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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

Amit Varma

The Seen and the Unseen, hosted by Amit Varma, features longform conversations that aim to give deep insights into the subjects being discussed. Timeless and bingeworthy.
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Top 10 The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 247: The Business of Winning Elections

Ep 247: The Business of Winning Elections

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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10/18/21 • 213 min

Our political parties suck at governance but excel at narratives, as that's what wins them elections. Shivam Shankar Singh joins Amit Varma in episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his experiences at the heart of different political machines. Also check out: 1. How to Win an Indian Election -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 2. The Art Of Conjuring Alternate Realities -- Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan. 3. LAMP Fellowships. 4. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites. 5. Why I Am Resigning From the BJP -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 6. Is Parliament’s questions system broken? — Here’s how to fix it! -- Shivam Shankar Singh. 7. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on China, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 8. In Absentia: Where are India’s conservative intellectuals? -- Ramachandra Guha. 9. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 10. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 11. Dreamers: How Indians are Changing the World -- Snigdha Poonam. 12. Young India -- Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 13. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled -- Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 14. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 15. India's Lost Decade -- Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 16.

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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 239: Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy

Ep 239: Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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08/23/21 • 199 min

If you're a creative person, there is no better time to be alive. Roshan Abbas joins Amit Varma in episode 239 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe his remarkable journey as a creator -- and to explain why the best is yet to come. Also check out: 1. Roshan Abbas on Twitter, Instagram and his own homepage. 2. Kommune on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 3. Speechless: What would you say if your life depended on it? A Pocket-Guide to Public Speaking -- Roshan Abbas and Siddharth Banerjee. 4. Always Kabhi Kabhi, directed by Roshan Abbas, on ErosNow, JioCinema, Amazon (DVD) and Amazon Prime (outside India). 5. A Road Less Travelled -- Roshan Abbas's TedX talk. 6. Roshan Abbas interviewed by Vishal Gondal, Varun Duggirala and Cyrus Broacha. 7. Tom Peters on Amazon -- and VUCA in Wikipedia. 8. A Creator of the Floating World -- Episode 218 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Varun Duggirala). 9. Dreamy Dutch Coffee -- Prahniika Borkar | The Storytellers 10. Storytelling and Conversation -- Episode 197 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Neelesh Misra). 11. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 12. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 13. How I Gained 1 MILLION Subscribers -- Ali Abdaal. 14. My Top 10 Tips for Aspiring YouTubers -- Ali Abdaal. 15. Amit Varma's session on podcasting for Chalchitra Talks with Varun Duggirala & others. 16. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Indian agriculture: 1, 2, 3, 4. 17.

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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 388: Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator

Ep 388: Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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07/01/24 • 230 min

He's an elder statesman in the worlds of journalism, policy and economics in India -- and he takes the long view. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha joins Amit Varma in episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha on Twitter, Mint and Artha Global. 2. The Rise of India -- NIranjan Rajadhyaksha. 3. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha interviewed in Marathi by Think Bank: Part 1. Part 2. 4. MV Rajadhyaksha and Vijaya Rajadhyaksha. 5. The Times of India obituary of MV Rajadhyaksha. 6. The Song of Life -- Vijaya Rajadyaksha. 7. Adventures of a Bystander -- Peter F Drucker. 8. The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Adam Smith's book that contains the concept of the impartial spectator. 9. The Impartial Spectator columns by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha and Shruti Rajagopalan. 10. Ratatouille -- Brad Bird. 11. The Overton Window. 12. John Maynard Keynes on Alfred Marshall. 13. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Rise and Fall of the Bilingual Intellectual -- Ramachandra Guha. 15. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 16. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 17. The Heckman Equation -- a website based on James Heckman's work. 18. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Suyash Rai (1, 2) and Rahul Verma (1, 2). 19. Stri Purush Tulana by Tarabai Shinde on Amazon and Wikipedia. 20. Kalyanche Nishwas by Vibhavari Shirurkar (Malati Bedekar) on Amazon and Wikipedia. 21. Makers of Modern India...

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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 345: Economic Learnings of India for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Bihar
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09/04/23 • 195 min

If Bihar was a country, it would be both one of the largest and one of the poorest in the world. How did we get here? What can we do? Mohit Satyanand and Kumar Anand join Amit Varma in episode 345 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their insights from a lifetime of study -- and a road trip they took last year. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Mohit Satyanand (Twitter, Instagram, IMdB) and Kumar Anand (Twitter). 2. Gimme Mo -- Mohit Satyanand's newsletter. 3. Power of Ideas -- Kumar Anand's blog. 4. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Kumar Anand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6. Politics — A limerick by Amit Varma. 7. The Right to Property — Ep 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 8. Raees: An Empty Shell of a Gangster Film — Amit Varma. 9. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist -- Bruce Yandle. 10. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 11. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra -- Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 13. Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation -- Episode 336 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 15. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 16. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 17. Return to Good Riddance : A Cameo of Contemporary Patna -- Sankarshan Thakur. 18.

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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 351: Pallavi Aiyar Has Seen the World

Ep 351: Pallavi Aiyar Has Seen the World

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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10/16/23 • 192 min

She's been a journalist, travelled the world, lived in nine countries, fought and beaten cancer -- and written about it all in exquisite prose. Pallavi Aiyar joins Amit Varma in episode 351 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pallavi Aiyar on Substack, Amazon, Twitter and her own website. 2. Smoke and Mirrors -- Pallavi Aiyar. 3. Orienting -- Pallavi Aiyar. 4. Babies and Bylines -- Pallavi Aiyar. 5. The Acting Life -- Episode 189 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rasika Dugal and Mukul Chadda). 6. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 7. Orphaned and almost married at 10 -- Pallavi Aiyar about her grandmother. 8. Who's Afraid of Cola Colonialism? -- Pallavi Aiyar. 9. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Memoirs of Dr Haimabati Sen — Haimabati Sen (translated by Tapan Raychoudhuri). 12. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Train-Track Figure -- Kay Ryan. 16. The Arias-Aiyar global khichdi -- Pallavi Aiyar. 17. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar's columns and homepage. 19. A tribute to my mother, Gitanjali Aiyar -- Pallavi Aiyar. 20. Confessions of a terrible guru -- Pallavi Aiyar. 21. Children and Death -- Pallavi Aiyar. 22. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar — Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra). 24.

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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 369: The Life and Times of Ira Pande

Ep 369: The Life and Times of Ira Pande

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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02/19/24 • 191 min

She's a writer. She's a translator. She's as old as this Republic, and she knows it well. Ira Pande joins Amit Varma in episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and her learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ira Pande on Amazon, Goodreads and The Tribune.. 2. Diddi: My Mother's Voice -- Ira Pande. 3. Amader Shantiniketan -- Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 4. Dhano Dhanne — Jaya Varma and the Chandigarh Choir. 5. Pitch Perfect -- Ira Pande's obituary of Jaya Varma. 6. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Sara Rai Inhales Literature — Episode 255 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Old world nationalism -- Ira Pande. 11. Buniyaad on Wikipedia, IMDb and YouTube. 12. Do Bigha Zameen -- Bimal Roy. 13. Ganga Jamuna -- Nitin Bose. 14. Awaara and Shree 420 -- Raj Kapoor. 15. Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar In The Life Of India -- Meghnad Desai. 16. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 17. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 18. The Other Side of Silence — Urvashi Butalia. 19. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Tamas -- Bhisham Sahni. 21. Tamas -- Govind Nihalani. 22. The Secret City -- Robin Gupta. 23. Secret city and more -- Ira Pande. 24. Apradhi Kaun -- Shivani. 25. Apradhini - Women Without Men -- Shivani (translated by Ira Pande). 26. T'ta Professor

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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 372: Manjula Padmanabhan is a Forever Outsider

Ep 372: Manjula Padmanabhan is a Forever Outsider

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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03/11/24 • 342 min

She's a comic-strip artist, a playwright, a science fiction author -- a creator who doesn't fit into any box. Manjula Padmanabhan joins Amit Varma in episode 372 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Manjula Padmanabhan on.Amazon, Wikipedia, Instagram, Substack and her own website. 2. Getting There -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 3. Harvest -- Manula Padmanabhan. 4. Escape -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 5. The Island Of Lost Girls -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 6. Blood and Laughter: Plays -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 7. Stolen Hours and Other Curiosities -- Manjula Padmanabhan. 8. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 9. Why We Sleep -- Matthew Walker. 10. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Looking-Glass Self. 12. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Escape With Manjula Padmanabhan (2008) -- Amit Varma. 14. Comedy Vs Mortality -- Amit Varma. 15. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains — Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. How Not To Boil An Egg -- MFK Fisher. 17. Journey To Ixtlan -- Carlos Castaneda. 18. Anton Chekhov on Wikipedia, Britannica and Amazon. 19. The classic Derek Guy tweet.. 20. Make Me a Canteen for My Soul — Episode 304 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage). 21. Deham -- Govind Nihalani. 22. Watchmen -- Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. 23. Amartya Ghosh on Spotify. 24. Declutter -- Episode 30 of Everything is Everything. 25. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams. 26.

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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 159: The Theatre of the Budget

Ep 159: The Theatre of the Budget

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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02/09/20 • 110 min

Budgets matter more than they should -- and the process of making them matters more than their contents. Ajay Shah and Vivek Kaul join Amit Varma in episode 159 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss both journey & destination, strategy & tactics. Also check out: 1. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah) 2. Analysing the February 2020 budget -- Ajay Shah 3. India budget raises more questions than answers -- Vivek Kaul 4. What the budget says and how it impacts you -- Vivek Kaul 5. Long on Talk, Short on Ideas -- Vivek Kaul 6. Bae, look how I shrank the Budget -- Vivek Kaul 7. Budget 2020: Tactics Over Strategy -- Suyash Rai 8. TN Ninan and AK Bhattacharya dissect Budget 2020 9. The Indian Economy in 2019 -- Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul) 10. Budget, Bollywood, Badmaashi -- Episode 129 of The Seen and the Unseen (on the 2019 budget, w Vivek Kaul) 11. Twelve Dream Reforms -- Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w three guests) 12. Zombie Firms and Creative Destruction -- Episode 118 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah) 13. The Importance of Finance -- Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah) 14. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha)
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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 262: Nehru's Debates

Ep 262: Nehru's Debates

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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01/31/22 • 255 min

There was a time when our leaders dived into the public discourse and embraced the world of ideas. Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain join Amit Varma in episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe four debates that Jawaharlal Nehru entered with Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sardar Patel and Syama Prasad Mookerjee. These old debates matter today, because those ideas are still being contested. Also check out: 1. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India -- Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain. 2. Sixteen Stormy Days -- Tripurdaman Singh. 3. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 4. Jawaharlal Nehru on Amazon. 5. Shruti Rajagopalan's talk on the many amendments in our constitution. 6. Karl May on Amazon. 7. Christopher Bayly on Amazon. 8. Violent Fraternity -- Shruti Kapila. 9. Amit Varma's tweet about books read, a snarky response, and a, um, weird comment. 10. Jürgen Habermas on Amazon and Wikipedia. 11. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- Amit Varma. 12. On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians -- Vladimir Putin. 13. Roam Research -- and Zettelkasten. 14. Niklas Luhmann and his use of Zettelkasten. 15. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Volumes 1 to 98. 16. Emily Hahn on Amazon. 17. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon. 18. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4....

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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma - Ep 361: Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities

Ep 361: Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

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12/25/23 • 219 min

Cities are that miraculous technology that bring people together to make us all better, richer, happier. But bad planning, or even too much planning, can turn them into hellholes. Pritika Hingorani joins Amit Varma in episode 361 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights on how we should think about cities, how governments do policy, and what economics can bring to urban planning. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Pritika Hingorani at Artha Global and Twitter. 2. The Importance of Cities — Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani). 3. Financing urban infrastructure for an evolving India -- Pritika Hingorani, Sharmadha Srinivasan & Harshita Agrawal. 4. Reforming Urban India -- Pritika Hingorani et al. (Page 14 of this report has the map Pritika mentions in the episode.) 5. India Infrastructure Report: Making Housing Affordable -- Various authors. 6. Bombay: The Cities Within -- Sharada Dwiwedi and Rahul Mehrotra. 7. Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities -- Alain Bertaud. 8. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs. 9. Norwegian Wood -- Haruki Murakami. 10. Absolutely on Music -- Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa. 11. Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami on Amazon. 12. Piercing -- Ryu Murakami. 13. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy -- Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 15. Miniature early episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on FSI and Rent Control with Alex Tabarrok, and Slums with Pavan Srinath. 16. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando De Soto. 17. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro. 19. Urban expansion: theory, evidence and practice -- Shlomo Angel. 20. Atlas of Urban Expansion. 21. Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization -- Justin Marozzi. 22. The City and the City -- China Miéville. 23. The Faltering Escalator of Urban Opport...

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