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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

Amit Varma

300 episodes · Explicit

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.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. Ep 455: Puliyabaazi and the Fine Art of Hindi Podcasting

    · 3 h 23 min · S1 E455

    It is difficult to talk about economics and policy and philosophy in our languages -- but it is important, and the discourse needs it. Pranay Kotasthane, Saurabh Chandra and Khyati Pathak join Amit Varma in episode 455…

  2. Ep 454: The Ideas of Gandhi

    · 2 h 16 min · S1 E454

    Mahatma Gandhi's ideas shaped modern India, and were as fiercely contested in his time as they are today. Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 454 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Gandhi and his arguments.…

  3. Ep 453: Srikrishna Ayyangar Examines Populism

    · 3 h 26 min · S1 E453

    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,…

  4. Ep 452: Harini Nagendra is Woolgathering and Ground Truthing

    · 4 h 00 min · S1 E452

    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,…

  5. Ep 451: Manish Sabharwal is a Good Ancestor

    · 3 h 47 min · S1 E451

    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…

  6. Ep 450: Small Doors Into the Large Rooms of India

    · 4 h 57 min · S1 E450

    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…

  7. Ep 449: Five Assassinations and an Arms Deal

    · 5 h 42 min · S1 E449

    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.…

  8. Ep 448: Vidya Mahambare, the Rooted Economist

    · 4 h 48 min · S1 E448

    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…

  9. Ep 447: Rahul Ahluwalia Fights for Growth and Freedom

    · 4 h 52 min · S1 E447

    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…

  10. Ep 446: The Joyful Agency of Luis Miranda

    · 5 h 20 min · S1 E446

    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,…

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

    · 4 h 27 min · S1 E445

    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…

  12. Ep 444: Suman Kumar is Perennially Pregnant With Stories

    · 3 h 50 min · S1 E444

    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…

  13. Ep 443: The Making of a Law Firm

    · 3 h 07 min · S1 E443

    An Indian lawyer in 2000 could not have recognised the legal ecosystem of today. One firm took India marching forward into a new world. Akshay Jaitly joins Amit Varma in episode 443 of The Seen and the Unseen to…

  14. Ep 442: A Masterclass on Regulation (and Deregulation)

    · 4 h 36 min · S1 E442

    We keep using the terms 'regulation' and 'deregulation' -- and now it's time for a primer. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 442 of The Seen and the Unseen go discuss first principles AND get into the…

  15. Ep 441: Ravikumar Kashi Is in Play Mode

    · 3 h 36 min · S1 E441

    He's one of India's great artists, and a Renaissance man you cannot put inside a box. Ravikumar Kashi joins Amit Varma in episode 441 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about life and art. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES,…

  16. Ep 440: Ram and Friends

    · 2 h 24 min · S1 E440

    We are shaped by the people we let into our lives -- and sometimes only realise this in hindsight. Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 440 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about some of the friends who…

  17. Ep 439: Janhavi Nilekani Threw the Other Shoe

    · 4 h 03 min · S1 E439

    She is a thinker and doer who takes on difficult problems, whether it's maternal care in India or a dangerous ideological cult. Janhavi Nilekani joins Amit Varma in episode 439 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about…

  18. Ep 438: V Ravichandar is Heading North by Northwest

    · 4 h 07 min · S1 E438

    What can one man do for a city in a lifetime of work? A lot! V Ravichandar joins Amit Varma in episode 438 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life, his times and what he has learnt as a civic evangelist for…

  19. Ep 437: Gautam John is Figuring it Out

    · 4 h 13 min · S1 E437

    He studied law, found success as an entrepreneur, and has since spent almost two decades in the social sector trying to make the world a better place. Gautam John joins Amit Varma in episode 437 of The Seen and the…

  20. Ep 436: Rukmini and the Numbers

    · 2 h 51 min · S1 E436

    The world is complex, India contains multitudes, and we need more numbers, better numbers, to make sense of it all. Rukmini S joins Amit Varma in episode 436 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about Data For India --…

  21. Ep 435: A Primer on China

    · 3 h 48 min · S1 E435

    China looms large in our modern world -- and yes, is misunderstood, or not understood at all. Manoj Kewalramani joins Amit Varma in episode 435 of The Seen and the Unseen to put together a primer on China, from ancient…

