Dispatches from Kolkata

On the 250th Anniversary of American Independence, Sandip Roy reflects on what then "American Dream" means to him.

A controversy over a 4,500 year old "Dancing Girl" once again raises the question over what constitutes obscenity and vulgarity. Sandip Roy covers his eyes and looks into the situation.

Even as corporates and multinationals move away from DEI policies that once made June an explosion of rainbow, LGBT lives are not going back into the closet. Sandip Roy visits and old tattered building in Mumbai to explain.

As the Whitehouse lawn showcases one very specific version of America, Sandip speaks with someone who has another version.

It's the "controvery over public art" game show again, this time in Kolkata. Sandip Roy kicks it around for us.

Sandip talks with author Anuradha Roy about her home in the Himalayas and how they've witnessed firsthand the effects of climate change.

They say you cannot ever go home again but as long as there is a paash baalish you can come pretty close. what IS a Paash Baalish? Sandip Roy explains.

As David Attenborough turns 100, Sandip remembers his mother and all the things left to be done.

West Bengal just went to the polls with several million voters struck off the electoral rolls, banished to some kind of limbo land. The Special Intensive Revision or (SIR) process was meant to clean up the voter list. But we will be no nearer a consensus on how to determine what citizenship really means.

It's election time in India and that means noise and songs and speeches. But this year both parties are using fish to prove their local credentials.

Sandip bids farewell to an icon of Inidan cinema and song.

Bengali New Year celebrations are filled with street fairs, noise, colors and.... food. The more deep fried, the better. Sandip partakes in the festivities.

Counting seems simple enough, but when you're counting people other questions arise.

It would seen that in India, at least, there's an acceptence of non-binary people. Ah, but there's always one more box to check.

On a recent trip to San Francisco Sandip reflects on a certian "luxury."

A TikTok video by Madhu Raju, an Indian immigrant in the US on an H1-B visa sparks a lot of controversy, but Sandip wonders, are we missing the point?

Sandip ponders the need to over-explain everything.

Jeffrey Epstein and his connections to rich and powereful people seems never ending, but Sandip wonders if we had been invited onto that gilded island, how many of us would have had the willpower to refuse.

At the Jaipur Literary Festival Sandip considers books and festivals and weather they go together.

We are all a little too sensitive these days. In Kolkata one influencer got a little burnt with his post about being served a wrong dish at a popular restaurant. Sandip considers that maybe we all need to cool down a little.