Stories From India's Lockdown

Our first guest on the second edition of Stories from India's Lockdown is Syed Zubair Noqvi. Zubair is an officer in the Indian Economic Services and works out of the Ministry of Finance in the North Block in New Delhi. A recent graduate of the MPA program at Harvard Kennedy, Zubair is also an alumnus of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. I talk to Zubair about his journey as an IES officer and his experience of studying at Harvard. We also talk about the nuances of policymaking in a country like India, and Zubair talks about why it is okay for the CEA to be from outside the cadre. Read Zubair's op-ed in the Business Standard: https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/rangeet-ghosh-syed-zubair-noqvi-kapil-patidar-insiders-outsiders-and-the-ies-116080101691_1.html

On this episode, we talk to Preeti Vyas, President and COO at Amar Chitra Katha. She helms publications like Tinkle Comics and National Geographic Magazine. I am sure we have all read Mahabharata and Ramayana from ACK, and Supandi and Shikari Shambhu in Tinkle comics as kids. Preeti has been an author and a publisher throughout her career and talks about the joy of reading books! We talk about the importance of storytelling in children's education, ACK's transformation into a digital publishing house and what Preeti is up to during the lockdown

On this episode, we speak to Aviral Bhatnagar who is a venture capital investor and the founder of ajuniorvc.com. We discuss how investment incentives work in tandem with market cycles and how these are expected to change as the response to COVID-19 plays out. We also talk about how consumer awareness will drive long term change, his stardom on Quora and how a constant search for "why" led him to longform writing!

On today's episode, I talk to Vijayta Lalwani. She a journalist with Scroll.in. I talk to her about her on-ground reporting experiences during the lockdown and Vijayta also shares a first hand account of the recent Delhi riots.

On this episode of Lockdown Stories, We talk to one of among India's finest film critics, Rahul Desai. I'll borrow from something a friend told me about Rahul's reviewing skills to introduce him. The way Sunil Gavaskar and Geoffrey Boycott revolutionised English Cricket Commentary for the DD viewing Indian audience in the yesteryears, Rahul today is changing the film and series review landscape by leaps and bounds. Rahul's writing is fresh, and he speaks candidly, no holds barred. We talk about the future of mainstream bollywood cinema, if people will continue going to theatres to watch movies and how Rahul consumes 8 hours worth of film and series indoors during the lockdown!

Today, we talk to Dr. Gurudas Nulkar, Faculty at Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development. Dr. Nulkar teaches and works at the intersection of economics and the ecology. He has extensively written in this area and is author of three books. He's also part of the Ecological Society, of which he speaks about in this episode in detail. We talk about the ills of chasing unlimited growth, the virtues of a more sustainable economy, and the connection between frogs and use of pesticides in Maharashtra farms!

While talking to Nikhil, a significant role reversal happened, where Nikhil ended up asking us about our opinion of how the lockdown will affect the economy, given my background in Economics and Dhruvin's in Finance. Nikhil then presented his ideal antidote to the issue of the economic slowdown, which led to a free flowing conversation between the three of us, a first for the podcast! Enjoy !

Joining us on today's episode is the extremely creative and thoughtful Nikhil Taneja. Nikhil currently is Co-Founder and CEO of Yuvaa, a youth oriented content platform. Along with being an entrepreneur, he is also a writer, producer, storyteller and a youth mental health advocate. Nikhil has worked with the likes of MTV and YFilms in the past, developing some kickass content like Sex Chat with Pappu and Papa. In this episode, we talk about kindness, empathy, democratisation of politics, and why our singular response to the crisis is simply working from home.

Rarely do you come across someone as sensitive, empathetic and at the same time passionate and graceful as Sejal Maheshwari who joins us on today's episode. Sejal works as a Project Manager with Teach For India and has been previously associated with Feeding India as well. Sejal and I are friends from Gokhale Institute as well, and today, we talk about gender and privilege. On her behalf I would like to disclaim that her views are her own and not that of Teach For India

Joining us on today's episode is National Award winning filmmaker, Anand Gandhi. Anand is among India's most important and serious thinkers, and through his thinking, he is creating groundbreaking cinema like Ship of Theseus, Tumbbad and An Insignificant Man. Anand also dabbles in board games and Virtual Reality. I could go on and on and it would not be enough. On Instagram, Anand can be found @memewala, there is a lot of interesting stuff coming up on his account. Today, we talk about systems thinking, the smokescreen of misinformation, and Anand also lets us in on his creative process!

Joining us on today's episode is Krishna Prasanth. As you can see from his photo, Prasanth enjoys wearing different hats (pun intended). He is a consultant working with one of the Big4s, and when he is not doing that, he volunteers with CIVIC Bangalore, a civil society group striving to bring democracy to the grassroots level in urban Bangalore. Prasanth is a dear friend from Gokhale Institute. We usually engage in stimulating conversation, and I would like to think of this episode as one of them. We talk about working from home, the role of civil society in modern times and hope of changing our ways once the lockdown ends!

Today I chat with stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal! You can follow Aditi on Instagram @addymitzy for equal doses of comedy and exercise videos, and on twitter @awryaditi! You can also tune into her podcast, ‘Women in Labour’, a comedy podcast looking at why women are disappearing from India’s workforce, and ofcourse, do subscribe to her YouTube Channel! In this episode, Aditi tells us about how she made it to India right before the lockdown, why comedy generally happens in dark rooms, and what she is doing to be productive while being indoors

Today on the Podcast, we have with us Prof. Ashish Kulkarni, who teaches at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune, which also happens to be my alma mater. Fun fact is, Ashish has never taught me in a classroom setting, which I honestly regret, and only got to know him after my time at Gokhale. He is extremely well read and the wittiest, coolest professor I know, but most importantly, Ashish is a friend and a guide. I have also had the privilege of featuring on his podcast, back to college, which can be found on Anchor. Today we talk about tech assisted education and whether we should rethink year end evaluation for students who appear for their board exams!

Joining us today is K Sujatha Rao, former Health Secretary, Government of India. She is a retired IAS officer with 36 years of experience, 20 of which were in public health. During this time, Ms. Rao has held several positions at the federal and state levels, including Secretary WHO and Secretary National Aids Control Organisation. She has authored a book on India's health system called Do we care, providing an insiders perspective into the country's public healthcare system. On this episode, we talk about India's preparedness for fighting the virus and whether or not India is already experiencing community transmission of COVID19

Joining us on this episode is drummer extraordinaire, Darshan Doshi. Darshan is among the finest independent drummers in India, and plays drums for the among the best music producers and composers in Bollywood. He has toured extensively around the world with the likes of Salim Suleiman, Adnan Sami and Farhan Akhtar to name a few. He is also the founder of the Darshan Doshi Collective, a fusion band. Darshan talks about how he cannot wait to get back on stage for a gig and about the need of a social security net for live musicians.

Joining us on the first episode is Dr. Sanjaya Baru. Dr. Baru was media adviser to PM Manmohan Singh in UPA 1 and is a bestselling author, best known for his book The Accidental Prime Minister. Dr. Baru has been at the helm of some of the most premier newspapers in the country and continues to write extensively on subjects of economics, politics and foreign policy. Today we will talk to him about the macroeconomic impact of the Coronavirus on the Indian economy and the impact on global order