Ep 450: Small Doors Into the Large Rooms of India

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.