Abhijit Chavda Podcast

Abhijit Iyer-Mitra is a geopolitical analyst and researcher. His research focuses on defence issues, specialising in defence economics, technology and procurement, and nuclear dynamics. He also deals with governance issues and non-traditional security threats. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Stimson Center, Washington, DC. He holds an MA in International Relations from Monash University, Melbourne.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a humanitarian, spiritual leader and an ambassador of peace and human values. Through his life and work, Gurudev has inspired millions around the world with a vision of a stress-free, violence-free world. He has designed programs that provide techniques and tools to live a deeper, more joyous life and has established nonprofit organizations that recognize the human identity beyond the boundaries of gender, race, nationality, and religion.

Shagun Butani is a leading exponent of Odissi dance and Seraikella Chhau. she trained in Odissi under masters like Smt. Aloka Panikar and the late Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, and in Seraikella Chhau from the late Guru Lingaraj Acharya and Guru Shashadhar Acharya.

Dr. Kanwal Sibal, India's former foreign secretary, discusses the geopolitical scenario of the US, explores the rise of China, and the missed opportunity to end Russian power. The podcast also analyzes the United States' approach to Russia and Ukraine, as well as the political landscape in Russia. It delves into China's leadership and power dynamics, changing dynamics in the Middle East, China's views on sovereignty, and the challenges of retaining Indian identity.

Velina Tchakarova is a geopolitical strategist and the founder of FACE, a geopolitical consulting company that provides expert analysis and solutions for the most relevant geopolitical risks, trends, and scenarios that may affect businesses or institutions. She is the former Head of Institute at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) in Vienna, Austria. She is famous for coining the term #Dragonbear to describe the systemic coordination between China and Russia in key domains in international affairs.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is India's preeminent center of science and engineering research. Not many are aware of the fascinating events and pivotal personalities, six in all, who contributed to making IISc the great institution it is today. Over its 125 or so history from its conception, launching, consolidation and looking forward to the future, it is really a microcosm of science in India. Abhijit Chavda walks and talks with Prof. Gautam Desiraju of the Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit of IISc and converses about the early days of this wonderful institution.

Professor Gautam R. Desiraju is a renowned Indian chemist and educationist. He is one of the most highly cited Indian scientists with over 450 research papers, 60000+ citations and an h-index of 100.  He has been in the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India since 2009. He is a member of the India Science-20 Secretariat in G20 India Presidency Year 2023.  In this podcast we discuss Dr. Desiraju's new book "Bhārat: India 2.0" which analyzes and delineates the problems arising out of the Indian Constitution of 1950, and argues for changes that recast India as a civilizational state rather than a mere nation-state.

Padma Shri awardee Dr. Subhash Kak is an Indian-American computer scientist, theoretical physicist, historian, Indologist, Vedic scholar, linguist, philosopher, and poet. He is Regents Professor and Head of Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. In this podcast we discuss the groundbreaking research papers Dr. Kak has published over the past year and a half. The topics include Dr. Kak's new e-dimensionality theory of the universe, artificial intelligence and the limits of machine consciousness, and Vedanta.

Reela Hota is an eminent Odissi dance performer, yogi, educator and producer. She trained under the 3 doyens of Odissi dance, Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, Srimati Madhavi Mudgal and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She has explored the philosophical underpinnings of classical arts in depth. She is credited for adding a new dimension to Odissi Dance – the spiritual aspect. She has explored themes such as the philosophy of yoga and Kundalini, a concept from the ancient tantric texts of India, in her productions. She has created productions that fuse Odissi with other classical dance forms of India such as Manipuri, Kathak, Bharatnatyam and Chhau. She has collaborated with artists from around the world. Reela Hota founded the Rays of Wisdom Society, an organization dedicated to highlighting how music, dance and vital therapeutic practices in traditional systems of healing can combine to meet lifestyle challenges of today.

Dr. Brian Keating is a Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of physics at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences (CASS) in the Department of Physics at the University of California, San Diego. He is a public speaker, inventor, and an expert in the study of the universe’s oldest light, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), using it to learn about the origin and evolution of the universe. Prof. #BrianKeating is a writer and podcaster and the best-selling author of one of Amazon Editors' "Best Non-fiction Books of All Time", Losing the Nobel Prize.