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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

Writing biographies is solitary and difficult -- even when the subject is way more interesting than anything you could make up. Narayani Basu joins Amit Varma in episode 428 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss writing, friendship, hustling, ageing, intentionality and the subject of her latest book, the impossible KM Panikkar.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Narayani Basu on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Amazon.
 2. A Man For All Seasons: The Life Of KM Panikkar -- Narayani Basu.
 3. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India -- Narayani Basu.
 4. Allegiance: Azaadi and the End of Empire -- Narayani Basu.
 5. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu).
 6. Kavitha Rao Chases Chatto and Roy -- Episode 416 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 7. When Harry Met Sally -- Rob Reiner.
 8. Can men and women be just friends? — The Economist.
 9. Malini Goyal is the Curious One — Ep 377 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 10. Unboxing Bengaluru — Malini Goyal & Prashanth Prakash.
 11. Finding Love in Modern India — Ep 401 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sanjana Ramachandran and Samarth Bansal).
 12. Inside the Hearts of Men and Women -- Episode 118 of Everything is Everything.
 13. Heart Tantrums: A Feminist's Memoir of Misogyny and Marriage -- Aisha Sarwari.
 14. The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das -- Episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 15. Ambassador -- Narayani Basu on CB Muthamma.
 16. Five Epic Stories That Must Be Films -- Episode 29 of Everything is Everything.
 17. The Cripps Version: The Life of Sir Stafford Cripps 1889-1952 -- Peter Clarke.
 18. Lady Doctors : The Untold Stories Of India’s First Women In Medicine — Kavitha Rao.
 19. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 20. The Heckman Equation — a website based on James Heckman’s work.
 21. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
 22. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity — Manu Pillai.
 23. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism -- Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
 24. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
 25. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything.
 26. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
 27. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
 28. Impossible Germany — Wilco.
 29. Coolie No 1 -- David Dhawan.
 30. Anne de Courcy, Sonia Purnell and Ben Macintyre on Amazon.
 31. Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill -- Sonia Purnell.
 32. A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WWII's Most Dangerous Spy -- Sonia Purnell.
 33. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Bookish and Department Q.
 
 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: ‘Solitary and Impossible’ by Simahina.

Ep 428: The Solitary Writer Meets the Impossible Man

Cricket isn't just what happens across 22 yards, and great cricket writers always go beyond the boundary. Vijay Lokapally joins Amit Varma in episode 427 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the joys and heartbreaks of a lifetime of writing about cricket -- and much else.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Vijay Lokapally on Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, The Hindu and Sportstar.
 2. Pen, Paper and Podcast -- Vijay Lokapally's podcast.
 3. The Virender Sehwag Story -- Vijay Lokapally.
 4. The Hitman: The Rohit Sharma Story -- Vijay Lokapally.
 5. Driven: The Virat Kohli Story -- Vijay Lokapally.
 6. Speed Merchants: The Story of Indian Pace Bowling 1886 to 2019 -- Gulu Ezekiel and Vijay Lokapally.
 7. Net Flicks: India’s Smashing Affair with the Shuttle -- Akshay Lokapally and Vijay Lokapally.
 8. Housefull:The Golden Years Of Hindi Cinema -- Edited by Ziya Us Salam, with writing by Vijay Lokapally.
 9. Vijay Lokapally's episodes on 81 All Out: 1, 2.
 10. India vs Australia, 3rd Test at Delhi, Nov 28, 1969.
 11. Bishan Singh Bedi's letter to Vijay Lokapally.
 12. The Evolution of Cricket — Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle).
 13. Hatari -- Howard Hawks.
 14. Roger Federer's commencement address at Dartmouth, 2024.
 15. Pundits from Pakistan -- Rahul Bhattacharya.
 16. The Fire Burns Blue: A History of Women's Cricket in India -- Sidhanta Patnaik and Karunya Keshav.
 17. Triumph in Bombay: Travels during the Cricket World Cup -- Vaibhav Vats.
 18. Wrist Assured -- Gundappa Vishwanath with R Kaushik.
 19. Apradh -- Feroz Khan.
 20. Kaagaz Ke Phool -- Guru Dutt.
 21. Anand -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
 22. Kala Bazar -- Vijay Anand.
 23. Mackenna's Gold -- J Lee Thompson.
 24. The Magnificent Seven -- Antoine Fuqua.
 25. The Ten Commandments -- Cecil B DeMille. 26. Ben Hur -- William Wyler. 27. Safar -- Asit Sen.
 28. Teesri Kasam -- Basu Bhattacharya.
 29. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi -- Satyam Bose.
 
