Why Do I with Uday Jhala

On our season finale, we have a fascinating chat with Sam Relph, former Delhi bureau chief for Barcroft media and someone who has a very unique perspective as a journalist reporting in India for over a decade. Through his stories that have appeared in numerous publications like The Guardian, The Independent and The New York Post, he has witnessed first hand the shifting winds of Indian politics, media and the general mindset of Indian society. From thumbing through the pages of the Limca Book of Records finding quirky stories to covering the Mumbai terror attacks, he has travelled to places and seen things that many Indians themselves haven't - and what does he think about the Great Indian Circus that we call news channels?

This week we have a boozy, intense and always hilarious conversation with Ananda Sen aka Mumshi. Formerly of The Supersonics and The Ritornellos - he is an original wild child of the early Indian rock scene and arguably one of the most talented musicians of our generation. Not afraid to speak his mind and rant about everything from how Indian artists are getting ripped off by music labels to why most Indian men are cheating hypocrites. Unfiltered and unfettered - he isn’t here to mince words. Neither are Shanks, who joins us again as co-host as well as a cameo from our brilliant artist Mrinalini Sen. Buckle your seat belts - you are in for a savage ride.

This week we welcome Gabriella Demetriades for a freewheeling chat about what it’s really like to be a social media influencer - to invite hundreds of thousands of strangers into your personal life. Do you still have the right to privacy or do you now have to accept that every move you make will be intensely scrutinised and judged? It’s a conversation that has extra relevance right now where we see a trial by media unfolding before our very eyes. Regardless of your opinion about who is or isn’t guilty, is it our place to execute people without a fair trial? It seems like the pack of vicious voyeurs and renegade reporters are baying for blood. We dive deep into the dark and frankly, troubling side of social media.

This episode we have a producer takeover! Karan Ravishankar, producer of the show makes his debut as co-host as we welcome Kazim Rizvi as our guest - Founder of The Dialogue and author of the proposed Data Privacy Framework for the Aarogya Setu App. What happens to our data, who controls it and how terrified should we be? Kazim breaks it down for us, giving us the information that everyone absolutely NEEDS to know. Are we on our way to becoming the next China or Gotham City? Either way, no bat signal will be enough to rescue ourselves. WE are the resistance.

This week our guest is Karuna Ezara Parikh, former model and television anchor and now a poet and a writer known widely for her activism. Her first book The Heart Asks Pleasure First releases on 21st September, and she took some time out to have a passionate conversation about the power of the written word, in an age of social media.

This week we are joined by Nipun Chopra -  assistant professor of biology at De Pauw University and a PHD in Medical Neuroscience,  Nipun & Uday scratch the surface on Alzheimer’s but the crux of the discussion is about the impact of head injuries in sports and how that is changing the way the world looks at concussions, specifically a condition known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE made notorious by the tragic circumstances surrounding athletes like Chris Benoit (WWE) & Aaron Hernandez (NFL) 

This week our guest is Priyanka Pruthi - former NDTV journalist and now works at UNICEF in New York producing award-winning content to help generate public interest in children’s rights. We discuss the despair and brutality in the very worst of  humanity that she has encountered during her various heartbreaking experiences, but most crucially we explore the hope, empathy and compassion in ordinary people doing extraordinary work

This week our guest is Shiv Ramdas - sci fi writer and tech geek.. we discuss the future of AI and the somewhat frightening prospect of a human-robot hybrid. We also debate whether Churchill and Elon Musk are worthy idols or false heroes - but most importantly, Shiv looks into his crystal ball and predicts the future of the human race.

Abi and Uday discuss their boarding school lives together as they experienced it growing up in the foothills of the Himalayas during their formative years. We talk about the impact of the brutality of bullying and fierce competition of school life and how that shapes the psyche of a young student. - especially how they take some of those insecurities into their adult life. Abi opens up about how the path of meditation and mindfulness helped him to find equanimity and peace - something we can all learn a great deal from!