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The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

Written by: Amit Varma
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 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.All Rights Reserved Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Ep 441: Ravikumar Kashi Is in Play Mode

    Ep 441: Ravikumar Kashi Is in Play Mode
    Apr 6 2026
    He's one of India's great artists, and a Renaissance man you cannot put inside a box. Ravikumar Kashi joins Amit Varma in episode 441 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about life and art. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ravikumar Kashi on Instagram, LinkedIn and his own website. 2. Flexing Muscles -- Ravikumar Kashi. 3. Engaging With Visuals -- Ravikumar Kashi's 15-part lecture series. 4. Handmade Paper Making Process (English parts one and two; Kannada parts one and two)-- Ravikumar Kashi. 5. 12 Layers of Hanji -- Ravikumar Kashi. 6. Paper Trails: Reflections on Practice -- Ravikumar Kashi. 7. We don’t end at our edges -- Exhibition by Ravikumar Kashi. 8. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 9. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 10. Francisco Goya's Black Paintings. 11. The Light in Winter — Episode 97 of Everything is Everything, where Amit talks about Goya. 12. The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das — Episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot -- William Kentridge. 14. Songs of Surrender — U2. 15. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Paris, Texas -- Wim Wenders. 17. What Do You Say After You Say Hello? -- Eric Berne. 18. The Blind Watchmaker -- Richard Dawkins. 19. Wounds -- Somnath Hore. 20. Roger Von Oech’s Four Roles of Creativity. 21. The Garden of Forking Paths -- Jorge Luis Borges. 22. The Overton Window. 23. Puliyabaazi -- Pranay Kotasthane, Saurabh Chandra and Khyati Pathak’s Hindi podcast. 24. Sturgeon’s Law. 25. Marysia on Twitter/X. 26. From Strength to Strength — Arthur Brooks. 27. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 28. How to Have Creative Ideas -- Edward de Bono. 29. Gut -- Giulia Enders. 20. The Selfish Gene -- Richard Dawkins. 21. The Nutmeg's Curse -- Amitav Ghosh. 22. Sapiens -- Yuval Noah Harari. 23. Immortality -- Milan Kundera. 24. Jagjit Singh, Rammstein and Agam on Spotify. 25. William Kentridge, Sudhir Patwardhan, Rameshwar Broota and Arpita Singh. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit is travelling through Italy these days and blogging every day from there. Follow his Italian Dairies here. Amit Varma runs a course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: Detail from 'Untitled, 2008’ by Ravikumar Kashi.
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    3 hrs and 36 mins
  • Ep 440: Ram and Friends