 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 Boy in the Stands’ by Simahina.

Ep 427: The Boy Who Loved Cricket -- The Vijay Lokapally Story

She's straddled the worlds of Hindustani classical and popular music, and is a legend in both spaces. Shubha Mudgal joins Amit Varma in episode 426 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her music and this changing world.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Shubha Mudgal on Spotify, Instagram, Twitter, Wikipedia and her own website.
 2. Looking for Miss Sargam: Stories of Music and Misadventure -- Shubha Mudgal.
 3. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 4. Lady Doctors : The Untold Stories Of India’s First Women In Medicine — Kavitha Rao.
 5. The Heckman Equation — a website based on James Heckman’s work.
 6. The Disciple — Chaitanya Tamhane.
 7. A Chess Story (previously published as The Royal Game) — Stefan Zweig.
 8. The Light in Winter -- Episode 97 of Everything is Everything.
 9. The Köln Concert (YouTube, Spotify) -- Keith Jarrett.
 10. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 11. Aneesh Pradhan on Scroll, Amazon, Instagram, Twitter and his own website.
 12. Stories in a Song -- Sunil Shanbag, Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan.
 13. Nothing Without You/Tery Bina -- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
 14. How Music Works -- David Byrne.
 15. Acoustic analysis of two Hindu temples in Southern India -- Shashank Aswathanarayana & Braxton Boren.
 16. Begum Akhtar on Spotify and YouTube.
 17. Uzr Aane Mein Bhi Hai -- Begum Akhtar.
 18. Woh Jo Ham Men Tum Men Qarar Tha -- Begum Akhtar.
 19. Siddheshwari Devi on Spotify and YouTube.
 20. Shayam Prem Gagariyaa Bhaari -- Siddheshwari Devi.
 21. Latcho Drom -- Tony Gatlif.
 22. Yeh Kothewaliya -- Amritlal Nagar.
 
 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: ‘Song' by Simahina.

