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Where Were You When

In this podcast series, listen to first-hand experiences of people from moments that changed India for better or for worse.

Where were you on 27 February 2002 as India witnessed one of its bloodiest Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat over three days prompted by the burning of a train in Godhra?

Twenty years since the Gujarat riots which led to at least a thousand deaths, there are still many questions and elusive answers about how a large-scale massacre could take place over a span of three days.

Who started the fire in coach S-6 of Sabarmati Express? Was the state complicit in the violence that followed in the aftermath? In this episode of Where Were You When we revisit the event. 

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Interviews (In order of appearance) 
Jatin Vaghela, son of Rajesh Vaghela — a karsevak who died in Godhra train burning incident
Imtiyaz Khan, survivor of Gulberg Society massacre
Shama Pathan, Gujarat 2002 riots survivor
Rakesh Sharma, documentary filmmaker

Voiceover and Production: Shorbori 
Editor: Shelly Walia
Music: Big Bang Fuzz
Sounds: Freesound, Doordarshan, Final Solution

News articles and references:

'Lord Ram has given me new lease of life'

Communal Riots in Gujarat: The State at Risk? by Christophe Jaffrelot

Naroda Patiya Riots: A Timeline of the Case that Killed 97 Muslims

Timeline of the Riots in Modi’s Gujarat

History of Communal Violence in Gujarat

15 years after Godhra, we still don’t know who lit the fire

Is Godhra Violence Still Shaping India’s Political Discourse 20 Years On?

Revisiting Sabarmati Express Fire That Engulfed Gujarat in 2002

Gulberg Society: The case so far

Nanavati panel gives Modi clean chit in post-Godhra riots

Supreme Court to peruse 2002 Gujarat riots’ SIT closure report

Not Shielded Anybody In 2002 Riots: Probe Team Tells Supreme Court

The 2002 Gujarat riots cases and their statuses so far

2002 Gulberg massacre: Gujarat HC suspends life term of three more convicts

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2002 Gujarat Riots: Revisiting The Event Which Reconfigured India's Politics

RK Laxman, the legendary cartoonist spoke through his cartoons, about the concerns of The Common Man — a character that featured for almost half a century in The Times Of India's daily cartoon strip, You Said It. 

Laxman's bald, bespectacled, and dhoti-clad Common Man was part of every frame as either a spectator or a subject. And, the way Laxman wrote the captioned dialogues, not only resonated with the readers but politicians as well. 

How Laxman's genius brought his aam aadmi to life on TV as Wagle is a lesson in creative wisdom.
 
Tune in as we speak with Aanjan Srivastava who played this Common Man in Wagle Ki Duniya and Atish Kapadia who has re-created the show which is called Wagle Ki Duniya - Nayi Peedhi, Naye Kissey.

We also catch up with editorial cartoonist, Manjul, who breaks down how RK Laxman captured modern India and its problems through his cartoons.

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RK Laxman: The Cartoonist Who Lives Through 'The Common Man'

It's been 20 years since Karan Johar's cult-classic 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' (or K3G as it's popularly known), captured our attention with a dazzling star-cast, extravagant sets and glitzy fashion.

We may find the KJo brand of films as far off from reality as it can be, yet can we honestly stop humming to 'Suraj Huya Madhyam' or forget the moment when Shahrukh Khan aka Raj jumps out of the helicopter? 

Love it or hate it, K3G delivered the entertainment that it promised to.

20 years on, we caught up with film critics and journalists, Khalid Mohamed and Aseem Chhabra to understand our love-hate relationship with KJo's Cinema. 

We also speak with three child artistes from K3G — Maalvika Raaj who played young Kareena Kapoor, Parzaan Dastoor who plays Usman Siddiqui, and Jesse Lever who plays the son of Haldiram played by Johnny Lever, and they take us through the lesser-known details behind the making of K3G.

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20 Years of K3G: It's All About Loving the Good, the Bad, and Karan Johar

Two years have passed since the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act was passed in the parliament. In these two years, those who have protested against the act, have also faced repercussions in the form of arrests and detentions. 

Yet, the government has not written and rules implementing CAA. What is it that probably has resulted in this delay? Is it the protesting section of the country? 

Protests have become synonymous to any debate around CAA. In this episode, we caught up with activist and scholar, Fahad Ahmed, who led the massive protests in Mumbai, right after the act was passed. We also speak with political commentator, Professor Apoorvanand and Advocate Nizam Pasha who is lawyer in the Supreme Court of India.

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Revisiting CAA: What Happened When The Citizenship Amendment Act Was Passed in 2019?

How a film that was rejected by two lead actors and its director, went on to become a success? Why did the film's director, Milan Luthria had to initially stop shooting after having worked for four days with Vidya Balan? Is the film addressing the male gaze or providing for it? 

