Rahul Matthan, an expert in privacy and data governance, joins Amit Varma to discuss the challenges of adapting laws to technological advancements and the importance of privacy protection. They explore topics such as intentional relationships, personal knowledge management, reading habits, algorithms in advertising, the evolution of privacy, ethical dilemmas in AI, the role of the court in making laws, cultural norms, entrepreneurship, envisioning the future, and the impact of technology. They also delve into building a digital public infrastructure, intermediary liability, and designing technology with privacy values.

Danish Husain, a writer, actor, poet, and storyteller, talks about his life and learnings. Topics include transformative power of art, fluidity of time, pausing and assessing during transitions, the power of resonant poetry, existential angst and search for home, acquired identities versus inherited identities, positive interactions in concrete spaces, lack of dialogue and toxic online groups, preserving cultures and languages, importance of disseminating knowledge and overcoming prejudices, politics in language and gender formulations, impact of language on reading, anxieties of identity and self-reflection, significance of form in music and performance, trade-off between artistic integrity and validation, importance of sound and rhythm in theater and poetry, Dastanghui performance art, storytelling and social media engagement, challenges faced by artists in the creator economy, pursuing a career in acting, dangers of 'follow your heart' advice, transitioning from theatre to cinema, power of sharing personal stories and shifting perspectives through art, and discussion on two poems.

Semiconductors power modern technology and have a significant impact on geopolitics. Pranay Kotasthane and Abhiram Manchi discuss the complexities of the semiconductor supply chain, the historical context of Bell Labs, the race for technological superiority, challenges in the semiconductor industry in India, and future trends in tech wars and geopolitics. They also explore the alignment between private players and national governments in the semiconductor industry.

Seema Sirohi, a foreign correspondent with over 30 years of experience covering US-India relations, joins Amit Varma to discuss her book and the love-hate relationship between both countries. They explore challenges of reporting, the diminishing space for different viewpoints in India, the complex dynamics of the US-India relationship, the Afghan war, the Indian nuclear deal, and the evolving India-US relations under different administrations. They also touch on challenges of decoupling from China, the future of trade, India's geopolitical scenarios, and offer advice to aspiring journalists.

What is this world we live in, and how did we get here? One of the finest thinkers on this subject is in the house. Santosh Desai joins Amit Varma in episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Indian society and this changing world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Santosh Desai on Twitter, the Times of India, LinkedIn, Futurebrands and his own website. 2. Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense Of Everyday India -- Santosh Desai. 3. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 4. The Slimfit Conspiracy -- Santosh Desai. 5. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Great Indian Rope Trick? -- Santosh Desai. 7. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 8. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! — Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 10. Nick Carter, PG Wodehouse and Arthur Hailey on Amazon. 11. Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco on Amazon. 12. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (1877-1977) — Compiled & edited by Bill Frindall. 13. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma’s column on reading. 14. Dom Moraes on Amazon, Wikipedia, Britannica and Poem Hunter. 15. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 16. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 17. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 19. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 20. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam. 21. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 22. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 23. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 24. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 25. The Guilty Pleasures of Digital Dawdling -- Santosh Desai. 26. 30 years on, you can get what you want but don’t know what you need -- Santosh Desai. 27. How traditions give meaning to our lives -- Santosh Desai. 28. The Median Voter Theorem. 29. Mohammad Zubair’s Twitter thread on the Dharam Sansad. 30. Inverting the Behaviour Change Paradigm? -- Santosh Desai. 31. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 32. Jayaprakash Narayan Wants to Mend Our Democracy -- Episode 334 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 34. Living Two Lives in Digital India -- Santosh Desai. 35. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 36. The Experience Machine. 37. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 38. Song of Myself — Walt Whitman. 39. Baaba Maal and Advaita on Spotify.. 40. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Paul Cézanne, Krishen Khanna, Jayasri Burman and Gogi Saroj Pal. 41. Sudhir Kakar, Ashis Nandy, Roland Barthes, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong and John Berger on Amazon. 42. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘He Sees Everything’ by Simahina.

KP Krishnan, an influential Indian administrative service officer, shares insights on shaping policy, elite power in India, the impact of social media, migration of the Agarharams, evolution of thinking, education at Delhi University, being a Renaissance person, top-down transformation, reformers in government, implementing pension reforms, introducing currency derivatives, facing the 2008 financial crisis, membership in the FATF, skills of politicians, history of pension reforms, and inflation targeting in the economy.

