It is not the world that is the problem but the flawed ways in which we think about it. Gurwinder Bhogal joins Amit Varma in episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his interest in meta-cognition -- and what it reveals about us and the world. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Gurwinder Bhogal on Substack and Twitter. 2.  My Story -- Gurwinder Bhogal.  3.  Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things -- Gurwinder Bhogal. 4. The Perils of Audience Capture -- Gurwinder Bhogal. 5. Skin in the Game -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 6. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. 7. The Looking-Glass Shelf. 8. Nikocado Avocado -- Nicholas Perry's YouTube channel. 9. God is Not Great -- Christopher Hitchens. 10. The Coddling of the American Mind — Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. 11. A Biologist Explains Why Sex Is Binary -- Colin Wright. 12. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Think About Thinking’ by Simahina.

He's a freethinker who's never been scared to rattle orthodoxies. Eric Weinstein joins Amit Varma in episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about how he became the man he is. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Eric Weinstein on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and his own website. 2. Eric Weinstein on The Joe Rogan Experience (1, 2) and Lex Fridman (1, 2, 3, 4). 3. Eric Weinstein in Karjat, 1986. 4. The Road Not Taken -- Robert Frost. 5. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening -- Robert Frost. 6. Total Love -- Gur Bentwich. 7. Eric Weinstein in Kiev, 1989. 8. Eric Weinstein meets a harmonica friend. 9. The 27 Club. 10. Umwelt. 11. John Mayer and Blake Mills on Spotify. 12. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Desire -- Clementine Von Radics. 14. The Is-Ought Problem. 15. The Naturalistic Fallacy. 16. The Big Questions — Steven E Landsburg. 17. Hindi Nationalism — Alok Rai. 18. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron — Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 19. Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth-Century India — Jahnavi Phalkey. 20. The Law of Truly Large Numbers. 21. Unlikely is Inevitable — Amit Varma. 22. Poisson Point Process. 23. The Major-General song from The Pirates of Penzance. 24. The HMS Pinafore song. 25. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma (on Alpha Zero). 26. Alfred Hitchcock and The Beach Boys. 27. Roger Ebert on Mulholland Drive and Memento. 28. Joe Morgenstern and Bonnie and Clyde. 29. Creep -- Radiohead. 30. The Perils of Audience Capture -- Gurwinder Bhogal (on 'The Looking-Glass Self; and more). 31. David Bowie and Madonna. 32. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) -- Green Day. 33. I Can't Stand the Rain -- Ann Peebles. 34. Fast Car -- Tracy Chapman. 35. Planet Claire -- The B52s. 36. Dunning-Kruger Effect. 37. Imposter Syndrome. 38. Bethany Hamilton on Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram and her own website. 39. FOO Camp. 40. Gad Saad's poll on Like vs Respect. 41. Mary Oliver and Mark Strand. 42. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 43. The Great Brain -- John D Fitzgerald. 44. Pippi Longstocking -- Astrid Lindgren. 45. Tom Lehrer on Spotify. 46. Eric Weinstein on Kung Fu Panda. 47. Kung Fu Panda -- John Stevenson. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Endless Possibility’ by Simahina.

