TiffinTalk - delivering relevant discussion

On this episode we talk to Raj Janagam, the founder of Cycle Chalao. Cycle Chalao is a bicycle sharing program that Raj started at Kelkar College in Mulund to rent bicycles to students at two points: the railway station and the college entrance. Bicycle sharing, already an idea popular in Europe and other cities around the world, has proven to be popular and Raj has already broken even on operational costs. He is a finalist in the Unreasonable Institute business challenge. To learn more, visit Cycle Chalao’s website.Next we talk to Dr. Madan Kataria and his wife Madhuri. In 1995 they founded Laughter Yoga and since then it has grown to thousands of clubs in over 60 countries. I visited the couple and had them guide me through their Laughter Yoga practice and describe some of its benefits. To learn more about their work, click here.

On this episode we talk to Nancy Barry about microfinance and her work with Enterprise Solutions to Poverty. The scandal with SKS Microfinance has plunged India into a state of doubt regarding the ethics and viability of this model - we ask Nancy what her thoughts are on the matter. Nancy worked for the World Bank from 1975 - 1990 before being recruited to be the President of Women’s World Banking.Next we speak with Casey Nolan. Casey is part of a three man team that has invaded Dharavi with an art project called Artefacting Mumbai. Through teaching art classes for children and interacting with residents to create what he calls “interventions,” or large scale murals and other forms of installation art, he and his team have managed to go beyond the typical expat romantification of Dharavi and create a meaningful project. On January 29, hundreds of people fill the alleys of Dharavi to see their work and they will be putting it on display again later this month at Project 88 in Colaba. We talk to him about the project and how art and poverty can interact with one another. Visit them here.

On this anniversary episode of TiffinTalk, we briefly reflect on the past year and what lies ahead - including the plans of our network, Dabba Radio, to create much more content on the path to free and open radio in India.We then turn to Kabi. Kabi has lived all over the world, including in Los Angeles where she worked as a taxi driver for 3 years on the night shift, before returning to Mumbai in 1993. Since returning, she has started “Meter Down,” a blog that chronicles the untold stories of Mumbai’s taxi drivers. The blog won the “Best Podcast” award in 2008 from the Indian Weblog Awards. Next, we chat with Jill Beckingham. Jill Beckingham is the wife of the British Deputy High Commissioner here in Mumbai, but the reason we are talking to her is a walk she did in November. Jill walked the historic Salt Satyagraha route from Ahmedabad to Dandi to raise money for six charities. She talks to us about the walk.

On this episode we talk to Mitesh Panchal who has been volunteering in Sanjay Gandhi National Park for the last decade. Mitesh talks about the importance of the park, things that need to be done to allow it to continue to thrive, as well as ways to get more Mumbaikars to understand this important ecosystem. The park is the second largest park in an urban area in the world and Mitesh helps us to get to know it a little better.Obama visited India this past fall, but instead of asking what it is like for a President to visit India, we wanted to know what it means to be black in India. To get some insight on that question, we talk to Pashington Obeng, a professor at Wesleyan College and Harvard University who has studied Africans in India for the past several years and authored a book on the topic, Shaping Membership, Defining Nation: The Cultural Politics of African Indians in South Asia. We ask him about the history of the African diaspora in India, how their societies fit into India, andwhat he thinks Indians think of Obama’s blackness.

On this episode we talk to S. Narayan, the Director of the Mumbai Film Festival, which kicked off on October 21, 2010 with the screening of The Social Network. We talk to him about the progress of the festival, this year’s initiative to screen female directors and their all female jury panel, as well as Mumbai Film Festival in comparison to the well-known international festivals, like Toronto or Cannes. To see the festival schedule, visit their website.Next our Jalebi Ink correspondent, Shagorika Ghosh, who is interviewing Shikha Grover, the Deputy Head of Resource Mobilization for Childline. Childline is a free phone service (dial 1098) that anyone can call to report children in distress. Even children themselves are encouraged to dial and many do, calling about anything from emergencies and abuse to stress about exams. To learn more, visit their website.

On this episode we talk to Imad Ahmed, a journalist from Pakistan who has written for The New York Times, Boston Globe, Internationale Politik, and was a Features Editor for The Friday Times in Pakistan. He talks to us about the government of Pakistan’s handling of the floods, the international response, the role of India, and what the effects will be going forward.Next we are joined by Nishna Mehta, a correspondent from Jalebi Ink who interviews Shaili Sathyu. In 2009 Shaili Sathyu established ‘GILLO’ an independent children's media group based in Mumbai with work ranging from education to the arts and the media. She is also working as an education and training consultant with Akshara High School in Mumbai and amoung her many accolades has also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Association of Preschool Education, Mumbai Chapter. Nishna asks her about the creation of GILLO and what it is like to engage with youth in theatre and drama.

