Last week 10 per cent of all mankind took a nap. Most of India suffered a coordinated power failure which put about 600 million people in darkness. Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat offered help. It came at a price. In other news, Aditya brings up an interesting case study in market research. NDTV is miffed with Nielsen after the market research company allegedly tampered with the TAM ratings. We also bring you a lot of Olympics trivia and updates of the week.

Indicast #168: The great Indian blackout

Indicast is India's first multi person podcast and have been at it since 2005. We will be covering anything and everything that might be of interest to a listener of Indian origin so the topics range from Sonia to Sania. The podcast is a mix of english and hindi and we try to keep it very informal. We usually have a serious discussion and balance it out with lighter topic. So expect a good discussion with few laughs.

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How does it feel to witness a solar eclipse? Aditya tells us his experience in this podcast where we dig into trivia and history of this beautiful astronomical phenomenon. Bangalore faces a water crisis. How can a country as big as India deal with water shortages? Generative artificial intelligence is and will remain in the spotlight in a year when countries with a collective population of 4bn go to polls.

Indicast #252: The solar eclipse saga

The Candidates Tournament is among the world’s most recognised Chess contests. This time round India has as many as five grandmasters competing for the top prize. That’s a big deal given that for around 30 years, it was Vishy Anand, the sole Indian grandmaster who represented India. In politics, “washing machine” trended for a while on Twitter in the context of corruption probes which, the opposition argued, can be washed away if one joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. And in business, Tesla scouts sites in India for a big plant. What does that mean for the giant and for the country?

Indicast #251: India's Chess grandmasters rise

Florida just passed a bill proposing to ban access to social media for kids under the age of 14. What does social media addiction do to our brains? We talk about the subject which is close to our hearts given that both of us have kids aged ten and five. The great Indian general elections are round the corner. What is the BJP up to? And in the world of cryptosphere, which we barely understand, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former boss of FTX, a defunct cryptocurrency exchange, gets 25 years in jail.

Indicast #250: What social media does to our brains

It’s the end of an era. Ameen Sayani recently passed away. His voice lives on. In this podcast we talk a bit about how he started in the radio industry and made a mark for himself across four decades. And he is as humble as they come. Fali Nariman, a doyen of law in India also died. And Open AI recently dropped its text to video model called SORA. What does it mean for all of us?

Indicast #249: RIP Ameen Sayani

India's Supreme Court vetoed a scheme that allowed folks to donate to political parties anonymously. Among the more popular vehicles was the electoral bond scheme introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017. Whereas the BJP figured it might make the whole thing more transparent by doing away with cash donations, critics retorted that it made the process more opaque. In business, Paytm is in big trouble after the Reserve Bank of India ordered the outfit's payments bank to wind down operations in light of "persistent non-compliance" and "continued material supervisory concerns". And in science, scientists are exploring an idea to stop global warming by sending umbrellas in space to shield the sun's rays.

Indicast #168: The great Indian blackout

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