He gave up a staggeringly successful career to live a quiet life -- and now he shares his wisdom with us. Murali Neelakantan joins Amit Varma in episode 329 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life he has lived and the lessons he has learnt. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Murali Neelankantan on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2. An Idea of a Law School -- NR Madhava Menon, Murali Neelakantan and Sumeet Malik. 3. Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya -- Episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 6. It is immoral to have children. Here’s why — Amit Varma. 7. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 8. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Casino Royale -- Martin Campbell. 11. Schrödinger's cat. 12. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 13. Right to Education: Just another law -- Meera Neelakantan. 14. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 16. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 17. Major Navneet Vats SM. 18. Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To — David Sinclair. 19. The Lifespan Podcast by David Sinclair. 20. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 21. Loss Aversion. 22. Aandhi -- Gulzar. 23. Nowhere Near -- Yo La Tengo. 24. Dil Hi To Hai Na Sang o Hishat -- Abida Parveen. 25. Ranjish hi Sahi -- Mehdi Hasan. 26. Old Man -- Neil Young. 27. Oscar Wilde on Amazon and Wikipedia. 28. Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho -- Jagjit Singh. 29. Bonjour Tristesse -- Françoise Sagan. 30. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 31. Politics and the Sociopath (2014) — Amit Varma. 32. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 33. The Expanding Circle — Peter Singer. 34. Dunbar's number. 35. Rankthings.io by Aella and David. 36. Aella on Twitter and Substack. 37. Ye Humse Na Hoga -- Javed Akhtar. 38. All You Who Sleep Tonight -- Vikram Seth. 39. GCN +. 40. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. SVB, Banking and the State of the Economy -- Episode 323 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah and Mohit Satyanand). 43. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change -- Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Laws Against Victimless Crimes Should Be Scrapped — Amit Varma. 45. One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second-Class Citizens — Amit Varma. 46. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 47. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (on isomorphic mimicry, with Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 48. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 49. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon). 51. The Wealth of Nations -- Adam Smith. 52. The Theory of Moral Sentiments — Adam Smith. 53. Humesha Der Kar Deta Hoon Main -- Muneer Niazi. 54. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines — Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 55. Rustom -- Tinu Suresh Desai on the Nanavati case. 56. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 58. Mohit Satyanand on Twitter and Substack. 59. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 60. Richard Dawkins on unpleasant gods. 61. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life -- Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 62. Three Hundred Verses: Musings on Life, Love and Renunciation -- Bhartrihari. 63. Drug Price Controls -- Episode 29 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath). 64. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma — Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 65. Bottle of Lies — Katherine Eban. 66. The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. 67. Fire in the Blood -- Dylan Mohan Gray. 68. New York Stories -- Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen. 69. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 70. Kumārasambhava -- Kalidasa. 71. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking -- Susan Cain. 72. Goodbye, Mr Chips -- Sam Wood. 73. Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil -- Jim Goddard. 74. What Money Can't Buy -- Michael Sandel. 75. Tum Bilkul Hum Jaise Nikle -- Fehmida Riaz. 76.  Kuchh Log Tumhein Samjhaaenge -- Fehmida Riaz. 77. The Four Quadrants of Conformism — Paul Graham. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘This is the World’ by Simahina.

Her career spans decades and genres, and she's brought together worlds that seldom meet. Kiran Ahluwalia joins Amit Varma in episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her music and the ethic that binds it all together. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Song Timecodes: Rabba Ru: 34:56 Har Khayal : 01:06:00 Awara : 02:00:12 Dil: 03:08:30 Zindagi : 04:11:45 Pancake: 4:16:56 Jaane Jahan : 04:21:13 Mustt Mustt: 04:27:25 Hayat: 04:31:40 We Sinful Women : 4:36:40 Also check out: 1. Kiran Ahluwalia on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, YouTube,  Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and her own website. 2. Kashish: Attraction -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 3. Beyond Boundaries -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 4. Kiran Ahluwalia -- Kiran Ahluwalia. (Also see this.) 5. Wanderlust -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 6. Aam Zameen: Common Ground -- Kiran Ahluwalia (featuring Tinariwen and Terakaft). 7. Sanata: Stillness -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 8. 7 Billion -- Kiran Ahluwalia. (Also see this.) 9. Kiran Ahluwalia interviewed by Asia Blog. 10.  Kalpana Bharat, Narendra Datar, Padma Talwalkar and Vithal Rao. 11. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The War Against Cliche — Martin Amis. 16. Lament from Night Song -- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with Michael Brook. 17. Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hasan. 18. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 19. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 20. Souad Massi on Spotify and YouTube Music. 21. Pink Moon -- Nick Drake. (And also Amit's favourite Nick Drake song, Northern Sky.) 22. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Cities of Sleep -- Shaunak Sen. 24. All That Breathes -- Shaunak Sen. 25. Saving Face -- Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge. 26. My Octopus Teacher -- Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed. 27. Metamorphosis -- Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper. 28. Shooting Indians -- Ali Kazimi. 29. Kaifinama -- Sumantra Ghosal. 30. Garm Hava -- MS Sathyu. 31. Nainsukh -- Amit Dutta. 32. The Fall -- Tarsem Singh. 33. Timbuktu -- Abderrahmane Sissako. (Also check out the soundtrack.) 34. The Square -- Ruben Östlund. 35. Triangle of Sadness -- Ruben Östlund. 36. The Innocents -- Anne Fontaine. 37. Border -- Ali Abbasi. 38. The Hedgehog -- Mona Achache. 39. A Fraction Of The Whole -- Steve Toltz. 40. What is the What -- Dave Eggers. 41. Barabbas --  Pär Lagerkvist. 42. Tinariwen, Amadou & Mariam, Fatoumata Diawara, Khaira Arby, Tufail Niazi, Vithal Rao, Padma Talwalkar, Ulhas Kashalkar and Venkatesh Kumar on Spotify. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Listen to the Music’ by Simahina.

