Skip to content
Melo Podcasts Home
CategoriesLanguagesFollowing

Episode · BIC TALKS

406. Unveiling Islamabad

10 Feb 2026 · 52 min

Play episode WhatsApp Download

Episode notes

dynamics in a society steeped in tradition and inviting us to contemplate not just the challenges facing Pakistan but also the boundless potential for change and understanding. This session delves deeper into their experiences, exposing the layers of tradition that shape societal norms, offering a compelling examination of the challenges and opportunities inherent in the region's sociopolitical landscape. In this episode of BIC Talks, Ruchi Ghanashyam and A R Ghanashyam will be in conversation with Latha Reddy. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb…

Podcast

BIC TALKS

Bangalore International Centre · Arts & Books · English

Bangalore International Centre (BIC) is a non profit, public institution which serves as an inclusive platform for informed conversations, arts and culture. BIC TALKS aims to be a regular bi-weekly podcast that will foster discussions, dialogue, ideas, cultural enterprise and more.

More from BIC TALKS All episodes →

  1. 24 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 11 min

    411. Rediscovery of a Lost Gandhi

    Meet Mohandas: experimenting, debating, and testing the ideas that would later define him as Mahatma. This conversation around The Dawn of Life , Prabhudas Gandhi's newly translated memoir, returns us to the ashram circles of South Africa, where Gandhi was still shaping the ideals that would one day define him. Translated into English for the first time by Hemang Ashwinkumar, recipient of the 2024–25 New India Foundation Translation Fellowship, the book revives a family archive both historical and deeply personal. Written by his young grandnephew who lived alongside him at Phoenix Settlement…

  2. 18 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 8 min

    410. Worlds Within Worlds

    Four poets from Bangalore come together for an evening of poetry in English and Hindi, exploring how language moves across geographies, experiences, and ways of seeing. Their poems reveal how words can hold multiple realities, opening up Worlds Within Worlds through translation, memory, and imagination. The event will feature readings from Perennial: The Red River Book of 21st Century Hindi Poetry (Red River, 2025), edited by Sourav Roy and Tuhin Bhowal; So That You Know (HarperCollins, 2025) by Mani Rao; and The Book of Blue (Red River, 2024) by Atreyee Majumder. Together, these books offer…

  3. 10 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 17 min

    409. Bengaluru Bus Stories

    Carrying the people and pulse of a city. Bengaluru Bus Stories is a conversation on how public transport weaves lives together by connecting neighbourhoods, opportunities, and communities across the city. Drawing from EQUIMOB , an international research collaboration between the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Utrecht University, Bangalore Bus Prayaanikara Vedike, and SAMVADA, the discussion explores how buses shape daily life, build connections, and remain vital to the city's social fabric. Moderated by Dr. Ranjana Raghunathan of Vidyashilp University, the panel brings together…

  4. 10 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 7 min

    408. India's Development Odyssey

    What happens when one-sixth of humanity undertakes the world's most complex development experiment? In A Sixth of Humanity , renowned political scientist Devesh Kapur and former Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian unpack India's audacious journey of nation-building and economic transformation. Blending democracy, socialism, and liberalization in an unprecedented way, India has charted a "precocious" path to development—one that defies conventional models and continues to reshape global geopolitics and economics. Through this conversation, the authors reflect on India's unique…

  5. 22 Feb 2026 · 39 min

    407. Interrogating the Constitution

    The Constitution promises freedom, but really, how free are we under its design? In 2025, India's Constitution turned seventy-five: a remarkable testament to endurance and adaptability. Yet, beneath its promise of liberty lies a constant negotiation of power. Gautam Bhatia examines the Constitution not just as a legal document, but as a dynamic terrain where visions of authority clash, intersect, and contend for supremacy. Central to this story is the drift toward centralisation: power increasingly concentrated in the union executive. While certain elements of this concentration are embedded…

  6. 8 Feb 2026 · 47 min

    405. Planet of the Apps

    A cab in five minutes. Groceries in ten. Biryani in twenty. Who really powers your fast, effortless digital life? OTP Please! (Penguin Random House) uncovers the hidden human stories behind South Asia's booming app economy. Vandana Vasudevan takes readers into the lives of gig workers racing against the clock, small sellers navigating the algorithm, and the restless customers who keep tapping 'Order Now.' From India's hyperlocal delivery boys to Pakistan's ride-hail drivers, Nepal's app startups to Bangladesh's e-marketplace sellers, the book reveals the invisible ecosystem that fuels our…

  7. 30 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 12 min

    404. Reaching for the Stars

    What does it take to dream beyond your time—and make those dreams real? Vikram Sarabhai, founder of India's space programme, imagined communication satellites that would educate people when even a modest rocket launch seemed audacious. He envisioned agricultural complexes powered by atomic energy, sea water turned drinkable, and a modern India fuelled by science and creativity. But Sarabhai was more than a scientist—he co-founded the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, the National Institute of Design, the dance academy Darpana, and India's first textile research cooperative, ATIRA. He…

  8. 21 Jan 2026 · 33 min

    403. Gandhi and Savarkar

    Between Gandhi and Savarkar lies the story of India's unresolved future. The future of India has long been caught between two irreconcilable visions. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar were not just men, but embodiments of two enduring ideologies: Hind Swaraj and Hindutva. Their contest was never merely personal; it was a struggle over what India could, and should, become. Partition was one gash on the body of the nation, its scars still visible. Can India afford new wounds? To even attempt an answer, we must return to the old antagonisms – between communities, yes, but…

  9. 21 Jan 2026 · 57 min

    402. Rabia's Journey | ராபியாவின் பயணம்

    At its heart, The Dark Hours of the Night is a story about girlhood under constraint, about how adolescence, desire, and freedom are shaped and stifled within the walls of a conservative household. Rabia's journey, woven together with the lives of her friends and cousins, illuminates the subtle negotiations, unspoken rebellions, and fragile solidarities that mark women's coming-of-age in a patriarchal world. The novel opens a conversation about the everyday intimacies of restriction and resistance: the ache of thwarted desire, the bonds of friendship, the weight of silence, and the difficult…

  10. 21 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

    401. Played and Missed

    Before the spotlights, who kept the women's game alive? In 2017, India's women cricketers came heartbreakingly close to a World Cup win at Lord's. That match lit a fire, changing how the country saw its women athletes, and laying the foundation for today's Women's Premier League – the first women's sports league to turn profitable even before a single ball was bowled. It's the first time since that iconic evening at Lord's that the Women's World Cup is set to be hosted in India. This session will celebrate those forgotten days when world cups in India were played in front of empty seats,…

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.

Get it on Google Play