The Wire Talks

Cricket in India is a national obsession. Some say, even our national religion. Crowds turn up where ever India is playing in whichever format, from IPL to test matches. The team's fortunes are closely followed and most of all, players can make big money, especially those who perform well. Indians have always been fans of cricket and stadiums are packed on all five days during test matches going back to the 60's. But players got modest salaries well upto the 80's.

On this episode, Sidharth Bhatia is joined by Ayaz Memon, sports writer, journalist, columnist, author and lawyer, has followed the trajectory of Indian sports, especially of cricket, for over four decades. He began as a cub reporter and grew to be one of the most authoritative commentators on the game, covering it for a number of papers, and now, like many others, has moved into channels and digital platforms. His new book 'Indian Innings: The Journey of Indian Cricket Since 1947', is a curation of articles written by some of the best known writers, journalists, academics on Indian cricket, going a long time back. He joins Sidharth on this episode to talk about his book and speak about not just cricket of the past, but also the present, and perhaps the future.

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah.

You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

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The grand old party of Indian politics is in shambles. With a weak presence in Parliament of only 44 seats, the Congress has lost much of its voice and influence. Its state governments are racked by internal dissent and the leadership cannot seem to makeup its mind.

Much of the blame is laid at the door of the Gandhi family - Sonia Gandhi and her two children Rahul and Priyanka - and their grip on the party. But is that the only reason?

On this episode, host Sidharth Bhatia is joined by Prof. Neera Chandhoke. She has been studying Indian politics for a long time. She was Professor of Political Science at Delhi University, and is now a Distinguished Fellow at Centre for Equity Studies. She has authors several books on politics and civil society, and contributes regularly to newspapers and online news portals.

Sidharth and Prof. Chandhoke talk about the Indian National Congress' loss in seats, popularity and even relevance, the BJP's systematic attacks and trolls on Rahul Gandhi having stuck, the problems with the Congress Party currently, whether the Congress is in crisis, how the top leadership can't stand each other, why they need to hold internal elections as to the leadership of the party itself, the Gandhi family's hold on the party, and lots more. Tune in for an eye opening conversation.

Follow Prof. Chandhoke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChandhokeNeera

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

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You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh are crucial for the current incumbent Yogi Adityanath and his party, the BJP. The communal temperature has risen quite a bit in the last few years, and especially so in the last few months. Recently, new tensions were added after 8 people, including 4 farmers, died after a car, allegedly driven by the Union Minister's son, ploughed into them. Opposition parties, especially the Congress, have condemned the incident and are sure to focus on it during the campaign. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav have been drawing big crowds wherever they have travelled. How will all this play out? Will it have an impact on the results and will polarisation between Hindus and others be the main plank of the Adityanath campaign?

On this episode, Sidharth is joined by Professor Gilles Verniers, who is the Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ashoka University and Co-Director of the Trivedi Centre for Political Data. Apart from teaching, Prof. Verniers researches Indian political processes, identity politics and the intersections between gender and politics in India.

Sidharth and Prof. Verniers talk about the Professor's observations from his years of researches into politics in UP, especially in the months running upto elections, and tons more. Tune in for an eye opening episode.

Follow Prof. Verniers on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillesverniers

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

bombaywallah and https://instagram.com/bombaywallah

You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode, Sidharth is joined by Srinivas Kodali to talk about Aadhar, the problems with it, what the original intention for it was, what its transforming into now, and tons more. They talk about how the idea of Aadhar was to remove fraud in a major way, the current move to link Aadhar with voter ID, the ability to transfer money digitally, why it seems to have grown to such an extent such that we can't seem to manage our lives anymore without it, people who were warning against such an ID even when Aadhar was being launched, and more.

Follow Srinivas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/digitaldutta

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

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You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Author and Journalist Pallavi Aiyar has led a life of wanderings all around the globe. As a student, she lived in England, worked in Delhi after that, and with her diplomat husband Julio, she has lived in China, Indonesia, Japan, and now lives in Spain. From her travels have emerged books that are fascinating studies of societies quite alien from her own personal experience in India. She writes about the countries' society, culture, behaviour, and most of all, how she acts and reacts. Her latest book is 'Orienting: An Indian in Japan', where she talks about Japan and its beauty, but doesn't turn away from looking at its wars. On this episode, Pallavi Aiyar joins host Sidharth Bhatia, to talk about how she goes about planning her books, whether there is even a plan in the beginning to write a book, the ways she notices and observes things around her in all these different places, and lots more. Pallavi also talks about how she manages not to lose the enamour of being in a foreign country, how her own experiences and observations lead play a central role in her books. All this and tons more on this episode of The Wire Talks.

Follow Pallavi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pallaviaiyar

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

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You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In recent years, Indian history is being rewritten. Cities are being renamed, historical events are being reinterpreted, and old books are being discarded for portraying what is called 'discarded history.' Naturally, historians are aghast and are challenging this tendency to overwrite past history. But, what does all of this mean? Does it mean that there is a campaign or are these local assertions?

On this episode, host Sidharth Bhatia is joined by Dilip Menon, a historian of modern India, a Professor of South Asian History at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. He has been observing these things mentioned above happening for some time. Dilip calls himself a historian who engages in writing and conceptualising history beyond the map of India inherited from colonialism. Dilip helps us interpret the war-borne history in India, as she is being taught and learnt for generations.

Follow Dilip on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dilip-menon-2606ab6

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

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You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Climate Change is a harsh reality and it is getting closer than we think. Coastal cities are in great danger because of rising temperatures in the oceans. Mumbai, which is on the Arabian Sea, is going to be particularly hit by the effects of climate change, like many other cities, like many other coastal cities of the world. A few days ago, the civic authority, i.e. the BMC, announced the creation of a climate adaptation and mitigation plan and invited experts to submit ideas and proposals.

One of those who attended was Nikhil Anand from Mumbai, an Assistant Professor in the University of Pennsylvania and an environmental anthropologist, and author, whose research focusses on cities, infrastructure, state power and the environment. Four years ago, Nikhil's award winning book 'Hydraulic City: Water and the Infrastructures of Citizenship in Mumbai' was published by Duke University Press. He is currently writing a new book 'Urban Seas'. He joins host Sidharth on this episode to his plan and proposal to the BMC for their plan to fight climate change, the effects of climate change we are already seeing in cities like Mumbai, and more.

Follow Nikhil Anand on Twitter: https://twitter.com/liquidperson

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

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You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trolling on social media is serious and menacing problem which has gone far beyond just heckling and what-about-ry. Trolls now threaten violence and worse. Women, especially activists, journalists, academics and celebrities routinely face threats to them and even their family.

On this episode, Sidharth Bhatia is joined by Dr. Audrey Truschke, historian of South Asia and Associate Professor at Rutgers University, who has been attacked ceaselessly for her allegedly 'anti-Hindu' views. She writes about Hindu-Muslim relations during the Mughal Empire and her book on Aurangzeb, have made her a constant target of trolls.

Sidharth and Dr. Truschke talk about when these online attacks against Dr. Truschke started. Hindu and Hindutva, facing anti-Semitic hate and misogyny that she gets from Hindu nationalists, and lots more. Tune in for an eye-opening episode.

Follow Dr. Truschke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AudreyTruschke

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

bombaywallah and https://instagram.com/bombaywallah

You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre is a story every India knows. On April 13, 1919, a crowd that had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to protest against the arrest of Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and Dr. Satya Pal, was fired upon by soldiers led by Brigadier General REH Dyer. As the crowd tried to exit from this one solitary path open that day, hundreds of people were killed and the estimated now are said to be anywhere between 400 to 1000 people who were killed in the massacre. Over 1200 people were injured. The Bagh, since the, has become a memorial. a very simple one, to replicate what happened on that particular day in 1919, with bullet holes very much visible, and the narrow exit still looks the same, giving visitors a chilling idea of what it must have been like to be trapped in. Now, the central government in its wisdom has redesigned the path with phases of all kinds of Punjab scenes, including Baisakhi celebrations. This has drawn widespread condemnation.

On this episode, host Sidharth Bhatia is joined by KBS Sidhu, a retired IAS officer who served for 37 years, and is among those opposed to this redesign of the Jallianwala Bagh. KBS Sidhu commented on Twitter about the matter, "I'm literally heartbroken!"

Having served as Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar from 1992 to 1996, this has not been an easy thing for Mr. Sidhu to accept. Tune in for an eye-opening and important conversation on this episode of The Wire Talks.

Follow KBS Sidhu on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kbssidhu1961

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

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You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

History has become a battle ground between those who want to change it and re-write it, though selectively, and those who say our history has been well researched and is fine the way it is. The latest target is the Moplah Rebellion of 1921 in Kerala, which has been so far seen as a revolt of the peasantry against the British colonial government. The BJP and the RSS now disagree and call the Moplahs an early example of a 'Taliban mindset'. That may have something to do with the fact that the Moplahs are Muslim. But these are strong words and have offended many Keralites as well as established historians.

On this episode, host Sidharth Bhatia is joined by Manu Pillai, author and historian, to talk about and explain why Ram Madhav, who holds a prominent position in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has brought this up suddenly. Manu has written very well-regarded books like 'The Ivory Throne', about the Travancore royal families, and 'Rebel Sultans', about the rulers of southern kingdoms. Tune in for an eye-opening conversation.

Follow Manu on Twitter & Instagram: https://twitter.com/UnamPillai and https://www.instagram.com/waatcoconut

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah

bombaywallah and https://instagram.com/bombaywallah

You can listen to this show on The Wire's website, the IVM Podcasts website, app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.