George Fernandes was an activist, politician, minister, thinker -- and was as complicated as the times he lived in. Rahul Ramagundam joins Amit Varma in episode 327 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his biography of Fernandes, the decades he lived through, and this country that kept changing, changing, changing. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rahul Ramagundam at Jamia Millia Islamia, Amazon, LinkedIn and Google Scholar. 2. The Life and Times of George Fernandes -- Rahul Ramagundam. 3. Gandhi's Khadi: A History of Contention and Conciliation -- Rahul Ramagundam. 4. Including the Socially Excluded -- Rahul Ramagundam. 5. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 6. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 7. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 8. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 9. A shoe store brings together two faces of 2002 Gujarat riots -- The Hindu. 10. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma. 11. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra). 12. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 13. The Decline of the Congress — Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 14. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 15. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 16. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma’s column on reading. 17. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 18. Love in the Time of Cholera --  Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 19. No One Writes to the Colonel -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 20. The Moon is Down -- John Steinbeck. 21. Is Paris Burning? -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 22. Freedom at Midnight -- Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. 23. Hermann Hesse and Henry Miller on Amazon. 24. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 25. Life among the Scorpions -- Jaya Jaitly. 26. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. 27. The Graham Staines murder. 28. Thomas Weber's books on Gandhi. 29. Coomi Kapoor Has the Inside Track -- Episode 305 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. The Emergency: A Personal History — Coomi Kapoor. 31. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 33. A Prisoner's Scrap-Book -- LK Advani. 34. Prison Diary -- Jayaprakash Narayan. 35. The Power Broker — Robert A Caro. 36. Robert A Caro on Amazon. 37. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 38. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie. 39. VS Naipaul on Amazon. 40. Idgah (Hindi) (English) -- Munshi Premchand. 41. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 42. Raw Umber: A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 43. Samuel Huntington on Wikipedia and Amazon. 44. Francis Robinson and Barbara Metcalf on Amazon. 45. India in the Persianate Age — Richard Eaton. 46. The New India Foundation. 47. Weapons of the Weak -- James C Scott. 48. The Causes of the Indian Revolt -- Syed Ahmed Khan. 49. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 50. Hindutva — VD Savarkar. 51. Annihilation of Caste -- BR Ambedkar. 52. Gandhi before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 53. Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World -- Ramachandra Guha. 54. Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Amazon. 55. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Fist’ by Simahina.

