The Point Blank Show

Tom Standage has authored seven history books. His most recent one charts the history of the wheel to self-driving cars and everything in between. Whereas the wheel remains among the most important inventions of mankind, it took thousands of years before we found mass applications for it. In this podcast Tom motors along different eras while describing the invention's bumpy ride and how it has sha...

RB Ramesh started coaching when he was just 22 years old. His training institute "Chess Gurukul" has spawned champions who have brought over 100 medals for India in various competitions. Just last year his student, Praggnanandhaa or Pragg became the youngest player to defeat Magnus Carlsen, a giant of the game. In this podcast RB Ramesh talks about his experience of teaching folks from across diff...

Edward Carr, Foreign editor of The Economist takes us through his brilliant special report on US foreign policy. He argues that inspite of a dreadful decade abroad, Americans are unduly pessimistic about their place in the world. The rise of China as a formidable player in world affairs is undisputed, but its economic heft does not yet qualify it to be a geopolitical influence that America wields....

In this podcast, Jon Fasman of The Economist talks about his on ground experience of covering the US presidential elections. Over the past few months Jon travelled across the country, attended rallies, conducted interviews, met strangers, filed articles, wrote online, did live blogging, recorded podcasts and met crazy deadlines. To report the greatest political event on the planet, a little bit of...

Paul Markillie, the Innovation Editor at The Economist joins us to talk about the magical world of digital manufacturing, the subject of his special report which was published earlier this year. In this 20 minute chat Paul shares his experiences which took him to some interesting places across the world. This third revolution has already taken off. For instance, in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, 23...

The Economists deputy news editor, Simon Wright is so good at dismembering jargons that you might even start to care about knowing a little something about natural gas, the subject of his special report that was published this month. In this podcast, Simon gives us a crash course in Shale gas and explains why is it a big deal that America has started to mine more of it in the last few years. He re...

Jon Fasman knows what it takes to be a New York Times best selling author. His book, Geographer's Library published in 2005 has been released into more than a dozen languages and his more recent novel, The Unpossessed City is a major hit. At The Economist, he covers a diverse range of subjects like food, music, chopsticks, politics, Tiger Woods, Dominique Strauss Kahn, global warming and a lot mor...

Philip Coggan, the Capital Markets Editor of The Economist joins us to talk about his special report on Pensions. Things have changed quite a bit since the first pension scheme was introduced by Otto Von Bismarck back in the 19th century. As people in developed countries are living longer, the pressure on the working population is mounting steadily to support the greying economies. In this podcast...

Robert Lane Greene, the International Correspondent of The Economist has released his first book titled, You Are What You Speak. In this podcast, Lane clearly distinguishes the sticklers from the linguists. While he supports those who strive to write and talk by making use of correct grammar, he is against the mindless infatuation with the subject. He also tells us a bit about the process of writi...

In our film industry, what Amitabh Bachchan or Dilip Kumar is to acting, Nitin Chandrakant Desai is to art direction. The winner of four national awards and many successful movies such as Lagaan, Devdas, Jodha Akbar, Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam, Munnabhai, etc talks about his craft and the challenges of his everyday job. He takes us through his experiece of working with directors like Vidhu Vinod Chopra...

Kenneth Cukier is Japan Business and Finance correspondent of The Economist, but in the last couple of weeks, Kenn has stared at one of the most grueling assignments of his career. He is covering Japans largest earthquake, visiting disaster zones and making sense of the mayhem. In this podcast, Kenneth who is at ground zero salutes the spirit of the Japanese who are ploughing through the crisis wi...

Prof Kanu Doshi and his quintessential humour join us by branding this years Union budget as an Accountants budget which is neither beneficial for the khaas aadmi nor the aam aadmi. Kanu bhai takes us through the different benefits that the common man can enjoy until the Direct Tax Code is introduced in the coming year. This podcast decodes jargons like AMT, LLP, DDT and many more. The Finance Min...

