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Amit Varma

The Seen and the Unseen, hosted by Amit Varma, features longform conversations that aim to give deep insights into the subjects being discussed. Timeless and bingeworthy.

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

She worked with Femina for 26 years, 12 of them as editor. And she wrote numerous biographies after that. Sathya Saran joins Amit Varma in episode 406 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Indian society, feminism, femininity, her life as a journalist and the art of the biography.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Sathya Saran on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Amazon.
 2. Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi's Journey -- Sathya Saran.
 3. Sun Mere Bandhu Re: The Musical World Of SD Burman -- Sathya Saran.
 4. Baat Niklegi Toh Phir: The Life and Music of Jagjit Singh -- Sathya Saran.
 5. Breath of Gold: Hariprasad Chaurasia -- Sathya Saran.
 6. The Dark Side and Other Stories -- Sathya Saran.
 7. How To Look Like Miss India -- Sathya Saran.
 8. Gulzar's Angoor: Insights into The Film -- Sathya Saran.
 9. From Me to You -- Sathya Saran.
 10. Madhumati -- Bimal Roy.
 11. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma.
 12. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 13. The Anxious Generation — Jonathan Haidt.
 14. Coming Through Slaughter -- Michael Ondaatje.
 15. Take A Chance On Me -- Abba.
 16. Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam -- Guru Dutt.
 17. The Monk and His Music -- Moti Lalwani and Richa Lakhanpal.
 18. Close -- Lukas Dhont.
 19. Girl -- Lukas Dhont.
 20. Mughal-E-Azam -- K Asif.
 21. Pyaasa -- Guru Dutt.
 22. Lekin -- Gulzar.
 22. Ijaazat -- Gulzar.
 24. Angoor -- Gulzar.
 
 This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘Beauty’ by Simahina.

Ep 406: Sathya Saran and the Shaping of the Indian Woman

He observed our society from up close as an advertising man -- and then became an iconic storyteller on Twitter. Ramakrishna Desiraju aka Ramki joins Amit Varma in episode 415 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his journey, and all that it taught him.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Ramakrishna Desiraju aka Ramki on LinkedIn and Twitter.
 2. Cartwheel Creative Consultancy.
 3. Selected legendary threads by Ramki.
 4. Ramki's commercial for Kotak Mahindra Bank featuring Ranveer Singh.
 5. Celluloid Man -- Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
 6. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty -- James Thurber.
 7. Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne -- Prakash Jha.
 8. All We Imagine as Light -- Payal Kapadia.
 9. Heere Ko Kya Pata -- SBI Life Insurance commercial by Prasoon Pandey.
 10. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 11. Dead Poet's Society -- Peter Weir.
 12. The Spectacular Life of Prahlad Kakar -- Episode 414 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 13. Rumble Fish -- Francis Ford Coppola.
 14. John Collison's tweet on the world being a museum of passion projects.
 15. The Fisher King -- Terry Gilliam.
 16. The Grand Central Station scene from The Fisher KIng.
 17. The Wheel commercial with Govinda.
 18. Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense -- Rory Sutherland.
 19. Hausla Hai Toh Ho Jayega -- Kotak commercial.
 20. Anora -- Sean Baker.
 21. Dr Seuss, Roald Dahl and John le Carre on Amazon.
 22. The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck.
 23. Perfect Days -- Wim Wenders.
 24. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty).
 25. Chhannulal Mishra on Spotify and YouTube.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘Waves' by Simahina.

