BIC TALKS

In this episode author Shoba Narayan discusses her new book- Food and Faith - A Pilgrim's Journey Through India with poet and scholar Mani Rao.

What is the role of religion in your life today? Do you commune with the divine through rituals? Or is it a comforting routine, going to church or temple once a week or month? Are these questions making you uncomfortable? Do you think religion is a private act to be done in the confines of one's home, with family, and not something to declare publicly? These are the questions this book seeks to answer. Shoba Narayan travels across some of the most prominent places of worship in India and presents to her readers the mythologies, histories and contemporary relevance of these sites.

The elusive Kariya or Saya, resident of the Nagarahole forests has become the stuff of folklore and legends, sending sighters into a tizzy. He even has his own film.

In this episode, author and philanthropist Rohini Nilekani recounts her journey looking for this big cat in the wild.

Romancing The Black Panther was part of the Bangalore Literature Festival 2020 and this episode is an edited extract from the session.

This podcast is based on a talk that author Krish Ashok gave at the Bangalore Literature Festival 2020 at the Bangalore International Centre.

Ever wondered why your grandmother threw a teabag into the pressure cooker while boiling chickpeas, or why she measured using the knuckle of her index finger? Why does a counter-intuitive pinch of salt make your kheer more intensely flavourful? What is the Maillard reaction and what does it have to do with fenugreek? What does your high-school chemistry knowledge, or what you remember of it, have to do with perfectly browning your onions?

Masala Lab by Krish Ashok is a science nerd's exploration of Indian cooking with the ultimate aim of making the reader a better cook and turning the kitchen into a joyful, creative playground for culinary experimentation. Just like memorising an equation might have helped you pass an exam but not become a chemist, following a recipe without knowing its rationale can be a sub-optimal way of learning how to cook.

Exhaustively tested and researched, and with a curious and engaging approach to food, Krish Ashok puts together the one book the Indian kitchen definitely needs, proving along the way that your grandmother was right all along.

Author Venkatesh Parthasarathy talks to Karthik Venkatesh about his first book around the history of one of India's most loved prayer, Suprabhatam.

Prativadi Bhayankaram Anna, who composed this prayer in the fifteenth century, was a saint, a poet and an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. The poet's devotion shines through, most unforgettably in M.S. Subbulakshmi's rendition, which rings through many south Indian homes in the mornings.

kausalyāsuprajā rāma pūrvā saṃdhyā pravartate/

uttiṣṭha naraśārdūla kartavyaṃ daivamāhnikam//

O Rama, son of fortunate Kaushalya, the eastern twilight (dawn) is breaking. Arise, O lion among men, the daily morning rituals need to be performed.

With these stirring lines begins the near-ubiquitous Hindu prayer, the Venkatesa Suprabhatam. An appeal to the lord to arise and save the world, the Venkatesa Suprabhatam is the first of four recitations that are sung together every morning in the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, where it was originally sung.

Venkatesa Suprabhatam: The Story of India's Most Popular Prayer is a translation of the prayer, a journey through its verses and also a deep dive into the history of its composition and the circumstances of its author.

So whether you have grown up listening to the Suprabhatam or are just curious about such matters, this book—scholarly and yet accessible—is a compelling examination of the cultural phenomenon.

In this episode Sociologist Amita Baviskar discusses her book Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi.

Cities are now habitat for most of humanity. But do they have the ecological capacity to sustain lives worth living? Amita talks about the environmental politics in Delhi, looking at the role of 'bourgeois environmentalists' who claim to speak for nature and society. How well have these cities addressed the challenge of sustainability with social justice? How can we create liveable cities and vibrant commons?

This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.

In this episode Sociologist Amita Baviskar discusses her book Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi.

Cities are now habitat for most of humanity. But do they have the ecological capacity to sustain lives worth living? Amita talks about the environmental politics in Delhi, looking at the role of 'bourgeois environmentalists' who claim to speak for nature and society. How well have these cities addressed the challenge of sustainability with social justice? How can we create liveable cities and vibrant commons?

This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.

In this episode Sociologist Amita Baviskar discusses her book Uncivil City: Ecology, Equity and the Commons in Delhi.

Cities are now habitat for most of humanity. But do they have the ecological capacity to sustain lives worth living? Amita talks about the environmental politics in Delhi, looking at the role of 'bourgeois environmentalists' who claim to speak for nature and society. How well have these cities addressed the challenge of sustainability with social justice? How can we create liveable cities and vibrant commons?

This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.

Political scientist, lawyer and journalist Vinay Sitapati speaks to entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal on his book Jugalbandi.

Narendra Modi has been a hundred years in the making. Vinay Sitapati's Jugalbandi provides this backstory to his current dominance in Indian politics. It begins with the creation of Hindu nationalism as a response to British-induced elections in the 1920s, moves on to the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980, and ends with its first national government, from 1998 to 2004. And it follows this journey through the entangled lives of its founding jugalbandi: Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.

Over their six-decade-long relationship, Vajpayee and Advani worked as a team despite differences in personality and beliefs. What kept them together was fraternal love and professional synergy, of course, but also, above all, an ideology that stressed on unity. Their partnership explains what the BJP before Modi was, and why it won.

In supporting roles are a cast of characters-from the warden's wife who made room for Vajpayee in her family to the billionaire grandson of Pakistan's founder who happened to be a major early funder of the BJP. Based on private papers, party documents, newspapers and over two hundred interviews, this is a must-read for those interested in the ideology that now rules India.

This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams.

Economist Narendar Pani talks to journalist Anusha Ravi Sood about rural India's enduring economic and social crisis that does not seem to have an end in sight.

They discuss some of the root causes of the ongoing farmer protests, and go beyond them to explore the dynamics of farming, migration and urban jobs over the last few decades. They discuss challenges that have remained unaddressed, and have even become worse.

Dr Narendar Pani is a Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore. An economist by training, author of many books, he takes a multidisciplinary approach to issues of Indian political economy.

Anusha Ravi Sood is a journalist based in Bangalore, and currently Assistant Editor at The New Indian Express.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.

In this podcast William Dalrymple and Moin Mir discuss The East India Company through their books The Anarchy and Surat: Fall of a Port. Rise of a Prince.

William Dalrymple's The Anarchy has been called 'his most ambitious and riveting book to date'. It tells the story of the East India Company as it transitioned from being a 'conventional international trading corporation dealing in silks and spices' to 'an aggressive colonial power in the guise of a multinational business', 'unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power'.

The East India Company first entered India via Surat when its ships docked on the shores of this seaside city in the early 17th century. An example of the way the Company functioned in its ruthless greed for power and wealth is the annexation of the port of Surat and the violation of the Treaty it signed with the Nawab of Surat. The palaces, lands, jewellery and all that was part of the private estates of the Nawab were usurped leaving the infant granddaughters of the last Nawab on the brink of destitution. Moin Mir is a descendant of the last Nawab of Surat and next in line to succeed his father as Darbar of Kamadhiya, an erstwhile principality in Gujarat. In his book, Surat: Fall of a Port. Rise of a Prince, he tells the story of the legal battle that the father of the two young princesses fought, a tale of fortitude and romance, to defeat the Company and gain restitution.

This episode is an edited version of a live conversation on BIC Streams done in collaboration with the International Music & Arts Society.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.