The arrival of the monsoon is always big news in India. But its drama and romance is also accompanied by anxiety and tension, especially now, with the rains growing more erratic, and some places getting less of it while others experience floods and cloudbursts.

In this episode, Sandip speaks to one of the world's foremost monsoon meteorologists, Dr Sulochana Gadgil about the myths and realities surrounding the monsoons. Dr Gadgil was with the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru.

While it isn’t unusual to have women doctors in India now, and the rise of women in the medical field seems to have been steady, the road that led us to this place wasn’t easy. India’s first "lady doctors" battled everything from unsupportive husbands and over supportive husbands to widowhood, caste rules, and divorce.

Kavitha Rao’s new book, ‘Lady Doctors’ tells the inspiring stories of these women, and the battles they fought. She joins Sandip in this episode to talk about it.

Mahatma Gandhi is known around the world as the apostle of non-violence, but what did his insistence on ahimsa actually mean for him? In this episode, Sandip talks to Jyotirmaya Sharma, professor of political science at the University of Hyderabad, about his new book – Elusive Nonviolence: The Making and Unmaking of Gandhi’s Religion of Ahimsa.

They discuss what influenced Gandhi’s idea of non-violence, why the Hindu community largely rejected his ideals, whether he actually believed in equality and diversity, what has survived of his ideas, and more.

How does information warfare shape our realities? Has the problem of alternate realities worsened now? Does fake news or Whatsapp forwards create the problem or only add to it? And to what extent does fact-checking help?

In this episode, Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan join Sandip to answer these questions and talk about their book, 'The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities: How Information Warfare Shapes Your World'.

In this episode, Sandip talks to Vidya Dehejia, Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian and South Asian Art at Columbia University, about her latest book, India: A Story through 100 Objects.

What leverage points does the international community have over the Taliban right now? In what way does the situation in Afghanistan affect India? And what will a Pak-China-Afghan axis mean for India?

In this episode, Sandip Roy talks to Professor C Raja Mohan about the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, and its implications for India.

Professor Mohan is the Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at National University of Singapore, and is also a contributing editor on foreign affairs for The Indian Express.

How have the three Khans of Bollywood helped shape how Indians see themselves? How have their characters helped us grapple with a changing India? How have they negotiated their religious identities on screen? And is the age of the Khans finally over?

In this episode, Sandip talks to veteran journalist Kaveree Bamzai about all this and more, along with her latest book, 'The Three Khans: And the Emergence of New India'.

How does the conflict-ridden state of Kashmir affect the everyday lives of people? How does the trauma get processed? And what stories get lost in the usual reportage of the area? In this episode Sandip talks to author Farah Bashir about her memoir 'Rumours of Spring', which is an intimate history of Kashmir told through the eyes of a young girl.

Manoj Kewalramani on whether China has successfully spun the Covid-19 narrative to its advantage, and his latest book Smokeless War: China's Quest for Geopolitical Dominance.

Sandip Roy talks to Chinmay Tumbe about the pandemics India has witnessed in the past, how they changed the country, and what we can learn from them.