On this episode we talk to Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys, about governance in India and some of the views he expressed in his book A Better India, A Better World. We also ask him about the recent visa hikes and what he thinks should be the top priority for India in the coming year.We also talk to Rajeev Jhaveri, the author of I,Romantic, which will be released on September 17. I, Romantic chronicles the journey of a young soldier as he falls in love and ultimately becomes disenchanted with his role in the Indian Army. Rajeev talks about what his inspiration was for writing the book and some of the tough questions he asked himself during his own military service. He also reads a brief selection from the book.

On this episode we talk to Abheek Bhattacharya, an editorial writer at The Mint, about Independence Day and the state of India on this 63rd anniversary of independence. We discuss internal and external security, his take on the Commonwealth Games and the ideal outcome (which is failure, in his opinion), and what should be the focus of Indians during the 64th year of the republic.Our second guest is Deval Sanghavi, the founder of Dasra. Dasra is an organization that connects donors with NGO’s and worthwhile causes in India worth investing in. We chat with him about the state of philanthropy in India as some of the world’s wealthiest answer Warren Buffet and the Gates’ call to pledge 50% of their wealth to charity.

On this episode we talk to Sumana Ghosh, the head booker for Elite Model Management, about the changing face of beauty in India. People released their list of the 100 Most Beautiful People in June and TiffinTalk asks about the trends in beauty and what advertisers are looking for in today’s models. To visit Elite’s website, click here. To see People’s list, visit their website by clicking here.Next we debut our first Jalebi Ink correspondent, Maitri. Maitri chose to interview Parasher Baruah, a filmmaker who directed the documentary Waste. Waste follows the lives of three ragpickers in Dharavi who sort through the trash of the largest city on Earth. The description of the film reads, “They are among the millions of child rag pickers in the city. Their carefree attitude contrasts sharply with the struggles and health hazards of their daily existence.” Parasher is a part of the Dharavi Project and the ACORN Foundation, to find out more about them click here.

On this episode we talk to Neeraj Thakur, a correspondent for DNA who covers the Oil and Gas Industry, about the effects of the BP oil disaster on the Indian market. BP finally put a temporary cap on the well on July 15, ending the previously uninterrupted flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. With climate change high on the global agenda but India needing more and more energy, where does the government stand?Then we chat with Anuradha Sengupta (right) and Taran Khan (left) about their organization, Jalebi Ink. Jalebi Ink connects youth with journalism through newspaper workshops, neighborhood reporting projects and, more recently, a partnership with TiffinTalk to bring their youth reporters on the show once a month. Our first such correspondent, Maitri, also joins the discussion. To learn more about Jalebi Ink, click here.

On this episode we catch up with what happened in the renewed dialogue between Pakistan and India. July 16 saw the conclusion of the highest level talks since 26/11 between the two rival nations. India Minister of External Affairs, and his Pakistani counterpart, met in Islamabad and we talk to Cyril Almeida to get a sense of the results. Cyril is a former Rhodes Scholar who now works as an editor and columnist at The Dawn in Karachi. To find out more about him, click here.Next we talk to Vijay Anand, the President of 5th Pillar. 5th Pillar is an organization dedicated to the eradication of corruption and has gotten some international media attention recently for their creation of the zero rupee note, a tool in the fight against graft. We talk to him about his work with 5th pillar and the creation of the zero rupee note. To find out more, click here.

On this episode we talk to Arvind Narrain and Aniruddh Vasudevan on the one year anniversary of the Delhi high Court decision that de-criminalized homosexuality. Arvind is the director of the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore and was one of the key lawyers in the Delhi case. To learn more about the Alternative Law Forum, click here.Aniruddhan Vasudevan is a performer, writer and activist based in Chennai. He runs The Shakti Resource Center, a non-profit organization engaged in creating spaces and models for dialoguing on issues related to gender and sexuality. He has also done extensive work on HIV/AIDS in Chennai and was one of the chief organizers of Chennai’s first gay pride parade in 2009 and then again this year.Our second guest is Sean Blagsvedt, the founder of Babajob. Babajob has been described as the "LinkedIn for the village" and is a job search site for low income Indians. To find out more about Babajob, click here.

On this episode we talk to Michael Delfs, one of the minds behind a recent partnership between the NBA (National Basketball Association, USA) and Mahindra to bring the sport to India. They launched a community basketball league right before the end of the IPL and have registered about 100 teams. To learn more about the NBA India League, click here.SMS “INNOVATION”As part of our series on innovation with mobile technology, we go to correspondent Peter Beland to learn about Ekgaon. Ekgaon is a company that provides agricultural information to farmers via SMS. To learn more about Ekgaon, visit their website.Finally, we chat with Malini Agarwal, better known by her radio personality Miss Malini. Malini is a DJ for RadioOne, 94.3, where she hosts her own show on Saturday nights called Pirate Radio, but she also runs a social network called the Friday Club, writes a column for Mid-Day, and chats weekly on the BBC Asia Network. Visit her website.