He taught international relations for a living, and he lived Indian culture -- food, clothes, music, films, languages, the whole package. Pushpesh Pant joins Amit Varma in episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his times and this beautiful country he loves so much. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pushpesh Pant on Amazon, Twitter and YouTube. 2. India: Cookbook -- Pushpesh Pant. 3. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Chandrahas Choudhury’s Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Devi : Tales Of The Goddess In Our Time -- Mrinal Pande. 9. Amader Shantiniketan — Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 10. 2001: A Space Odyssey — Stanley Kubrick. 11. In Praise of Slowness -- Carl Honore. 12. Tabiyat: Medicine and Healing in India and Other Essays --  Farokh Erach Udwadia. 13. Things to Leave Behind -- Namita Gokhale. 14. Raag Pahadi -- Namita Gokhale, translated by Pushpesh Pant. 15. Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy — Episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 17. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Lahron Ke Rajhans (Hindi) -- Mohan Rakesh. 19. India: A Sacred Geography -- Diana Eck. 20. Caste, Gender, Karnatik Music — Episode 162 of The Seen and the Unseen (w TM Krishna). 21. An Equal Music -- Vikram Seth. 22. The Wonder That Was India -- AL Basham. 23. Dhano Dhanne -- Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir. 24. Ira Pande's obituary of Jaya Varma. 25. Ira Pande on Amazon. 26. Akshaya Mukul and the Life of Agyeya -- Episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Constantine Cavafy, André Gide and Jean Genet. 28. The Counterfeiters -- André Gide. 29. Death in Venice -- Thomas Mann. 30. Collected Poems 1954 - 2004 -- Dom Moraes. 31. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Phir Ek Din Aisa Aayega -- Ali Sardar Jafri. 33. Zindagi -- Kiran Ahluwalia. 34. The Case Against Sugar — Gary Taubes. 35. In a Silent Way — Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 36. Kishore Mahbubani on Amazon. 37. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie — Luis Buñuel. 38. Chance and Necessity -- Jacques Monod. 39. Try Anything Twice -- Peter Cheyney. 40. Rakesh Raghunathan on YouTube. 41. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 42. Cooking the world's oldest known curry -- Soity Banerjee. 43. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. Stage.in. 45. The Slow Fire Chef on Twitter. 46. Marginal Revolution posts on books. 47. The Myth of the Holy Cow -- DN Jha. 48. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 49. The Lady’s Dressing Room -- Jonathan Swift. 50. My Friend Dropped His Pants -- Amit Varma. 51. A Paean to the Paan -- Pushpesh Pant. 52. Vairagya Shatak (Hindi) -- Bhartihari. 53. Bhaja Govindam -- Adi Shankara. 54. Rainer Maria Rilke and Meer Taqi Meer. 55. Titash Ekti Nadir Naam -- Ritwik Ghatak. 56. Jukti Takko Aar Gappo -- Ritwik Ghatak. 57. Teesri Kasam -- Basu Bhattacharya. 58. Duniya Banane Wale -- Song from Teesri Kasam. 59. Guide — Vijay Anand. 60. Caurapañcāśikā -- Bilhana. 61. Dagar Brothers, Siyaram Tiwari, Vidya Rao and TM Krishna. 62. A Southern Music — TM Krishna. 63. The Raga-Ness of Ragas -- Deepak S Raja.. 64. NAD - Understanding Raga Music -- Sandeep Bagchee. 65. Form in Indian and Western Music -- Chetan Karnani. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Feast’ by Simahina.

Women in India are much more than either bechari, badass or bitch -- and they won't be defined any more by the male gaze. Shaili Chopra joins Amit Varma in episode 325 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her learnings and why she won't hold back on her anger. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shaili Chopra on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and her own website. 2. Sisterhood Economy -- Shaili Chopra. 3. SheThePeople.tv and GyTree. 4. Let Her Be Angry -- Shaila Chopra's TEDx Talk. 5. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, 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 and Rohini Nilekani. 6. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The Argumentative Indian -- Amartya Sen. 8. Jai Arjun Singh Lost It at the Movies — Episode 230 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Mita Kapur -- Episode 322 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 12. Remnants of a Separation — Aanchal Malhotra. 13. How Social Media Threatens Society — Episode 8 of Brave New World, hosted by Vasant Dhar, featuring Jonathan Haidt. 14. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani. 15. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 16. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 17. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Mrinal Pande’s pieces for Pragati on women in Indian agriculture: 1, 2. 19. Men Must Step Up Now -- Amit Varma. 20. 'What's Your Favourite Position?' -- Shaili Chopra's Instagram post. 21. Imposter Syndrome. 22. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya. 23. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 24. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 25. ‘Let Me Interrupt Your Expertise With My Confidence’ — New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein. 26. The Second Sex — Simone de Beauvoir. 27. The #MeToo Movement — Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Supriya Nair & Nikita Saxena). 28. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma. 29. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 30. Womaning in India With Mahima Vashisht -- Episode 293 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Raja Beta Syndrome — Mahima Vashisht. 32. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative. 33. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 34. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 35. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dabangg, Mardaani, Badhaai Ho, Badhaai Do, Astitva and Lust Stories. 36. Alice Munro, Marilynne Robinson, Mary Oliver and JK Rowling. 39. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 40. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 41. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 42. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 43. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande -- Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Women at Work — Ep 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 46. The Code Breaker -- Walter Isaacson. 47. Lessons in Chemistry -- Bonnie Garmus. 48. Caste -- Isabel Wilkerson. 49. Normal People -- Sally Rooney. 50. Conversations with Friends -- Sally Rooney. 51. Red, White & Royal Blue -- Casey McQuiston. 52. Curry -- Lizzie Cunningham. 53. Figuring -- Maria Popova. 54. The Marginalian -- Maria Popova's website. 55. Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary -- Anita Anand. 56. Hello, Mum -- Polly Dunbar. 57. Bruno Mars, Blue, Michael Jackson, Amjad Ali Khan, Shobha Gurtu, Shubha Mudgal and Kishori Amonkar on Spotify. 58. Chor Bazari, Prem Ki Naiyya and Girls Like To Swing. 59. Waka Waka -- Shakira. 60. Valeria, Unauthorised Living, Monarca, and High Seas. 61. Sitting Woman -- Henri Matisse. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Sisterhood’ by Simahina.

Agyeya was a writer, a rebel, a soldier, a lover-- and a man who shaped modern Hindi literature. Akshaya Mukul joins Amit Varma in episode 324 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life of this remarkable man -- as well as the art of biography and the state of the nation. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Akshaya Mukul on Amazon and Twitter. 2. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya -- Akshaya Mukul. 3. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 4. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 5. Agyeya on Wikipedia, Amazon, Kavitakosh and Hindwi. 6. Shekhar: Ek Jeevani (Hindi) (English) -- Agyeya. 7. Dunning-Kruger Effect. 8. Poker at Lake Wobegon — Amit Varma. 9. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 10. Siddharth Chowdhury on Amazon. 11. The Power Broker — Robert Caro. 12. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs. 13. Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing -- Robert Caro. 14. Robert Caro on Amazon. 15. John Richardson's books on Pablo Picasso. 16. Sontag: Her Life and Work -- Benjamin Moser. 17. Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector -- Benjamin Moser. 18. Stephen Kotkin's volumes on Joseph Stalin. 19. Hilary Spurling's volumes on Henri Matisse. 20. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 21. Gandhi Before India -- Ramachandra Guha. 22. Here And Hereafter: Nirmal Verma's Life in Literature -- Nirmal Verma. 23. Ian Kershaw's books on Adolf Hitler. 24. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE — Amit Varma. 25. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 26. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. To the Book -- WS Merwin. 28. Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh, Raghuvir Sahay, Nagarjun, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Jainendra Kumar. 29. Frida: The Biography of Frida Kahlo -- Hayden Herrera. 30. Maya C Popa, Ilya Kaminsky, Mary Oliver, Nâzım Hikmet, Nizar Qabbani and Forugh Farrokhzad. 31. Francis Newton Souza, VS Gaitonde and Krishen Khanna. 32. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 33. The Shah Bano case. 34. Hindi Modernism: Rethinking Agyeya and His Times -- Edited by Vasudha Dalmia. 35. Raw Umber : A Memoir -- Sara Rai. 36. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. The email conversation between Pankaj Mishra and Amit Chaudhuri. 38. Rahul Sankrityayan on Wikipedia and Amazon. 39. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron -- Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 40. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 41. Frank Sinatra Has a Cold -- Gay Talese. 42. Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me -- Ada Calhoun. 43. Sunita -- Jainendra Kumar. 44. Song of Myself, 51 -- Walt Whitman. 45. Tar Saptak. 46. Suraj Ka Saatwaan Ghoda -- Dharamvir Bharti. 47. Patrick French on Amazon and Wikipedia. 48. Leon Edel and James Atlas. 49. The Art of Biography No 1 -- Leon Edel interviewed by Jeanne McCulloch for Paris Review.50. Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet -- James Atlas. 51. The Shadow in the Garden: A Biographer's Tale -- James Atlas. 52. The Most of Nora Ephron -- Nora Ephron. 53. What Makes Women Happy -- Fay Weldon. 54. Keeda Jadi Ki Khoj Mein -- Anil Yadav. 55. Bhuvanesh Komkali, Mukul Shivputra, Amir Khan and Alladiya Khan. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Writing on the Wall’ by Simahina.

