The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

The tables are turned in episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. Host Amit Varma is in the firing line, replying to questions from 22 of his past guests and fans as Shruti Rajagopalan plays proctor. They talk about poker, podcasting, politics, policy and the personal.  Show Notes 1. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Shruti Rajagopalan (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Manu Pillai (98, 127, 156), VK Karthika, Rajat Ubhaykar, Chinmay Tumbe, Prem Panicker (41, 46), Joy Bhattacharjya, Akshaya Mukul, Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma, Manimugdha Sharma, Supriya Gandhi, Harsha Bhogle, Karthik Muralidharan, Srinath Raghavan (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Pranay Kotasthane (1, 2), Hamsini Hariharan (1, 2, 3, 4), Russ Roberts, Arvind Subramanian, Ram Guha (1, 2, 3), Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Narayani Basu, Amardeep Singh, Aakar Patel, Rahul Verma, Ashok Malik, Barun Mitra+Kumar Anand, Matt Ridley, Neelesh Misra, Puja Mehra, Rajeswari Sengupta (1, 2), Aanchal Malhotra, Alex Tabarrok (1, 2, 3), Madhavi Menon and Mohit Satyanand (1, 2, 3, 4) 2. A Godless Congregation -- Amit Varma. 3. Agarkar’s Donkeys: A Meditation on God -- Amit Varma. 4. Luck is All Around -- Amit Varma. 5. Why I Loved and Left Poker -- Amit Varma. 6. The archives of Amit Varma's poker column for the Economic Times, Range Rover. 7. Selected works by George Orwell: Essays, 1984, Animal Farm. 8. Selected Works by Frédéric Bastiat: The Law, That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen. 9. A World of Stopped Watches — Amit Varma. 10. A Picture of Hell, and No Kerosene -- Amit Varma. 11. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? -- Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi, featuring Amit Varma discussing Friedrich Hayek. 12. Facts Don’t Matter. Stories Do -- Amit Varma. 13. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 14. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 15. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 16. Almost Invisible -- Mark Strand. 17. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro. 18. The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkien. 19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon. 20. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? -- Thomas Nagel. 21. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt. 22. Haal-Chaal Theek Thaak Hai -- Subrat and Pavan. 23. The Road to Serfdom -- Friedrich Hayek. 24. The Intellectuals and Socialism -- Friedrich Hayek. Also check out Amit Varma being interviewed on libertarianism, public choice theory, the math of sports, IPL & T20 cricket, and assorted subjects. You can now buy Seen/Unseen swag. And a four-volume anthology is on the way. And ah, registrations are now open for Amit's online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.

Figuring out what consumers want is pretty similar to figuring out what society wants. Adman and author Ambi Parameswaran joins Amit Varma in episode 199 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights from his decades in advertising, and the many books he has written. Also check out: 1. Spring: Bouncing Back From Rejection -- Ambi Parameswaran. 2. Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles: India through 50 Years of Advertising -- Ambi Parameswaran. 3. Sponge: Leadership Lessons I Learnt From My Clients -- Ambi Parameswaran. 4. For God's Sake: An Adman on the Business of Religion -- Ambi Parameswaran. 5. Ambi Parameswaran's talk at Godrej India Culture Lab. 6. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 7. Gender Advertisements -- Erving Goffman. 8. Airtel -- The Boss TVC. 9. Fair and Lovely -- The Air Hostess TVC. 10. Santoor -- The Aerobics & Flute TVCs. 11. Titan Fastrack 'Come out of the Closet' TVC. And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.

As our cities are growing, our citizens are growing apathetic. Can we reassert our rights and reform our governance? Ashwin Mahesh joins Amit Varma in episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen for a wide-ranging conversation on urban governance, citizenship, education and much more. Also check out: 1. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 2. Ashwin Mahesh's website. 3. A New, Urban India -- Ashwin Mahesh. 4. The Publicly Managed City -- Ashwin Mahesh. 5. The tweets by Sabyasachi Kar and Naval Ravikant. 6. Tiago Forte's Second Brain, & videos on Roam Research by Thomas Frank & Ali Abdaal. 7. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 8. Our Unlucky Children (2008) -- Amit Varma. 9. The Element -- Ken Robinson. 10. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 11. Reforming Urban Governance -- Episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen (w V Ravichandar). 12. Is India a Flailing State? -- Lant Pritchett. 13. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 14. Prisoners of Geography -- Tim Marshall. 15. The Importance of Cities -- Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani.) 16. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro. 17. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs. 18. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 19. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.

