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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

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

Indian politics is deeply complicated, and existing frames don't do it justice. Srikrishna Ayyangar joins Amit Varma in episode 453 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the deep dives he has made in the field, including with innovative methods like set theory.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Srikrishna Ayyangar on LinkedIn, Amazon and NLSIU.
 2. A Logic of Populism: India and Its States -- Srikrishna Ayyangar.
 3. Administrative Analysis -- Christopher Hood.
 4. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta.
 5. The Republic of Apathy (2007) -- Amit Varma.
 6. Manish Sabharwal is a Good Ancestor -- Episode 451 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 7. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan.
 8. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao.
 9. Biju Rao Won't Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 10. Shaping the Political Arena -- Ruth Berins Collier and David Collier.
 11. A Certain Idea of Europe -- Craig Parsons.
 12. Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock.
 13. From Strength to Strength — Arthur Brooks.
 14. The Age of the Partial Outsider — Janan Ganesh.
 15. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama.
 16. John Collison's tweet on the world being a museum of passion projects.
 17. The Structures of Everyday Life -- Fernand Braudel.
 18. The Design of Everyday Things -- Don Norman.
 19. What is Populism? — Jan-Werner Müller.
 20. Why Both Modi and Trump are Textbook Populists (2017) -- Amit Varma.
 21. The Populist Playbook — Episode 42 of Everything is Everything.
 22. The Populist Zeitgeist -- Cas Mudde.
 23. Populism: Its Meaning and National Characteristics -- Ghita Ionescu and Ernest Gellner.
 24. The Macroeconomics of Populism in Latin America -- Rudiger Dornbusch and Sebastian Edwards.
 25. Populism: Concepts in the Social Sciences -- Paul Taggart.
 26. A Tale of Two Cities -- Charles Dickens.
 27. Neoliberalism and the Transformation of Populism in Latin America: The Peruvian Case -- Kenneth Roberts.
 28. Populism: What's in a Name? -- Ronaldo Munck.
 29. Kiran Ahluwalia Finds Our Aam Zameen -- Episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 30. Facts Don't Matter. Stories do (2016) -- Amit Varma.
 31. Barack Obama roasting Donald Trump.
 32. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
 33. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
 34. Populism and Hindu Nationalism in India -- Ashutosh Varshney, Srikrishna Ayyangar and Siddharth Swaminathan.
 35. The Logic of Social Science -- James Mahoney.
 36. Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization -- Narendra Subramanian.
 37. A Sixth Of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey -- Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian.
 38. Raja Yoga -- Swami Vivekananda.
 39. Evolution of Pragmatism in India, The: An Intellectual Biography of BR Ambedkar -- Scott Stroud.
 
 This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
 
 Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane have just started a new YouTube Show called Watching the Wheels. You must watch it. You must! You simply must!! It's mast!!!
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! 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: 'Rally' by Simahina.

Ep 453: Srikrishna Ayyangar Examines Populism

The city and nature do not need to be at odds with each other; and dreamers can be doers. Harini Nagendra joins Amit Varma in episode 452 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her work in ecology, urban sustainability, detective fiction and the art of managing multitudes.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Harini Nagendra at LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Google Scholar, Amazon, Substack, Azim Premji University and her own website.
 2. Cities and Canopies: Trees in Indian Cities -- Harini Nagendra & Seema Mundoli.
 3. Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India's Cities -- Harini Nagendra & Seema Mundoli.
 4. Nature in the City -- Harini Nagendra.
 5. The Bangalore Detectives Club -- Harini Nagendra.
 6. Insights on linking forests, trees, and people from the air, on the ground, and in the laboratory -- Elinor Ostrom & Harini Nagendra.
 7. Polycentric governance of multifunctional forested landscapes -- Harini Nagendra & Elinor Ostrom.
 8. Tree diversity, distribution, history and change in urban parks: studies in Bangalore, India -- Harini Nagendra & Divya Gopal.
 9. From Bangalore's Lakes to Detective Mysteries -- Harini Nagendra interviewed on the Expressions Podcast.
 10. If a city forgets itself, what lies ahead? -- Harini Nagendra interviewed on From the Marginlands.
 11. Thinking ecologically about our urban future -- A talk by Harini Nagendra.
 12. Our Cities are Designed For Men, By Men -- Harini Nagendra & Amrita Sen.
 13. Where Have All the Women Gone? -- Episode 1 of Watching the Wheels.
 14. Safety First: Perceived Risk of Street Harassment and Educational Choices of Women — Girija Borker.
 15. The Life and Music of Shubha Mudgal — Episode 426 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 16. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 17. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 18. Elinor Ostrom at Wikipedia, Google Scholar and Econlib.
 19. The Overcoat -- Nikolai Gogol.
 20. The Age of the Partial Outsider — Janan Ganesh.
 21. Earwitness to Place — Bernie Krause interviewed by Erin Robinsong.
 22. What Our Genes and Phones Tell Us -- Episode 117 of Everything is Everything (on alternative data).
 23. Silent Spring -- Rachel Carson.
 24. Tragedy of the Commons -- Garrett Hardin.
 25. The Logic of Collective Action -- Mancur Olson.
 26. India Awakes -- The documentary presented by Johan Norberg about, among other things, the Forest Rights Act.
 27. Barun Mitra, Philosopher and Practitioner — Episode 264 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 28. The Hidden Life of Trees — Peter Wohlleben.
 29. Ideas of India -- Shruti Rajagopalan's podcast.
 30. Robin Hobb on Amazon.
 31. Folktales From India -- Selected and edited by AK Ramanujan.
 32. A Flowering Tree --And Other Oral Tales from India -- AK Ramanujan.
 33. Mookajjiya Kanasugalu -- K Shivaram Karanth.
 
 Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane have just started a new YouTube Show called Watching the Wheels. You must watch it. You must! You simply must!! It's mast!!!
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! 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: 'My City' by Simahina.

Ep 452: Harini Nagendra is Woolgathering and Ground Truthing

There should be more to our lives than just doing well for ourselves. Manish Sabharwal joins Amit Varma in episode 451 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey from being a successful entrepreneur to trying to change India.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out: 1. Manish Sabharwal at LinkedIn and Indian Express.
 2. TeamLease.
 3. Kashmir Under 370: A Personal History -- Mahendra Sabharwal with Manish Sabharwal.
 4. Made in India: The Story of Desh Bandhu Gupta, Lupin and Indian Pharma -- Manish Sabharwal and Sundeep Khanna.
 5. A Masterclass on Regulation (and Deregulation) -- Episode 442 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
 6. The Heckman Equation — a website based on James Heckman's work.
 7. The Agony And The Ecstasy -- Irving Stone.
 8. Lust For Life -- Irving Stone.
 9. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty -- Albert O Hirschman.
 10. The Passions and the Interests -- Albert O Hirschman.
 11. Jailed for Doing Business: The 26,134 Imprisonment Clauses in India's Business Laws.
 12. The Vishnu Sahasranama.
 13. The Great Transformation -- Karl Polanyi.
 14. Wealth and Power -- Orville Schell and John Delury.
 15. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra.
 16. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 17. Lake Wobegon Days -- Garrison Keillor.
 18. In Defence of Politics -- Bernard Crick.
 19. The Overton Window.
 20. India's Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
 21. Where Has All the Education Gone? — Lant Pritchett.
 22. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha.
 23. Strategy -- Lawrence Freedman.
 24. Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China -- Ezra Vogel.
 
 This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
 
 Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane have just started a new YouTube Show called Watching the Wheels. You must watch it. You must! You simply must!! It's mast!!!
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! 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: 'Ancestor' by Simahina.

Ep 451: Manish Sabharwal is a Good Ancestor

On Independence Day week, why not look back at some highlights and lowlights of the last 79 years? Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley join Amit Varma in episode 450 of The Seen and the Unseen, and each of them presents his list. You will find hope and despair, celebration and lament, multitudes.
 