Ep 426: The Life and Music of Shubha Mudgal

He reached the top of the corporate world -- and then gave it up to become a writer, with books that probed our deepest questions, and influenced millions of people. Gurcharan Das joins Amit Varma in episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life and learnings.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
 1. Gurcharan Das on Amazon, Wikipedia, Twitter, LinkedIn, Times of India and his own website.
 2. Another Sort of Freedom -- Gurcharan Das.
 3. India Unbound -- Gurcharan Das.
 4. The Difficulty of Being Good -- Gurcharan Das.
 5. Kama: The Riddle of Desire -- Gurcharan Das.
 6. Three Plays: Larins Sahib, Mira, 9 Jakhoo Hill -- Gurcharan Das.
 7. A Fine Family -- Gurcharan Das.
 8. The Elephant Paradigm -- Gurcharan Das.
 9. India Grows At Night -- Gurcharan Das.
 10. The Dilemma of an Indian Liberal -- Gurcharan Das.
 11. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
 12. Rashomon -- Akira Kurosawa.
 13. Toba Tek Singh -- Sadat Hasan Manto.
 14. Imagined Communities -- Benedict Anderson.
 15. A Treatise of Human Nature -- David Hume.
 16. Tales from the Kathasaritsagara -- Soma Deva (translated by Arshia Sattar).
 17. What These Labels Mean -- Episode 107 of Everything is Everything.
 18. Economic Facts and Fallacies -- Thomas Sowell.
 19. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression -- Amity Shlaes.
 20. In Search of Lost Time -- Marcel Proust.
 21. Anna Karenina -- Leo Tolstoy.
 22. War and Peace -- Leo Tolstoy.
 23. Pedro Páramo -- Juan Rulfo.
 24. Don Quixote -- Miguel De Cervantes.
 25. The Great Books of the Western World -- Edited by Mortimer J Adler.
 26. The Double 'Thank You' Moment -- John Stossel.
 27. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Episode 37 of Everything is Everything.
 28. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 29. The Nature of the Firm -- Ronald Coase.
 30. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything.
 31. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
 32. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 33. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
 34. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 35. The 1991 Project.
 36. The Future of War -- Episode 112 of Everything is Everything.
 37. Perpetual Peace -- Immanuel Kant.
 38. The Bhagawad Gita.
 39. Four Quartets -- TS Eliot.
 40. Walden -- Henry David Thoreau.
 41. Essays on the Gita -- Sri Aurobindo.
 42. Sri Bhagavadgita Rahasya -- Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
 43. Many Threads of Hinduism -- Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya.
 44. Bourgeois Dignity -- Deirdre McCloskey.
 45. The Makropulos Case -- Karel Capek.
 46. The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortality -- Bernard Williams.
 47. Don't Punish Victimless Crimes -- Episode 73 of Everything is Everything.
 48. The Mahabharata.
 48. Plato, Aristotle and Karl Marx.
 49. Charulata -- Satyajit Ray.
 50. The Apu Trilogy -- Satyajit Ray.
 51. The Calcutta Trilogy -- Satyajit Ray.
 52. Shatranj ke Khiladi -- Satyajit Ray.
 53. Duvidha -- Mani Kaul.
 54. Cinema Paradiso -- Giuseppe Tornatore.
 55. Amarcord -- Federico Fellini.
 56. Stolen Kisses -- François Truffaut.
 57. Last Year at Marienbad -- Alain Resnais.
 58. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis -- Vittorio De Sica.
 59. The Prince -- Niccolò Machiavelli.
 60. The Leopard -- Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa.
 61. The Leopard -- Luchino Visconti.
 62. Mozart, Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Kishori Amonkar and Mallikarjun Mansur on Spotify.
 63. The plays of Anton Chekhov.
 64. The short stories of Anton Chekhov.
 65. Four Major Plays -- Federico García Lorca.
 66. The Great Gatsby -- F Scott Fitzgerald.
 67. Waiting for Godot -- Samuel Beckett.
 68. Madame Bovary -- Gustave Flaubert.
 69. The Brothers Karamazov -- Fyodor Dostoevsky.
 70. The Stranger -- Albert Camus.
 71. The Black Paintings -- Francisco Goya.
 72. The Light in Winter -- Episode 97 of Everything is Everything.
 73. Virasat-e-Khalsa.
 
 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: ‘Two Birds’ by Simahina.

Ep 425: The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das

Trained as a journalist, but driven by a desire to make a difference, she spent over a decade working with sex workers in Delhi to understand and improve their lives. Gitanjali Babbar joins Amit Varma in episode 424 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her learnings about GB Road -- and our strange and twisted society.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out
 1. Gitanjali Babbar on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
 2. Kat Katha (also on Facebook and Instagram.)
 3. Donate to Kat Katha. (Alternate link).
 4. Select talks by and interviews of Gitanjali Babbar: 1, 2, 3, 4.
 5. The Fat Girl -- Andre Dubus.
 6. Aashayein -- song from Iqbal.
 7. Talks on the Gita -- Vinobha Bhave.
 8. The Forty Rules of Love -- Elif Shafak.
 9. Tu Jhoom -- Naseebo Lal and Abida Parveen.
 10. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar -- Mansoor Khan.
 11. Saathiya -- Shaad Ali.
 12. Anurag Garg on Amazon.
 
 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 Street’ by Simahina.

