The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

Lieutenant General Prakash Menon, Director of the Strategic Studies Program at Takshashila Institution, shares insights on the credibility of the Indian Armed Forces amidst declining institutional trust. He examines the evolution of civil-military relations over decades and the challenges of military modernization due to budget constraints. The discussion includes the complexities of counterinsurgency in Kashmir, ethical dilemmas in military leadership, and the impact of nuclear deterrence on strategies. Menon emphasizes the importance of reforms to adapt to geopolitical changes.

Tawaifs played a unique role in Indian society and culture in the 19th century, but have since been either vilified or romanticized. Filmmaker and author Saba Dewan joins Amit Varma in episode 174 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the fascinating human stories behind this lost community. Also check out: 1. Tawaifnama -- Saba Dewan 2. The Other Song -- Saba Dewan 3. Films, Feminism, Paromita -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra) 4. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon) 5. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty) 6. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul) The Seen and the Unseen is a labour of love. Click here to support it.

So much of our history has been weaponized by politics -- especially the Mughal period. Manimugdha Sharma joins Amit Varma in episode 173 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on the tug of war around Emperor Akbar -- and why that history remains relevant even today. Also check out: 1. Allahu Akbar: Understanding the Great Mughal in Today's India -- Manimugdha Sharma. 2. Parthian Shot -- Manimugdha Sharma's column archives. 3. Manimugdha Sharma's reporting in Times of India. 4. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 5. The Ideas of Our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla), 6. The Many Cities of Delhi -- Episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rana Safvi). 7. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 8. Jahangir the Curious -- Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma). 9. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 10. The BJP's Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 11. Essential Kabir -- Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 12. White Mughals -- William Dalrymple. 13. Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jehan -- Ruby Lal. 14. The Bhagvad Gita in Urdu, recited by Ahmed Rashid Shervani at Manthan Samvaad. 15. The Early History of India -- Vincent Smith. 16. The Mughal Empire -- JF Richards. 17. The Agrarian System of Mughal India -- Irfan Habib. 18. Akbar and His India -- Irfan Habib. 19. The Western Way of War -- Victor Davis Hanson. 20. The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India -- Randolph GS Cooper. 21. Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India -- Iqtidar Alam Khan. 22. The Millennial Sovereign -- A Azfar Moin. 23. The German Way of War -- Robert Citino 24. When Titans Clashed -- David M Glantz & Jonathan M House.

There is much more to Delhi than Old Delhi and New Delhi. The stones bear witness to a rich history, with much drama and tumult. Rana Safvi joins Amit Varma in episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how the forgotten past of Delhi continues to shape its present. Also check out:1. Where Stones Speak -- Rana Safvi 2. The Forgotten Cities of Delhi -- Rana Safvi 3. Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi -- Rana Safvi 4. City of My Heart -- Rana Safvi 5. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon) 6. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai) 7. The Deccan Before Shivaji -- Episode 98 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai) 8. Kerala and the Ivory Throne -- Episode 156 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai) 9. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty) 10. Jahangir the Curious -- Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma) 11. Rebel Sultans -- Manu Pillai 12. Daughters of the Sun -- Ira Mukhoty 13. India in the Persianate Age -- Richard Eaton

Many entrepreneurs aim to plug a hole in the world. Some try to expand the universe. Mohit Satyanand joins Amit Varma in episode 171 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about why these are exciting times to be an angel investor. Also check out:1. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) -- Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand) 2. Poker and Stock Markets -- Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand) 3. Entrepreneurship: If You Love Them, Set Them Free -- Mohit Satyanand 4. Where Angels Fear to Tread -- Mohit Satyanand 5. Mohit Satyanand in conversation with Amitabh Kant at JLF.

So much of the lives of common people depends on the relationships between nations. But is foreign policy an arcane subject, meant only for wonks and elites? No! Pranay Kotasthane and Manoj Kewalramani join Amit Varma in episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen to demystify international relations. Note: This episode contains an update about how foreign policy will be affected by Covid-19. That sections begins at around 1 hr 57 minutes. Also check out: 1. Foreign Policy -- Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai) 2. What Does China Want? -- Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani) 3. Chinese Foreign Policy -- Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani) 4. China's Influence in South Asia -- Episode 22 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane) 5. Democracy in Pakistan -- Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Hamsini Hariharan) 6. India's Maldives Dilemma -- Episode 57 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane) 7. Radically Networked Societies -- Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane) 8. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan) 9. Libertarianism -- Episode 64 of The Seen and the Unseen 10. Foreign Policy: Time to Be a Major Player -- Pranay Kotasthane 11. We Live in Multiple Neighbourhoods -- Pranay Kotasthane 12. All That's Not New in Naya Pakistan -- Pranay Kotasthane 13. Ingredients of a New World Order -- Pranay Kotasthane 14. Pranay Kotasthane's newsletter, Anticipating the Unintended. 15. Manoj Kewalramani's newsletter, Eye on China.