 (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 S Jaitley's newsletter.
 3. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane's podcast (with Saurabh Chandra & Khyati Pathak).
 4. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S Jaitley).
 5. Caste and the Census -- Episode 417 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. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
 9. Clerk -- Manoj Kumar.
 10. Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.
 11. AiyyoShraddha on Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.
 12. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan).
 13. Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiya.
 14. The Sporting Spirit -- George Orwell.
 15. War Minus The Shooting -- Mike Marqusee.
 16. India vs Pakistan, Final at Sharjah, Apr 18 1986.
 17. The Soccer War -- Ryszard Kapuscinski.
 18. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky.
 19. Omkara -- Vishal Bhardwaj.
 20. Gol Maal -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
 21. The Shirur Mutt case.
 22. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity — Manu Pillai.
 23. Planning Democracy — Nikhil Menon.
 24. The History of the Planning Commission — Episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Menon).
 25. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine — Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 26. Aankhen To Kholo Swami.
 27. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra.
 28. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 29. India's Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu).
 30. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything.
 31. Scam 1992 -- Hansal Mehta.
 32. Backrooms -- Kane Parsons.
 33. Pather Panchali — Satyajit Ray.
 34. Court — Chaitanya Tamhane.
 35. Scenes From a Situationship -- Vaibhav Munjal.
 36. Amit Varma's post on the film.
 37. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly.
 38. The River -- Jean Renoir.
 39. Apur Sansar -- Satyajit Ray.
 40. Days & Night In The Forest — Sunil Gangopadhyay.
 41. Aranyer Din Ratri — Satyajit Ray.
 42. Synecdoche, New York -- Charlie Kaufman.
 43. A Sixth Of Humanity -- Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian.
 44. Assembling India's Constitution -- Rohit De and Ornit Shani.
 45. Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala.
 46. Shruti Rajagopalan's YouTube talk on constitutional amendments.
 47. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash.
 48. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 49. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh.
 50. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
 51. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
 52. Nehru's Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain).
 53. The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom — David Boaz.
 54. Saat Hindustani -- KA Abbas.
 55. Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani -- V Shantaram.
 56. Awaara and Shree 420.
 57. Bambai Raat Ki Bahon Mein -- KA Abbas.
 58. Faslah -- KA Abbas.
 59. The 42nd Amendment.
 60. What These Labels Mean — Episode 107 of Everything is Everything.
 61. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything.
 62. Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation — Episode 336 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 63. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
 64. The Tamilian Gentleman Who Took on the World — Amit Varma.
 65. The Life and Times of Chess -- Episode 52 of Everything is Everything.
 66. Life Lessons From Chess in 2024 -- Episode 81 of Everything is Everything.
 67. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
 68. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan).
 69. Speech to the Electors of Bristol -- Edmund Burke.
 70. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking -- Amit Varma on Lal Bihari Mritak.
 71. The Trial -- Franz Kafka.
 72. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty — Albert O Hirschman.
 73. Genocide -- Anthony Mascarenhas.
 74. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War — Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
 75. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh -- Srinath Raghavan.
 76. The 1991 Project.
 77. Backstage — Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
 78. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 79. Zanjeer and Deewar.
 80. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study — Thomas Sowell.
 81. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 82. How the BJP wins: Inside India's Greatest Election Machine — Prashant Jha.
 83. The BJP's Magic Formula — Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha).
 84. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma on Demonetization.
 85. The Skeptical Environmentalist — Bjorn Lomborg.
 
 Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane have just started a new YouTube Show called Watching the Wheels. You must watch it. You must! You simply must!! It's mast!!!
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! 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: 'Small Doors' by Simahina.

Ep 450: Small Doors Into the Large Rooms of India

The 1980s were box office, and General K Sundarji was Forrest Gump, everywhere all at once. Probal DasGupta joins Amit Varma in episode 449 to tell the story of a fascinating man and the turbulent times he lived in.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Probal DasGupta on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Amazon.
 2. General Brasstacks: The Sundarji Story -- Probal Dasgupta.
 3. Watershed 1967: India's Forgotten Victory Over China — Probal DasGupta.
 4. Camouflaged: Forgotten Stories from Battlefields — Probal DasGupta.
 5. Of Some Consequence: A Soldier Remembers -- K Sundarji.
 6. Blind Men of Hindoostan -- K Sundarji.
 7. Probal DasGupta Goes to the Himalayas With Books in His Bag -- Episode 412 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 8. Shooting Straight: A Military Biography of Lt Gen. Rostum K Nanavatty -- Arjun Subramaniam.
 9. Fair & Square interview of SK Sinha about Operation Bluestar.
 10. The Light Has Gone Out -- Jawaharlal Nehru's speech after Mahatma Gandhi died.
 11. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War — Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
 12. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh — Srinath Raghavan.
 13. Testaments Betrayed — Milan Kundera.
 14. Pratap: A Defiant Newspaper -- Chander Mohan and Jyotsna Mohan.
 15. Boforsgate: A Journalist's Pursuit of Truth -- Chitra Subramaniam.
 16. Assignment Colombo -- JN Dixit.
 17. 100 Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez (translated by Gregory Rabassa).
 18. Nuremberg -- James Vanderbilt.
 19. Spotlight -- Tom McCarthy.
 20. Munich – The Edge of War -- Christian Schwochow.
 21. The Plot Against America -- Philip Roth.
 22. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny -- Kiran Desai.
 23. The Indian Empire At War -- George Morton-Jack.
 24. A Confederacy of Dunces -- John Kennedy Toole.
 25. Until August -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
 26. Portnoy's Complaint -- Philip Roth.
 
 Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane have just started a new YouTube Show called Watching the Wheels. You must watch it. You must! You simply must!! It's mast!!!
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! 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: 'Five Assassinations and an Arms Deal' by Simahina.

Ep 449: Five Assassinations and an Arms Deal

She is not an ivory tower academic but an economist whose deep understanding of society comes from lived experience and endless curiosity. Vidya Mahambare joins Amit Varma in episode 448 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life and her learnings.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Vidya Mahambare on Google Scholar, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Great Lakes, Mint and her own website.
 2. What Shapes Us? -- Vidya Mahambare's podcast.
 3. Closing the income gap -- Vidya Mahambare's column on the five Es.
 4. Family structure, education and women's employment in rural India -- Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare.
 5. Male backlash and female guilt: women's employment and intimate partner violence in urban India -- Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare.
 6. Women's challenging commutes in southern India: A case of the metropolitan region of Chennai -- Vidya Mahambare and Sowmya Dhanaraj.
 7. Analysing the sentiment-based variation in finance ministers' communication -- Vidya Mahambare, Akash Gupta and Sowmya Dhanaraj.
 8. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 9. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 10. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
 11. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 54 of Everything is Everything.
 12. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane, Saurabh Chandra and Khyati Pathak's podcast.
 13. What These Labels Mean -- Episode 107 of Everything is Everything.
 14. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma.
 15. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything.
 16. India's MSME Landscape — Some Useful Frameworks — Episode 419 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sudhir Sarnobat and Narendra Shenoy).
 17. What Ails Indian Manufacturing? -- Episode 104 of Everything is Everything.
 18. Is Manufacturing the Answer? -- Episode 105 of Everything is Everything.
 19. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator — Episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 20. Varditalya Mansachya Nondi -- Sadanand Date.
 21. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 22. EconForEverybody -- Ashish Kulkarni's blog.
 23. FSI (Floor Space Index) — Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok).
 24. Rent Control — Episode 14 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok).
 25. Roofs or Ceilings -- Milton Friedman.
 26. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs — Episode 46 of Everything is Everything.
 27. Luxury Beliefs are Status Symbols -- Rob Henderson.
 28. A Matter of Life and Death -- Amit Varma.
 29. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe).
 30. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe.
 31. Biju Rao Won't Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 32. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao.
 33. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 34. Is Your Impact Evaluation Asking Questions That Matter? A Four Part Smell Test — Lant Pritchett.
 35. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.
 36. More from Less for More -- Raghunath Mashelkar and Sudhil Borde.
 
 This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! 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: 'Women at Work' by Simahina.