Ep 424: Gitanjali Babbar and the Didis of GB Road

He founded the iconic organisation Yuva 50 years ago when he was in his early 20s, pioneered social work in India, and went on to drive change for the UN and Amnesty. Minar Pimple joins Amit Varma in episode 423 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his learnings and the ceaseless tumult in our society.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Minar Pimple at Yuva and Instagram.
 2. An ISDM case study of Yuva.
 3. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World — Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 4. India’s MSME Landscape — Some Useful Frameworks -- Episode 419 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sudhir Sarnobat and Narendra Shenoy).
 5. The Atheism Episode -- Episode 83 of Everything is Everything.
 6. Ayn Rand, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong and Friedrich Engels.
 7. The Communist Manifesto -- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
 8. The Annihilation of Caste -- BR Ambedkar.
 9. Paulo Freire and Saul Alinsky.
 10. Towards a Philosophy of Social Work in India -- Sugata Dasgupta.
 11. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan — Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 12. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
 13. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything.
 14. The Gate of Angels -- Penelope Fitzgerald.
 15. The Moral Animal -- Robert Wright.
 16. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam).
 17. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World — Snigdha Poonam.
 18. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja).
 19. Adolescence — Created by Stephen Graham & Jack Thorne.
 20. The Mayor of Casterbridge -- Thomas Hardy.
 21. All My Sons -- Arthur Miller.
 22. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 23. Salil Tripathi and the Gujaratis -- Episode 409 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 24. The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community — Salil Tripathi.
 25. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
 26. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
 27. The Case for Nuclear Electricity -- Episode 78 of Everything is Everything.
 28. Pyaasa -- Guru Dutt.
 29. Samna -- Jabbar Patel.
 30. Phule -- Anant Mahadevan.
 31. Long Walk To Freedom -- Nelson Mandela.
 32. Why I am an Atheist -- Bhagat Singh.
 33. Selected Writings of Jotirao Phule -- Edited by GP Deshpande.
 34. IPTA Mumbai.
 35. Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi on Spotify.
 
 And here are the episodes mentioned by Amit in the introduction:
 1. The Art of Podcasting -- Episode 49 of Everything is Everything.
 2. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 3. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 4. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 5. Devdutt Pattanaik and the Stories That Shape Us — Episode 404 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 6. Ajay Shah Brings the Dreams of the 20th Century -- Episode 402 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 7. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
 
 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: ‘Praxis’ by Simahina.

Ep 423: Minar Pimple's Life in Social Work

Cricket is the most unusual of games with the most unusual of histories -- which can reveal so much about our society and our times. Tim Wigmore joins Amit Varma in episode 422 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the history of Test cricket -- and how the game is changing today.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Tim Wigmore on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon, Cricinfo and the Daily Telegraph.
 2. Test Cricket: A History -- Tim Wigmore.
 3. Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution -- Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde.
 4. Crickonomics: The Anatomy of Modern Cricket -- Stefan Szymansk and Tim Wigmore.
 5. White Hot: The Inside Story of England Cricket’s Double World Champions -- Tim Wigmore and Matt Roller.
 6. The Best: How Elite Athletes Are Made -- Mark Williams and Tim Wigmore.
 7. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (1877-1977) — Compiled & edited by Bill Frindall.
 8. Beyond A Boundary -- CLR James.
 9. Pundits from Pakistan -- Rahul Bhattacharya.
 10. England: The Biography: The Story of English Cricket -- Simon Wilde.
 11. The Unforgiven -- Ashley Gray.
 12. How to Think About Cricket (and Life) -- Episode 19 of Everything is Everything.
 13. Selected pieces by Amit Varma on T20 cricket and changing cricket strategy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
 14. Money in Cricket — Episode 41 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gideon Haigh and Prem Panicker).
 15. The Evolution of Cricket — Episode 97 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Harsha Bhogle).
 16. Homeland -- Fernando Aramburu.
 17. Levels of the Game -- John McPhee.
 18. Rear Window -- Alfred Hitchcock.
 19. Psycho -- Alfred Hitchcock.
 20. State of Happiness -- Petter Næss and Pål Jackman.
 
 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 Cricket Tragic’ by Simahina.

Ep 422: The Past and Present of Cricket

Too much of our history is looked at through either a colonial lens or a patriarchal one. Ira Mukhoty joins Amit Varma in episode 421 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her gaze on India's history, and all that it has taught her.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
 1. Ira Mukhoty on Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads and Amazon.
 2. Women in Indian History -- Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty).
 3. The Lion and The Lily: The Rise and Fall of Awadh -- Ira Mukhoty.
 4. Akbar: The Great Mughal -- Ira Mukhoty.
 5. Song of Draupadi -- Ira Mukhoty.
 6. Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire -- Ira Mukhoty.
 7. Heroines: Powerful Indian Women of Myth and History -- Ira Mukhoty.
 8. Jahangir the Curious — Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma).
 9. The Many Cities of Delhi — Episode 172 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rana Safvi).
 10. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
 11. Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life -- Anna Funder.
 12. Invisible Women -- Caroline Criado Perez.
 13. An Immense World -- Ed Yong.
 14. What Is It Like to Be a Bat? — Thomas Nagel.
 15. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky.
 16. The Expanding Circle — Peter Singer.
 17. Yuganta -- Irawati Karve.
 18. The Great Indian Kitchen -- Jeo Baby.
 19. Heart Lamp -- Banu Mushtaq.
 20. Misogyny is the Oldest Indian Tradition -- Amit Varma.
 21. One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second-Class Citizens -- Amit Varma.
 22. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 23. Mughal History as a window to Modern India -- Ira Mukhoty on The India Briefing.
 24. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 25. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 26. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 27. In defence of suit, boot — Chandra Bhan Prasad.
 28. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor).
 29. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 30. Real Birds in Imagined Gardens -- Kavita Singh.
 31. The Light in Winter -- Episode 97 of Everything is Everything, on Spanish art.
 32. Tawaif — Episode 174 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Saba Dewan).
 33. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 34. The Broken Script — Swapna Liddle.
 35. Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court -- Audrey Truschke.
 36. The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
 37. The Year of Magical Thinking -- Joan Didion.
 38. Blue Nights -- Joan Didion.
 39. H is for Hawk -- Helen Macdonald.
 40. The Procrastination Matrix -- Tim Urban.
 41. The Age of the Partial Outsider -- Janan Ganesh.
 42. Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light -- Hilary Mantel.
 43. The Silence of the Girls -- Pat Barker.
 44. The Hindus: An Alternative History -- Wendy Doniger.
 45. Daily Rituals -- Mason Currey.
 46. Daily Rituals: Women at Work -- Mason Currey.
 47. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything.
 48. Tawaifnama — Saba Dewan.
 49. The Other Song -- Saba Dewan.
 50. Sex and the Family in Colonial India -- Durba Ghosh.
 51. Blueprint for Armageddon — Episode 50-55 of Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History.
 52. Roam Research.
 53. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia.
 54. The History Thieves: Secrets, Lies and the Shaping of a Modern Nation -- Ian Cobain.
 55. Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan -- Ruby Lal.
 56. Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jehan -- Ruby Lal.
 57. Coming of Age in Nineteenth-Century India: The Girl-Child and the Art of Playfulness -- Ruby Lal.
 58. What is Islam? -- Shahab Ahmad.
 59. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity -- Manu Pillai.
 60. The House Divided: Sunni, Shia and the Making of the Middle East -- Barnaby Rogerson.
 61. Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh -- ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni.
 62. Sarkai Lo Khatiya Jada Lage -- Song from Raja Babu.
 63. Edge of Empire -- Maya Jasonoff.
 64. Shatranj Ke Khiladi -- Satyajit Ray.
 65. That Obscure Object of Desire -- Luis Buñuel.
 66. This House of Grief -- Helen Garner.
 67. Joe Cinque's Consolation -- Helen Garner.
 68. Grief Is the Thing with Feathers -- Max Porter.
 69. Burial Rites -- Hannah Kent.
 70. Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison.
 71. The Wonder -- Emma Donahue.
 72. When Montezuma Met Cortés -- Matthew Restall.
 73. Stolen -- Karan Tejpal.
 
 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: ‘Unseen Histories’ by Simahina.