On this episode we talk to Paul Folmsbee, Consul General of the US Consulate in Mumbai, about US-India relations and Secretary Geithner's visit last month. Click here to visit the US Consulate website.SMS “INNOVATION”We then begin a series on mobile phone innovation by talking to Nandu Madhava about his company, MDhil, which delivers health information via SMS. To learn more about MDhil, click here. Finally, we chat with Bhavesh Mistry, a student of industrial design who just finished his year stint in Mumbai, about industrial design and what he observed while he was here.

On this Episode we talk to Manjeet Kripalani, the founder of Gateway House - India's first fully independent and non-government supported think tank. To learn more about Gateway House, click here.We also talk to Jeff Wilson and Dhananjay Mohabey, two paleontologists who discovered a fully intact snake fossil in Gujarat. Jeff is from the University of Michigan and Dhananjay is from the Geological Survey of India and they were recently in Mumbai for a press conference announcing their discovery. To learn more about the discovery, click here.Finally, we are joined by Taylor Barnes, a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, to discuss the Indian IT industry and the outsourcing of the US Health Care Bill.

On this episode we talk to Anand Mahindra, Managing Director of the Mahindra Group, about Mahindra's role in social infrastructure and his plans for other aspects of his company including the Mahindra United Football Club and his movie production house, Mumbai Mantra.We talk to Sonya Vajifdar and Sougat Paul, two emerging fashion designers, about fashion and the recent Lakme Fashion Week. Sougat designs denim and women’s evening wear, among other things, and Sonya has gained quite a bit of attention for her rainwear line and her work with the jockeys at the 2010 Mumbai DerbyLast fall, the Delhi Wine Club expanded into Mumbai. We speak with Subhash Arora, the founder and President of the Delhi Wine Club, about the wine industry in India, the consumer’s attitude about wine, and how it stacks up against India’s favorite: whiskey. To learn more about the Delhi Wine Club, click here.

On this episode we talk to Rishi Jaitly, former head of Public Public and Government Affairs for Google in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, about government regulation of the internet. Google has been in the headlines for their decision to close down in China, but that is not the only place where Google is asked to comply with government regulations. To read more articles about Google, click here.Next we talk to Alain Bertaud, former principal urban planner for the World Bank, regarding the Floor Space Index (FSI) in Mumbai. The FSI is a ratio between land area and floor space, governing allowable building heights. Most major cities have anywhere from 5-15. Mumbai’s is 1.3. Alain discusses the effect this has had on Mumbai and what it means for other world cities. To read Alain’s other work, click here.Finally, Scott Norton and Woody Schneider chat with us about their journey on bicycles around Asia. AsiaWheeling is an entrepreneurial travel venture and Scott and Woody take a few minutes while they pass through Mumbai to tell us about it.

In the last few weeks we have heard stars from Shahrukh Khan to Sachin Tendulkar speak out against the nativist policies advocated by the Shiv Sena. We talk to Dr. Patrick Heller, a sociologist from Brown University, about what types of effects movements such as the Shiv Sena can have on a city and its growth. To read more about Dr. Heller, click here.Last week Lonely Planet launched their magazine in India. The brick of a book that we see foreigners clutching as they meander through Colaba Causeway or Fort is the creation of Tony Wheeler, the founder of Lonely Planet. We talk to him about the launch of the magazine and his journey with the company that travelers now swear by. To visit Lonely Planet’s website, click here.Finally, last week the Supreme Court ruled that cities are required to provide homeless shelters to the street dwellers that are all too common. We talk to Sheela Patel, founder of the NGO SPARC that deals with slum dwellers and housing, about the decision as well as what her organization does. To learn more, click here.

On this week’s episode we talk to William Dalrymple, author, historian, and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival. We chat with him about what it takes to organize the Jaipur Festival, his take on Indian literature and how, as a festival organizer, he has noticed it change. To learn more about William and what he has written, click here.While not making the headlines that a rebel group occupying almost one third of India should, the Naxalites have been waging a war against India for over 40 years and certainly merit further attention. We talk to Dr. Nandini Sundar of Delhi University about the Naxalite insurgency and how the Indian government is falling far short of its obligations. To see her full body of work, click here.Finally, we talk to Kenneth Lobo, co-founder of the Bombay Elektrik Projekt. Bombay Elektrik Project is a Mumbai music and art group that organizes poetry readings and hip hop sessions. We chat with him about starting the group and what his views are on the music scene in Mumbai. To learn more about the Bombay Elektrik Project, click here.