Ep 448: Vidya Mahambare, the Rooted Economist

Eight decades after independence, India still isn't free. Rahul Ahluwalia joins Amit Varma in episode 447 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why economic growth has such a positive humanitarian impact -- and freedom lies at its heart.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Rahul Ahluwalia on Twitter, LinkedIn and FED.
 2. Foundation for Economic Development.
 3. Growth is Good -- Rahul Ahluwalia's podcast at FED.
 4. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 5. Swaminathan Aiyar's columns at ToI and his own website.
 6. Gurcharan Das's columns at ToI and his own website.
 7. India Unbound — Gurcharan Das.
 8. The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das — Episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 9. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
 10. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 11. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
 12. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 13. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 14. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 15. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta).
 16. Why Freedom Matters — Episode 10 of Everything is Everything.
 17. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything.
 18. India's Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane).
 19. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
 20. The 1991 Project.
 21. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything.
 22. Gig Work is AWESOME! -- Episode 124 of Everything is Everything.
 23. Reading Lolita in Tehran -- Azar Nafisi.
 24. India's Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
 25. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai).
 26. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything.
 27. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma.
 28. The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it -- Max Roser.
 29. The Florentines -- Paul Strathern.
 30. National output without government? State capacity and welfare measurement -- Vincent Geloso and Chandler Reilly.
 31. Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand.
 32. The Wealth of Nations -- Adam Smith.
 33. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything.
 34. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma.
 35. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis.
 36. Where Has All the Education Gone? — Lant Pritchett.
 37. Looking like a state: The seduction of isomorphic mimicry -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock.
 38. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh.
 39. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
 40. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
 41. Nehru's Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain).
 42. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
 43. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra.
 44. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 45. Colours of the Cage: A Prison Memoir — Arun Ferreira.
 46. Shikha Dalmia Is the Unpopulist -- Episode 403 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 47. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State — Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
 48. Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma.
 49. Horseshoe Theory and the Median Voter Theorem.
 50. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working — Jonathan Rauch.
 51. Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul -- Jonathan Rauch.
 52. The Logic of Collective Action -- Mancur Olson.
 53. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick.
 54. A Theory of Justice — John Rawls.
 55. India After Gandhi — Ramachandra Guha.
 56. Arguments for Liberty -- Edited by Aaron Ross Powell and Grant Babcock.
 57. Johan Norberg on Amazon and YouTube.
 58. State Building -- Francis Fukuyama.
 59. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything.
 60. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
 61. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
 62. The Profit Motive in Education — Episode 9 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parth Shah).
 63. Our Unlucky Children (2008) -- Amit Varma.
 64. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) -- Amit Varma.
 65. Profit = Philanthropy -- Amit Varma.
 66. Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance — Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck.
 67. Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction -- Huberman Lab.
 68. Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When Awake -- Huberman Lab.
 69. Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker.
 70. Matthew Walker on the Huberman Lab podcast.
 71. The Frido 3D eye mask Amit uses.
 72. John Collison's tweet on the world being a museum of passion projects.
 73. The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Metallica, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden on Spotify.
 74. Love Me Tender and Can't Help Falling in Love -- Elvis Presley.
 75. Aaj -- Bloodywood.
 76. Bekhauf -- Bloodywood (featuring BABYMETAL)
 77. Coke Studio Bharat Season 2 and Season 3.
 78. Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem on Spotify.
 79. The Next Episode -- Dr Dre featuring Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Nate Dogg.
 80. Ravi Shankar at Monterey Pop.
 81. Ain't No Man Alive Can Handle Me -- Dumpster Grooves.
 82. Alistair MacLean and PG Wodehouse on Amazon.
 83. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams.
 84. Animal Farm -- George Orwell.
 85. Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock.
 86. The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain't Learning -- Lant Pritchett.
 87. Lant Pritchett On Growth, Development & Income Inequality -- FED Dialogues.
 88. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
 89. Random Critical Analysis.
 90. Chupke Chupke -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! 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: 'Marketplace of Ideas' by Simahina.

Ep 447: Rahul Ahluwalia Fights for Growth and Freedom

After a successful career as a banker, he decided to devote himself to making his country better off. Luis Miranda joins Amit Varma in episode 446 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss banking, India, education, healthcare, parenthood and the joy of working.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out
 1. Luis Miranda on LinkedIn, Twitter, ISPP, CCS, Forbes and his own website.
 2. The Indian School of Public Policy.
 3. Centre for Universal Health Assurance.
 4. HDFC Bank 2.0 -- Tamal Bandyopadhyay. 
 5. Gautam John is Figuring it Out — Episode 437 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 6. Testaments Betrayed — Milan Kundera.
 7. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 8. The Case For India -- Will Durant.
 9. The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das — Episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 10. Where Has All the Education Gone? — Lant Pritchett.
 11. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 12. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
 13. A Deep Dive Into Education — Episode 54 of Everything is Everything.
 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. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma.
 17. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar — Rohini Nilekani.
 18. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 19. The Closing of the American Mind -- Allan Bloom.
 20. The Armchair Economist -- Steven Landsburg.
 21. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
 22. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 23. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
 24. Why Freedom Matters -- Episode 10 of Everything is Everything.
 25. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything.
 26. The 1991 Project.
 27. Indian Liberals.
 28. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh.
 29. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh).
 30. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
 31. Nehru's Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain).
 32. Shruti Rajagopalan's YouTube talk on constitutional amendments.
 33. Saving Capitalism From The Capitalists — Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales.
 34. India After Gandhi — Ramachandra Guha.
 35. Luxury Beliefs.
 36. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs — Episode 46 of Everything is Everything.
 37. On Inequality — Harry Frankfurt.
 38. India's Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
 39. On Bullshit — Harry G Frankfurt.
 40. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis.
 41. Pandemonium in India's Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay.)
 42. The Innovator's Dilemma — Clayton Christensen.
 43. The Evolution of Everything — Matt Ridley.
 44. The Evolution of Everything — Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley).
 45. The Nature of the Firm -- Ronald Coase.
 46. Naval Ravikant on the size of a firm.
 47. Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities — Alain Bertaud.
 48. The Surface Area of Serendipity — Episode 39 of Everything is Everything.
 49. The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind -- Richard Wiseman.
 50. Fire Bird -- Perumal Murugan.
 51. Billion Readers.
 52. Factfulness -- Hans Rosling.
 53. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker.
 54. The Progress of Humanity -- Episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Steven Pinker).
 55. Capitalisn't -- Podcast by Luigi Zingales and Bethany McLean.
 56. Is a River Alive? -- Robert Macfarlane.
 57. Black Butterflies -- Priscilla Morris.
 58. General Brasstacks -- Probal DasGupta.
 59. In Praise of Floods — James C Scott.
 