Ep 415: Ramki and the Ocean of Stories

Data is apolitical and always useful, right? Then why is the caste census so controversial? Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley join Amit Varma in episode 417 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss its history, context and implications.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution.
 2. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley's newsletter.
 3. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley.
 4. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra & Khyati Pathak).
 5. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S Jaitley).
 6. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 7. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter — Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 8. All episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
 9. Some Slopes Are Slippery For Real -- RSJ and Pranay's last debate (Sep 2024) on the caste census.
 10. जातीय जनगणना होनी चाहिए या नहीं? -- The Puliyabaazi episode (May 2023) on the caste census.
 11. Other posts of Pranay and RSJ's newsletter that touch on this subject: 1, 2, 3.
 12. Look Beyond Quotas for Equality -- Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai.
 13. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 14. Early Indians — Tony Joseph.
 15. Tony Joseph’s episode on The Seen and the Unseen.
 16. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich.
 17. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 18. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism -- Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
 19. How the BJP wins: Inside India’s Greatest Election Machine — Prashant Jha.
 20. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
 21. Badri Narayan on Wikipedia and Amazon.
 22. Terms of Trade: Mandal wins, por ahora -- Roshan Kishore.
 23. Caste questions for Rahul Gandhi -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
 24. The mirage of social justice -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
 25. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study -- Thomas Sowell.
 26. The Grammar of Anarchy -- Babasaheb Ambedkar.
 27. Policy Paradox -- Deborah Stone.
 28. Why Does the Indian State Both Fail and Succeed? — Devesh Kapur.
 29. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 30. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
 31. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
 32. An Area of Darkness -- VS Naipaul.
 33. India: A Million Mutinies Now -- VS Naipaul.
 34. Upstream -- Zheng Xu.
 35. The Sea Hawk -- Manohar Malgonkar.
 36. Ideas of India -- Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast.
 37. The Great Power Show -- Manoj Kewalramani's podcast.
 38. May December -- Todd Haynes.
 40. Hard Truths -- Mike Leigh.
 41. Secrets and Lies -- Mike Leigh.
 42. A Real Pain -- Jesse Eisenberg.
 43. Orbital -- Samnatha Harvey.
 44. How Music Works -- David Byrne.
 45. Visual Arts in the 20th Century -- Edward Lucie-Smith.
 
 Applications are open for the Takshashila Institution's Post-Graduate Programme in Public Policy, where Pranay will be one of your teachers!
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘Count’ by Simahina.

Ep 417: Caste and the Census

Why did the attacks in Pahalgam happen? What took place in the skirmishes after that? What have we learnt about geopolitics and our military preparedness? Pranay Kotasthane and Aditya Ramanathan join Amit Varma in episode 418 of The Seen and the Unseen to try to clear some of the fog of war.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution.
 2. Aditya Ramanathan on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and the Takshashila Institution.
 3. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra & Khyati Pathak).
 4. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter.
 5. All Things Policy -- The Takshashila Institution's podcast.
 6. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 7. The India-Pakistan Conflict -- Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
 8. Democracy in Pakistan -- Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Hamsini Hariharan).
 9. India in the Nuclear Age -- Episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lt Gen Prakash Menon).
 10. All previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
 11. Aditya Ramanathan's piece on how India's air defence system performed.
 12. Aditya Ramanathan's analysis of Operation Sindoor.
 13. 9/11 and Pakistan’s Economy (2006) -- Amit Varma's post on 'Al Faeda'.
 14. Action Produces Information -- Brian Armstrong at Startup Archive.
 15. Khushi Mukherjee on India, Pakistan and PoK.
 16. The Israeli-Egyptian War of Attrition, 1969-1970 -- Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov.
 17. Inadvertent Escalation: Conventional War and Nuclear Risks -- Barry R Posen.
 18. The People Next Door: The Curious History of India-Pakistan Relations -- TCA Raghavan.
 19. The Sovereign Lives of India and Pakistan: Post-Partition Statehood in South Asia -- Atul Mishra.
 20. Husain Haqqani on Amazon.
 21. Empires of the Indus -- Alice Albinia.
 22. Network for Advanced Study of Pakistan (NASP) Fellowship.
 
 This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘The Fog of War’ by Simahina.

Ep 418: What Just Happened Between India & Pakistan?

He was born in Sikkim and lives in the USA, and in the course of engaging with his identity, has written powerful books of Sikh history, and revived its music. Sarbpreet Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 407 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his writing, his music and the lessons of Sikhism.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Sarbpreet Singh on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Linktree and Amazon.
 2. The Story of the Sikhs -- Sarbpreet Singh's podcast on Spotify.
 3. The Gurmat Sangeet Podcast.
 4. The Gurmat Sangeet Project.
 5. The Story of the Sikhs: 1469-1708 -- Sarbpreet Singh.
 6. Cauldron, Sword and Victory: The Rise of the Sikhs -- Sarbpreet Singh.
 7. The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia -- Sarbpreet Singh.
 8. Kultar's Mime -- Sarbpreet Singh.
 9. Night of the Restless Spirits: Stories from 1984 -- Sarbpreet Singh.
 10. The Sufi's Nightingale -- Sarbpreet Singh.
 11. Nanak Was Here — Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh).
 12. Devdutt Pattanaik and the Stories That Shape Us -- Episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 13. Sarbpreet Singh in conversation with Jerry Pinto.
 14. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 15. Em and the Big Hoom — Jerry Pinto.
 16. History of the Sikhs -- JD Cunningham.
 17. Khyal: Creativity within North India's Classical Music Tradition -- Bonnie Wade.
 18. Who are the Guilty? -- The PUCL report about the 1984 riots.
 19. Gangster Rule -- Madhu Kishwar.
 20. Anthropological Knowledge and Collective Violence: The Riots in Delhi, November 1984 -- Veena Das.
 21. 100 Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 22. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
 23. In The City of Slaughter -- Hayyim Nahman Bialik.
 24. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil — Hannah Arendt.
 25. The Pluralism Project.
 25. Kaya Taran -- Sashi Kumar.
 26. A History of the Sikhs -- Khushwant Singh.
 27. Kirtan Sewa Malaysia.
 