Stories and conversations can shape the world, and ourselves, in ways that we often don't appreciate. Neelesh Misra joins Amit Varma in episode 197 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about his journey as a storyteller and interviewer. Also check out: 1. Neelesh Misra's YouTube page. 2. Gaon Connection. 3. Slow. 4. Neelesh Misra's interviews with Pankaj Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sanjay Mishra, Piyush Mishra, Vishal Bhardwaj, Ayushmann Khurrana, Anurag Kashyap, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tapsee Pannu, Manoj Bajpayee, Swanand Kirkire and Varun Grover. 5. Neelesh Misra's books on Amazon. 6. Papa Se Shart -- Neelesh Misra. 7. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa -- Neelesh Misra. 8. Maine Dil Se Kaha Dhoond Laana Khushi. 9. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 10. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 11. A World of Stopped Watches -- Amit Varma. 12. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 13. Story -- Robert McKee. 14. The Seven Basic Plots -- Christopher Booker. And do check out Amit’s online courses, The Art of Clear Writing and The Art of Podcasting.

Good data journalism can reveal otherwise unseen truths about our society. Pioneering journalist Rukmini S joins Amit Varma in episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the insights data brought to her journalism, and her groundbreaking podcast on Covid-19, The Moving Curve. Also check out: 1. The Moving Curve -- Rukmini S's podcast, also on all podcast apps. 2. Rukmini S at HuffPost, Hindu, Scroll, Mint,Times of India (1, 2) and India Spend. 3. Canary -- Amy Brittain's podcast. 4. How the Coronavirus Could Take Over Your Body (Before You Ever Feel It) -- Jeff Wise. (This is the piece mistakenly referred to in this episode as an Atlantic article.) 5. Muslim Population Growth Slows -- Rukmini S & Vijaita Singh (2015). 6. The Art of Narrative Nonfiction -- Episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Samanth Subramanian). 7. Raag Darbari (Hindi) (English) -- Shrilal Shukla 8. Memories and Things -- Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 9. India’s coronavirus lockdown takes toll on migrant workers -- Rukmini S. 10. The First 100 -- The ProPublica investigation in Chicago. 11. Ideology and Identity -- Pradeep K Chhibber and Rahul Verma. 12. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 13. Somesh Jha at Business Standard.14. Covid19india.org. 15. Taking Stock of Covid-19 -- Episode 169 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 16. The Nuances of Lockdown -- Episode 176 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anup Malani). 17. India’s Economy in the Time of Covid-19 -- Episode 177 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 18. Our Cities After Covid-19 -- Episode 191 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vaidehi Tandel). 19. Data Journalism and Indian Politics -- Episode 136 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Roshan Kishore). 20. The State of the Media -- Episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 21. The State of the Media 2 -- Episode 89 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sidharth Bhatia & Peter Griffin). 22. What Happened to Our Journalism? -- Episode 178 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nidhi Razdan). And do check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Decades after the trauma of separation, Partition remains with us. Aanchal Malhotra joins Amit Varma in episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her work in excavating the memories of Partition survivors through the objects they carried with them -- and their resonance in these modern times.  Also check out: 1. Aanchal Malhotra's website. 2. Remnants of a Separation -- Aanchal Malhotra.   3. Museum of Material Memory. 4. Profile of Aanchal Malhotra by Mayank Austen Soofi, 2010. 5. Nanak Was Here -- Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh). 6. Imaginary Number -- Vijay Seshadri. 7. Punjabi Tappe on YouTube. 8. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Trucker -- Episode 192 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajat Ubhaykar). And do check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

The constitution of India, it has been said, is not a book but a periodical. Starting with Jawaharlal Nehru, every prime minister who wanted to do something unconstitutional simply amended the constitution. Tripurdaman Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss India's First Amendment, which began a rot that never ended. Also check out: 1. Sixteen Stormy Days -- Tripurdaman Singh. 2. Imperial Sovereignty and Local Politics -- Tripurdaman Singh. 3. The books of CA Bayly. 4. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments. 5. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 6. 'Not murder but mimicry' -- Kapil Komireddi's tweet. 7. Modi's Lost Opportunity -- Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz). 8. India's Greatest Civil Servant -- Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu). 9. India's Founding Moment -- Madhav Khosla. 10. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 11. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 12. The Emergency of 1975 -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash). 13. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma. 14. Dark Days Lie Ahead -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. And do check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

