Episodes

  • Of public chaos and amateur Indians stranded on islands of privilege

    Of public chaos and amateur Indians stranded on islands of privilege
    Aug 21 2025
    "I feel India's politics is the revenge of the poor; it's why things are the way they are. They might not look at it as a violent act but it emerges from some kind of violence against us, the middle class. Whatever politicians do, usually there is local support. So it's a peep into human nature. We were always paying a price to escape India. Now, it costs a lot of money to fully escape. Now, it seems even if you pay 200 crores for a flat, you can't escape the air! We look much poorer than we are while most nations look much richer than they are. Unconsciously, India has developed an optical device to comfort the poor to whom public places belong. If there's too much order in India it would upset the poor. India's public chaos is the only thing going for them; it kind of resembles their lives. What the elite wants is some kind of aesthetics, which they are unable to persuade the political class to execute" - Manu Joseph, author, Why The Poor Don't Kill Us; The Psychology of Indians talks to Manjula Narayan about urban chaos, poverty being relative, and why intellectuals are invariably wrong Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
  • Of Hawa Hawai and writing for his life

    Of Hawa Hawai and writing for his life
    Aug 15 2025
    "People know about what sometimes happens to girls growing up in the kotha; but no one knows what happens to boys. Nobody's written about it as such so I thought I might as well do it. A kotha for tawaifs is not a place for sex work. There aren't really any pimps. If they turn up at the gates in the evening it's to usher in patrons for the song and dance, the entertainment, not for soliciting sex. The kotha is run entirely by women. As they know the world outside, they know how to protect their young ones. It is a protective bubble. But then, you grow up and see that the world is not as kind as your mother who is doing so much to keep you away from those elements. My mother would not dance in front of me because she did not want me to be influenced by her art. She wanted me to focus on my studies. So I used Sridevi on television to be my role model, to teach me the dance that my mother was denying me because she wanted a better life for me. Whether it was being the naagin from Nagina or thunder thighs in Tohfa, back then, Sridevi was everywhere. I looked at her and said she's my guru, my masterni, my mother! Even now, there isn't a day when I don't think of Sridevi. The tawaifs enjoyed my performances and clapped when I danced but it was different at boarding school, being a queer schoolboy. But education gave me the voice of privilege that I didn't have. Now, I'm lucky that my profession became my therapy. Writing healed me"- Manish Gaekwad, author, Nautch Boy; A Memoir of My Life in the Kothas, talks to Manjula Narayan about growing up surrounded by courtesans, unlearning the false sense of privilege he picked up at boarding school, and the power of writing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    53 mins
  • Homage to the fruit of the gods

    Homage to the fruit of the gods
    Aug 8 2025
    "In India, in the Philippines, and in the Caribbean, in places where the mango grows, it's viewed with universal adoration. We Americans are good at thinking that we have the best of everything; but not mangoes! We get these mangoes that look really good but they're more like an apple! It was a real aha! moment when we realised that we don't have the best mangoes!" Constance L Kirker and Mary Newman, authors, Mango; A Global History talk to Manjula Narayan about everything from Harappan mango curry and the fantastically expensive Miyazaki mangoes of Japan to the Gujarati dentist who ships Alphonso mangoes out to the Indian diaspora in the US, and how Americans generally think that unless mangoes are red, they aren't ripe enough to be eaten! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Awe-inspiring ophiolatry

    Awe-inspiring ophiolatry
    Aug 1 2025
    "If you look at primordial deities, they are serpents, eggs, the sun and the moon - early humans associated divinity with these things that they could see. So, serpent worship existed everywhere across the world. In India, you see a common pattern whether it's in the south, or in Uttarakhand and Kashmir and even further north in Tibet - there are elements and iconography that's similar. Scholars believe serpent worship was the original form of worship, that it was pre-Dravidian, and that the Nagas themselves were pre Aryan and pre Dravidian people. We can only speculate. Perhaps what it tells us is that gods fade but whatever culture is preserved will remain. As with all kinds of belief and faith, there's no way to "prove" anything, and it's easy to disprove" -- K Hari Kumar, author, Naaga; Discovering the Extraordinary World of Serpent Worship talks to Manjula Narayan about ophiolatry in general, Naaga iconography in Indic religions, the figure of the naagin, stories of Ulupi and Iravan in myth and folk belief, the sacred serpent groves of Tulunad and Kerala, vyalimukhams across the country, and the challenges that emerge while documenting folklore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins
  • The Hymn to Nikkal, Einstein's violin, musical space odysseys and beyond