What happened at SVB? Is our banking system in crisis? What are we to make of our economy? Ajay Shah and Mohit Satynanand join Amit Varma in episode 323 of The Seen and the Unseen to tackle these complicated questions and more. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ajay Shah (Twitter, Substack) and Mohit Satyanand (Twitter, Substack). 2. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 4.  Ajay Shah on currencies and crypto (1, 2, 3), an RBI misstep, the third globalisation, NBFCs and banks (1, 2), digital payments, the resolution corporation (1, 2), interest rate mismatch, voting in the MPC, the importance of low and stable inflation and the mispricing of risks. 5. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand). 6. The State of Our Economy -- Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand). 7. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 8. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 9. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 10. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World -- Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 12. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 13. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley). 15. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 16. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok. 17. Public Opinion — Walter Lippman. 18. The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads — Walter Lippman. 19. Watching the Wheels -- John Lennon. (Amit also loves Chris Cornell's version.) 20. You’re Missing — Bruce Springsteen. 21. The End of Silicon Valley (Bank) -- Ben Thompson on Stratechery. 22. This Banking Crisis Won’t Wreck the Economy -- Tyler Cowen. 23. SVB Took the Wrong Risks -- Matt Levine. 24. Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market -- Walter Bagehot. 25. Moral Hazard and the Cantillon Effect. 26. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 27. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 28. Austrian Economics: An Introduction -- Steven Horwitz. 29. Friedrich Hayek: The ideas and influence of the libertarian economist -- Eamonn Butler. 30.The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay. 31. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book. 32. Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology -- Chris Miller. 33. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 34. Why Pramila Devi Uses Her Chappals Sparingly -- Sayantan Bera. 35. Where Are the Customers' Yachts? -- Fred Schwed Jr. 36. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 37. Jimi Hendrix on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. 38. Neil Young on YouTube Music, Spotify and Wikipedia. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Madness of Money’ by Simahina.

She's been an author, an entrepreneur, a literary agent, an organiser of events and a mother -- but her finest achievement is perhaps her making of herself. Mita Kapur joins Amit Varma in episode 322 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the life she has lived, and what it has taught her. Much talk of writing, food, patriarchy and motherhood. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Mita Kapur at Siyahi, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and her own website. 2. The F Word -- Mita Kapur. 3. Siyahi -- A Literary Consultancy. 4. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Objects Speak to Annapurna Garimella — Episode 257 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. The Business of Books — Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika). 8. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma's column on reading. 9. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Harry Potter, Twilight and the Rick Riordan books. 11. Mills and Boon on Wikipedia, Amazon and their own website. 12. Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya — Akshaya Mukul. 13. Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew on Amazon. 14. Arthur Hailey, Nathaniel Hawthorne, TS Eliot, Leon Uris, Harold Robbins and James Hadley Chase on Amazon. 15. Wheels -- Arthur Hailey. 16. Lady Doctors: The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine — Kavitha Rao. 17. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kavitha Rao). 18. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 20. South India Would Like to Have a Word -- Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 21. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 23. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 24. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 25. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 26. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 27. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 29. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 30. Chuck Palahniuk and Susan Sontag on Amazon. 31. Kitchen -- Banana Yoshimoto. 32. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Karthika Nair and Sampurna Chattarji on Amazon. 34. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers — Ali Abdaal. 36. Imposter Syndrome. 37. In a Silent Way -- Episode 316 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gaurav Chintamani). 38. Pavan Varma on Wikipedia and Amazon. 39. Make Me a Canteen for My Soul -- Episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage). 40. Choco Butterscotch Barks — Amit Varma’s favourite dessert of all time. 41. Daastan-e-Dastarkhan: Stories and Recipes from Muslim Kitchens -- Sadaf Hussain. 42. Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Suzanne Vega, Tom's Diner, Rufus Wainwright, Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, Harry Styles and Sam Smith on Spotify. 43. The Book of Goose -- Yiyun Li. 44. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers -- Yiyun Li. 45. Valeria, The Cook of Castamar, Daughter From Another Mother, Gentefied and Velvet Colección on Netflix. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘A Girl and Her Books’ by Simahina.