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Many of us have discovered a fascination for creatures like sealions or frogs, all thanks to a mild hypnotic voice narrating their life stories. For some of us, this voice belonged to the science teacher we wished we had had in school. Sir David Attenborough turned 100 recently. This episode is a conversation with three children: Ava (8 yrs), Anindya (11 yrs) and Darsh (12 yrs) sharing stories of...

A few days ago, under the bright skies of Paris, four men sauntered into the Louvre museum after climbing onto its balcony, picked up a few glittering jewels that belonged to French royalty, hopped onto a scooter and drove away. This episode was recorded on the 2nd of Nov, 2025. Four young kids from India joined me to discuss - what they found most fascinating about this robbery - what they link o...

The Secret Garden is a story that combines elements of adventure like an Enyd Blyton's Famous Five story, pieces of climate fiction like an episode of 'Planet Earth' and some elements of magic like a Harry Potter story. The story revolves around a household with children living in a manor on the moors. Amongst the many secrets that the manor holds is a secret and locked garden. Through...

How did the global war on terror reshape the Kashmir conflict? This podcast episode explores the dramatic shifts that transformed the players and stakes in the Kashmir dispute over the past decade and a half. Post-9/11 Relations : How Pakistan went from key US ally to regional pariah Aid Cuts : American military aid and weapon sales to Pakistan come to an abrupt halt Pakistan's New Patron : How Ch...

During the Cold War, the US sought allies to support it during the war against the Soviets. Pakistan was one of those allies. In exchange, Pakistan received financial aid and military support from the US. How did the state of Jammu and Kashmir become an unintended recipient of trouble during this cold war? Source material for my research 1. 'India after Gandhi' by Ramachandra Guha 2. Sarah...

When the British left India in 1947, they decided to leave one lasting impression - divide the lands between two factions that had different views of the world. The partition of India and Pakistan had a large impact on the hills and valleys of Jammu and Kashmir. The most recent massacre in Pahalgam in Apr 2025 has left many of us wondering - why a conflict that began in 1947 still remains unresolv...

Pope Francis , a man who embraced the need for environmental protection, a man who sought to undo some of the past damages done to indigenous tribes across the world, a man who tried hard to help immigrant refugees, recently passed away. The 1.4 billion Roman Catholics across the world now need a new leader. How will they elect their next leader? 11-yr old Dheer from Surat, India tries to find out...

If you ever wondered if there was any place on earth without mosquitoes, or about how big the largest library on earth looked like, or about where you would bump into the most number of English speakers in the world - you have landed upon the right podcast episode. This summer special features a quiz between two sixth graders (Advik and Devansh). More things to check out 1. Listen to the episode o...

In this episode, we review a book ‘the Immortals of Meluha’ by Amish Tripathi. This is the first book in a 3-part series, and is based on Lord Shiva. Earlier this month, a group of kids signed up to read this book along with me, and we got together at the end of the month, to discuss what we felt about the stories, the characters, the author’s writing style and the opinions of some critics. Co-hos...

A photo with sled dogs of Greenland wading through knee-deep water, surrounded by pristine glaciers and mountains, has gone viral. The scientist who took this photo realised that most people who saw it on social media found the picture scenic, but he realised that something about the picture was scary. If the same place were photographed year after year, we would notice all that is unusual. Aesthe...

Darjeeling's zoo recently got a rare upgrade. Its zoo will serve two purposes: on one side, it will house creatures that tourists can visit and watch as they stroll around; on the other side there will be something rare and new housed in these premises. This makes it the first of its kind in India. This episode is along the lines of a 20-questions game, where 13-year old Sathwik joins the host San...

India's  SPADEX  (Space Docking Experiment) mission, led by ISRO, aims to demonstrate autonomous docking between two spacecraft. It is sort of like a hug in an orbit in space. This skill is critical for future lunar bases, satellite servicing, and space stations. Think of it like high-tech Lego in space—snapping parts together perfectly! A big step for India's space adventures, given India...

