Indicast - Indians on India

While Obama took office in the US, the Indian politics was having a ball of a time in amusing its citizens. What is the former Indian captain, Azaruddin doing in Indian politics, you may ask, but when Sanjay Dutt's wife Manyata is rumored to contest for Samajwadi Party, nothing seems weird. On a more hopeful note, our martyrs were awarded Ashoka Charkra on Independence Day for showing unparalled courage fighting the terrorists. Slumdog millionaire has made it to almost all possible award ceremonies and now it's time for the big one - The Oscars. But we are not too happy with the film makers for paying peanuts to the three young stars of the film who still wake up in their thached huts and have nowhere to go. In another news, Qutub Minar is tilting and the authorities are doing everything to save the monumentfrom collapsing!

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2009 has started off with what might turn out to be the largest scam in India Inc's history. Raju revealed how ordinary people can do extraordinary things just like Satyam's website mention. But the week had some positive news with AR rahman winning at the Golden Globe for his work in SlumDog Millionaire. Talking about people in Bollywood, SRK has been listed as the 41st most influential person in the world and Sanjay Dutt has finally decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a Samajhwadi Party ticket. We end the episode talking about Pamela Anderson's letter to BMC about being kinder to the stray dogs.

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As we get into the new year, we look back at 2008 and talk about the significant events that took place. Sadly, the negative events dominated 2008 and we really had to look for something that cheered us up in the year gone by.

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A wounded tiger is far more dangerous than a hungry one. India has lived this cliche for a long time now, but only to the extent of being hungry and wounded. It is far from dangerous; in fact, if you listen closely, you might hear some whimpering. It has been a fortnight since the terrorists ripped through Mumbai. Since then, the Taj has been rebuilt; Trident announced that it will be reopening soon, the CST is back to being a host to millions of people daily and our politicians do not have any concrete answers about why it all happened, what steps should we take now and whether it will happen again. Aditya, who travels through local trains in peak time, shares his observations about how his fellow passengers now double up as detectives and how daily traveling has become an unfortunate adventure.

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It's an epidemic of sorts now. It struck again. It lasted for 60 hours. Mumbai bled. As viewers stitched to the TV set like umbilical chords, it was psychologically draining to watch the footage of Hemant Karkare readying himself to take control before he was shot dead with two other ranking cops Salaskar and Kamte, to see the deserted CST station daubed in red, to stare at the burning Taj as the our men with woefully inadequate infrastructure brought it to an end. Amid the chaos, journalists became household names whose voice, sometimes desparate, sometimes hopeful blared through our TV sets. While some sensationalised it, a few others acted responsibly. Yogita Limaye is one such reporter from CNN IBN who clocked two nights straight near the Taj running relentlessly on adrenalin and in this podcast, she gives us an on-ground perspective of the events that unfolded.

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With companies going bust and countries filing for bankruptcy, newspapers are hunting for less cliched headlines. One story from NYT caught our attention. It claimed that pets are not recession proof. People who cannot afford to pay their rents are now forced to abandon their pets! In Sports, Sachin Tendulkar gave us a reason to celebrate his world record of scoring the highest number of runs in test match cricket. We cheered for Arvind Adiga who won himself the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his book, 'The White Tiger'.

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It's been about three years now and it has been fun all along. Here's a huge shoutout to all you folks out there from across the world who have stayed with us and helped us through your comments (both nasty and encouraging!). Until this episode, we didn't know how countries could go bankrupt. Back home, Maharashtra government decided to sort of legalise the live in relationship model where the woman will be eligible for alimony (conditions apply, of course!). Our beloved dada, Saurav Ganguly has announced retirement from all forms of cricket, but Aditya is still hopeful that Ganguly might reconsider it. Look forward to your comments in this podcast.

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The American stock markets are in the mood for some adventure. On their way down the cliff, they brought the Indian Sensex to one of its all time lows in the past two years. While in one news, India is all set to sign the Indo American nuclear agreement, in another, the Government has declared a nationwide smoking ban in India. Mamata Banerjee successfully tests Ratan Tata's patience and gets the better of him. The One lakh car project gets delayed. India which has been known for its religious tolerance is giving away as communal riots erupt in different parts of the country.

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China can make cheap goods. We all know that. What we did not know was that China could host the biggest event on the face of the earth in the grandest form ever imagined. We are of course talking about the Olympics which brought us all good news. Heck India won the first individual Olymipic Gold medal in 108 years. Abhinav Bindra, Vijendar Kumar, Sushil Kumar and Akhil Kumar covered the front pages. This podcast is dedicated to all sport lovers. Er we also digressed just a wee bit to talk about Mobica Bedi, condoms and a couple of movies.

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While India battles double digit inflation, our politicians find a unique way to protest against the increasing fuel prices, but the plan hilariously backfires! While in one story, a small time waiter works his ass off to clear the UPSE exams, another intelligent kid tops the IIT entrance test only to flee his hometown due to the paparazzi pressure. Shiv sena now wants to enter the hearts of the ordinary Mumbaikar by selling vada pavs. Aditya is not too happy with the air hostesses from Delta Airlines and for good reason!

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