Ep 421: Ira Mukhoty's Quest for Unseen Histories

Circumstance made him a legend of the quizzing world, but Siddhartha Basu is a man of many parts. He joins Amit Varma in episode 420 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about life, India, the art of asking questions and the answers he has found.
 
(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Siddhartha Basu on Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram and IMDb.
 2. Tree of Knowledge, DigiTok.
 3. Quizzitok on YouTube.
 4. Middlemarch -- George Eliot.
 5. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
 6. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
 7. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
 9. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 10. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 11. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity — Manu Pillai.
 12. The Forces That Shaped Hinduism — Episode 405 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai).
 13. How to Become a Tyrant -- Narrated by Peter Dinklage.
 14. What Is Populism? -- Jan-Werner Müller.
 15. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything.
 16. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- Richard Fleischer.
 17. The Hedgehog And The Fox — Isaiah Berlin.
 18. Trees of Delhi : A Field Guide -- Pradip Krishen.
 19. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 20. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 21. Stage.in.
 22. Dance Like a Man -- Mahesh Dattani.
 23. How Old Are You? -- Rosshan Andrrews.
 24. The Mehta Boys -- Boman Irani.
 25. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man -- James Joyce.
 26. Massey Sahib -- Pradip Krishen.
 27. Derek O'Brien talks to Siddhartha Basu -- Episode 6 of the Quizzitok Podcast.
 28. Kwizzing with Kumar Varun.
 29. Ivanhoe, Treasure Island and Black Beauty.
 30. Jane Austen, Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Allan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, James Joyce, TS Eliot and Vivekananda.
 31. Ramayana and Mahabharata -- C Rajagopalachari.
 32. Paradise Lost -- John Milton.
 33. Morte d'Arthur -- Alfred Tennyson.
 34. Death of a Salesman -- Arthur Miller.
 35. Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Mukul Kesavan, Rukun Advani, Vikram Seth, Shashi Tharoor, Jhumpa Lahiri, I Allan Sealy, Arundhati Roy and William Dalrymple.
 36. The Trotter-nama -- I Allan Sealy.
 37. The Everest Hotel -- I Allan Sealy.
 38. The Life and Times of Altu-Faltu -- Ranjit Lal.
 39. Mr Beast on YouTube.
 40. The Spectacular Life of Prahlad Kakar — Episode 414 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 41. Ramki and the Ocean of Stories -- Episode 415 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 42. Adolescence -- Created by Stephen Graham & Jack Thorne.
 43. Anora -- Sean Baker.
 44. Jerry Seinfeld on the results of the Seinfeld pilot.
 45. Scam 1992 -- Hansal Mehta.
 46. Dahaad -- Created by Reema Kagti & Zoya Akhtar.
 47. The Delhi Walla -- Mayank Austen Soofi.
 48. Flood of Fire -- Amitav Ghosh.
 49. The Shadow Lines -- Amitav Ghosh.
 50. The God of Small Things -- Arundhati Roy.
 51. Shillong Chamber Choir.
 52. The Waste Land -- TS Eliot.
 53. Omkara, Maqbool and Haider -- Vishal Bhardwaj.
 54. A Tale of Two Cities -- Charles Dickens.
 55. William Shakespeare and Henry James.
 
 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: ‘Your Time Starts Now’ by Simahina.