Kranthi Vastikula, an MIT alumnus created an all weather jacket which ensures that you don't sweat in the Mumbai Summer and do not freeze to death if you were at the base camp of Mount Everest. In this podcast, he talks about his innovation and the challenges of commercialising it. He talks proudly about his closely knit 15 member team at Hyderabad who have been handpicked from engineering and MBA...

Andrew Palmer, the Finance Editor of The Economist joins us to talk about his recently published Special Report on Property. In this podcast, he talks about the importance accorded to property as an asset class and the reasons for its mercurial valuation especially in countries like USA, Spain, Ireland, etc which are currently in a housing soup.

Its hard to believe that a fearless competitor who would charge at lightning speed towards his opponents to tackle a ball which can sometimes fly at 150 miles per hour can be so modest and down to earth with his words. Viren Rasquinha talks about his experience as Indian hockey team captain, the challenges plaguing Indian hockey and the demands of playing an international sport. As a merit ranker...

It was a big surprise when I found out that the lyricist for 3 Idiots and Lage Raho Munnbhai was the same person. Now, in the list of the above two movies, add Parineeta, Khoya Khoya Chand, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and the reason to have Swanand Kirkire on Point Blank is obvious. His abilities are not restricted to song writing. He has been an Assistant director, dialogue writer, music director, a...

In this podcast, Rajdeep Sardesai takes us back to his school days and talks passionately about his cricket, table tennis and quizzing before drifting into journalism after studying Law at Oxford University. His dad, Dilip Sardesai, comes to life in the conversation when Rajdeep talks fondly about the values that he grew up on. Rajdeep started his career at a time when Television was yet to make i...

Anand Patwardhan has spent three decades making documentaries on important political and social issues. Raam Ke Naam, made a year before the Mumbai riots informed the people of the brewing animosity prior to the riots and motivations of political parties that ultimately led to the drastic actions of the Hindu militants. His documentary Father, Son and the Holy War explores in two parts the possibi...

Santosh Ostwal is a maverick engineer who made it possible for the Indian farmer to trigger his irrigation pump with the help of a mobile phone. Do not rub your eyes. You read it right. As an adolescent, Santosh watched his 82 year old grandfather toil hard during the day and then make multiple rounds to the farm with a walking stick in the middle of the night to switch on the electric pump. This...

The Economists Business Affairs Editor joined us to talk about his cover story on the iPad. In this podcast, Tom makes some interesting observations on how the device will be more acceptable by the grandmothers and the members of the non geek world. He also shares his opinions on how the iPad will affect the online publishing and the newspaper industry. Tom is known for speaking his mind on the su...

From reinsurance to journalism, it has been a pretty exciting career path for Brendan Greeley who has served as the Multimedia Editor of The Economist for two years and has moved into a new role now. In this podcast, Brendan talks passionately about the role of the journalist from the investigative journalism days in the 1970s to the information glut age of the web. He gets candid about why News n...

Born in India, having spent a major part of his life in Australia, and having worked on building Indo-Australian ties both on the government and business level, We can think of no one better than Mr. Neville Roach to shed light on the current state of affairs between India and Australia. The latest and a significant addition to the already enviable bio is Nevilles recent appointment to the Indian...

A poet, a journalist, a sportsman, a publishing editor of Indias premier newspaper, a photographer, a traveler, a film maker, all in one lifetime and still going strong. If this were a quiz question, one neednt require any options to choose from. The name that comes at the top of ones mind is that of Pritish Nandy. In this point blank chat with Aditya, Nandy gets candid on his colourful career so...

Shashi Tharoor Jeetega Zaroor was the campaign slogan that his supporters chanted when a precocious Tharoor was running for the president of his college union. He won then and three decades later, in 2009, Dr Shashi tharoor won again, this time as the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament from the Trivandrum constituency in Kerala. In this podcast, Dr...

I hate to introduce Gautam Rajadhyaksh as a "celebrity photographer". He is much more and you would realize that you you hear hiim talk about his experiences from photo shoots with film personalities, singer, musicians and even businessmen, infact, He earned his trademark while a photoshoot with one of the greatest businessman India has ever seen. We spend time talking about his all things that he...