    Ep 440: Ram and Friends
    Mar 23 2026
    We are shaped by the people we let into our lives -- and sometimes only realise this in hindsight. Ramachandra Guha joins Amit Varma in episode 440 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about some of the friends who changed his life. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Ramachandra Guha on Amazon, Twitter and his own website. 2. Ram Guha Writes a Letter to a Friend -- Episode 371 of The Seen and the Unseen. 3. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life — Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 5. Taking Stock of Our Republic — Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 6. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 7. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 8. The Last Liberal and Other Essays -- Ramachandra Guha's collection, which includes his essay on Dharma Kumar. 9. Patriots and Partisans -- Ramachandra Guha's collection, which includes his essay on Krishna Raj. 10. ‘The real Chipko’: How Shekhar Pathak wrote the first exhaustive, people’s history of the movement -- Ramachandra Guha. 11. An Anthropologist among the Marxists and other Essays -- Ramachandra Guha's collection, which includes his essay on DR Nagaraj. 12. The Ecumenical Marxist -- Ramachandra Guha on Anjan Ghosh. 13. Land and Caste in South India -- Dharma Kumar. 14. Colonialism, Property and the State -- Dharma Kumar. 15. The Chipko Movement: A People's History -- Shekhar Pathak. 16. The Flaming Feet and Other Essays -- DR Nagaraj. 17. Ramachandra Guha's 2024 tribute to Andre Béteille. 18. Penelope Fitzgerald, Barbara Pym and Shirley Hazzard on Amazon. 19. Original Spin: Misadventures in Cricket -- Vic Marks. 20. Late Cuts: Musings on cricket -- Vic Marks. 21. The Gate of Angels -- Penelope Fitzgerald. 22. The Light in Winter -- Episode 97 of Everything is Everything. 23. Beyond A Boundary -- CLR James. 24. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 25. Time Out of Mind -- Bob Dylan. 26. From Strength to Strength — Arthur Brooks. 27. The Good Boatman: A Portrait of Gandhi -- Rajmohan Gandhi. 28. The Age of the Partial Outsider — Janan Ganesh. 29. The Book of Indian Essays -- Edited by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. 30. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das — Episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. Salman Rushdie interviewed by Mishal Husain. 33. Joseph Anton: A Memoir -- Salman Rushdie. 34. Economic and Political Weekly. 35. The India Forum. 36. The Mantle of the Prophet -- Roy Mottahadeh. 37. ChatGPT's investigative work on unnamed Calcutta Marxist. 38. The Role of Rumour in History Writing -- Anjan Ghosh. 39. Who are the Guilty? -- Report on the 1984 riots by PUDR and PUCL. 40. Sharafat Hussain Khan, Latafat Hussain Khan, Shrikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar, Dinkar Kaikini, Malini Rajurkar, Radhika Mohan Maitra and Buddhadev Das Gupta. 41. The Call of Music -- Priya Purushothaman. 42. The Secret Master: Arun Kashalkar and a Journey to the Edge of Music -- Sumana Ramanan. Amit Varma runs a course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Koshy's’ by Simahina.
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    2 hrs and 24 mins
  • Ep 439: Janhavi Nilekani Threw the Other Shoe

    Ep 439: Janhavi Nilekani Threw the Other Shoe
    Mar 9 2026
    She is a thinker and doer who takes on difficult problems, whether it's maternal care in India or a dangerous ideological cult. Janhavi Nilekani joins Amit Varma in episode 439 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about her work in healthcare -- and her gender-critical thinking. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Janhavi Nilekani on Instagram, Twitter, Substack and Aastrika. 2. Aastrika Foundation. 3. Aastrika Midwifery Centre. 4. Janhavi Nilekani’s Substack. 5. Janhavi Nilekani on Maternal Healthcare and Evidence-Based Decision-Making -- The Ideas of India podcast by Shruti Rajagopalan. 6. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 7. Essays at the Intersection of Environmental and Development Economics -- Janhavi Nilekani. 8. Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward — Episode 317 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality -- Helen Joyce. 11. Yuganta -- Irawati Karve. 12. Maxims for Thinking Analytically: The wisdom of legendary Harvard Professor Richard Zeckhauser -- Dan Levy. 13. The Skeptical Environmentalist -- Bjorn Lomborg. 14. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto). 15. Informed Consent is Meaningless if the Information is False and the Consent is Coerced -- Janhavi Nilekani. 16. Beyond too little, too late and too much, too soon -- Suellen Miller et al. 17. What These Labels Mean -- Episode 107 of Everything is Everything. 18. The Positive Birth Book -- Milli Hill. 19. The Word is Woman -- Milli Hill's Substack. 20. The Cass Report. 21. Inclusivity In Healthcare Should Not Be Valued Above Our Paramount Mandate: First, Do No Harm -- Janhavi Nilekani. 22. Understanding the Sex Binary -- Colin Wright. 23. Irreversible Damage -- Abigail Shrier. 24. The Famous Five and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. 25. Sense and Sensibility -- Jane Austen. 26. The Grand Sophy -- Georgette Heyer. 27. Ilona Andrews on Amazon. 28. The Liaden series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. 29. Lupa. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma runs a course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Compassion’ by Simahina.
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    4 hrs and 3 mins
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