Postcards From Nowhere with Utsav Mamoria

In 1634, on Baisakhi day, a Sikh hunting party set their hawk or Baaz upon the royal Baaz of the Mughals. The Sikh Baaz prevailed, and the Mughal Baaz was captured. Angered by this action, Emperor Shah Jahan from Lahore sent 7,000 soldiers under Mukhlis Khan to attack. The outcome of the war shaped the history of the Sikhs. In 2016, the Bollywood film Udta Punjab took a penetrating look at the dru...

"In January 2022, Tanya Tagaq, a 47 year old Canadian singer released her album - Tongues. The Rolling Stone called her 'one of the avant-garde's most dynamic performers. The Pitchfork said that her 'music joins landscape, culture and resistance.' Music joining landscape and resistance? This week, we travel to a place which has just 2 people per 100 square kilometres - The Canadia Arctic. Tune in,...

The island of Satwal in the Pacific Ocean is incredibly small - Just 1 square kilometre and supports a population of 500. And yet, it is home to Mau Piailug, a man who holds the secrets of the some of the most long distance travellers of the world. Travellers who for thousands of years, have traversed vast oceans without any navigational aids. But what does it have to do with the BRT Wildlife Sanc...

In 1971, Belfast witnessed a rising rock band debut their unnamed fourth album. Despite their first three albums breaking sales records, the album had a very cold reception. Decades later, a British author shopped her book to over ten publishers, all of whom rejected it. This week, in the fifteenth episode of the series Ireland Untravelled, we discover the connection  between the iconic rock band...

In 1920, Colonel Charles - Bury was nervous about a diplomatic conversation with the then British Viceroy of India. He wanted to convince the Viceroy to allow a trip to Peak XV, which was suspected to be taller than Mount Kanchenjunga. Back in his home in Ireland, at the Charleville Castle, a 400 year tree waited for his arrival. Charles - Bury though, got his approval and was making a fascinating...

In 1864, London saw the formation of a club consisting of nine members. It was called the X Club, since it committed its members to nothing. In fact, the only rule of the club was to have no rules. But this wasn't a bunch of rag-tag individuals. These nine members were some of the most influential voices of their generation. One of these men went on to do pioneering research which changed travel o...

On 4th May 1799, the British forces defeated the famed king of Mysore in a battle, largely owing to the king's chief minister betraying him. About 8500 kms away, the battle finds a reference in a 200 ft talk Obleisk in Phoenix Park, in Dublin Ireland. But is that the only legacy India has left in Ireland, of a war an Indian ruler lost to the British? This week, in the twelfth episode of the series...

On 20th May 1932, a 34-year-old woman set off from Newfoundland, the easternmost province of Canada. She flew for almost 15 hours, and created aviation history. She was supposed to land in Paris, but ended up in Derry, Northern Ireland. Almost 60 years later, just below the hill she landed, lived a young 8 year old girl who was given a microscope as a gift. But what connects a pioneering American...

In the summer of 2009, as the world was still reeling from the impact of The Great Recession, a young man, by the name of Kieran McGuinness, was trying to perfect a song. It was inspired by some grafitti he had seen in Spain. But the song had a purpose, for he was trying to find someone. And like Kieran, there were thousands of people who were trying to find someone all across Ireland. This week,...

In 1993, a young alternative rock band was touring England. The lead vocalist, passed through a town near Liverpool which had been the site of a brutal bombing. Moved by the death of two people, she penned a stream of conciousness song which went onto become their biggest hit worldwide, and amassed 1 billion views on YouTube as of today. In 2018, Netflix debuts a teenage drama set in the early 199...

1856, Dublin City. Over 3,600 soldiers sit down for a celebratory banquet after a hard fought Crimean war. But where does one find a building large enough to seat these many people? A warehouse is converted for this purpose, and 150 years later, it houses one of the most unique emigration museums of the world. But what if I told you that all of this is connected to India, and no less to our Nation...

On 15th April 1912, the RMS Titanic sank into the Atlantic Ocean. 100 years later, the city of Belfast inaugurated the opulent Titanic Museum, built at the cost of a whopping 116 million Euros. The museum also tells another story, that of the rise of Belfast city, making it one of the largest ports in the world. But there is another story, which it does not tell, and it involves India. This week,...