Ep 420: Siddhartha Basu Is in the Hot Seat

Firms are the means of economic progress. India's micro, small and medium enterprises have been hobbled for decades, and flounder even today. Sudhir Sarnobat and Narendra Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 419 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss this landscape -- and Sudhir's brilliant new venture that aims to tackle this.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Sudhir Sarnobat on Twitter and LinkedIn.
 2. Naren Shenoy on Twitter, Instagram and Blogspot.
 3. How Frameworks — Sudhir Sarnobat’s new venture.
 4. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 5. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World -- Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 6. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy).
 7. You’re Ugly and You’re Hairy and You’re Covered in Shit but You’re Mine and I Love You -- Episode 362 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy).
 8. The Teaching Learning Community.
 9. Ascent Foundation.
 10. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything.
 11. Other episodes of Everything is Everything on firms: 1, 2, 3, 4.
 12. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 13. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon).
 14. Restart -- Mihir Sharma.
 15. Backstage — Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
 16. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 17. The Devil's Dictionary -- Ambrose Bierce.
 18. The Bad and Complex Tax -- Episode 74 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
 19. They Stole a Bridge. They Stole a Pond -- Amit Varma.
 20. Bihar real estate brokers build illegal bridge on river.
 21. The Globalisation Episode -- Episode 95 of Everything is Everything.
 22. Is Globalization Doomed? -- Episode 96 of Everything is Everything
 23. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything.
 24. The Case for Nuclear Electricity -- Episode 78 of Everything is Everything.
 25. अंतू बरवा -- Pu La Deshpande.
 26. Testaments Betrayed -- Milan Kundera.
 27. The Double ‘Thank You’ Moment — John Stossel.
 28. Marginal Revolution University.
 29. The Bankable Wisdom of Harsh Vardhan — Episode 352 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 30. Regrets for my Old Dressing Gown -- Denis Diderot.
 31. Good to Great -- Jim Collins.
 32. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt.
 33. The Goal -- Eliyahu Goldratt.
 34. The Toyota Way -- Jeffrey Liker.
 35. Start With Why -- Simon Sinek.
 36. The Lean Startup -- Eric Reis.
 37. The Hard Thing About Hard Things -- Ben Horowitz.
 38. Romancing the Balance Sheet -- Anil Lamba.
 39. Connect the Dots -- Rashmi Bansal.
 40. Zero to One -- Peter Thiel.
 41. Acquired, Lenny's Podcast, EconTalk, Work Life, Rethinking, The Knowledge Project, How I Built This, Everything is Everything, HBR Podcast, Ideacast, Deep Questions.
 42. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything.
 43. Can We Build Switzerland in India? -- Episode 58 of Everything is Everything.
 44. Dwarkesh Patel and Hannah Fry.
 45. Habuild.
 
 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: ‘Battleground’ by Simahina.

Ep 419: India's MSME Landscape -- Some Useful Frameworks

In a complex world where the truth is up for grabs, we need narrative nonfiction. Samanth Subramanian joins Amit Varma in episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the art and craft of this form of literature. Also discussed: A Dominant Character, Samanth's book on JBS Haldane, and the intersection of science and politics.
 
 Also check out:
 1. A Dominant Character -- Samanth Subramanian.
 2. Samanth Subramanian's website, Amazon page and his work at the Guardian and the New Yorker. 
 3. The Intersection -- the podcast hosted by Padmaparna Ghosh and Samanth Subramanian.
 4. Psmith, Journalist -- PG Wodehouse.
 5. Question Time: My Life as a Quiz Obsessive -- Samanth Subramanian.
 6. Quizzing is Not Just a Trivial Pursuit -- Amit Varma.
 7. Neville Cardus on Amazon.
 8. Darwin's Dangerous Idea -- Daniel Dennett.
 9. The Perfect Murder -- HRF Keating.
 10. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts).
 11. Cricket as a novelty, an obsession, and as literature -- Samanth Subramanian on Siddhartha Vaidyanathan's podcast, 81 all out.
 12. On Writing Well -- Sarah Farooqui's interview with Samanth Subramanian.
 13. The Complete New Yorker.
 14. AJ Liebling, Calvin Trillin and Joan Didion on Amazon.
 15. The Confidence Man -- Samanth Subramanian (on Lalit Modi).
 15. The New New Journalism -- Robert Boynton.
 16. The Secret of Excess -- Bill Buford (on Mario Batali).
 17. The Power Broker -- Robert A Caro.
 18. Robert A Caro on Amazon.
 19. What Ails Indian Science -- JBS Haldane.
 20. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley).
 21. The Man of System -- Adam Smith (excerpted from The Theory of Moral Sentiments).
 22. The Papers of JBS Haldane -- Samanth Subramanian.
 23. A talk by Samanth Subramanian on JBS Haldane at Archives@NCBS. And hey, do check out Amit Varma's writing course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Ep 183: The Art of Narrative Nonfiction (+ JBS Haldane)

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