  22. Ep 434: An Ode to Meanderness

    · 2 h 55 min · S1 E434

    Enough serious talk about economics and geopolitics. As the year draws to an end, it's time to sit and chill with friends -- and let the mind meander. Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane join Amit Varma in episode…

  23. Ep 433: The Life and Times of the Takshashila Institution

    · 3 h 49 min · S1 E433

    India's policy ecosystem was once a desolate landscape, stuck in bad ideas of the past. One institution shook it all up. Nitin Pai and Pranay Kotasthane join Amit Varma in episode 433 of The Seen and the Unseen to…

  24. Ep 432: Vasant Dhar's Lifetime in Artificial Intelligence

    · 3 h 28 min · S1 E432

    He's been working in AI since the late 1970s, and started a pioneering machine learning hedge fund in the 1990s. Now he's a professor, a podcaster, a Substacker, a yoda -- and has just written a cracking book on the…

  25. Ep 431: Ghazala Wahab and the Hindi Heartland

    · 3 h 39 min · S1 E431

    Our Hindi Heartland has more people than the USA and Western Europe combined -- and is arguably more diverse. Ghazala Wahab joins Amit Varma in episode 431 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her research into those…

  26. Ep 430: Aneesh Pradhan: A Life in Hindustani Music

    · 4 h 46 min · S1 E430

    When it comes to Hindustani music, he is both a doer and a thinker. A great tabla player, he has written books about the history and theory of music. Aneesh Pradhan joins Amit Varma in episode 430 of The Seen and the…

  27. Ep 429: Rudraneil Sengupta is Embedded

    · 3 h 26 min · S1 E429

    He wrote the definitive history of Indian wrestling. His longform reportage has taken him into strange territories. He embedded himself with the Delhi police and has now come out with his first crime novel. Rudraneil…

  28. Ep 428: The Solitary Writer Meets the Impossible Man

    · 4 h 24 min · S1 E428

    Writing biographies is solitary and difficult -- even when the subject is way more interesting than anything you could make up. Narayani Basu joins Amit Varma in episode 428 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss…

  29. Ep 427: The Boy Who Loved Cricket -- The Vijay Lokapally Story

    · 3 h 41 min · S1 E427

    Cricket isn't just what happens across 22 yards, and great cricket writers always go beyond the boundary. Vijay Lokapally joins Amit Varma in episode 427 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the joys and heartbreaks…

  30. Ep 426: The Life and Music of Shubha Mudgal

    · 4 h 46 min

    She's straddled the worlds of Hindustani classical and popular music, and is a legend in both spaces. Shubha Mudgal joins Amit Varma in episode 426 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss her life, her music and this…

  31. Ep 425: The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das

    · 7 h 54 min · S1 E425

    He reached the top of the corporate world -- and then gave it up to become a writer, with books that probed our deepest questions, and influenced millions of people. Gurcharan Das joins Amit Varma in episode 425 of The…

  32. Ep 424: Gitanjali Babbar and the Didis of GB Road

    · 3 h 55 min · S1 E424

    Trained as a journalist, but driven by a desire to make a difference, she spent over a decade working with sex workers in Delhi to understand and improve their lives. Gitanjali Babbar joins Amit Varma in episode 424 of…

  33. Ep 423: Minar Pimple's Life in Social Work

    · 9 h 25 min

    He founded the iconic organisation Yuva 50 years ago when he was in his early 20s, pioneered social work in India, and went on to drive change for the UN and Amnesty. Minar Pimple joins Amit Varma in episode 423 of The…

  34. Ep 422: The Past and Present of Cricket

    · 3 h 00 min · S1 E422

    Cricket is the most unusual of games with the most unusual of histories -- which can reveal so much about our society and our times. Tim Wigmore joins Amit Varma in episode 422 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the…

  35. Ep 421: Ira Mukhoty's Quest for Unseen Histories

    · 6 h 04 min · S1 E421

    Too much of our history is looked at through either a colonial lens or a patriarchal one. Ira Mukhoty joins Amit Varma in episode 421 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her gaze on India's history, and all that it has…