 This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘Seeker’ by Simahina.

Ep 407: Sarbpreet Singh Finds His Sikhism

His earlier episodes on this show have been huge hits, and as he completes a trilogy of books, he returns to complete a trilogy of episodes. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 408 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about writing, noticing, painting, travelling, trees, and unfulfilled train journeys.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out
 1. Amitava Kumar on Instagram, Substack, Twitter, Amazon, Vassar, Granta and his own website.
 2. The Green Book: An Observer's Notebook -- Amitava Kumar.
 3. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 4. Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain -- Episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 5. The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal — Amitava Kumar.
 6. The Yellow Book: A Traveller’s Diary — Amitava Kumar.
 7. My Beloved Life: A Novel -- Amitava Kumar.
 8. A Million Mutinies Now -- VS Naipaul.
 9. The Trees — Philip Larkin.
 10. Before the Storm -- Amitava Kumar.
 11. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
 12. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
 13. A Suitable Boy -- Vikram Seth.
 14. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 15. ‘Indian languages carry the legacy of caste’ — Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt.
 16. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 17. Stage.in.
 18. Laapataa Ladies -- Kiran Rao.
 19. Kanthapura -- Raja Rao.
 20. All About H Hatterr -- GV Desani.
 21. From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada -- Sudha Bharadwaj.
 22. India is Broken -- Ashoka Mody.
 23. Being Mortal -- Atul Gawande.
 24. Earwitness to Place -- Bernie Krause interviewed by Erin Robinsong.
 25. All That Breathes -- Shaunak Sen.
 26. Frog: 1 Poetry: 0 -- Amitava Kumar.
 27. The Heat Will Kill You First -- Jeff Goodell.
 28. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 29. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron.
 30. An excerpt from Wittgenstein’s diary — Parul Sehgal on Twitter.
 31. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus — Ludwig Wittgenstein.
 32. Burdock -- Janet Malcolm.
 33. Hermit in Paris — Italo Calvino.
 34. Objects From Our Past -- Episode 77 of Everything is Everything.
 35. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (1877-1977) — Compiled & edited by Bill Frindall.
 36. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
 37. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
 38. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
 39. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
 40. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 41. Bhavni Bhavai -- Ketan Mehta.
 42. All We Imagine as Light -- Payal Kapadia.
 43. Secondhand Time -- Svetlana Alexievich.
 44. Amitava Kumar's post with Danish Husain's postcard.
 45. Fire Weather -- John Vaillant.
 46. Ill Nature -- Joy Williams.
 47. Hawk -- Joy Williams.
 
 This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘Gulmohar’ by Simahina.