Motherhood is a terrifying condition that changes a woman's life forever. Forget coping with it -- how do you even understand it? Priya Mathews and Gunjan Grover Gupta join Amit Varma in episode 354 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss all they have learnt from being mothers, processing the experience, and their cult podcast, The Mommy Mix Tape. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Priya Mathews and Gunjan Grover Gupta on Instagram.. 2. The Mommy Mix Tape -- The most awesome parenting podcast ever by Priya Mathews, Bakul Dua and Gunjan Grover Gupta. 3. The Mommy Mix Tape on Instagram. 4. A Life's Work -- Rachel Cusk. 5. Of Woman Born -- Adrienne Rich. 6. The Child, the Family, and the Outside World -- Donald Winnicott. 7. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra (1, 2), Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar, Rohini Nilekani and Shaili Chopra. 8. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 9. Gaurav Chintamani on Instagram. 10. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel. 11. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 12. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 14. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 16. Pallavi Aiyar Has Seen the World -- Episode 351 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Babies and Bylines — Pallavi Aiyar. 18. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 19. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 20. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 21. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 22. Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World — Episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. The Nurture Assumption -- Judith Rich Harris. 24. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 25. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 26. Happiness Class: A Film by Samina Mishra. 27. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 29. Hold on to Your Kids -- Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté. 30. The Breeders on Disney Hotstar. 31. My Daughter's Mum -- Natasha Badhwar. 32. I Will -- The Beatles. 33. All You Need is Love -- Shelja Sen. 34. The Whole-Brain Child -- Daniel J Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson. 32. Frances Ha -- Noah Baumbach. 33. The Lost Daughter -- Maggie Gyllenhaal. 34. How to Apologize -- David LaRochelle & Mike Wohnoutka. 35. I Talk Like a River -- Jordan Scott & Sydney Smith. 36. Cry, Heart, But Never Break --  Glenn Ringtved & Charlotte Pardi. 37. A Stone For Sascha -- Aaron Becker. 38. Journey -- Aaron Becker. 39. How War Changed Rondo -- Romana Romanyshyn & Andriy Lesiv. 40. The Wanderer --  Peter Van den Ende. 41. Cicada -- Shaun Tan. 42. The Arrival -- Shaun Tan. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Mother Looking Out, Looking In’ by Simahina.

Apar Gupta, an advocate for digital rights in India, joins Amit Varma to discuss the impact of technology on our rights, the need for regulatory institutions, flaws in crony capitalism, the addictive nature of social media, their personal journey with technology, landmark cases on rights in India, and the power centralized in the Indian constitution.

Harsh Vardhan, an expert on the financial sector, joins Amit Varma to discuss his life and learnings. They explore topics such as banking without banks, consulting experiences, the impact of different languages and literatures, personal journey of self-discovery, regulatory capture, optimal mix of banking and regulation, and changing perceptions of time and history. They also touch on the nature of kindness and compassion, split brain experiments, the concept of rationality, and influential thinkers for India.

She's been a journalist,  travelled the world, lived in nine countries, fought and beaten cancer -- and written about it all in exquisite prose. Pallavi Aiyar joins Amit Varma in episode 351 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pallavi Aiyar on Substack, Amazon, Twitter and her own website. 2. Smoke and Mirrors -- Pallavi Aiyar. 3. Orienting -- Pallavi Aiyar. 4. Babies and Bylines -- Pallavi Aiyar. 5. The Acting Life -- Episode 189 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rasika Dugal and Mukul Chadda). 6. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 7. Orphaned and almost married at 10 -- Pallavi Aiyar about her grandmother. 8. Who's Afraid of Cola Colonialism? -- Pallavi Aiyar. 9. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 12. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Train-Track Figure -- Kay Ryan. 16. The Arias-Aiyar global khichdi -- Pallavi Aiyar. 17. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar's columns and homepage. 19. A tribute to my mother, Gitanjali Aiyar -- Pallavi Aiyar. 20. Confessions of a terrible guru -- Pallavi Aiyar. 21. Children and Death -- Pallavi Aiyar. 22. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar — Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 24. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. The Coming Collapse Of China -- Gordon G Chang. 26. Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkien. 27. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 28. We Are All Amits From Africa -- Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 29. How The Desperate Norwegian Salmon Industry Created A Sushi Staple -- Jess Jiang. 30. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! -- Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 31. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 32. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 33. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht — Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 34. Womaning in India — Mahima Vashisht’s newsletter. 35. Butter Chicken in Ludhiana -- Pankaj Mishra. 36. An End to Suffering -- Pankaj Mishra. 37. A Room of One's Own -- Virginia Woolf. 38. My Mother's Magic Jar of Happiness -- Pallavi Aiyar. 39. In between the Kingdoms of the Well and Sick -- Pallavi Aiyar. 40. Farewell, good breast -- Pallavi Aiyar. 41. I Am, I Am, I Am -- Maggie O'Farrell. 42. Reggaeton. 43. Bad Bunny on Spotify and YouTube. 44. Dekalog — Krzysztof Kieślowski. 45. Dead Poets Society -- Peter Weir. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Harbour’ by Simahina.