 This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! 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: 'Stay Alive' by Simahina.

Ep 446: The Joyful Agency of Luis Miranda

She's one of the best writers on science today, combining optimism about progress with a realist understanding of the messiness of our world. Saloni Dattani joins Amit Varma in episode 445 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss science, medicine, data, academia and how to make the world a better place.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:
 1. Saloni Dattani at Google Scholar, Twitter, LinkedIn, Our World in Data and Works in Progress.
 2. Scientific Discovery -- Saloni Dattani's newsletter.
 3. Hard Drugs -- Saloni Dattani's podcast.
 4. Saloni's guide to data visualization -- Saloni Dattani.
 5. Four charts to understand causes of death across the lifespan -- Saloni Dattani.
 6. What I've learnt about writing -- Saloni Dattani.
 7. In praise of the Covid superforecasters -- Saloni Dattani.
 8. The decline in cancer mortality is about much more than smoking -- Saloni Dattani.
 9. Death rates from cardiovascular disease have fallen dramatically — what were the breakthroughs behind this? -- Saloni Dattani.
 10. The golden age of vaccine development -- Saloni Dattani.
 11. Why we didn't get a malaria vaccine sooner -- Saloni Dattani.
 12. The first cancer vaccine -- Transcript of a Hard Drugs episode.
 13. Measles vaccines save millions of lives each year -- Saloni Dattani.
 14. Why the total fertility rate doesn't necessarily tell us the number of births women eventually have -- Saloni Dattani.
 15. The rise in reported maternal mortality rates in the US is largely due to a change in measurement -- Saloni Dattani.
 16. How do global statistics on suicide differ between sources? -- Saloni Dattani.
 17. How many people die from snakebites? -- Saloni Dattani.
 18. The Demographic and Health Surveys brought crucial data for more than 90 countries — without them, we risk darkness -- Saloni Dattani.
 19. We don't have to sit back and just watch the horror unfold -- Saloni Dattani.
 20. Childhood leukemia: how a deadly cancer became treatable -- Saloni Dattani.
 21. Will AI solve medicine? -- Transcript of a Hard Drugs episode.
 22. Real peer review has never been tried -- Saloni Dattani.
 23. The speed of science -- Saloni Dattani.
 24. Medical breakthroughs in 2025 -- Saloni Dattani.
 25. Scientific progress is at risk of slowing down. Saloni Dattani is making sure it doesn't. -- Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg.
 26. Innovation is not linear -- Jason Crawford.
 27. Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech -- Sally Smith Hughes.
 28. Missing Markets for Innovation: Evidence from New Uses for Existing Drugs -- Eric Budish, Maya Durvasula, Benjamin Roin and Heidi Williams.
 29. The 100% CI.
 30. Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
 31. How Long Do We Wait for New Inventions? -- Brian Potter.
 32. Million Dollar Secret.
 33. Woolly mice designed to engineer mammoth-like elephants -- Pallab Ghosh.
 34. Age of Invention -- Anton Hause.
 35. Million Death Study.
 36. Science Fictions -- Stuart Ritchie.
 37. Outliers -- Malcolm Gladwell.
 38. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Rukmini S: 1, 2, 3.
 39. Fortress and Frontier in American Health Care — Robert Graboyes.
 40. Strong Medicine -- Michael Kremer and Rachel Glennerster.
 41. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto).
 42. Project Resource Optimization.
 43. Giving What We Can.
 44. Coefficient Giving.
 45. 1493 -- Charles Mann.
 46. The Collapse -- Mary Elise Sarotte.
 47. How to Survive a Plague -- David France.
 48. The Mole.
 49. And the Band Played On -- Randy Shilts.
 