The conflict between the government and the central bank seems like an arcane one that only wonks care about -- but it affects the lives of all of us. Viral Acharya joins Amit Varma in episode 193 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why we should all join him in the battle against Fiscal Dominance.  Also check out: 1. Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India -- Viral Acharya. 2. Viral Acharya at NYU Stern. 2. Guaranteed to Fail -- Viral Acharya et al. 3. Indian Banks: A Time to Reform? -- Viral Acharya and Raghuram Rajan. 4. On the Importance of Independent Regulatory Institutions –The Case of the Central Bank -- Viral Acharya's AD Shroff Memorial lecture 2018. 5. Yaadon Ke Silsile -- Viral Acharya. 6. Viral Acharya interviewed by Ira Dugal, Mitali Mukherjee, Vivek Kaul and Anantha Narayan. 7. Lakshya Ko har Haal Mein Paana Hai. 8. Rahul Dravid at Headingley, Adelaide and Rawalpindi. 9. What Really Happened? -- Lawrence H White on the 2008 Financial Crisis. 10. Zombie Firms and Creative Destruction -- Episode 118 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). And do check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

There is much romance in being on the open road, always on the move. But not for the long-distance trucker, trapped in a moving cocoon, always travelling but getting nowhere slowly. Rajat Ubhaykar joins Amit Varma in episode 192 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his insights from hitchhiking around India on trucks. Also check out: 1. Truck de India!: A Hitchhiker's guide to Hindustan -- Rajat Ubhaykar. 2. A Free Man -- Aman Sethi. 3. English, August -- Upamanyu Chatterjee. 4. Bird on the Wire -- Leonard Cohen. 5. Why Children Labour -- Amit Varma. 6. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 7. Dreamers -- Snigdha Poonam. 8. Aloo Posto recipes: 1, 2, 3, 4. 9. Amit Varma's India Uncut posts from Peshawar (2006): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 10. A Tale Of Two Bandits: Naxals And The Indian State -- Amit Varma. 11. Power and Prosperity -- Mancur Olson. 12. The Roving Bandits of Uttar Pradesh -- Episode 4 of Econ Central. 13. Jeevan Ke Safar Mein Rahi. Also check out Amit Varma's online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

In normal times, cities are an engine of prosperity. In these strange times, they are also an engine of pandemic. Vaidehi Tandel joins Amit Varma in episode 191 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how important cities are to civilisation, and how Covid-19 will affect the way we live. Also check out: 1. COVID-19 a Grim Reminder for Govts -- Vaidehi Tandel. 2. Don’t Blame Dense Cities. They Have Been Resilient -- Reuben Abraham and Vaidehi Tandel. 3. Why India Has the Fastest-Growing Cities -- Kadambari Shah, Vaidehi Tandel and Harshita Agarwal. 4. Cities and Pandemics Have a Long History -- Edward L Glaeser 5. A World of Cities: The Causes and Consequences of Urbanisation in Poorer Countries -- Edward L Glaeser. 6.  Cities After Coronavirus: How Covid-19 Could Radically Alter Urban Life -- Jack Shenker.   7.  Spatial Economics: The Declining Cost of Distance -- Karen Harris, Andrew Schwedel and Austin Kimson.   8. Triumph of the City -- Edward L Glaeser. 9. Order Without Design – How Markets Shape Cities -- Alain Bertaud. 10. The Importance of Cities -- Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani.) 11. The Seen and the Unseen episodes with Alex Tabarrok on FSI and Rent Control. 12. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 13. Taking Stock of Covid-19 -- Episode 169 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 14. The Nuances of Lockdown -- Episode 176 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anup Malani). 15. India’s Economy in the Time of Covid-19 -- Episode 177 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 16. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 17. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been -- Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 18. Rajesh Jain and Dhan Vapasi -- Episode 94 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajesh Jain). 19. Publish and Perish -- Agnes Callard. 20. Young Rural Women in India Chase Big-City Dreams -- Ellen Barry. 21. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma.