Surface Scratchers

Surface Scratchers

By Ronny JacobEducation
Download on the App Store

Surface Scratchers episodes

  • Surface Scratchers Ep11 - Gin

    Gin, gin, gin! Hear all about it!

    Show notes:

    The 'dry' in London Dry Gin just means the Gin is not sweetened (sorry we missed this in the podcast) | The many Gin Acts, enacted to curb Gin drinking in England (spoiler: not all were successful) | A nice read and a few made-in-India Gins worth trying | G&T and the British Raj |  5 easy-to-make Gin cocktails 

    35 min
  • Surface Scratchers Ep10 - Festivals

    Sawant & Ronny talk about festivals - a few for which we get days off from work or school; but don't really know much else about

    Show notes

    Chemetz (pronounced Hemetz) - the practice of avoiding fermented (leavened) bread during passover | Possible explanations to the 10 plagues that struck Egypt, that convinced the pharaoh to release the enslaved Jews | Navroz in the Mughal court | Robin Williams on Good Friday - Easter (YouTube) | Stoning the devil in Mecca (YouTube) | Thaipusam (Graphic, NSFW) being celebrated in Penang | A few hip hop artists from Dharavi worth listening to: Dopeadelicz, 7bantaiz 

    35 min
  • Surface Scratchers Ep9 - Bombay, Mumbai and everything in between!

    Another origins episode, this time on everyone's favourite city - Mumbai!

    Shownotes:

    A short film on Gilbert Hill | The BDL museum's collections on the history of Mumbai | The Forts of Mumbai | The English in Tangier |  Haffkine and his vaccine for the plague | The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny of 1946 that made the British realize that their time was up | A few more origin stories of names of areas in Mumbai here and here 

    39 min
  • Surface Scratchers Extras Ep8 - Belgium in Africa

    Learn more about a not-so-well-known colonizer, Belgium

    Show notes:

    A BBC article on King Leopold II and his legacy | The scramble for Africa (Wikipedia) | Prisoners of geography by Tim Marshall (Amazon) | A profile of Edmund Morel, an abolitionist who exposed slavery in the Congo | How Janssen, J&J's pharma arm with a Covid-19 vaccine, is connected to Belgium's colonization of the Congo (YouTube)

    16 min
  • Surface Scratchers Ep7 - Idioms & Phrases

    Discover the origins of commonly used phrases in the English language!

    Shownotes: Slightly less popular pirate flags | Read more about the 'Mad' Marquis of Waterford and his town-painting | A really nice sea-shanty on Nelson's Blood, if you prefer to drink it yourself, here's the recipe for the cocktail | Nelson's strategy during the Battle of Trafalgar | An interesting paper on surgery in ancient Egypt | Read more about Geronimo, the Apache Indian chief | The evolution of the crocodile

    33 min
  • Surface Scratchers Ep6 - McDonald's

    Sawant and Ronny explore McDonald's. We're lovin' it - making this podcast, and hope you do too!

    Shownotes:

    Watch The Founder (Netflix) | Mark Knopfler on Ray Kroc's view on the origins of McDonald's - Boom, like that (YouTube) | An image of the McDonald's at Guantanamo Bay (Wikipedia) | The Big Mac Index (The Economist) | The dictionary entry for the McJob (Merriam-Webster) | Why McDonald's McFlurry Machines Are Always Broken (Thrillist) 

    For suggestions and feedback, do write to us at: [email protected]

    35 min
  • Surface Scratchers Ep4 - Sports

    Ronny and Sawant dive into the origins of a few sports. Find everything from Golf to Lagori in this episode. 

    Show notes:

    Sport in ancient Greece | The first Marathon | Cuju - the grandfather of football | The oldest football trophies | Robin Williams on Golf | How his love of tennis killed King James I | Car colours in motorsport - find out India's allotted color here | How motorsport is improving our lives | Rahul Dravid on Indian cricketers fielding | French Cricket being played | Go play Lagori - rules here | Watch and enjoy - World Chase Tag | Monty Python - Hide and Seek

    48 min
  • Surface Scratchers Ep 3 - National Anthems
    Sawant & Ronny explore National Anthems. Origins, lyrics, records, the whole shabangg.
    Show notes: A playlist with all the 25 or so anthems discussed in this episode | Spain's effort to add lyrics to their anthem | New Zealand's effort to crowdsource a flag | The British freeing slaves in the 1812 War in America | Italy's football team singing their anthem
    38 min
  • Surface Scratchers Ep2 - Battles & Wars
    Ronny & Sawant discuss two battles (the war type) that aren't 'popular' but changed the world as we know it!
    Show notes:
    William Dalrymple, The Anarchy (Goodreads) | 
    A list of Indian battles (does not feature The Battle of Diu) | 
    50 battles that changed the world (does feature The Battle of Diu) | 
    Wars that went on for a bit longer than they were supposed to | 
    Find Nagorno Karabakh | 
    The Armenian Script, The Aremnian Genocide, The Armenian Revolution 2018 | 
    Turkey and natural gas | 
    Armenia- India relations
    34 min

About Surface Scratchers

From the publisher's feed

Sawant and Ronny scratch the surface of some topics. PSA: Research is earnest, but often half-done.