 This episode is sponsored by The Six Percent Club. Join them to go from content idea to launch in just 45 days!
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 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: 'Salonium' by Simahina.

Ep 445: 'I Am Saloni and I Like Collecting Mice'

He is best known for writing The Family Man and Farzi, but his journey to being a storyteller was far from smooth. Suman Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 444 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the highs and lows of his life, as well as the craft of writing, directing and telling stories.
 
 (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)
 
 Also check out:
 1. Suman Kumar on IMDb, Instagram, LinkedIn and his own website.
 2. The Family Man -- Season 1 :: Season 2 :: Season 3.
 3. Guns and Gulaabs -- Season 1.
 4. Farzi -- Season 1.
 5. Raghu Thatha -- written and directed by Suman Kumar.
 6. Ranga Half-Pants -- Suman Kumar.
 7. Scientific Advertising -- Claude Hopkins.
 8. The Ghost and the Darkness -- Stephen Hopkins.
 9. You've Got Mail -- Nora Ephron.
 10. Angrezi Medium -- Homi Adajania. (CHECK)
 11. The return of small-town creators on Instagram -- Shephali Bhatt.
 12. lifeofpuja on Instagram.
 13. Gangs of Wasseypur -- Anurag Kashyap.
 14. On Writing -- Stephen King.
 15. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 16. Stage.in.
 17. Gopallapurathu Makkal -- K Rajanarayanan (Ki Ra).
 18. Madhu Babu and his audiobooks on YouTube.
 19. Yandamuri Veerendranath on Amazon and YouTube.
 20. Yerramsetty Sai.
 21. Ilaiyaraaja on Spotify and YouTube.
 22. The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction -- Pritham Chakrabathy and Rakesh Khanna.
 23. Advanced History of India -- KA Nilakanta Sastri and G Srinivasachari.
 24. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference — Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen.
 25. Pehla Nasha and More Than Words.
 26. The Design of Everyday Things -- Don Norman.
 27. Phantoms in the Brain -- VS Ramachandran.
 28. The Reith Lectures -- VS Ramachandran.
 29. Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale.
 30. Aranyer Din Ratri — Satyajit Ray.
 31. Days & Night In The Forest -- Sunil Gangopadhyay.
 32. Train Dreams (the book) -- Denis Johnson.
 33. Train Dreams (the film) -- Clint Bentley.
 34. As Good as It Gets -- James L Brooks.
 35. Crime and Punishment -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
 36. The Vigil Idiot.
 37. The Dream Is No More a Dream -- Suman Kumar.
 38. Notting Hill -- Roger Michell.
 39. All the President's Men -- Alan J Pakula.
 40. Hrishikesh Mukherjee on Wikipedia and IMDb.
 41. Adolescence — Created by Stephen Graham & Jack Thorne.
 42. Oppenheimer -- Christopher Nolan.
 43. Tumbbad -- Rahi Anil Barve.
 44. Mayasabha -- Rahi Anil Barve.
 45. On Film-Making -- Alexander Mackendrick.
 46. Maheshinte Prathikaaram -- Dileesh Pothan.
 47. Trance -- Anwar Rasheed,
 48. Manjummel Boys -- Chidambaram S Poduval.
 49. Romancham -- Jithu Madhavan.
 50. Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey -- Vipin Das.
 51. Su From So -- JP Thuminad.
 52. No Country for Old Men -- The Coen Brothers.
 53. The Shawshank Redemption -- Frank Darabont.
 54. The Devil's Own -- Alan J Pakula.
 
 This episode is sponsored by The Six Percent Club. Join them to go from content idea to launch in just 45 days!
 
 Amit Varma runs a 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.
 
 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: 'Story' by Simahina.

Ep 444: Suman Kumar is Perennially Pregnant With Stories

Healthcare in India is in a dismal state, and so is the state of medical education. Pavan Srinath joins Amit Varma to discuss the role of the Medical Council of India in this mess. Is it a responsible industry watchdog helping keep standards high -- or is it a part of the problem?
 
Follow The Seen and The Unseen: Website: www.seenunseen.in
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Ep. 08: The Medical Council of India

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