    The Hymn to Nikkal, Einstein's violin, musical space odysseys and beyond
    Jul 25 2025
    "Music connects us with something deeper. We know there's stuff around us that science cannot explain. Consciousness, for example, is hard to explain through science alone. Music seems to connect you somehow with what this other thing is. The emotional impact that music has and how it connects people together is also very profound. Music was absolutely central to Einstein too and if he got stuck in something when he was theorising, he would go away and play his violin and that would transport him into a different world and give him ideas. He likened music to science and scientific discovery. Musicians, he believed, didn't create music; they received it. I believe that as well. The music is out there and you act as an aerial/valve/funnel. Einstein believed that about scientific discovery too -- it's not like you create these theories; you receive them. So, by playing music by composers he loved -- like Bach -- who he believed received music, it put him in that frame of mind for discovery. Other great scientists like Max Planck, who were also good musicians, have said that as well. Science, music and mathematics have been woven throughout history. It's natural because, what is music? It is sound. Sound is a physical phenomenon and it's got mathematical rules. There is something unique about music, something different from anything else, and that's' what makes it so fascinating!" -- David Darling, author, A Perfect Harmony; Music, Mathematics and Science talks to Manjula Narayan about everything from Mesopotamian music from 1400 BCE, the Bull-Headed Lyre of Ur, and the compositions of the Abbess Hildegard of Bingen to dementia choirs and the tannerin used by the Beach Boys Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    52 mins
  • Of promises broken over centuries

    Of promises broken over centuries
    Jul 17 2025
    Pastoral and indigenous communities in Nagarhole, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, and the Van Gujjars in Uttarakhand are the ones who are protecting forests. They have a relationship with it. It's a sense of ecology that has to be looked at for solutions to the many big questions that we are grappling with at the moment. Since colonialism, the agenda has been to keep these people from being the righful owners of the land or to have a voice. Much of urban India is not in touch with the reality of the country. But people like the Van Gujjars and Taungyas are clearer and sharper about what's going on. Indian comics are very good at voicing what mainstream art and culture may not have space for. I love it when I can create comics that give me a sense of the story but also makes readers join the dots."- Ita Mehrotra, author, Uprooted; A Graphic Account of the Struggle for Forest Rights, talks to Manjula Narayan about the struggles of communities displaced from the forests that have always been their home, life in resettlement colonies, the increasingly precarious existence of semi nomadic pastoralists, their relationship with their buffaloes and about being influenced by Joe Sacco, Orijit Sen and comics like Rachita Taneja's Sanitary Panels Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Of anda halwa, taar gosht and more

    Of anda halwa, taar gosht and more
    Jul 10 2025
    "Being able to experience the love of a grandparent is one of the most special things I've had in my life. It's the only selfless love you'll ever experience. Food was my Ammi's love language and my family formed a special relationship with food because of her. My grandmother passed away in her 90s in 2019 and one of my biggest regrets is not releasing this book in her lifetime - because she deserved that. The recipes in this book are our family recipes that we still cook to this day. We've put in the most popular dishes and the ones that are most symbolic of Rampur. Rampur has influences from UP and Awadhi cuisine but at the same time, because Rampur was a princely state, there were a lot of people passing through, and there are Afghani and Persian influences in the food as well. The cuisine has taken a few things from a few places and it's become its own kind of unique offering. There's a big difference between Mughalai and Awadhi food and Rampuri food. Unlike with those cuisines, here the flavours, textures and richness is not really dependent on cream and fat. With this book I almost feel like I'm becoming the brand ambassador of Rampur! I think Ammi would be proud"- Pernia Qureshi, author, Ammi's Kitchen; Heirloom Recipes from Rampur talks to Manjula Narayan about everything from anda halwa, taar gosht and kathal kababs to outdoor cooking, what her family typically serves at formal dinners, the difference between khichdi and khichda, and her grandmother's busy dalan in Rampur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
  • Only connect

    Only connect
    Jul 3 2025
    "I wanted to make the case that here is a system that we all created together that allows for our exploitation through the prism of services that we actually do get some benefit from. Everybody involved in the system gets some benefit from it - the CEOs of these companies and also us as users. I wanted to investigate that complicity" - Vauhini Vara, author, Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age talks to Manjula Narayan about her book that uses her Google searches dating back to the early aughts, Amazon reviews, long conversations with AI, memories of her sister who died of cancer in her teens and insights gleaned during her years as a technology journalist to understand how tech has become so enmeshed in our lives, and grasp the sinister aspects of that while also understanding that no single trajectory is inevitable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    51 mins