Indicast - Indians On India

A wounded tiger is far more dangerous than a hungry one. India has lived this cliche for a long time now, but only to the extent of being hungry and wounded. It is far from dangerous; in fact, if you listen closely, you might hear some whimpering. It has been a fortnight since the terrorists ripped through Mumbai. Since then, the Taj has been rebuilt; Trident announced that it will be reopening soon, the CST is back to being a host to millions of people daily and our politicians do not have any concrete answers about why it all happened, what steps should we take now and whether it will happen again. Aditya, who travels through local trains in peak time, shares his observations about how his fellow passengers now double up as detectives and how daily traveling has become an unfortunate adventure.

It's an epidemic of sorts now. It struck again. It lasted for 60 hours. Mumbai bled. As viewers stitched to the TV set like umbilical chords, it was psychologically draining to watch the footage of Hemant Karkare readying himself to take control before he was shot dead with two other ranking cops Salaskar and Kamte, to see the deserted CST station daubed in red, to stare at the burning Taj as the our men with woefully inadequate infrastructure brought it to an end. Amid the chaos, journalists became household names whose voice, sometimes desparate, sometimes hopeful blared through our TV sets. While some sensationalised it, a few others acted responsibly. Yogita Limaye is one such reporter from CNN IBN who clocked two nights straight near the Taj running relentlessly on adrenalin and in this podcast, she gives us an on-ground perspective of the events that unfolded.

With companies going bust and countries filing for bankruptcy, newspapers are hunting for less cliched headlines. One story from NYT caught our attention. It claimed that pets are not recession proof. People who cannot afford to pay their rents are now forced to abandon their pets! In Sports, Sachin Tendulkar gave us a reason to celebrate his world record of scoring the highest number of runs in test match cricket. We cheered for Arvind Adiga who won himself the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his book, 'The White Tiger'.

It's been about three years now and it has been fun all along. Here's a huge shoutout to all you folks out there from across the world who have stayed with us and helped us through your comments (both nasty and encouraging!). Until this episode, we didn't know how countries could go bankrupt. Back home, Maharashtra government decided to sort of legalise the live in relationship model where the woman will be eligible for alimony (conditions apply, of course!). Our beloved dada, Saurav Ganguly has announced retirement from all forms of cricket, but Aditya is still hopeful that Ganguly might reconsider it. Look forward to your comments in this podcast.

The American stock markets are in the mood for some adventure. On their way down the cliff, they brought the Indian Sensex to one of its all time lows in the past two years. While in one news, India is all set to sign the Indo American nuclear agreement, in another, the Government has declared a nationwide smoking ban in India. Mamata Banerjee successfully tests Ratan Tata's patience and gets the better of him. The One lakh car project gets delayed. India which has been known for its religious tolerance is giving away as communal riots erupt in different parts of the country.

China can make cheap goods. We all know that. What we did not know was that China could host the biggest event on the face of the earth in the grandest form ever imagined. We are of course talking about the Olympics which brought us all good news. Heck India won the first individual Olymipic Gold medal in 108 years. Abhinav Bindra, Vijendar Kumar, Sushil Kumar and Akhil Kumar covered the front pages. This podcast is dedicated to all sport lovers. Er we also digressed just a wee bit to talk about Mobica Bedi, condoms and a couple of movies.

While India battles double digit inflation, our politicians find a unique way to protest against the increasing fuel prices, but the plan hilariously backfires! While in one story, a small time waiter works his ass off to clear the UPSE exams, another intelligent kid tops the IIT entrance test only to flee his hometown due to the paparazzi pressure. Shiv sena now wants to enter the hearts of the ordinary Mumbaikar by selling vada pavs. Aditya is not too happy with the air hostesses from Delta Airlines and for good reason!

Big B has a new meaning now. Amitabh has a blog now and he receiving a response similar to Aamir Khan's Blog . Moving on, Who say's money cant buy happiness? With the growing affluence, atleast in the urban areas, a lot of single women have cut the middle man. The sex toy business in brazil is taking off and the same business in India is seeing a surge too. Although, the goods are legally not allowed to be sold but are easily accessible in grey market. Also, while "researching" Abhishek found the greatest iPod accessory ever and he tells us a bit about it.

We cover the awesome stories submitted by our beloved listener, Anuj and encourage you to send us stories too using this page (needs you to be logged in). The episode starts with Gujrat being a dry state and then we spent sometime talking about the great indian pot belly followed by how Shivpuri district is giving out gun licenses for people who agree to get a vasectomy done. Believe it or not but its true. Abhishek and I talk about our mixed feeling for the IPL. I believe it's all money and he says he saw a speck of passion for the home team when he attended Mumbai Indians first match at Wankhede. We are also pleased to announce that Economist has setup an Intelligence office in New Delhi, India.

Episode number 69 is here with lot of stories from India as well as a few weird stories from the UK. The sixth pay commission report dominates the episode after the stories about the rising divorce rates and then make a segway into US wanting hindi teacher. The railway cops have got a new revenue stream and are coning people into getting them to pay for having porn on their cell phone which is not illegal.

The episode starts with us being proud of a countryman who gave his life just a day after getting sena medal and then how Mumbai was ashmed over the actions of a Mumbai based political party lead by Raj Thackeray. Cabbies, bhelpuriwallas were brutally beaten up by MNS party worker for being norh Indian! Then to make matters worse for the reputation of gurgaon, a 100 cr Kidney scam has been unearthed. We thought these heavy topics were enough for this episodes and moved on to some lighter topics

India celebrates another Republic Day. It was a marathon day with eminent personalities like being showered with Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan. An NGO finds another innovative way to fight corruption in India. Adam Gilchrist, the prolific entertainer and a great sportsman retires from Test match cricket. And in this era of reality shows, lets get ready for a reality sex show as well!

Hello and welcome to a whole New Year! The last few days of the last year were eventful and Aditya gives us a run down of he getting married in phool to Maharashtrian istyle! How different was his wedding from that of his elder brother? How many hours of poojas did he clock? Aditya willingly answers many more questions like these. The previous year belonged to women like Pratibha Patil, Shilpa Shetty and Rakhee Sawant. This episode is a special one is dedicated to all you guys for being there and rooting for us throughout 2007.

This week the Bollywood Movie Aaja Nachale was banned because it hurt the sentiments of a few people. So nothing new there! Mumbai is jumping on to the energy conservation bandwagon as it declares a black out on Dec 15. We urge all those who are in Mumbai to join in. And in some intimidating news, the Gujrat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi is blunt with his words and scares us all with his speeches. Aditya is all set to start his family and he has a few questions for all you guys at the fag end of the episode. Currently he is relishing his pre wedding gifts

Aditya mourns the loss of his Apple Mac laptop which was stolen in broad day light! He takes us through an interesting journey of filing the complaint with the humble Mumbai Police. Bada Bhai, Anil Kumble wins his first test captaining India. Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi author currently in exile in New Delhi has nowhere to go and we talked about what the big deal about it is. We would like to know your take on it as well. Mumbai Marshals have taken the onus onto themselves and the slogan, Clean Mumbai is finally being implemented at the root level! And the Government has found another way to help smokers kick the habit, but, Aditya has another take on it!

This diwali, the fireworks industry had to do some rebranding. Govt said no more cracker named after gods. Diwali also brought with it 2 big super hyped movies and both of them failed to impress the masses. Also, did you know About Actor's Day? We also touched upon the things happening in Pakistan and the destruction of cultural relics in the Swat district. As usual we digressed and somehow started discussing Bhutto's marital status!! Dont know how we got there!! Listen to know more..

The podcast begins with our favourite topic- cricket and then we get into how Sri Sri Ravi shankar was present at ET awards and also about the growing trend about political leader signing book deals.

Talking on a cell phone can now land you behind bars in Mumbai. Also recently the loan recovery agents have been in the news for the wrong reasons and did you know that you will have ATMs on trains too. What for? Dont ask.

The story that got buried by the India team's victory was about the succession planning by congress. Abhishek believes that congress has made their move by giving more responsibilities to Rahul Gandhi who will most probably be ready to take on the Indian Prime ministership in the next term. We also discuss about a landmark in space history, launch of the Sputnik , completing 50 years. A race that the Soviet Union won hands down by sending a beeping ball like satellite around the world. In other interesting news, an RJ brings a ban on it's news channel.

I didn't think I would live to tell this tale to my grandchildren, said a 73 year old from Dharavi slum in Mumbai. Cricket kindles interest among all classes and cuts through all castes here in India. The youngest and the most inexperienced team of the tournament won it. While Pakistan put a brave effort, India won it in the end! In hockey, the players have finally spoken up against the mistreatment meted out to them for years! In Nepal, they have found a novel way to fix their Boeing's technical glitches. In another news, Mukesh Ambani is the richest Indian!