  36. Ep 420: Siddhartha Basu Is in the Hot Seat

    · 4 h 10 min · S1 E420

    Circumstance made him a legend of the quizzing world, but Siddhartha Basu is a man of many parts. He joins Amit Varma in episode 420 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about life, India, the art of asking questions and…

  37. Ep 419: India's MSME Landscape -- Some Useful Frameworks

    · 4 h 40 min · S1 E419

    Firms are the means of economic progress. India's micro, small and medium enterprises have been hobbled for decades, and flounder even today. Sudhir Sarnobat and Narendra Shenoy join Amit Varma in episode 419 of The…

  38. Ep 418: What Just Happened Between India & Pakistan?

    · 2 h 30 min · S1 E418

    Why did the attacks in Pahalgam happen? What took place in the skirmishes after that? What have we learnt about geopolitics and our military preparedness? Pranay Kotasthane and Aditya Ramanathan join Amit Varma in…

  39. Ep 417: Caste and the Census

    · 2 h 16 min · S1 E417

    Data is apolitical and always useful, right? Then why is the caste census so controversial? Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley join Amit Varma in episode 417 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss its history,…

  40. Ep 416: Kavitha Rao Chases Chatto and Roy

    · 2 h 55 min · S1 E416

    The most astonishing men lie in the far, forgotten corners of history. Kavitha Rao joins Amit Varma in episode 416 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on the life and times of two magnificent failures, Chatto and…

  41. Ep 415: Ramki and the Ocean of Stories

    · 4 h 49 min · S1 E415

    He observed our society from up close as an advertising man -- and then became an iconic storyteller on Twitter. Ramakrishna Desiraju aka Ramki joins Amit Varma in episode 415 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about…

  42. Ep 414 : The Spectacular Life of Prahlad Kakar

    · 3 h 37 min · S1 E414

    He learnt his craft from Shyam Benegal, became a pioneer & a legend of advertising filmmaking, learnt & taught scuba diving, started the Prithvi Cafe, and lived every moment to the full in a million different ways.…

  43. Ep 413: Shaheen Mistri Goes to School

    · 3 h 13 min · S1 E413

    One of India's tragedies lies in the schooling of our children. We have let our kids down. Can we fix this problem? Shaheen Mistri joins Amit Varma in episode 413 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her journey --…

  44. Ep 412: Probal DasGupta Goes to the Himalayas With Books in His Bag

    · 6 h 03 min · S1 E412

    So much in history never made it to the popular imagination -- such as the battles of 1967 in which India beat China. Probal DasGupta joins Amit Varma in episode 412 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his time in…

  45. Ep 411: Vishal Nevatia Finds His True North

    · 4 h 46 min · S1 E411

    Business and life can sometimes be seen more as a search for values than a quest for profit. Private equity pioneer Vishal Nevatia joins Amit Varma in episode 411 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his journey…

  46. Ep 410: Shruti Rajagopalan Remembers the Angle of the Light

    · 6 h 48 min · S1 E410

    She's an economist, an institution-builder, an ecosystem-nurturer and one of our finest thinkers. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 410 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life & times -- and her…

  47. Ep 409: Salil Tripathi and the Gujaratis

    · 6 h 14 min · S1 E409

    He's lived a rich life as a journalist, a human rights activist, an author, a columnist -- and now he's written a great book on Gujaratis. Salil Tripathi joins Amit Varma in episode 409 of The Seen and the Unseen to…

  48. Ep 408: Amitava Kumar Finds His Gulmohar Tree

    · 2 h 50 min · S1 E408

    His earlier episodes on this show have been huge hits, and as he completes a trilogy of books, he returns to complete a trilogy of episodes. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 408 of The Seen and the Unseen to…

  49. Ep 407: Sarbpreet Singh Finds His Sikhism

    · 4 h 32 min · S1 E407

    He was born in Sikkim and lives in the USA, and in the course of engaging with his identity, has written powerful books of Sikh history, and revived its music. Sarbpreet Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 407 of The…

  50. Ep 406: Sathya Saran and the Shaping of the Indian Woman

    · 3 h 31 min · S1 E406

    She worked with Femina for 26 years, 12 of them as editor. And she wrote numerous biographies after that. Sathya Saran joins Amit Varma in episode 406 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Indian society, feminism,…

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