In recent years, online retail has transformed how we shop—bringing everything from food to taxis to our doorstep. The convenience is undeniable, but the gig economy behind it remains largely unexamined. How does this system impact those who work in it, use it, or build it? This week on the show, host Sandip Roy speaks to social science researcher Vandana Vasudevan, author of OTP Please: Online Buyers, Sellers and Gig Workers in South Asia, to explore the hidden human stories behind the apps and algorithms that power our everyday lives.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Summer in India brings with it the irresistible charm of mangoes, and the predictable flood of mango themed stories. These usually blend nostalgia, tales of nawabi indulgence, exotic varieties, and the timeless Alphonso-versus-the-rest debate. But journalist Sopan Joshi, in his book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango, peels back that sugary surface to explore the mango’s deeper story—its fossil records, its genetics, its place in ecology, our culture, and the pressures of modern agriculture. 

So, as the mango season nears its end, host Sandip Roy speaks to Joshi to discuss the real state of the mango today.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Long relegated to the footnotes of history, Lal Bahadur Shastri is often overshadowed by the towering legacies of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. But what if Shastri hadn’t died suddenly after signing the Tashkent Agreement with Pakistan? Would Indira Gandhi still have become Prime Minister? And how might India’s political trajectory have changed?

In this episode, host Sandip Roy speaks to Sanjeev Chopra, author of The Great Conciliator, a new biography of Shastri. Chopra, a former IAS officer and former director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, traces Shastri’s rise to power and explores why India’s second Prime Minister deserves a closer look today.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

On June 25, 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency in India—an era marked by censorship, arrests, and a suspension of civil liberties. While the resistance within India is well-documented, far less is known about how Indians abroad responded. In this episode, on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, host Sandip Roy speaks with journalist Sugata Srinivasaraju, author of The Conscience Network, and Professor Anand Kumar, who helped form the group Indians for Democracy in the US. Together, they reflect on how the diaspora stood up to authoritarianism from afar—challenging the narrative, organizing protests, and showing that the fight for democracy crossed national borders.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

In this episode, host Sandip Roy Show is joined by author Ruchir Joshi who takes us back to Calcutta in the early 1940s, an era charged with political upheaval, global war, and cultural ferment. Set against the backdrop of Tagore’s death, Subhash Bose’s escape, the Quit India Movement, and the looming Bengal Famine, Joshi’s novel Great Eastern Hotel captures a city on the brink of transformation. Sandip and Ruchir discuss why the years 1941–1943 were pivotal, how Calcutta became a crossroads of empire and resistance, and how a diverse cast of characters from elite Bengalis to British expatriates and street pickpockets bring this moment alive.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

To what extent has gay representation in Indian popular culture evolved? Is it now simply trendy to include gay characters, or are these portrayals also becoming deeper and more meaningful? This week, to kick off Pride Month, we explore how the portrayal of gay lives in Indian popular culture has changed over the decades. Host Sandip Roy speaks to three queer voices from different generations to understand this shift.

Sridhar Rangayan is a filmmaker and activist who, along with his partner Sagar Gupta, founded the Kashish Pride Film Festival in Mumbai — the first queer film festival in India to be held in a mainstream movie theatre.

Santanu Bhattacharya is a novelist whose book Deviants follows three generations of gay men in a single family.

Rohin Bhatt is a queer non-binary lawyer practicing in the Supreme Court and the author of The Urban Elite v. Union of India.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

India recently saw heated debates around the three-language formula — a policy suggesting students learn a modern Indian language like Hindi, and English. While some saw it as a backdoor push for Hindi, the real picture might be far more layered.

But as we argue over Hindi versus English, or regional versus national languages, a deeper concern often gets overlooked: the hundreds of other languages quietly fading away. According to the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, the country had at least 780 languages in 2010 — many of them endangered, some down to their last handful of speakers.

In this episode, we explore India’s vast linguistic diversity with two people who’ve spent their lives working to preserve it. Host Sandip Roy speaks to G.N. Devy, cultural activist and editor of the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, and linguist Anvita Abbi, known for her work on minority and tribal languages across India, especially those of the Great Andamanese.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

In 1975, Begum Wilayat Mahal and her children, Princess Sakina and Prince Ali Raza, moved into New Delhi Railway Station, claiming to be descendants of the House of Awadh. After a decade at the station, the government granted them Malcha Mahal, a 14th century hunting lodge deep inside a forest in Delhi. But were they really royalty, or was it all a grand deception? 

A new book, The House of Awadh by Aletta André and Abhimanyu Kumar, attempts to uncover the truth. In this episode, host Sandip Roy speaks to the authors about what their cross border reporting, archival research and intimate interviews uncovered.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Long before press freedom indexes were even conceived, the Urdu newspaper Pratap was speaking truth to power in undivided India — and paying a heavy price for it. Launched in 1919, Pratap quickly ran afoul of the British Raj but remained defiantly independent.

After independence, its legacy continued with the launch of Vir Pratap, its Hindi successor. But how fearless did these publications remain after independence?

This week, host Sandip Roy speaks to Chander Mohan, who served as editor of Vir Pratap for forty years, and his daughter Jyotsna Mohan, a journalist with nearly three decades of experience, to explore the journey and enduring impact of these pioneering publications.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

In this episode, we discuss how early Christian missionaries encountered Hinduism during colonial rule depending on where they landed and whom they met and how they saw very different faiths with different gods, rituals, and customs. Host Sandip Roy is joined by author and historian Manu S. Pillai to discuss his new book, "Gods, Guns and Missionaries," which explores how these cross-cultural encounters not only attempted to reshape India but also unexpectedly influenced the construction of a modern Hindu identity.

Produced by Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar