dhawan and Krzysztof Kieślowski on Wikipedia. 29. Piku -- Shoojit Sirkar. 30. Jai Arjun Singh's writings on Piku. 31. Jai Arjun Singh's talk at TEDxNSIT. 32. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir. 33. Louie -- Louis CK. 34. Kabir Singh, Leni Riefenstahl & The Birth of a Nation. 35. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 36. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavita Krishnan). 37. How Social Media Threatens Society -- Episode 8 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar, featuring Jonathan Haidt. 38. The Philadelphia Story -- George Cukor. 39. The Wire -- created by David Simon. 40. Dekalog -- Krzysztof Kieślowski. 41. Casey Neistat on YouTube. 42. Alan Moore's books on Amazon. 43. Biwi aur Makan -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 44. Ace in the Hole -- Billy Wilder. 45. The Magic Faraway Tree Collecton -- Enid Blyton. 46. Mrutyunjay -- Shivaji Sawant. 47. The Unconsoled -- Kazuo Ishiguro. 48. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire -- Luis Buñuel. 49. Cinefan diary: Jean-Claude Carriere -- Jai Arjun Singh. 50. Pauline Kael on Amazon. This episode is sponsored by Wondrium. Check out their series, How to Look at and Understand Great Art. For free unlimited access for 14 days, click here. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

In these difficult times, no one's had a harder time than our medical professionals. They see death every day, and they fight it. What is it like to be a doctor in India? Lancelot Pinto joins Amit Varma in episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the practice of medicine in general, and the battle against Covid-19 in particular. Also discussed: the incentives of doctors, the importance of sleep, how to quit smoking, and the Epidemic of Sighing. Also check out: 1. Past episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19, featuring (in reverse chronological order) Ashwin Mahesh, Gautam Menon, Ajay Shah, Anirban Mahapatra, Ruben Mascarenhas, Chinmay Tumbe, Rukmini S, Vaidehi Tandel, Vivek Kaul, Anup Malani and Shruti Rajagopalan.  2. Robin Cook on Amazon. 3. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 4. The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet — Nina Teicholz. 5. UpToDate. 6. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 7. Money for nothing: The dire straits of medical practice in Delhi, India (2007) — Jishnu Das and Jeffrey Hammer.  8. Dunning-Kruger Effect (Wikipedia). 9. Poker at Lake Wobegon -- Amit Varma. 10. Bad Science -- Ben Goldacre. 11. Homeopathic Faith (2010) -- Amit Varma. 12. Beware of Quacks. Alternative Medicine is Injurious to Health -- Amit Varma. 13. Is it risky to push alternative medicine in Covid pandemic? -- Lancelot Pinto. 14. The Kavita Krishnan Files -- Episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Amit Varma’s episode of The Book Club on Mary Wollstonecraft. 16. Being Mortal -- Atul Gawande. 17. How Doctors Die -- Ken Murray. 18. Do not go gentle into that good night -- Dylan Thomas. 19. 24 & Ready to Die -- Economist documentary on euthanasia. 20. Complications -- Atul Gawande. 21. My Own Country -- Abraham Verghese. 22. Deep Medicine -- Eric Topol. 23. Other books by Gawande and Verghese.   24. The Looming Tower -- Lawrence Wright. 25. Do No Harm -- Henry Marsh. 26. The Rules of Contagion -- Adam Kucharski. 27. What Cricket Can Learn From Poker -- Amit Varma's essay on probabilistic thinking. 28. The Cochrane Collaboration. Links on Sleep 29. Lancelot Pinto's talk on sleep. 30. Lancelot Pinto on Sleep Apnea 31. What’s keeping you up at night? -- Lancelot Pinto. 32. Are you terrified of falling asleep? -- Lancelot Pinto. 33. Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams -- Matthew Walker. 34. Tetris Dreams. Links on Tobacco Cessation 35. Lancelot Pinto's Twitter thread on stopping smoking. 36. Global Adult Tobacco Survey. 37. The Odds of Ceasing to Smoke Tobacco -- A visual aid  Links on Tuberculosis 38. Tuberculosis Management by Private Practitioners in Mumbai, India: Has Anything Changed in Two Decades? -- Zarir Udwadia, Lancelot Pinto & Mukund Uplekar. 39. Private patient perceptions about a public programme -- Lancelot Pinto & Zareer Udwadia. 40. Mismanagement of tuberculosis in India: Causes, consequences, and the way forward -- Anurag Bhargava, Lancelot Pinto & Madhukar Pai. 41. A study on telemedicine during Covid-19 co-written by Lancelot Pinto. Links on Covid-19 42. An interview of Lancelot Pinto & Rajani Bhat by Govindraj Ethiraj. 43. India Covid SOS 44. Lancelot Pinto and others interviewed by Barkha Dutt on changed Covid protocols.. 45. Lancelot Pinto and others interviewed by Barkha Dutt on the use of steroids for Covid treatment. 46. Lancelot Pinto & Sumit Ray interviewed by Govindraj Ethirah on the need to update guidelines. 47. A CT scan for COVID merits a word of caution -- Lancelot Pinto. 48. Lancelot Pinto interviewed by Smitha Nair. 49. Comprehensive Guidelines for Management of COVID-19 patients. 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.

We're well into the 21st century, but Indian society seems stuck in ages past -- especially when it comes to the state of our women. Kavita Krishnan joins Amit Varma in episode 228 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her evolution as a feminist, and what she has learned from her activism.  Also check out: 1. Fearless Freedom -- Kavita Krishnan. 2. Kavita Krishnan's speech in the anti-rape protests of 2012. 3. Kavita Krishnan on the Tarun Tejpal verdict. 4. Kavita Krishnan's Facebook posts on stalking and marital rape. 5. Gendered Discipline in Globalising India -- Kavita Krishnan. 6. Kavita Krishnan's Twitter thread on the Mahmood Farooqui case. 7. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 8. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 9. Metrics of Empowerment -- Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta and Hamsini Hariharan). 10. The #MeToo Movement -- Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 11. An Economist Looks at #MeToo -- Episode 92 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 12. Misogyny is the Oldest Indian Tradition -- Amit Varma. 13. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 14. Over 1600 Teachers Died of COVID-19 After Poll Duty for Panchayat Elections -- Manoj Singh. 15. Enid Blyton on Amazon. 16. Little Women -- Louisa May Alcott. 17. To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee. 18. The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories -- Kate Chopin. 19. Max Beerbohm and James Thurber on Amazon. 20. Crime and Punishment -- Fyodor Dostoevsky. 21. House of the Dead --  Fyodor Dostoevsky. 22. Leaves From the Jungle -- Verrier Elwin. 23. Private Truths, Public Lies -- Timur Kuran. 24. Ram Ke Naam -- Documentary by Anand Patwardhan. 25. The City & the City -- China Miéville. 26. Remembering Chandu, Friend and Comrade -- Kavita Krishnan. 27. Revolutionary Desires: Women, Communism, and Feminism in India -- Ania Loomba. 28. Song of Myself -- Walt Whitman. 29. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman -- Mary Wollstonecraft. 30. Amit Varma's episode of The Book Club on Wollstonecraft's book. 31. Who Stole Feminism? -- Chistina Hoff Sommers. 32. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 33. Feminism for the 99% -- Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya & Nancy Fraser. 34. Resisting State Injustice -- Episode 120 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jason Brennan). 35. Marxvaad Aur Ram Rajya -- Karpatri Maharaj. 36. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 37. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 38. A People's Constitution -- Rohit De. 39. Does India take its national symbols too seriously? -- Jan 2008 episode of We the People. 40. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 41. Early Indians -- Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 42. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon). 43. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 44. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 45. Love jihad laws are a backlash to India’s own progress -- Shruti Rajagopalan. 46. The Jackson Katz quote on passive sentence constructions. 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.

The Indian economy has been going downhill for a decade now. How has Covid-19 affected it? Ila Patnaik joins Amit Varma in episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen to take stock of where we are today, and where we go from here. Also check out: 1. Ila Patnaik at NIPFP, The Print, YouTube, Indian Express & Business Standard. 2. Asia Confronts the Impossible Trinity -- Ila Patnaik & Ajay Shah. 3. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines -- Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 4. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 5. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 6. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 7. India’s Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 8. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra. 9. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 10. The Fight of the Central Banker -- Episode 193 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Viral Acharya). 11. Pandemonium in India’s Banks -- Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay.) 12. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 13. The Indian Economy in 2019 -- Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 14. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) -- Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand). 15. Twelve Dream Reforms -- Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta and Vivek Kaul.) 16. The Seen and the Unseen episodes on Demonetisation and GST. 17.  Most of Amit Varma’s writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread.   18. Understanding Indian Healthcare -- Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 19. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 20. Past episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19, featuring (in reverse chronological order) Ashwin Mahesh, Gautam Menon, Ajay Shah, Anirban Mahapatra, Ruben Mascarenhas, Chinmay Tumbe, Rukmini S, Vaidehi Tandel, Vivek Kaul, Anup Malani and Shruti Rajagopalan. 21. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma. 22. Anup Malani on India’s COVID Second Wave — Episode 13 of Season 5 of Grand Tamasha, hosted by Milan Vaishnav. 23. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott. 24. Milton Friedman and PJ O'Rourke on Amazon. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.