Postcards From Nowhere with Utsav Mamoria

And here we are! After sending 50 Postcards from Nowhere, this week, we take a break from our usual storytelling to have 3 adults (or are we) talk about travel. We have Ayushi and Rytasha from Agla Station Adulthood on the show! In this episode - Utsav talks about his foray into travel, the genesis of this podcast and why we travel! Tune in to recap the journey of PFN - 50 Postcards in and many more to go! Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can follow Ayushi on social media: Twitter: @justayushi (https://twitter.com/justayushi) Instagram: @ayushia9 (https://www.instagram.com/ayushia9/) You can follow Rytasha on social media: Instagram: @rytash (https://www.instagram.com/rytash/) You can listen to Agla Station Adulthood: (https://ivmpodcasts.com/agla-station-adulthood) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recently, neuropsychologists have uncovered a link between the chili pepper and risk-taking. But what does history tell us? And how does a plant native to South America find itself as the defining element of the cultural identity of Sichuan? This week, on the last episode of China Unseen, I bring to you the fascinating story of how China fell in love with the Chilli - a story of economics, two wars and medical philosophy. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What connects the Matt Damon film - The Martian, A restauranter in Beijing and a lady who signs peans to a vegetable? Turns out, its the potato. From the most humble of vegetables, comes the story of China's sweeping ambition to change the food practices of a country which has grown addicted to meat. From Yunnan in the Southwest, to Gansu in the Northwest, across North China and into the Northeast, is the story of the potato, at the crossroads of cultural resistance and The Cultural revolution. Tune in, and discover why for contemporary China, potatoes could change the course of a nation. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The enemy of marriage is time,” she said, smiling. By the eighth year, the honeymoon period had long given way to “the salt and vinegar of daily life.” “Even the tongue and teeth occasionally get in each other’s way,” Imagine saying this not to a marriage counselor, but to a man who goes by the title of 'Mistress Dispeller'. In the eighth episode of China Unseen, discover the unique phenomenon of women hiring people to get rid of mistresses, instead of divorcing their husbands. What might seem as a weak and unfair choice has complex layers, telling us how a nation's economic prosperity does not necessarily mean a better life for women. Tune in, and uncover the enigma of Mistress Dispellers. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine going home over a holiday, but dreading the whole experience. All because your parents will ask about the lack of your love life i.e. your boyfriend/girlfriend. However, the young Chinese people have come up with an ingenious way of solving the problem. In the seventh episode of China Unseen, Utsav brings to you a foundational idea of Chinese society - Miànzi, and how that drives every single social interaction in China, sometimes even between family. Tune in, to understand why we need to be kinder in our judgements towards new cultures and people, and how to actually do so. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China came out of the Cultural Revolution and rose to become an economic powerhouse. A starving country in the past today is not only self-sufficient with food, but also is a major exporter. However, the prosperity has come with its challenges. In the sixth episode of China Unseen, Utsav breaks down China's relationship with food, busting many myths along the way, and takes you to a unique restaurant that is subtly changing the way young China views its past. Tune in, to understand why the revolution is now a dinner party. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China has made tremendous progress in lifting the country out of poverty, The Communist Party takes pride in enabling this and boasts of how many choices the Chinese have today. However, it parallelly bans and actively prosecutes people from a religious order, which combines meditation and slow-motion exercises, very much in line with Taoist principles. In the fifth episode of China Unseen, Utsav takes you on a journey about an upheaval the country is going through, and why it may sweep through China faster than the Party can manage. Tune in, to understand China's greatest fear. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the late ’60s and ‘70s, anticipating the devastation of a Cold War-nuclear fallout, Chairman Mao directed Chinese cities to construct apartments with bomb shelters capable of withstanding the blast of a nuclear bomb. In Beijing alone, roughly 10,000 bunkers were promptly constructed. But what has become of those bunkers today? In the fourth episode of China Unseen, Utsav takes you up close and personal into what goes on in those bunkers everyday, and what it has to do with young Chinese people. Tune in, and understand the massive problem the world is sitting on today. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between 2011 - 13, China used up more cement to build cities than the United States used in the entire 20th century. The new cities became so prevalent that a moniker was assigned to them - Ghost cities because no one really lived there. But what happens to a ghost city many years later? In the third episode of China Unseen, Utsav takes you to a ghost city and tells you what he saw, that surprised him. This week, tune in to discover what lies beneath the veneer of a ghost city. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In People's Park in central Shanghai, every Sunday afternoon, a congregation of old people shows up religiously, week after week. These are not people enjoying their retirement, they are on a mission. A mission which gives them anxiety, sours their relationship with their kids, and often remains unfulfilled. In continuation of the series China Unseen, this week Utsav takes you to this very park, which reveals a sobering reality of modern China, and maybe even the rest of the world. Tune in, and discover what is common between India and China, and why your host was given two pairs of silver chopsticks as a farewell gift. Find more travel stories on #PostcardsFromNowhere with Utsav Mamoria. You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42 (https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42) You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.