'The greatness of a culture can be found in its festivals', this quote by Siddharth Katragadda is not just self-explanatory but is also the first result when you Google festival quotes. There will not be any further googling needed because we are keeping it personal - anecdotes, experiences, and stories of India's greatest festival. Add to it insights from the belly of a marketing enterprise about the bustle of the festive period, and you've got perspective. 

There's a lot that is unraveled as we are joined by some amazing people. Dare I say, it's wholesome. Turn up the volume for this one, we recommend it. 

Mentions: 

1) HP Diwali 2019 & Others 

2) Cadbury Diwali 2021 

3) Cadbury Diwali 2022

'Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist', said George Carlin. We aren’t cynics, certainly not idealists. But we are suckers for good comedy. So where does comedy fit in this jigsaw that is our world? Has offence become the centrepiece? Is conversation the missing piece? 

We pour the pieces onto the floor today. 

Mentions:

1. Sarcasm, Self-Deprecation, and Inside Jokes: A User’s Guide to Humor at Work by Havard Business Review

2. The Overview Effect - Frank White

3. Jokes - Many Comedians

4. Specials - Many Comedians

Alfred Hitchcock once expressed, 'For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake'. We have devoured that beautiful piece of cake. And in this episode, we remember how. Slice by slice, it has contributed to who we are today. 

Like the storytelling that never fails to capture our awe, this conversation is a story in itself. A story of how we have grown with the cinema that we oh so love. Come for the anecdotes, stay for the insights. Bon appetite? 

Mentions:

1. Tezaab - N.Chandra & Kamlesh Pandey 

2. Border - JP Dutta 

3. LOC Kargil - JP Dutta 

4. Tango Charlie - Mani Shankar 

5. Lakshya - Farhan Akhtar & Javed Akhtar 

6. Lagaan - Ashutosh Gowariker, Kumar Dave & Sanjay Dayma

7. Swades - Ashutosh Gowariker, M. G. Sathya, Ayan Mukerji, Sameer Sharma, Lalit Marathe, Amin Hajee, Charlotte Whitby & Yashdeep Nigudkar

8. Ee mere Watan Ke Logon - Lata Mangeshkar

9. Sandese Aate Hain - Roopkumar Rathod & Sonu Nigam

10. Kandho Se Kandhe - Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam, Hariharan, Roop Kumar Rathod, Kunal Ganjawala & Vijay Prakash

11. Rang De Basanti - Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, Kamlesh Pandey & Rensil D'Silva

12. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge - Aditya Chopra 

13. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence - Shanaya Bhattacharya

14. Sarfarosh - John Matthew Matthan, Hriday Lani & Pathik Vats

15. Tare Zameen Par - Amir Khan & Amol Gupte

16. Thank You, Mr Falker - Patricia Polacco 

17. 3 Idiots - Raju Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra & Abhijat Joshi 

18. The impact of the Indian movie, Three Idiots (2009) on attitudes to education - Sajjad Hussain & Nasri Ahmad 

19. Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat 

20. Good Will Hunting - Gus Van Sant, Matt Damon & Ben Affleck

21. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell 

22. Forrest Gump - Robert Zemeckis & Eric Roth

23. Cast Away - Robert Zemeckis & William Broyles Jr

24. Saving Private Ryan - Steven Spielberg & Robert Rodat

25. Masaan - Neeraj Ghaywan & Varun Grover 

26. Udaan - Vikramaditya Motwane & Anurag Kashyap 

27. Taar Bijli - Sharda Sinha, Padmashree

Richard Branson notes, 'ABCD: Always Be Counting Dots'. Good mantra for business. Greater mantra for life. And we are doing just that in our characteristic way. As we move away from the 'Normal That Wasn't', we go on to connect the dots of the New Normal and in the process discuss some hopeful takeaways.  

Where were you when the world changed forever in 2020? How did it change for you? What's ahead? Let's dive in.  

Mentions: 

1. The Punisher (Episode Title Inspiration) - Steve Lightfoot and Netflix  

2. Information Asymmetry  

3. Boon Joon Ho Oscar Winning Speech  

4. Leonardo Di Caprio Oscar Winning Speech 

5. Matthew McConaughey Oscar Winning Speech  

6. Jaoquin Phoenix Oscar Winning Speech  

7. Lupita Nyong'o Oscar Winning Speech  

8. Viola Davis Oscar Winning Speech  

9. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani - Ayan Mukerji and Dharma Productions  

10. Eric Topol (Twitter) 

11. Amit Varma (Twitter) 

12. Anirban Mahapatra (Twitter) 

13. Lancelot Pinto (Twitter) 

William Shakespeare once wrote, ‘What’s past is prologue', and 400 years later the effort is to recognise the past as such. In this episode we let hindsight be our chalk. We trace how 2019 was anything but normal.

Personal reactions to global events and global reactions to personal realities, as it were, we unpackage the slate that is 2019.

Mentions:

1. Good Economics for Hard Times - Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

2. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants - Malcolm Gladwell

3. Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioural Economics - Richard Thaler

4. The Social Contract - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

5. Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman 

6. Shared Reality Theory - Gerald Echterhoff et al. 

7. Collective Consciousness - Emile Durkheim 

Chris Martin said, 'But if you never try, you'll never know', so here's a start. In this episode, we talk about why we started, who we are, why this name, what can you expect, where can you listen to us and how do we take it forward. 

All interrogative nouns have been answered. We appreciate you and the only way is forward. Let's go!

Mentions: 

1. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari 

2. Zero To One - Peter Theil with Blake Masters 

3. Private Truths, Public Lies - Timur Kuran 

4. Dead Poets Society - Peter Weir and Tom Schulman (Starring Robin Williams)