Historychatter Podcast

Atomic energy research in India made only modest progress in the early years. The cult of secrecy around it often provoked criticism. Indian atomic scientists were still years away from building a nuclear reactor. Finally, they were forced to approach various developed countries for cooperation. When the first nuclear reactors were built in India, it was only through major international collaborat...

Indian scientists and politicians carried out vigorous discussions on how to organize advanced scientific research on an industrial scale in India as a means of development between 1938 and 1948. This episode revisits some of those conversations about the management of scientific research. At the same time, it looks into the politically charged process of the integration of princely states into th...

Science and technology were considered as the face of modernity in independent India. A mastery and application of technology on an industrial scale was perceived as the only means of delivering development and democracy rapidly and extensively. Atomic energy or nuclear technology was perceived as a necessary attribute of sovereignty and honour among the international community. This episode explo...

Atomic energy research in India started well before independence, but since independence, it has assumed an uncontested priority above all other branches of science and technology. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, believed that countries that possessed nuclear energy alone would have the capacity to rule the future. He was convinced that the resources required for atomic energy...

In the tenth and final episode of the series Bombay Born, I talk to Amrit Gangar, who has researching and writing on films and Bombay for over forty years now. A scholar, curator, archivist and the quintessential Bombayite, Mr. Gangar spoke to me about the unique qualities of Bombay or Mumbai as a city, how Bombay emerged as the capital of movie making in India, and some landmark films on Mumbai a...

The Bombay Chronicle emerged as the voice of Bombay by the early twentieth century. Between the 1910s and 1950s, but especially since the 1920s, it reflected the diverse interests of Bombay and yet always managed to remain loyal to the mainstream of Indian nationalism. This episode of HistoryChatter, of episode 9 of the series Bombay Born, recalls the career of this unique publication, through the...

Bombay was transformed from a prosperous port city to a major industrial metropolis largely through the expansion of the cotton textile industry. The growing mill industry called for labor. The influx also brought forth fresh challenges. Housing and sanitation for the vast incoming population, schools for their children, and medical aid called for urgent solutions. The Bombay City Improvement Trus...

Bombay did not have respectable hotels even during the 1850s. There were some taverns but they did not attract the respectable folks, who usually found accommodation with friends or family. An enterprising Parsi set up the earliest modern hotel in Bombay with an in-house restaurant. I take up the early History of Hotels in Bombay in episode 7 of the series Bombay born. The episode focuses closely...

One of the factors which gradually rescued Mumbai or Bombay from the effects of the crash of 1865 was the development of an improved communication system. Episode 6 of Bombay Bombay born recalls the dramatic history of the postal services in Bombay, through the eyes of the businessmen of the times. The episode maps the communication revolution in nineteenth and early twentieth century Bombay, begi...

Mumbai or Bombay was struck by the first major share market scandal in India in 1865. The American Civil War and the sudden cotton export boom it had caused suddenly brought massive fortunes in the hands of speculators. From merchant princes to lowly menials, everyone in Bombay jumped right into the speculation mania. In the second part of understanding the effects of the cotton bubble burst, we l...

Mumbai or Bombay was struck by the first major share market scandal in India in 1865. The American Civil War and the sudden cotton export boom it had caused suddenly brought massive fortunes in the hands of speculators. From merchant princes to lowly menials, everyone in Bombay jumped right into the speculation mania. I look into the details of this episode in this and the next episode. Join us on...

Join us on this 10-part journey as we decode, the rise of Bombay In the third episode of Bombay Born, I revisit 1857 in Mumabai. Bombay largely remained quiet, but there were a few cases of conspiracy in the army. I revisit that case in some detail, with details of how it was dealt with by the Governor and the Chief of Police at the time. I also look at the life in the Maidan, where the Parsees wo...

The second episode of Bombay Born begins with the coming of the Railways and the demolition of the Ramparts. These two developments in the 1850s and 1860s virtually ushered in the modern city of Bombay. Then we briefly recall how the Fort came about hundred years ago and how it had outlived its utility by the 1860s. Finally, the story concludes with the sights and sounds of the Maidan during the 1...

The history of Mumbai or Bombay took a major new turn once the British took over in the late seventeenth century. They not only envisaged a great future for the harbour but also made arrangements to make it secure. The first episode of the series Bombay Born focuses on life around the harbor in the mid-nineteenth century. The future metropolis was still a town around the Fort and the harbor. Poten...

Mumbai or Bombay has long been a city of dreams, aspirations and untold wealth. Yet, even in 1850s, it was a narrow walled town. Bombay Born recalls the birth of this megapolis since then. It explores the people and the events since then that magically transformed the city into the commercial heaven it has since become. Join us on this 10-part journey as we decode, the rise of Bombay   You ca...

HistoryChatter in this episode looks into the early career of Shell Shock as a disorder. It was first discovered among British soldiers in France during the First World War. I look at the early medical and military response to the problem and a detailed case study, concluding with a brief account of how the condition has since evolved. It is now called PTSD. You can follow us and leave us feedback...

Boarding Schools in various hill stations in India had been around since the mid-nineteenth century. This episode of HistoryChatter looks into what role they play in society, then and now, in terms of the students they produce and the values that they instill among these students. It looks also into the early history of the Lawrence School at Sanawar, through the personal correspondence of its fou...

Public schools, which are in reality private boarding schools for the upper-class children, took off in the UK in the nineteenth century. One of their contributions was that they produced scores of politicians and administrators who later ran the country and held it together with the British empire. HistoryChatter in this episode examines how the students of major public schools in England were sy...

The princely states in India ceased to matter after India became independent in 1947. How did the princes cope with the sudden disappearance of their authority? One of the immediate crises was financial. Many princes had to sell off their assets. These were put up for regular auctions. This episode of HistoryChatter recalls one of these auctions of the household assets of the former Maharaja of Ka...

On International Museum Day, #HistoryChatter recalls the history of the movement. Even though the date was fixed by ICOM, and preservation of heritage has been promoted aggressively by UNESCO since the Second World War, its history goes back to the 1920s. Nicholas Roerich, a Russian but a global citizen encouraged American Vice President Henry Wallace to make the first major move in this direction...

Foreign observers noticed some unique features of Indian English during the 1950s. India had recently become independent. There was a great deal of resistance to the persistence of English. At the same time, the national language debate had been raging furiously. Foreign observers made some insightful remarks about the prospects of English and regional languages in India at the time. In view of th...

LIC is now entering the share market. Experts predict that the development has the potential to significantly rewrite the history of infrastructure and business financing in India. The latest episode of HistoryChatter recalls the history of the insurance business, particularly in terms of the early organization and legal regulations, from the nineteenth century, in England and in India, until the...

In April 1952, exactly seventy years ago from now, the foundation stone of All India Medical Institute was laid. It was to be the nucleus of advanced medical research and teaching in India. This episode of HistoryChatter recalls the vision and objectives of AIIMS in detail. At the same time, it explores in detail an early controversy about a particular provision of the AIIMS act. This provision, w...

Today is World Heritage Day! HistoryChatter in this episode revisits the relation between history and heritage. Following the work of David Lowenthal, who may well be called the pioneer of critical heritage studies, we ask what the massive rise in popular interest in heritage in contemporary times really means. We look at the reasons behind this explosion of interest in heritage and the profile of...

What kind of questions do you believe would be asked to an agony aunt in the 16th century? What were the major concerns of the people who wanted to look good or appear well-mannered in those days? Historian Elizabeth Archibald of the University of Pittsburgh has put together a list of useful advice from various pamphlets in 16th century Europe. Some of them appear absurd today, and others curious...