Today my guest is stand-up comedian Srijan Kaushik. Srijan has been creating waves in stand-up comedy circles with his poker-faced delivery of hilarious jokes. Not only that, he has an MBA from the Indian School of Business, one of India's premier institutes for management, and works full-time for the international Finance Corporation, a private arm of the World Bank. We will touch on all this and more in this episode, so let's get into it without further delay. The advertising revenue from this episode will go to The Ocean Cleanup. Check out their organization at www.theoceancleanup.com. About Srijan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC47V0gb3xW1ttnlDCJknQNg https://www.instagram.com/srijan.kaushik/?hl=en Reach out to the host at https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/?hl=en

My guest today is neurobiologist Dr. Vidita Vaidya, a professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1998 and did postdoctoral research at the Karolinska Institute and Oxford University before joining TIFR in 2000. Dr. Vaidya is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences, India. She has received the National Bioscientist Award (2012), Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (2015), the J.C. Bose Fellowship (2021), and a Nature award for excellence in mentoring (2019). In this episode, I speak with Dr. Vaidya about moving back to India to set up her lab at TIFR, her research on early childhood trauma, and the potential use of psychedelics as therapeutics. About Dr Vaidya https://www.tifr.res.in/~dbs/faculty/V_Vaidya.html Reach out to the host https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/

Today’s is a Tales from the Past episode. Tales from the past unearths fascinating and little-known stories from history. In each bite-sized episode, I'll take you on a journey through time to highlight intriguing events, people and anecdotes you likely never learned in school.

Today we have with us Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, the director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Dr. Subramaniam received her Ph.D. in Physics - Astronomy in 1996 from the Indian Institute of Science. She has contributed significantly to research on the Magellanic Clouds, among numerous other areas. She is also an accomplished violinist. In our conversation today, we will be talking about Dr. Subramaniam's career and meteoric rise from humble beginnings, the past, present and future of astronomy, India's moon mission Chandrayaan, and astrology. About Dr Subramaniam https://www.iiap.res.in/people/personnel/purni/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurni_Subramaniam https://www.iau.org/administration/membership/individual/13515/ Reach out to the host at : https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/

Today’s is a Tales from the Past episode. Tales from the past unearths fascinating and little-known stories from history. In each bite-sized episode, I'll take you on a journey through time to highlight intriguing events, people and anecdotes you likely never learned in school.

Today we have with us an exceptional young violinist, Kamalakiran Vinjamuri. Though only in his early twenties, he has already gained recognition for his prodigious talent and moving performances. Kamalakiran initially trained under his father, the renowned violinist Subhash Vinjamuri, before taking lessons from the legendary violinist A. Kanyakumari. Kamalakiran has toured internationally, including performances at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall in New York. He represents the next generation of talent continuing the rich legacy of Indian classical violin. In this episode, we go through his experience learning the violin from the great guru A. Kanyakumari and some technical aspects to look for while learning the violin, among many other things. Know more about Kamalakiran here https://www.instagram.com/kamalakiran/ The 12 year old prodigy : http://tinyurl.com/ymnc2dyy https://www.richmondfolkfestival.org/2022-folklife-performers/2022/9/6/kamalakiran-vinjamuri Guru A.Kanyakumari https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Kanyakumari http://tinyurl.com/3bsr8xb4 Reach out to the host here : https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/

Today we are starting a new series called Tales from the Past - that unearths fascinating and little-known stories from history. In each bite-sized episode, I'll take you on a journey through time to highlight intriguing events, people, and anecdotes you likely never learned in school. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_currents

If you are a coffee connoisseur, this episode is just for you. Not many people start their day without a cup of coffee, it maybe drip coffee from a nearby convenient store or a fancy white chocolate mocha. I sit down with Social anthropologist and the author of the book Making Better Coffee Dr. Edward Fischer to discuss the history, evolution and waves of coffee culture. This is part 1 of a two part episode. In this part we focus on the history and evolution of coffee culture. Dr. Fischer is a professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and his research focuses on political economy, wellbeing and social economy. He is a highly cited researcher and expert in his field who also co-founded the social enterprise Mani+ that develops and produces locally sourced complementary foods to fight malnutrition. Dr Fischer's works: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520386969/making-better-coffee https://as.vanderbilt.edu/anthropology/bio/ted-fischer Third Wave Coffee: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_coffee Reach out to the host Instagram: @bala.deva06

This episode is not quite a shortcast, as we are joined by internet sensation Ricky Pond, more popularly known as the dancing dad! In this episode, we are going to go through Ricky's early education, career, his love for dance, and many other things. Ricky Pond https://www.instagram.com/ricky.pond/ https://www.tiktok.com/@rickypond?lang=en  @OfficialRickyPond  on Youtube Reach out to the host https://www.instagram.com/bala.deva06/ #bollywood #bollywoodsongs #thedancingdad #dancingdad

Today my guest is Lakshmi Sharath. Lakshmi is a well-known traveler and writer who has visited 50 countries...and counting! She is an inspiration for solo women travelers and motivates them to explore the world on their own. She was also the recipient of India's Best Travel Blog award in 2008. She shares tips, itineraries and stories from her trips on her blog @lakshmisharath.com. She is also a brilliant travel writer and was a columnist for The Hindu Metro Plus. This is part 2 of a two part episode with Lakshmi. In this episode, we talk about her travel to Japan, the city of Kyoto in particular, and meeting Roger Federer. Lakshmi Sharath https://www.instagram.com/lakshmisharath/ https://lakshmisharath.com/about-lakshmisharath/ Reach out to the host @bala.deva06 on Instagram