Across the countryside in Ireland there are roads which go nowhere, and there are houses nobody lives in. The thousands of traveller less roads and empty homes have a singular story behind them. This week, in the sixth episode of the series, Ireland Untravelled, we uncover the greatest single event in Irish history - The Potato Famine. Tune in, to discover how the Famine irrevocably changed the ve...

In the early 1960's, a young man from the Varad village on the Konkan Coast of India goes to study medicine at KEM Hospital in Bombay. Continents away in Paris at the Pere Lachaise cemetery, lies buried one of the finest playwrights and poets of the 19th century. A song by the Irish Punk Rock band - The Radiators releases a song that features one of the most iconic spots of Dublin. What connects t...

Three of the most iconic Irish bands walk into a bar - The Dubliners, The Chieftains and U2. They grab a few drinks, clear their throats and then proceed to play. The bar owner turns them down, and says that there will be no music at his bar. They leave. What? Who in their right mind would turn such a musical evening down? This week, in the fourth episode of the series, Ireland Untravelled, we del...

On 25th August 1992, the Serbian paramilitaries set fire to the National Library of Sarajevo. The library burned for 2 days and 2 nights before the fire could be bought under control. A few centuries prior in 1592, Trinity College was established in Dublin, and it became the first university in all of Ireland and UK to award degrees to women. But what could possibly connect these two disparate cul...

In 2016, a strange event unfolded in Cork County in Ireland. A staff member at the Flying Enterprise pub in Cork city was asked not to speak in Irish. Wait What? Not speak Irish in Ireland? This week, in the second episode of the series, Ireland Untravelled, we uncover the stunning decline of the Irish language, so much so, that it is less widely spoken than English today. We travel in time to the...

What does an instant Scottish classic, published in 1824, a book which has captured the imagination of the world since have to do with the troubled history of Ireland and Northern Ireland? What does a designer of a lighthouse along the coast of the UK have to do with Alfred Nobel, the man behind the Nobel Prize? This week, starting a new series, Ireland Untravelled, we traverse the border between...

Once consumed, feelings of infusion, vitalisation, empowerment, elevation, even travel into other worlds or possession by the divine had been reported. So important was this drink, that there is an entire chapter with 114 hymns that have been dedicated to this drink alone - in the Rigveda, no less. This week, in the fourteenth episode of the series Fabulous Foods, we attempt to solve the world's g...

In the town of Rameswaram in Coastal Tamil Nadu, a boy is born into a fishing caste household. Across the Indian ocean in Sri Lanka, another boy is born into another household from the same fishing caste. Uncharacterstically, both of these men went on to become really famous in their own countries, taking up high ranking political and millitary positions. This week, in the thirteenth episode of Fa...

In 1568, the Raja of Kochi gifted land to a tiny religious community, so that they have a place of worship away from home. This community was fleeing persecution in Spain and Portugal and arrived in India in the 15th and 16th centuries and were given the name Paradesi or a foreigner in Malayalam due to their descent. They built a monument which is probably the best homage to the diverse influences...

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, you would find a painting of Raja Ram Singh I, the ruler of Amer or present-day Jaipur. The king is engaged in an activity pretty common to the royals of his time. Meanwhile, every February and March, there is a fiery orange flower which blooms and bathes the entire landscape in an beautiful hue. But what if I told you that this episode has nothing to...

In 1612, the royal family of Mysore - The Wodeyars brought upon themselves a curse which lasted 400 years. About two thousand years before that, the Mauryans traded over a branch of the Silk Route, which gave rise to an Indian culinary tradition which exists to this day. In the late 19th and early 20th century, speakers of a certain language from North Asia migrated to Madras and Calcutta, and gav...

In 2003, at a famed temple in South India, a 5000 year old idol was to be replaced. The temple officials decided to make an idol and several kilos of gold were collected to make the idol. However, once it was installed, things went awry, and a joint investigation by the police and IIT Madras found the gold to be missing. A 15 year-long investigation uncovered a sinister plot to smuggle the 5000-ye...

Blood filled sausages, goat's head in sour gruel, grilled stomach membrane and barbecued river rats - If this grossed you out, you must listen to this episode. This week, in the eighth episode of the series, Fabulous Foods, we delve into our privileged idea of Taboo foods, the tradition of eating meat in the Ramayan and Mahabharat, and how does the idea of Dharma reconcile eating meat. Tune in, an...