Ep 408: Amitava Kumar Finds His Gulmohar Tree

He's lived a rich life as a journalist, a human rights activist, an author, a columnist -- and now he's written a great book on Gujaratis. Salil Tripathi joins Amit Varma in episode 409 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his learnings, these times we live in -- and the times that came before.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Salil Tripathi on Twitter, Instagram, Wikipedia, LinkedIn and Amazon.
 2. The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community -- Salil Tripathi.
 3. The Colonel Who Would Not Repent -- Salil Tripathi.
 4. Offence – The Hindu Case -- Salil Tripathi.
 5. Detours: Songs of the Open Road -- Salil Tripathi.
 6. For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit -- Edited by Shilpa Gupta and Salil Tripathi.
 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. Saraswatichandra (Gujarati) (English) -- Govardhanram Tripathi.
 10. Gujarat Ni Asmita -- KM Munshi.
 11. I Follow the Mahatma -- KM Munshi.
 12. Devdutt Pattanaik and the Stories That Shape Us — Episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 13. Ahimsa: 100 Reflections on the Harappan Civilization — Devdutt Pattanaik.
 14. Until the Lions -- Karthika Nair.
 15. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity — Manu Pillai.
 16. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism -- Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
 17. Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain -- Fintan O'Toole.
 18. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
 19. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
 20. Gandhi Before India -- Ramachandra Guha.
 21. Objects From Our Past -- Episode 77 of Everything is Everything.
 22. The Diary of Manu Gandhi (Part 1) (Part 2) -- Edited and Translated by Tridip Suhrud.
 23. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
 24. Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister — Amit Varma.
 25. Akhil Katyal's poem on caste.
 26. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie.
 27. Bare Feet – a Poem about MF Husain -- Salil Tripathi.
 28. My Mother’s Fault -- Salil Tripathi.
 29. Jejuri -- Arun Kolatkar.
 30. Yashwant Rao -- Arun Kolatkar.
 31. The Patriot -- Nissim Ezekiel.
 32. Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne -- Satyajit Ray.
 33. You're Missing -- Bruce Springsteen.
 34. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Milan Kundera, Ved Mehta and John McPhee on Amazon.
 35. All We Imagine as Light -- Payal Kapadia.
 36. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator — Episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 37. On Tyranny -- Timothy Snyder.
 38. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 39. Saving Capitalism From The Capitalists -- Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales.
 40. Check out Johan Norberg's great work.
 41. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy — Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
 42. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
 43. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs — Episode 46 of Everything is Everything.
 44. On Inequality — Harry Frankfurt.
 45. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis.
 46. Sample SSR conspiracy theory: He’s alive!
 47. Amit Varma's 2022 piece on the mess-up at The Wire.
 48. Television Price Controls — Episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashok Malik).
 49. The Selfish Altruist -- Tony Vaux.
 50. Sadanand Dhume's tweet on the hypocrisy around The Satanic Verses.
 51. Bad Elements -- Ian Buruma.
 52. Biju Rao Won’t Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 53. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao.
 54. The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad — Episode 302 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 55. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 56. The Wal-Mart Effect -- Charles Fishman.
 57. Modern South India -- Rajmohan Gandhi.
 58. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas).
 59. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 60. Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat -- Narmad.
 61. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything.
 62. Where the Green Ants Dream -- Werner Herzog.
 63. People's Linguistic Survey of India -- GN Devy and others.
 64. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 65. Stage.in.
 66. Reading Lolita in Tehran -- Azar Nafisi.
 67. Two Concepts of Liberty — Isaiah Berlin.
 68. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything.
 69. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
 70. Shruti Rajagopalan’s talk on the many amendments in our constitution.
 71. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra.
 72. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 73. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 74. Goodbye Solo — Ramin Bahrani.
 75. The desire to help, and the desire not to be helped — Roger Ebert’s review of Goodbye Solo.
 76. Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada -- Shahu Patole.
 77. Firaaq -- Nandita Das.
 78. How the BJP Wins — Prashant Jha.
 79. The BJP’s Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
 80. The Year of Living Dangerously -- Peter Weir.
 81. Ingmar Bergman, Satyajit Ray, Francois Truffaut and Aparna Sen.
 82. The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and London Review of Books.
 83. Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain and Vilayat Khan on Spotify.
 84. Nadine Gordiner, Fintan O'Toole, Ilya Kaminsky, Karthika Nair, Ruchir Joshi, Kiran Desai, Nilanjana Roy, Sunil Gavaskar and Mike Brearley.
 
 This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘Asmita’ by Simahina.