How should India handle Covid-19? Every option on the table carries huge costs, and will take countless lives. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 169 of The Seen and the Unseen to help navigate the complex decisions that policy makers are being forced to make with little information. Also check out: 1. India must shut itself down to contain the coronavirus -- Shruti Rajagopalan (Mar 16) 2. Shruti Rajagopalan on India and the coronavirus -- Marginal Revolution (Mar 25) 3. The lockdown may be doing us more harm than good -- Shruti Rajagopalan (Mar 30) 4. Assessing Healthcare Capacity in India -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Abishek Choutagunta 5. Pandemic Policy in Developing Countries: Recommendations for India -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok 6. We have miles of roadblocks to remove before we sleep (Apr 13) -- Shruti Rajagopalan 7. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma 8. Urban Governance in India -- Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan) 9.Swachh Bharat -- Episode 82 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan) 10. Caste in Modern India -- Episode 52 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan) 11. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan) 12. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan) 13. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan) 14. Demonetisation -- Episode 2 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai) 15. The State of Our Farmers -- Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil) 16. India's Agriculture Crisis -- Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand) 17. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah) 18. The Great Redistribution -- Amit Varma 19. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen -- Frédéric Bastiat 20. The Law -- Frédéric Bastiat

There are over 6000 languages in the world. How can we possibly understand one another? Arunava Sinha joins Amit Varma in episode 168 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the importance of translation, and literature itself, in these divisive times.. Select books translated by Arunava: 1. Chowringhee -- Sankar 2. When the Time is Right -- Buddhadeva Bose 3. Shake the Bottle and Other Stories -- Ashapurna Debi 4. Seventeen -- Anita Agnihotri 5. Harbart -- Nabarun Bhattacharya 6.. The Greatest Bengali Stories Ever Told -- Arunava Sinha (ed) 7, The Moving Shadow: Electrifying Bengali Pulp Fiction -- Arunava Singa (ed) Also check out: 1. Why Translation Matters -- Edith Grossman 2. Through the Language Glass -- Guy Deutscher 3. Translating Neruda -- John Felstiner 4. The Task of the Translator -- Walter Benjamin 5. The Impossibility of Translating Homer into English -- Emily Watson Twitter thread 6. The Odyssey -- Homer (Trans. Emily Watson) 7. The Way by Swann's -- Marcel Proust (trans. Lydia Davis) 8. The Vegetarian -- Han Kang (trans. Deborah Smith) 9. The Business of Books -- Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika)

In 1906, a 13-year-old boy burnt down his school in a village in Kerala and ran away from home to work in the gold mines of Kolar. Decades later, he put this country together. Narayani Basu joins Amit Varma in episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the extraordinary life of VP Menon. Also check out: 1. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India -- Narayani Basu 2. Integration of the Indian States -- VP Menon 3. The Transfer of Power in India -- VP Menon 4. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan)

The man known as Guru Nanak was one of the great travellers of his time, passing through lands that are today spread across nine countries. Amardeep Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how he retraced Nanak's path -- and also about his efforts at documenting the Sikh heritage of Pakistan. Also check out: 1. Lost Heritage: The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan -- Amardeep Singh. 2. The Quest Continues: Lost Heritage -- Amardeep Singh. 3. Peering Soul -- A documentary by Amardeep Singh. 4. Peering Warrior -- A documentary by Amardeep Singh. 5. The Lost Heritage website. 6. Amardeep Singh on Facebook (Lost Heritage, Tapestry), Instagram and Twitter. 7. Hindu, Sufi or Sikh -- Steven W Ramey. 8. Our Colourful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 9. The History of Desire in India -- Episode 161 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhavi Menon). 10. The Truth About Us -- Sanjoy Chakravorty. You can email Amardeep at amardeepsinghranghar@yahoo.com.sg and whatsapp him at +65 9832 6508.