Indicast - Indians On India

The man had a mafia like control over the city so much that he had it change its name because he did not like it. In this podcast we talk a bit about Bal Thackerays beginnings, his quirks, agendas and of course his legendary oratorical skills. In other political news, Rahul Gandhi has been asked to lead the Congress poll campaign in the upcoming 2014 general elections. In some happy news, a bunch of doctors from University of Michigan claim to have devised a pacemaker which can be powered by the motion of heart beats.

The greatest spectacle on the American soil comes to an end and Barack Obama wins it for the second time. But we are more interested in George Bush Jr accidentally voting for Obama. Back home, Arvind Kejriwal tops the popularity charts on all news channels and newspapers. Vijay Mallya sells off a majority stake in his spirit business in the hope to rescue his airline company. And Happy Diwali to everyone.

In this episode we talk about the alleged sweetheart deal bewtween haryana government, DLF and Shri Robert Vadra. Many knew about it but only Arvind Kejriwal decided to talk about it. The other topcis include the NSE crash, Nobel prize winners and a couple of listener emails.

It takes time. Justice. In India. The verdict for 2002 Gujarat riots is out. 32 people have been sentenced to life. Similarly, supreme court upholds Kasabs death sentence, but apparently he can appeal yet again. In other news, our prime minister makes it to the cover pages of many a newspaper. Washington post and the Wall Street Journal have called him names and the Congress demands an apology from these publications. At the Paralympics, Girisha Nagarajegowda wins us a silver medal in long jump. Another 15 year old Brit smashes the world record in swimming. In cricket, India beat New Zealand 2 0.

Lance Armstrong, fed up with the allegations that have hounded him for more than a decade, decided not to contest the doping charges. He has been stripped of his seven Tour-de-France titles. We talk about him and another legend who passed away in the previous week, Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. Closer home in India, the prime minister Dr Singh has been hammered with a zillion questions from BJP, the opposition party. In reply, he muttered an urdu verse which hints that his silence is his biggest answer. Great help. A K Hangal, the grandfather of Bollywood died at 98. In sports, VVS Laxman retires and India under 19 wins the world cup for the third time.

While India was celebrating its 65th Independence Day Assam was burning. More than 400,000 thousand have been displayed due to ethnic clashes. The problems also spread to Mumbai when a group agitation turned violent. In several incidents people from north east were attacked in cities like Pune and Bangalore. In other news, Olympics concluded with India winning its largest medal tally so far.

Indias Olympic games report card has four medals to show. In the 100 meter race, Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the fastest race ever run where seven out of the eight runners passed the finish line in less than ten seconds. The big news this week was about American sending an unmanned rover named Curiosity on Mars. In this podcast, two commerce brains try to explain the whole science behind the landmark landing.

Last week 10 per cent of all mankind took a nap. Most of India suffered a coordinated power failure which put about 600 million people in darkness. Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat offered help. It came at a price. In other news, Aditya brings up an interesting case study in market research. NDTV is miffed with Nielsen after the market research company allegedly tampered with the TAM ratings. We also bring you a lot of Olympics trivia and updates of the week.

The presidential post in India is largely a ceremonial role. But when Pranab Mukherjee took oath as the thirteeth president of India, the top bosses at Congress must have slept well that night. With the prospect of a hung parliament alive and well, Pranab da can exercise his presidential powers. In this podcast, we talk a bit about what he inherits from his predecessor and what lies ahead of him. In other big news, London prepares itself for one of the most lavish parties on earth as it hosts its third Olympics.

This week Tarun Sehrawat, a 22 year old photographer from Tehelka died of malaria. He picked up the germ while reporting from Jharkhand for the magazine. Ghazal myestro Mehndi Hassan passed away. In some encouraging news, three young Indians were shortlisted by Google for its annual science fair contest. In sports, Bhupati and Paes go at each other. And this week, we talk about Deepika Kumari, India's entry to Olympics in archery.

The world is in a sportive mood this week with Saina Nehwal winning the Thailand Open and Sania Mirza and Bhupati taking the French Open. Lewis Hamilton wins the Canadian Grand Prix becoming the seventh new winner in as many races. This episode we also talk about Krishna Poonia, India's discuss thrower who will represent us at the Olympics. The Euro 2012 has kicked off too with the best match so far being that of Spain versus Italy which was tied at 1-1. But outside football, Spain dare not celebrate. Spanish banks have been given a rescue loan totaling to more than a 100 billion USD in the hope that they turn things around. In politics, one Gunapati Deepak Reddy has declared revenues of more than Rupees 6,000 crores. An eventful week overall.

People are beginning to ask the question that every Indian dreads. Is India really shining? or is it being too pessimistic to keep expecting India to continue on its growth number while the world goes through a slowdown? The Indian government is doing its best defend the growth numbers, falling rupee, and the petrol price hike. In other topics, we talk about Indias new army chief, Vishwananthan Anand's victory, Sachin turning an MP, and Mary Koms Olympic dream

For the first time in many many years, Standard & Poor downgraded Indias rating from stable to BBB nevative and our politicians rehearsed their typical reaction of being "shocked" at this. In other news, a few politicians are miffed at the Haj subsidy which is an annual freebie given to those who make the trip to Haj. In what turns out to be the programing coup of the decade, Aamir Khan debuts with Satyameva Jayate, a one hour show which addresses social evils and attempt to offer a solution. Zohra Sehgal, the sprightly actress from Bollywood turns 100!

Our conversations about Sachin Tendulkar can get one-sided. We are fans. In this one, however, we are disappointed with his recent decision to accept the Rajya Sabha nomination. But our disappointment pales when we compare it with Suresh Kalmadis audacious attempt to make a comeback at the Indian Olympic Association as its president. Knowing our politics, he might even make it. A week back, India tested its Agni V long-range missile. Our neighbours responded with their own. In some pleasant news, IIT is set to expand overseas.

We are back after what has been the longest hiatus in the last 5 years that we have been doing Indicast. We start the episode taking about the top stories that we missed while we were away and then move on with the current affairs. This weeks stories include the successful Agni V test, The Aids train, Akaash tablets fail, Yuvraaj Singh returning back to India and Gandhi memoribilia still getting fetching big bucks.

Mumbai elections came and went. The 13th municipal elections since independence saw the BJP-Shiv Sena combo come into power for the fourth consecutive term. Mumbaikars however chose to stay at home and had just 46 per cent voter turnout. Down south in Karnataka, three ministers resign after they were caught watching porn at job. According to one poll, Indians are the among the happiest people on earth. In sports, Yuvraj Singh who has been diagnosed with tumor is recovering in a hospital at Boston.

This episode is full high and low points for India. While India got thrashed by Australia in the cricket, India, with a lot of help from many organizations, has achieved to be Polio free for an entire year. The later is a lot more important than cricket so it not really a fair comparison. There are a few more such topic in this episode.

Welcome to the first episode of the year 2012. We begin our episode with our ramblings about how cold it has been in India and we somehow manage to figure out the meaning of lyrics for one of Govindas hit song. The topics that we cover in this episode include the update on UP elections, Bhaichund Bhutia playing his last match, Kingfishers woes continuing, $1 doctor visits for urban poor and Indias dismal performance in Australia.

Time magazine put the protester on the front page of its Person of the Year issue. 2011 was truly a year of revolutions and we sum up some of them in this podcast. This year also saw some astonishing inventions in the world of Physics. A few weeks ago some scientists claimed that some particle can indeed travel faster than light. A few days back physicists have finally seem to have put their finger on what is called the God particle. In India, such news is being pushed to the back pages of the papers as the front page generally is dedicated to the falling rupee and its effects to Indians in India and outside.

Kapil Sibal is not the first Indian politician to trend on Twitter, but perhaps the first one to trend with a dubious adjective (or noun, whatever), idiot. His lack of knowledge about how the internet works was evident when he asked companies like Facebook and Google to prescreen content which is posted by Indian users after he found a few morphed pictures of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh which showed them in bad light. This year has seen quite a rew RIPs and Dev Anand and Indira Goswami get added to the list. In cricket, Sehwag scores a double century and if you are in Maharashtra, beware of those 500 rupee notes - they could just be fake!