The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

"The Seen and the Unseen" hosted Amit Varma features guest Arghya Sengupta, influential in shaping legal policy. They discuss problems in India, the design of the Indian state, Bengali language dialects, the speaker's journey in law school, nuclear liability legislation, the lawmaking process in India, flaws in the constitution, power and criticism, evolution of the constitution, differences in constitutional frameworks, the importance of books in constitutional discourse, and the potential transformation of law by artificial intelligence.

Rakhshanda Jalil, an individual preserving a fading world or chronicling a changing one, joins Amit Varma to discuss literature, language and loss. They delve into the impact of weather on Delhi's architecture, the complex layers of a city beyond its buildings, changing family dynamics, the harmful effects of misogyny and communalism, Muslim identity in India, persistent themes in Indian politics, policies affecting women, the value of reading books and the mother tongue, Urdu literature, the formation of a progressive writers movement, global interconnectedness, the changing landscape of Urdu writing, the power of language, reflections on life, hope and despair in a changing world, and books, films, and music recommendations.

Writing helps you find yourself, and shape yourself. Nothing illustrates this better than the life & work of our guest today. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen to continue his journaling in the form of this conversation. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Amitava Kumar on Instagram, Substack, Twitter, Amazon, Vassar and his own website.. 2. The Yellow Book: A Traveller's Diary -- Amitava Kumar. 3. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar.. 4. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh. 6. The White Lioness -- Henning Mankell. 7. The Snow in Ghana -- Ryszard Kapuściński. 8. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 11. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept -- Elizabeth Smart. 13. Open City -- Teju Cole. 14. Intimacies -- Katie Kitamura. 15. Bradford -- Hanif Kureishi. 16. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 17. The Lonely Londoners -- Sam Selvon. 18. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- Alice Munro. 20. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron. 21. Vinod Kumar Shukla on Wikipedia and Amazon. 22. Waiting for the Barbarians -- JM Coetzee. 23. Paris, Texas -- Wim Wenders. 24. Janet Malcolm, Susan Sontag and Joan Didion on Amazon. 25. Iphigenia in Forest Hills -- Janet Malcolm. 26. Butter Chicken in Ludhiana -- Pankaj Mishra. 27. Hermit in Paris -- Italo Calvino. 28. In the Waiting Room -- Elizabeth Bishop. 29. Abandon the Old in Tokyo -- Yoshihiro Tatsumi. 30 The Push Man and Other Stories -- Yoshihiro Tatsumi. 31. Why I Write -- George Orwell. 32. Tum Na Jaane Kis Jahaan Mein Kho Gaye -- Lata Mangeshkar song from Sazaa. 33. Monsoon Wedding -- Directed by Mira Nair, written by Sabrina Dhawan. 34. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Mehdi Hassan. 35. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Ali Sethi. 36. Saaranga Teri Yaad Mein -- Mukesh song from Saranga. 37. Mohabbat Kar Lo Jee Bhar Lo -- Song from Aar Paar. 38. Mera Dil Ye Pukare, Aaja -- Lata Mangeshkar song from Nagin. 39. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars -- Kunal Purohit. 41. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche -- Haruki Murakami. 42. UP Girl Challenges CM Yogi To Arrest Her Over Oxygen Shortage -- Mojo Story. 43. Too Many Hurried Goodbyes -- Amitava Kumar. 44. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 45. Wheatfield with Crows -- Vincent van Gogh. 46. The Wind -- Warren Zevon. 47. El Amor de Mi Vida -- Warren Zevon. 48. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 50. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for The Economic Times. 51. Why I Loved and Left Poker -- Amit Varma. 52. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 53. The Bastiat Prize. 54. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 55. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 56. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 60. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 61. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 62. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 63. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. 64. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 65. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 66. The Undoing Project -- Michael Lewis. 67. The podcasts of Russ Roberts, Sam Harris and Tyler Cowen. 68. Roam Research: A note-taking too for networked thought. 69. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 70. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life -- Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 74. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 75. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 76. Pandemonium in India’s Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay). 77. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri). 78. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 79. Crossing Over With Deepak Shenoy — Episode 271 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 81. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 82. Brave New World -- Hosted by Vasant Dhar. 83. Among the Believers -- VS Naipaul. 84. Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle ka Naata Koi -- Soham Chatterjee sings for his dying mother. 85. Eric Weinstein Won’t Toe the Line — Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 86. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher -- Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 87. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil -- Hannah Arendt. 88. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker. 89. Particulate Matter -- Amitava Kumar. 90. A Seventh Man -- John Berger. 91. Khushwant Singh and Ved Mehta on Amazon. 92. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee. 93. Elizabeth Costello -- JM Coetzee. 94. Penelope Fitzgerald, VS Naipaul and Ashis Nandy on Amazon. 95. A House for Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 96. Sabbath's Theater -- Philip Roth. 97. Finding the Centre -- VS Naipaul. 98. Dinesh Thakur, not Dinesh Thakur. 99. Rajnigandha -- Basu Chatterjee. 100. Rules of Writing -- Amitava Kumar. 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: ‘The Storm Is Inside Me’ by Simahina.

Ranjit Hoskote, a poet, art critic, and cultural theorist, joins Amit Varma to discuss his life and work. Topics include multilingualism in art, influential poets and writing styles, insecurities of a poet, the power of translating poetry, and the impact of social media on discourse.

Krish Ashok and Narek Shenoy, experts on Indian culture and social media, have a fun conversation with Amit Varma discussing topics like bench pressing, vegetarians being evil, and the different meanings of ch*tiya. They also explore the flaws of airports, the negative effects of alcohol, and the importance of fortification in food. The conversation covers various subjects like Twitter, saris, homeopathic medicine, and the origins of engineering. Additionally, they touch on breaking social norms, the evolution of the human mind, the beauty of the raga Yaman, and the relationship between music and literature.

Urban planning expert Pritika Hingorani joins Amit Varma to share insights on city planning, government policies, and the intersection of economics and urban planning. They discuss the importance of good planning, the impact of technology on urban culture, and the challenges of translating ideas into action. They also touch on imposter syndrome, women in the workplace, and the failures of the Indian state in providing essential services.

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.