Amit Varma : Writer and Podcaster

Update: 2021-07-09

Description

For the first ever interview of this podcast, I had the honour of interviewing Amit Varma.

Amit needs no introduction to those who listen to Indian podcasts. His show, The Seen & The Unseen, has evolved from an experiment to one of the finest, best-researched and most widely-heard podcasts in the country. Before this, Amit made his name as a blogger, journalist and cricket writer. At the time of recording and release of this episode, he also runs a podcasting and writing course. He’s also very fond of saying “multitudes”.

In this episode, Amit and I discuss:

What would you do if you had just a year left to live?

Gathering as many 'mental dots' as you can and joining them.

Evolving mediums and why content > form

Lots of advice for aspiring (and current!) content creators

Early mistakes and learning from them

Working towards your ideal self & the compounding power of habits

How a selfie stick was responsible for The Seen & The Unseen (no joke!)

And of course, we name this very podcast at the very end!

References made during the show, not in order:

James Clear - Atomic Habits (Goodreads | Amazon)
Ali Abdaal (YouTube)
The TikTok star - Metallica story (article)
And of course - the Narendra Shenoy Selfie Stick! (image)

Everything Amit Varma:

His Twitter :- https://twitter.com/amitvarma

His podcast, The Seen & The Unseen

Website:- https://seenunseen.in

Spotify:- https://open.spotify.com/show/5g3YypLcUQhJNmscIeQFtV?si=6zVY607ZTJCUZbobrqkv_w&dl_branch=1

Apple:-

Stitcher:- https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-seen-and-the-unseen

Google:- https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9zZWVudW5zZWVuLmxpYnN5bi5jb20v

His writing: India Uncut (Website https://indiauncut.com

Newsletter https://indiauncut.substack.com)

His writing course: The Art Of Clear Writing (Website https://indiauncut.com/clear-writing/)

His podcasting course: The Art of Podcasting (Website https://seenunseen.in/learn/#:~:text=Podcasting%20is%20not%20self-indulgent,desire%20to%20have%20a%20voice.) - unavailable at the time of publishing

About this podcast & host

Getting Meta is a show hosted by me, Deepak Gopalakrishnan (or Chuck, as the world calls me). In this show, I speak to some very smart people to unravel their habits, thought processes, tools and mental models - which can then be applied by anyone, from any field. The show focuses less on their achievements or field, and more on them as a person and their ways of thinking - hence, I get meta with them. Each episode aims to inspire, entertain and leave you with questions to ask yourself, frameworks to apply and good content to check out. There will be an initial season of 12 weekly episodes (of which 10 are interviews), starting May 2021, and then a subsequent season, later in the year. This is my third show, following Simblified (comedy + topical) and The Origin of Things (trivia + storytelling).

As for me, I’m a freelancer who does a bunch of things, and am obsessed with productivity and optimising time. I consider myself very imperfect at that, putting me in an ideal position to host this show. I’m interested in a bunch of things: technology’s impact on culture, the internet and digital marketing, travel and cycling, and of course, rock and metal.

Getting Meta links:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/40Vo30aQilVrxEOkoSmDjx?si=pCOPeJlcR0uN_g2ZZs8iLQ&dl_branch=1

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-meta/id1573882113

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdGF0aWMuYWRvcmlsYWJzLmNvbS9mZWVkL2dldHRpbmctbWV0YS54bWw

IVM website: https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/show/getting-meta-y2rb-RtSzWNdzZ8i99R2Q

If you'd like to get in touch with me, I'm:

Twitter: twitter.com/chuck_gopal

Instagram: instagram.com/chuckofalltrades

Email: chuck@chuckofalltrades.inPASTEBIN%

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.