Shortcast over Coffee

Meghnad or meghnerd on YouTube is one of India’s most recognized political analyst and commentator. Now an independent content creator, previously Meghnad was a writer and a journalist for Newslaundry. His show for them called Consti-tution is filled with wacky humor along with a lucid explanation of things you missed in your civics class. Before Newslaundry, Meghnad was a part of PRS Legislative Research where he worked as the legislative aide for many members of parliament across various states in India. Please do check out part 1 before moving onto part 2. In this part I talk to Meghnad about the merits and demerits of democracy, how we can make it better, reservations, looking back at the last 10 years of the government and all the different aspects related to propaganda or as Meghnand loves to call it Fluffoganda I get to grow a lot as a person doing this podcast but it also involves a lot of research behind the scenes so it would lovely if you could support this podcast with a cup of coffee on https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shortcastovercoffee More about Meghnad https://x.com/Memeghnad?s=20 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPFaO_qIQDIVXCatr63vpvQ https://substack.com/@memeghnad Consti-tution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKSaIE11x9Q&ab_channel=newslaundry Reach out to the host https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/ Check out my other content here https://linktr.ee/shortcastovercoffee?utm_source

Meghnad or meghnerd on YouTube is one of India’s most recognized political analyst and commentator. Now an independent content creator, previously Meghnad was a writer and a journalist for Newslaundry. His show for them called Consti-tution is filled with wacky humor along with a lucid explanation of things you missed in your civics class. Before Newslaundry, Meghnad was a part of PRS Legislative Research where he worked as the legislative aide for many members of parliament across various states in India. This is a two part episode and in this part we will talk to Meghnad about his journey to be an independent creator and important happenings that led him here. I get to grow a lot as a person doing this podcast but it also involves a lot of research behind the scenes so it would lovely if you could support this podcast with a cup of coffee on https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shortcastovercoffee More about Meghnad https://x.com/Memeghnad?s=20 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPFaO_qIQDIVXCatr63vpvQ https://substack.com/@memeghnad Consti-tution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKSaIE11x9Q&ab_channel=newslaundry Reach out to the host https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/ Check out my other content here https://linktr.ee/shortcastovercoffee?utm_source

Donate to this podcast at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shortcastovercoffee Check out my material at https://linktr.ee/shortcastovercoffee?utm_source Our guest today is Shruti Jahagirdar, a passionate fitness trainer, entrepreneur, and nutritionist. Shruti was a competitive national level volleyball player and holds an MBA from ESMT Berlin. She specializes in low-carb, high-fat diets. Shruti and I planned this episode to be a workout 101. She is really passionate about exercising and nutrition, and she has happily agreed to do another episode on nutrition which I am really looking forward to. But in this episode, I will learn from her how to motivate oneself to work out and why we even work out, what are the right breathing techniques, and why even do staple moves like deadlifts and squats, and so on. So stay tuned for all of this and more. Oh yeah, I recently found out that Shruti’s mom was a Marathi actress, and we will ask her about that too! So let's now get into it. More on Shruti https://www.instagram.com/shrutijahagirdar/ https://twitter.com/Shruti_my_voice

As the relations between India and Canada hit an all time low, here is a brief history about Sikh Immigration to Canada

Slipping on a banana peel is a cliché, a vintage vaudeville gag. But its origins weren’t just slapstick comedy. Before it became a comedy trope, banana peels menaced New Yorkers for decades. This is how bad the trash situation was in the early 1900s. Today, all we need to do is segregate waste and the trucks comes to pick it up certain days of the week like clockwork. But how did we get here? Thats exactly what I am going to talk about with my guests today. We have Patricia Strach and Kathleen Sullivan, authors of the book “politics of trash” on the show Today. Patricia is a professor in the Departments of Political Science and Public Administration & Policy at the state university of New York at Albany and Kathleen is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Ohio university. Both experts in the field of political science public policy and law. Support my work at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shortcastovercoffee About Patricia and Kathleen https://www.ohio.edu/cas/sullivak https://www.albany.edu/rockefeller/faculty/patricia-strach https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501766985/the-politics-of-trash/ Reach out to the author at @bala_devarajan on Twitter or https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/

Today we have a very special guest who is inspiring thousands across India to rethink how we manage waste. My guest is none other than Vani Murthy, aka "Worm Rani." On Instagram. Vani's unlikely journey from homemaker to an environmentalist began a decade ago. While visiting the massive landfill on the outskirts of Bangalore, she was moved by the millions of tons of rotting garbage. Vani vowed never to let her household waste end up in the landfill again. Through tireless trial and error, she mastered the art of composting at home using simple bins. Vani recognized that wet organic waste makes up the bulk of what we throw away. But left to fester in landfills, it releases dangerous greenhouse gases and leachate that pollutes soil and water. As waste generators, she urges, we must take responsibility to compost kitchen scraps and avoid these harms. In her 40s, after living as a traditional homemaker, Vani stepped out of her comfort zone into community activism. She led campaigns on waste segregation and helped catalyze major policy changes in Bangalore. But it was through social media that Vani discovered her true calling to inspire young people. Under her handle "Worm Rani," Vani shares practical, good-humored videos on Instagram that have gained her over 200,000 followers. She says some 70% are under 30, the generation she hopes most to impact. With authenticity and excitement, Vani motivates young people to reduce plastic usage, make natural cleaners, take up gardening, and turn food waste into black gold through composting. In turn, Vani says she gains energy from the feedback loop with her young green-minded fans. She especially enjoys connecting with college students who are receptive to lifestyle changes. Her informal tone and use of classic rock songs also help Vani stand out from traditional lecturers. At 60 years old, Vani proves that social media holds power to catalyze change when used consciously. She is living proof that ordinary citizens can have an outsized impact by inspiring others. More on Vani https://www.instagram.com/wormrani/ https://www.swmrt.com/ Reach out to the host https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/?hl=en Support https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shortcastovercoffee

I talk about the origin of Google Maps and how people navigated in sparsely populated countries like US and Australia pe-GPS era Support me here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shortcastovercoffee https://venmo.com/u/shortcastovercoffee

Murali Neelakantan, former Global General Counsel at Cipla, discusses the poor quality of manufacturing sites in the Indian pharmaceutical industry and the need for stricter regulation. Topics include the use of fillers in tablets, controversies surrounding generic prescriptions, lack of scientific basis for Ayurvedic products, and lack of accountability in vaccine-related deaths. The podcast also explores the disparities in regulations between the US and EU regarding chemicals in processed food.

In this podcast, Murali Neelakantan, a graduate of NLSIU and a pioneer in the legal field, discusses the history and perception of court summer vacations in India, challenges of government litigation, digitization efforts, funding and ethics in Indian law, and the need for more academic involvement in shaping the law.

Today my guest is standup comedian GK. He is not just a standup comedian though; he is a full time engineer and a part time theater artist and movie maker based out of the Bay Area in California. In this episode I will talk to him about his journey to standup comedy and his recent venture, Bldg 18 comedy club, where GK, along with other co-founders, offers a great platform for budding comics. More about GK https://www.instagram.com/gkthecomic/ https://twitter.com/GKtheComic Do checkout https://www.instagram.com/bldg18comedy/ on Instagram!