Ep 409: Salil Tripathi and the Gujaratis

She's an economist, an institution-builder, an ecosystem-nurturer and one of our finest thinkers. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 410 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life & times -- and her remarkable work.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Shruti Rajagopalan on Twitter, Substack, Instagram, her podcast, Ideas of India and her own website.
 2. Emergent Ventures India.
 3. The 1991 Project.
 4. Life Lessons That Are Priceless -- Episodes 400 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 5. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
 6. The Day Ryan Started Masturbating -- Amit Varma's newsletter post explaining Shruti Rajagopalan's swimming pool analogy for social science research.
 7. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 54 of Everything is Everything.
 8. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
 9. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
 10. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything.
 11. Where Has All the Education Gone? -- Lant Pritchett.
 12. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 13. The Theory of Moral Sentiments — Adam Smith.
 14. The Wealth of Nations — Adam Smith.
 15. Commanding Heights -- Daniel Yergin.
 16. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman.
 17. Free to Choose -- Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman.
 18. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt.
 19. The Road to Serfdom -- Friedrich Hayek.
 20. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything.
 21. The Use of Knowledge in Society -- Friedrich Hayek.
 22. Individualism and Economic Order -- Friedrich Hayek.
 23. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 
 24. Richard E Wagner at Mercatus and Amazon.
 25. Larry White and the First Principles of Money -- Episode 397 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 26. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything.
 27. Marginal Revolution.
 28. Paul Graham's essays.
 29. Commands and controls: Planning for indian industrial development, 1951–1990 -- Rakesh Mohan and Vandana Aggarwal.
 30. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything.
 31. India: Planning for Industrialization -- Jagdish Bhagwati and Padma Desai.
 32. Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration -- Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith.
 33. Cows on India Uncut.
 34. Abdul Karim Khan on Spotify and YouTube.
 35. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything.
 36. Objects From Our Past -- Episode 77 of Everything is Everything.
 37. Sriya Iyer on the Economics of Religion -- The Ideas of India Podcast.
 38. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
 39. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Pratap Bhanu Mehta: 1, 2.
 40. Rohit Lamba Reimagines India’s Economic Policy Emphasis -- The Ideas of India Podcast.
 41. Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan — Episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 42. The Constitutional Law and Philosophy blog.
 43. Cost and Choice -- James Buchanan.
 44. Philip Wicksteed.
 45. Pratap Bhanu Mehta on The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- The Ideas of India Podcast.
 46. Conversation and Society — Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
 47. The Common Sense of Political Economy -- Philip Wicksteed.
 48. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 49. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World — Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 50. Manmohan Singh: India's Finest Talent Scout -- Shruti Rajagopalan.
 51. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
 52. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 53. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
 54. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane).
 55. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 56. Breaking Through — Isher Judge Ahluwalia.
 57. Breaking Out — Padma Desai.
 58. Perestroika in Perspective -- Padma Desai.
 59. Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible — Episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 60. Pics from the Seen-Unseen party.
 61. Pramod Varma on India’s Digital Empowerment -- Episode 50 of Brave New World.
 59. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator — Episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 60. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 61. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
 62. The Overton Window.
 63. When Ideas Have Sex -- Matt Ridley.
 64. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling.
 65. Arnold Kling and the Four Languages of Politics -- Episode 394 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 66. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel.
 67. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis.
 68. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz).
 69. What Does It Mean to Be Libertarian? — Episode 64 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 70. The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom -- David Boaz.
 71. Publish and Perish — Agnes Callard.
 72. Classical Liberal Institute.
 73. Shruti Rajagopalan’s YouTube talk on constitutional amendments.
 74. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” -- Lant Pritchett.
 75. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao.
 76. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok.
 77. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
 78. Invisible Infrastructure -- Episode 82 of Everything is Everything.
 79. The Sundara Kanda.
 80. Devdutt Pattanaik and the Stories That Shape Us -- Episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 81. Y Combinator.
 82. Space Fields.
 83. Apoorwa Masuk, Onkar Singh Batra, Naman Pushp, Angad Daryani, Deepak VS and Srijon Sarkar.
 84. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 85. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away -- The Beatles.
 86. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 87. Data For India -- Rukmini S's startup.
 88. Whole Numbers And Half Truths — Rukmini S.
 89. The Moving Curve — Rukmini S’s Covid podcast, also on all podcast apps.
 90. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
 91. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
 92. Prosperiti.
 93. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin.
 94. The Dilemma of an Indian Liberal -- Gurcharan Das.
 95. Zakir: 1951-2024 -- Shruti Rajagopalan.
 96. Dazzling Blue -- Paul Simon, featuring Karaikudi R Mani.
 97. John Coltrane, Shakti, Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan, Pannalal Ghosh, Nikhil Banerjee, Vilayat Khan, Bismillah Khan, Ravi Shankar, Bhimsen Joshi, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Esperanza Spalding, MS Subbulakshmi, Lalgudi Jayaraman, TN Krishnan, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Ranjani-Gayatri and TM Krishna on Spotify.
 98. James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, Israel Kirzner, Mario Rizzo, Vernon Smith, Thomas Schelling and Ronald Coase.
 99. The Calculus of Consent -- James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock.
 100. Tim Harford and Martin Wolf.
 101. The Shawshank Redemption -- Frank Darabont.
 102. The Marriage of Figaro in The Shawshank Redemption.
 103. An Equal Music -- Vikram Seth.
 104. Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 - Zubin Mehta and the Belgrade Philharmonic.
 105. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's violin concertos.
 106. Animal Farm -- George Orwell.
 107. Down and Out in Paris and London -- George Orwell.
 108. Gulliver's Travels -- Jonathan Swift.
 109. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass -- Lewis Carroll.
 110. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
 111. The Gulag Archipelago -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
 112. Khosla Ka Ghosla -- Dibakar Banerjee.
 113. Mr India -- Shekhar Kapur.
 114. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi -- Satyen Bose.
 114. Finding Nemo -- Andrew Stanton.
 115. Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny.
 116. Michael Madana Kama Rajan -- Singeetam Srinivasa Rao.
 117. The Music Box, with Laurel and Hardy.
 118. The Disciple -- Chaitanya Tamhane.
 119. Court -- Chaitanya Tamhane.
 120. Dwarkesh Patel on YouTube.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘Learn' by Simahina.

Ep 410: Shruti Rajagopalan Remembers the Angle of the Light

Business and life can sometimes be seen more as a search for values than a quest for profit. Private equity pioneer Vishal Nevatia joins Amit Varma in episode 411 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey towards finding his true north.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Vishal Nevatia at True North.
 2. Ingredients for high growth firms -- Vishal Nevatia in 2015.
 3. Shephali Bhatt Is Searching for the Incredible — Episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 4. Biju Rao Won’t Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 5. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 6. The Beauty of Finance -- Ep 21 of Everything is Everything.
 7. How Family Firms Evolve -- Ep 34 of Everything is Everything.
 8. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Ep 37 of Everything is Everything.
 9. Graduating to Globalisation -- Epi 48 of Everything is Everything.
 10. The Horrors of KYC -- Episode 74 of Everything is Everything.
 11. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
 12. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 13. How We Do the Small Things — Amit Varma.
 14. How the Trump Whale Correctly Called the Election -- Alexander Osipovich. 15. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
 16. Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants — Episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 17. Polls get elections wrong. So use Google -- Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
 
 This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘True North’ by Simahina.

Ep 411: Vishal Nevatia Finds His True North

So much in history never made it to the popular imagination -- such as the battles of 1967 in which India beat China. Probal DasGupta joins Amit Varma in episode 412 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his time in the Indian army -- and his fascinating discoveries as a military historian.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Probal DasGupta on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Amazon.
 2. Watershed 1967: India's Forgotten Victory Over China -- Probal DasGupta.
 3. Camouflaged: Forgotten Stories from Battlefields -- Probal DasGupta.
 4. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja).
 5. The Killing Fields -- Roland Joffé.
 6. Shame -- Salman Rushdie.
 7. Midnight's Children -- Salman Rushdie.
 8. The Satanic Verses -- Salman Rushdie.
 9. India's War -- Srinath Raghavan.
 10. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia — Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
 11. The State of the Ukraine War — Episode 14 of Everything is Everything.
 12. A Deep Dive Into the Indian Military -- Episode 31 of Everything is Everything.
 13. Indian Defence Strategy: Forces, Potential and Procurement Disasters -- Perun.
 14. Biju Rao Won’t Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 15. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao.
 16. The Absent Dialogue -- Anit Mukherjee.
 17. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Episode 37 of Everything is Everything.
 18. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything.
 19. Love Story -- Rahul Rawail.
 20. Grave of the Fireflies -- Isao Takahata.
 21. The Nutty Putty cave picture.
 22. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War — Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
 23. 1971: A Global History Of The Creation Of Bangladesh -- Srinath Raghavan.
 24. The chair-raising scene between Adenoid Hynkel and Benzino Napaloni in The Great Dictator.
 25. One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 26. One Hundred Years of Solitude, the web series.
 27. Until August -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 28. Chronicle of a Death Foretold -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 29. No One Writes to the Colonel -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 30. Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 31. Feast of the Goat -- Mario Vargas Llosa.
 32. Indian Summer -- Alex von Tunzelmann.
 33. The Last Emperor -- Bernardo Bertolucci.
 
 Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here.
 
 Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must!
 
 And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!
 
 Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
 
 Episode art: ‘Rare Air’ by Simahina.

Ep 412: Probal DasGupta Goes to the Himalayas With Books in His Bag

#MeToo is the most important cultural moment of our lifetimes. Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena join Amit Varma in episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their insights.
 
Also check out:
 
Hostile Climate: Nikita Saxena (Feature on RK Pachauri)
 #MeToo is anarchic, and that’s a good thing: Supriya Nair
 Metrics of Empowerment: Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen
 Claiming Your Space: Episode 76 of The Seen and the Unseen
 One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second Class Citizens: Amit Varma
 I am a Feminist. You should be too: Amit Varma

Ep. 90: The #MeToo Movement

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