The Yodakin Podcast

In this episode, Arpita Das, publisher and founder of Yoda Press, is in discussion with Lisa Björkman, Assistant Professor of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville, Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, and the author and editor of the book Bombay Brokers. Among other things, they discuss how the idea for the book originated, the gendered aspect of the 'brokers', and the paradox of brokers being indispensable and celebrated as well as being moralized by society. Lisa also reads her favorite extracts from the book.

Bombay Brokers collects profiles of thirty-six 'brokers' whose behind-the-scenes expertise and labor are often invisible and yet have an intrinsic role in the city's functioning and can be indispensable for navigating everyday life in Bombay. Written by anthropologists, artists, city planners, and activists, these character sketches bring into relief the paradox that these brokers’ knowledge and labor are simultaneously invisible yet essential for Bombay’s functioning.

Links to buy the book:

Arpita Das’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/arpitayodapress

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The opening song is 'Typewriter' by Marc Taboel via Epidemic Sound.

In this episode of the Yodakin Podcast, Arpita Das and graphic novelist and researcher Samarth discuss the experiences that led to the creation of the graphic novel Suit. Samarth talks about how he chose the theme of manual scavenging for his novel, the field trips for research, the influence of comic books while growing up and how he chose the graphic novel as the medium to tell this story. 

Suit is set in a Mumbai of the near future, when Safai Karamcharis have been provided with safety equipment, including a full body safety suit which gives them the moniker of Suitwalas. The story explores stigma, social change and mobility through the eyes of Vikas, a young "Suitwala".

The book makes the reader question whether anything has changed in reality or is the suit just a cover? The book speculates what change could look like in a profession so steeped in exploitation and exclusion, where the persistent stigma infuses every step towards betterment with a bitter aftertaste.

In this episode, Kanchana Viswanathan reads some extracts from Chellammal's Journal: A Woman's Memoir of a Joint Family in Twentieth-Century India. Chellammal’s Journal records the journey of a woman in an upper-caste joint family in early twentieth-century Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. It excavates the complex familial relationships within the walls of the house, and the interplay of love, hurt, affection, disappointment, anger and control which thwart the aspirations of a young woman.

Buy it here: http://yodapress.co.in/chellammal-s-journal. This episode has been produced by Tanya Singh and edited by Chitraksh Ashray. Opening song is 'Typewriter' by Marc Taboel via Epidemic Sound.

In this episode of the Yodakin Podcast, publisher Arpita Das and author Saiba Varma discuss the important questions around the colonisation and re-colonisation of Kashmir, mental health care in the valley and psychological care as a weapon as elucidated in Varma's award winning book, The Occupied Clinic.

The Yodakin Podcast is hosted by Arpita Das, Founder-Publisher of Yoda Press and produced by Arpita Das, Tanya Singh and Giitanjali. Sound editing by Tanya Singh. Intro track is 'Typewriter Song' by Marc Taboel via Epidemic Sound.

In this episode of the Yodakin Podcast, publisher Arpita Das and author Saiba Varma discuss the important questions around the colonisation and re-colonisation of Kashmir, mental health care in the valley and psychological care as a weapon as elucidated in Varma's award winning book, The Occupied Clinic. 

The Yodakin Podcast is hosted by Arpita Das, Founder-Publisher of Yoda Press and produced by Arpita Das, Tanya Singh and Giitanjali. Sound editing by Tanya Singh. Intro track is 'Typewriter Song' by Marc Taboel via Epidemic Sound. 

Author and professor, Dolly Kikon sits down with Arpita Das to discuss her book Living with Oil and Coal. Among other things they discuss the idea of extraction in the North-East India, the haats that were at once places of connection and resentment and gender that plays a pivotal role in the coal economy. 

The Yodakin Podcast is hosted by Arpita Das. It is edited by Tanya Singh. Intro music is by Marc Taboel via Epidemic Sound. 

Arpita Das sits down with author Anuradha Kumar and talks to her about her latest work of literary fiction, The Hottest Summer in Years. Among other things, the two discuss Anuradha's literary influences, how she brought 1950s India to life in her novel and her journey as a writer writing across genres and how she moved from fiction to non-fiction writing. 

The Yodakin Podcast is hosted by Arpita Das, founder-publisher of Yoda Press. It is edited by Tanya Singh. The intro song is by Mac Taboel via Epidemic Sound. 

In this episode, Arpita Das, publisher and founder of Yoda Press, is in discussion with Anne-Cathrine Riebnitzsky about her book, The Women's War: A Female Soldier’s Account of Her Time in Afghanistan. The book narrates the gripping true story of Riebnitzsky's tours to the Helmand Province in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009. There she comes into contact with the Afghan women who are fighting against oppression, domestic violence and the horror regime of the Taliban, and together they initiate a covert collaboration. The women receive the necessary aid to establish dressmaking rooms, beauty salons, chicken farms and other projects while being aware of the fact that the international military forces are their only chance to get rid of the Taliban.  Das and Riebnitzsky discuss how this book emerged out of the friendships built by a soldier with Afghan women who helped the international military forces in unexpected ways. It is a book by a woman in the armed forces about what war does to women, about the looming risk of taking chances in wartime and about grief over fallen friends, but more importantly, it is about how women in one instance found the will to not only survive but to make something out of the terrible conditions that war brings.