Captain Underpants  is a super popular book series that has sold more than 80 million copies all around the world. Kids love its funny jokes and surprising story twists. The author, Dav Pilkey, wasn’t always great at reading or sitting still—he had something called dyslexia (a reading disorder) and ADHD (which makes it hard to focus). But as a kid, he used his time while he was sent out of class t...

Project Tiger was launched in the 1970s in India. There was much fanfare, wildlife reserves were created and tiger protection became important to the Indian government. While Project Tiger stopped the killing of tigers, these big cats did not grow in numbers that much. But that trend changed in 2010. For the first time, between 2010 and 2022, tiger numbers nearly doubled, from ~1700 to over 3600....

What does it take to write well? Is it about acquiring better language skills or is there a secret recipe for developing intriguing plots, or does it come from consistent writing practice? Sonia Mehta, a children's author with more than 170 published titles to her credit, shares stories from her writing journey. She has authored both fiction and non-fiction books for children as young as five,...

There are startups that solve problems for people - like the ones that help people rent a pet for their Instagram photos. And then, there are startups that solve real problems - like bringing light into people's homes. Soma Bags is doing just that. This episode carries the story of how its founder Innocent James got the spark of an idea from one of his professors in university. He had seen him...

Story narrators are the voices that brings stories and characters to life on stage. Both children and adults often stay mesmerised and get a very different perspective to both the plot and the characters, compared to what they get when they read the story. Story narrations help readers think of different plot twists, story endings and even appreciate characters with grey tones. In this episode, An...

Ten young readers from India (aged 8-15) recommend one book from amongst all the books they read in 2024. If you thought all recommendations would hover around the fantasy and adventure genre, be prepared to be surprised. I have listed below the books they recommended. If you want to hear the whys and the whats of the book, give the episode a listen. Books recommended 1. Atomic habits by James Cle...

2024 was a year that marked some interesting achievements in the field of space. Missions to moon have been relaunched by NASA, the International Space Station's ending days have been charted and India's defense systems just tested new missiles. To speak about the space stories that inspired them the most, four primary schoolers joined us to share their views. 1. Order your copy of our boo...

Paleontologists uncovered that the T-Rex was quite likely way bigger than they had originally thought it was. Based on recent fossil finds and some intelligent computer simulation, it turns out that if we remade Jurassic Park today, we would have had to create a much larger version of the T-Rex. Apart from this scientific discovery, there were lots of other interesting news stories in science and...

Children come up with ideas and stories like magicians pulling rabbits out of hats—nobody knows how, but it’s endlessly entertaining. It’s a mix of imagination (and maybe a little too much candy). But how can they turn their ideas into a well-written story? Menaka Raman, an award-winning children’s author, joins us in this episode. She chats with five young, budding authors about the tricks in her...

Neeraj Chopra's gold medal was India's first ever gold medal won by an athlete in Olympics. There was much adulation and rejoicing in the country. Sumit Antil also won a gold for India at the Tokyo Paralympics and successfully defended his title at the Paris Paralympics. For all his deeds, he went unnoticed relatively. This episode captures the story of his journey and challenges. Most importantly...

One of the earliest children's book series that took young readers into magical lands was the 'Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S.Lewis. In this podcast episode, two young readers (10-yr olds Darsh and Prakriti) share what they think of this book's plot, the writing style and how they would change the book (if they had authored it). 1. More on books that we recommend for young readers 2. Support our sho...

More people in S.Korea bought strollers for dogs than they did for children (i.e. human babies). The S.Korean government has been alarmed by this trend. While people who have been observing changes in S.Korea over the past twenty years are not really surprised, they still are worried. Why are people not happy with dogs getting more strollers than human babies? What next? Listen to the full episode...

One street that is often used by cyclists and pedestrians in Prague has been renamed as Nicholas Winton street. He was no Olympic athlete but had accomplished something else of Olympian proportions. During 1939, he had helped hundreds of Jewish children flee from Nazi persecution and gain safe entrance into Britain. For over 50 years, his actions went unremarked until a British TV show brought the...