Tune in as Milan Luthria and Emraan Hashmi revisit the making of The Dirty Picture, and RJ Stutee help us understand our sentiments for the movie.

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10 Years of 'The Dirty Picture': What's So Dirty About This Picture?

PM Modi's supporters were quick to call the announcement banning the 500 and 1000 notes as his 'master-stroke' to tackle the black money, corruption, fake notes and terrorism.

The stroke however killed more jobs than the black money.

So, was the government able to cleanse the economy of the black money? Has there been any economic progress that could be attributed to the note-ban?

To answer these questions, we caught up with NDTV's former managing editor, Aunindyo Chakravarty. We also spoke with journalist Brajesh Dubey who broke the news of demonetisation fifteen days before the announcement. How did he do that?

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5 Years of Demonetisation: How the Chaos of Note-ban Hurt the 'Aam-Aadmi'

Jayprakash Narayan aka 'Doosra Gandhi' or the second Gandhi, is often held responsible for providing legitimacy to RSS and Jana Sangh. But some say that it's wrong to focus on something as important as this, without its historical context. 

Then how should we view JP's statement, 'If the RSS is fascist, so am I'? Is it because this endorsement has allegedly emboldened the right wing? Or we blame him because we lack a critical understanding of JP's politics? 

In this special episode of 'Where Were You When', we critically evaluate the great leader with the help of his peer, loyalists, and political analysts. 

For this podcast, The Quint's Fabeha Syed caught up with JP's colleague and a fellow Gandhian, Dr. Razi Ahmad, Secretary/ Director, Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Patna. You will also listen to Shivanand Tiwari. He is a JP's loyalist and an RJD veteran.

We interviewed two political analysts and commentators as well. First is Sudheendra Kulkarni. He was an aide to India’s former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajapyee, and was also chairman of the Observer Research Foundation Mumbai. And then, we have interviewed Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. He is an author and journalist based in Delhi. He has authored the book ‘The Demolition: India at the Crossroads’ and ‘Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times’.

Tune in to this crash-course in the modern political history of India, as we try to dive deeper into the ways JP used to think and lead.

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Explained: 'Loknayak' Jayprakash Narayan & How He Changed Indian Politics Post-Emergency

The law against Triple Talaq or The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, was passed two years ago amid protests from the opposition who blamed the government for targetting only the Muslim community. On 30th July 2019, this law was passed in the parliament with 99 votes in its favor.

Giving triple talaq would be a non-bailable and cognizable offense, meaning the police would not need a warrant for arrest. The victim will get the right to alimony and the magistrate will decide the issue.

This law criminalizes the Islamic practice called 'Talaaq-e-biddat' that grants instant divorce when a husband utters the word 'talaq' three times for his wife.

Now, on the two-year anniversary of The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, we spoke to two women who filed their cases under this law. Joining us in the podcast is the managing partner of LCZF(Law Firm), Firdouse Qutb Wani, who has also been the Amicus Curiae, Hon'ble National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, New Delhi. We are also joined by Wajeeh Shafiq, advocate on record, the Supreme Court of India. He is also the standing counsel for Delhi Waqf Board, Delhi High Court. He has also represented Rizwan Ahmad, the husband of Shayara Bano, in Writ Petition (C) no.118/2016 ( Shayara Bano vs. Union of India & ors ) (Triple Talaq case). Rizwan Ahmad was respondent no. 5 in that case.
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Triple Talaaq | The Law, The Women, Two Years on

Uphaar Cinema fire is a reminder of how the tragedy was a man-made disaster that killed 59 people - the youngest of them was just a month old. The fire from the tragedy that struck 24 years ago, still rages on in the hearts of those parents who lost their children on 13th June 1997.

Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy lost both their children - Unnati (17) and Ujjawal (13), and have since then dedicated their lives to fight for justice that hasn’t been given to those who lost their loved ones to the tragedy.

In this episode, we speak with the parents who lost their children that day.
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Uphaar Tragedy: Families Revisit The Day They Lost Their Children

12 March 2020. India saw its first COVID-19 death after a 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi succumbed to the virus. More than a year later, the country has recorded over 3 lakh deaths even as a more devastating second wave of the pandemic rages on. But who is to blame? How do we understand the scale of the damage in numbers? And is it even possible to get the actual toll? 

And, most importantly, what learnings must we take from here?

In this latest episode, Fabeha Syed tries to find the answers to some of these questions from veteran virologist Dr Shahid Jameel, public health expert and St Stephen's Hospital's former director Dr Mathew Varghese, and Dr Murad Banaji, who is a senior lecturer of Mathematics in Middlesex University, London.

Host, Producer, Sound Designer: Fabeha Syed
Editor: Shelly Walia
Music: Big Bang Fuzz
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Over 3 Lakh Lives Lost: Learnings From India’s COVID-19 Journey

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