The Sandip Roy Show

In this episode, Sandip is joined by veteran journalist and the founding editor of People’s Archives of Rural India (PARI) to talk about his book, The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom , which tells the incredible stories of freedom fighters who still have not been recognized for their contribution and struggle. Episode image credit: Bharat Tiwari Produced by Shashank Bhargava and Utsa...

In a new anthology titled, Indian Christmas , writers Jerry Pinto and Madhulika Liddle bring together essays that capture the many unique flavors of an Indian Christmas — from a village in Nagaland, to Bow Barrack in Kolkata, and from churches to Goa to even rural Jharkhand. In this episode, they join host Sandip Roy to talk about what is really unique about Christmas in India. (Cover image of Jer...

What makes Indian languages different from other ones? We all know about a mother tongue, but is there also a father tongue? Why did invaders from Uzbekistan bring us Persian? And will English cannibalise every other language or is the future of Indian languages something like Hinglish or Nagamese? In this episode, host Sandip Roy talks to Peggy Mohan about her book, 'Wanderers, Kings, Merchants',...

When it comes to sex education, there are many questions that don't have easy answers. Like, who should do it? Should it be parents or schools? And when should you do it? And should it just be about the reproductive system or infections or abstinence? Or should it also include pleasure? In this episode, host Sandip Roy talks to Reema Ahmed and Ramya Anand who have been trying to figure out the ans...

The Gambian cough syrup tragedy in which 66 children died has once again raised alarm about India's drug regulation policy. But was Gambia just one rotten apple? Or this apple cart itself full of loopholes? In this episode Dinesh Thakur, who became famous as a whistleblower against Ranbaxy, joins Sandip Roy to talk about his book The Truth Pill (co-written by Prashant Reddy) which looks at the sta...

With Diwali around the corner, columnist and host of the Awful and Awesome podcast Rajyasree Sen joins Sandip Roy to talk about her latest book, The Sweet Kitchen, which includes tales and recipes of India's favourite desserts — from Daulat ki Chaat in Old Delhi to Black Rice Kheer from Manipur, to Sawdust pudding from Goa and sweet hot debates like who does the Rasgulla really belong to. Listen t...

Even though Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most well known figures in Indian history, for many, especially the young, he has become a bit of a two dimensional figure. Someone who helped us get independence from the British, but also someone whose face is on the currency notes, and who has a lot of streets named after him. Though it is only when we read his letters to friends, family and opponents, o...

Is the female CEO the only model for female empowerment? To what extent are women still split down the middle when it comes to home and work? And what does success, independence, and agency mean to women today? These are some of the questions that Shaili Chopra, the founder of SheThePeople. TV, tackles in her book, Sisterhood Economy. In this episode, she joins Sandip to talk about the book, what...

At a time when the government and the marketplace have assumed enormous power over our lives and choices, Rohini Nilekani argues that now is the time for civil societies to be boosted, and that India’s wealth creators need to do more about it. In this episode, she joins host Sandip Roy to discuss her latest book, ‘Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar’, in which she talks about the need for a balance between th...

In his latest book, To Raise A Fallen People, Rahul Sagar points out that the debates around what role India should play on the world stage started way back in the 19th century. This was the time when public figures were questioning the kind of power India should be, what lessons it needs to learn from Europe, and the kind of economy it should have going forward. In this episode, Sagar, Global Net...

In 1952, the cheetah was officially declared extinct in India. Now, the animal, albeit a different subspecies, might be set for a comeback - not in the wild, but to Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh. Wildlife conservationists in India, though, are in no rush to welcome the cheetah home. In this episode, eminent conservationists Ravi Chellam and Prerna Bindra join host Sandip Roy to discuss the sc...

Journalist Seema Chishti's mother, Sumitra, wrote a cookbook so that she could pass down recipes from their rather unique kitchen - a kitchen which was shared by Sumitra, who was a Kshatriya Hindu from Mysore in Karnataka, and her husband Anees, a Syed Muslim from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. Now, in her new book, Sumitra and Anees, Chishti includes recipes from her mother's cookbook and tells the sto...

Journalist Vauhini Vara's debut novel, The Immortal King Rao, has been making waves because it marries a vision of technocapitalism with caste. The book imagines a Dalit man who escapes the coconut plantations of his childhood to live the American dream and creates a company that rules the world via an algorithm. In this episode, she joins host Sandip Roy to talk about the book, caste discriminati...

Even though the Pride Month is now embraced across India, its coverage mostly focuses on gay men and sometimes transgender women activists. But lesbians seem to be largely missing from this coverage and conversation. So in this special episode, host Sandip Roy talks to a lesbian couple, Rituparna Borah and Amrita Tripathi, living in Delhi to understand whether lesbian lives have changed since Prid...

In this episode, Sandip Roy speaks to Laura T Murphy, professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam University. They speak about the people still living in modern day slavery, the role of violence in overthrowing oppression, and her new book, ‘Azad Nagar: The Story of a 21st-Century Slave Revolt’.

At a time when nationalism and patriotism are increasingly conflated, historian Ramachandra Guha's latest book, Rebels Against The Raj, tells the story of seven remarkable westerners who went to jail or were expelled from the country for rebelling against the British. They were in today's parlance 'anti-nationals'. In this episode, host Sandip Roy is joined by Ramachandra Guha to talk about the bo...

Data scientist Dr Bhramar Mukherjee joins host Sandip Roy to talk about the challenges of estimating India's real Covid death toll.

The pandemic has been tough on many of us, but for those with mental health problems, it's been even tougher. Former CEO of BP Ergo, and columnist Aparna Piramal Raje has had to deal with Bipolar disorder during this time, and which she talks about in her book, Chemical Khichdi: How I Hacked My Mental Health. While it has been hailed as a brief coming out story, it is also a handbook for those str...

On this show’s 100th episode, host Sandip Roy is joined by the iconic pop singer Usha Ushup as she takes a trip down memory lane, remembering her unique musical journey so far, recounting her experience of working in the Indian film industry, giving us a peek at her talent for mimicry, and discussing her authorized biography, The Queen of Pop by Vikas Kumar Jha. Do stay with us till the end of the...

After five weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine not going as planned, what end game does Vladimir Putin have in mind? How well can India continue to walk the tight diplomatic rope? And how will this crisis reshape the geo-political chess game? In this episode, host Sandip Roy is joined by retired diplomat, historian, and former Indian Foreign Secretary Krishnan Srinivasan to answer these quest...

In veteran journalist Saeed Naqvi’s play, The Muslim Vanishes, overnight everyone Muslim, and everyone thing deemed Muslim in the country, suddenly vanishes into thin air. This leads to consequences that no one could have foreseen, including problems for those who wanted Muslims to vanish from public life. In this episode, Naqvi joins Sandip Roy to talk about his sardonic play, why the hindutva pr...

Journalist Adrija Roychowdhury joins Sandip Roy to speak about her new book, 'Delhi in Thy Name' which traces the history of the capital city through the naming of its streets. She delves into six neighborhoods of Delhi to trace the different trajectories and expressions of the past. She identifies Mughal influences in Chandini Chowk, the remnants of British colonialism in Connaught Place, and mig...

Shrayana Bhattacharya is trained in development economics and is currently working at a multilateral development bank. But, to the surprise of many around her, she spent the last 15 years interviewing women who are Shah Rukh Khan fans. And she did this, to understand the Indian economy. Her book, Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh, details her research and reveals an emotional map of the economy. In th...

We often use data to understand India and its problems. Be it data about unemployment, how we vote, what crimes we commit, and even who we choose to love. But data journalist Rukmini S' new book, Whole Numbers and Half Truths, talks about how we use numbers to make sense of all this, without realising that data can be misleading or that we might be misreading it. In this episode, she joins host Sa...