Indicast - Indians On India

In an episode which is all over the place, we start with what on earth are NFTs or Non Fungible Tokens. Aditya is excited about Air India being taken over by the Tatas. Meanwhile, why are Indians so kicked about their spiritual leaders? In sports, Pakistan is on a song in the ongoing T20 World Cup and in India, love hotels are flourishing.

John Oliver once quipped that cryptocurrency is everything that you do not understand about money combined with everything you do not understand about computers. 70 million Indians do not seem to agree. They have bet on Bitcoins and their modern clones through a variety of exchanges in the country. In this podcast, we talk about the enigmatic new asset class and what do we understand about their, well, cryptic nature. And in other significant news, many congratulations to India for their exploits at the Tokyo Olympics.

Once in four years, athletes from around the world compete for the highest honour. Men and women train in all sorts of conditions in their homeland for a crack at the elusive medal. In this podcast we talk about the young and the old, how India is doing so far, how a Math Phd won a cycling race beating the best, how Simon Biles and Naomi Osaka have put mental health at front and center offering inspiration to all. We pay tribute to Mirabai Chanu who won Silver in weightlifting and root for Lovlina Borgohain who is going for gold in boxing.

It is raining Unicorns in India. In just this week, Zomato went public, Paytm sought a nod from its shareholders to list on the stock exchange and MobiKwik, yet another fintech startup, filed for an IPO. While talking about how such companies do things differently, we segued into how some of us handle stress at the workplace and how some professions are incomparable in that regard. Take Danish Siddiqui, a young photojournalist who worked for Reuters. He was killed in an ambush while covering a clash between Afghan forces and the Taliban. In this episode, we attempt to pay a small tribute to folks who work in such occupations.

In this episode we pay tribute to Doordarshan while talking about the incomparable Dilip Kumar, cabinet reshuffle by Narendra Modi in wake of rising criticism for his handling of the pandemic, the craze surrounding Euro 2020, the soon to be hosted spectatorless Olympics in Japan, the race for the 20th Grand Slam title for Djokovic at Wimbledon and the England cricket team fielding a B team after many players from the main squad were diagnosed with the virus.

Kannada went viral a few days ago when Google thought it to be the ugliest language in India. We saw this as an excuse to talk about quirky languages, including one in Kongthong, near Shillong, where villagers communicate by just whistling. In other news, Twitter is under fire for not complying with the new IT laws. In sports, the legendary Mikkha Singh passed away. We also have a little question for you in this episode. Listen to know more.

In which we talk about the second wave of covid-19 in India, heroes who saved lives, Lagaan's 20th anniversary, Kerela's one bottle one person alcohol rule, the new world Test championship in cricket and education in India.

Few countries can match India on scale and complexity of a nationwide rollout of any item under the sun. Be it the general elections or the covid-19 inoculation plan of over 300m citizens by the end of the summer. India faces a daunting task but appears to be up for it. Covaxin, the home-grown vaccine has kicked up some controversy. Data of stage 3 clinical trials have not been yet made available. How are other countries faring? And in other news the legendary Mahinder Watsa, a trained obstetrician-gynaecologist-turned-sexpert passed away recently. He was known for his witty and dry remarks on all things sex. And which is Japan's oldest company still alive and kicking?

A depleted Indian team beat a full-strength Australian line up in what will rank as among the best Test Series of all time. For those who grew up in the 1990s watching India struggle against the Aussies, this was a moment to cherish. A second-rung team of folks as old as 21 years old put their hand up and performed. This podcast is a tribute to those the young lads with humble backgrounds making it big on the biggest stage there is.

Burger King's stock climbed by over 265 per cent soon after its IPO. Breakdance will feature as a sport at the Olympics in Paris 2024. Gitanjali Rao won the first Time Kid of the Year. And finally, do you dare to eat Fugu?

The Pfizer BioNtech vaccine was authorised in the UK and the US. The worlds most exceptional teacher was awarded to Ranjitsinh Disale, a 32 year old teacher from Solapur. Dharampal Gulati, owner of the iconic MDH masala died this month. Bob Dylan sold his catalogue of nearly 600 songs to Universal Music. A firm in Japan now sells bullying insurance to cover legal and medical costs.

Jadhav Payeng, the forest man of India made it in the curriculum of an American school, giving us an excuse to talk about him. Diego Maradona passed away. The Undertaker resigned after a career in wrestling that lasted over 30 years. And a train in Japan barks like a dog to keep deers from being overrun.

The Odisha government announced an incentive of Rs. 250,000 to promote inter caste marriage. Same sex couples tied the knot for a first time in Taiwans mass military wedding ceremony a year after it legalised gay weddings. Meanwhile, in a quirk of evolution, not all of us will get wisdom teeth. And Indian Super League that begins later this month, gives us an excuse to talk about the rich and illustrious history of Indian football.

In this podcast, we talk about Pakistan contesting Indias claim for an exclusive Geographical Indication tag to Basmati rice in the European Union. Researchers in Scotland have figured out a way to test if a whiskey is authentic without the need to open the bottle. And an Indian couple in the UK got hitched in a drive in ceremony to get around restrictions that allow only 15 people to gather at a time. In India, meanwhile, the arranged marriage industry has had to change its tune as interviews and courtship move online.

The thirteenth edition of Indian Premier League kicked off in the United Arab Emirates. In a string of unfortunate events, Dean Jones died after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. Former Union Minister Jaswant Singh passed away too. S P Balasubramaniam succummed to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the infamous Godman, Nithyanand is in exile and wants his own central bank. And a super rat was awarded a well deserved gold medal for detecting landmines in Cambodia.

Shinzo Abe, Japans longest serving prime minister called it a day and Pranab Mukherjee, Indias former president passed away. We talk about their illustrious careers. India and Russia were announced as joint winners at the first online Chess Olympiad when a global Internet outage caused Indian players to get disconnected. We digress to talk about doping in chess and segue into why Thar desert is turning green and why it may not be a good thing. Meanwhile, amid the covid-19 pandemic, the Indian economy has shrunk by 23.9% in the April to June quarter. Grim times.

It is that time of the year when we get high on some Ganapati fever. This year though the coronavirus has subdued all celebrations. In this episode we talk about how the festival itself has evolved over the years. In other news, MSD announced his retirement from international cricket. Miles away, Kamala Harris was appointed as the vice presidential candidate from the Democratic Party. And the hunt for a vaccine to beat the scourge is on.

We recorded the podcast on the 75th Anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing. The World has come a long way with countries showing aggression by banning each other's apps and internet services. Where is this heading towards? A Splitnernet? Or is it just the Election season in the US. As for our corona story of this episode, we discuss online gaming being one of the industries that are raking it in during Corona.

Indias National Education Policy of 2020, announced a few days ago, promises to ditch rote learning in favour of conceptual clarity. There is more to it, of course. In this podcast, we compare what it was like growing up in our existing system and what it promises to be under the new regime. And in other news, we talk about the worlds largest nuclear fusion reactor in France which took baby steps to begin its five year assembly phase. Expect some science chatter as we discuss the mind boggling project that is considered by some as the most complex engineering endeavour in history.

It has been a while. 4 Years, to be precise. Now under lockdown and nowhere to go, we are back with a new episode after taking a four-year vacation. We yap a bit about what's been going on in our lives before talking about how coronavirus has changed the way we live and behave with others. How has it impacted various professions? What does it mean for love at first sight? What are some of the novel ways in which folks are falling in love all over again?