Indicast - Indians on India
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Indicast #159 - India Polio Free
This episode is full high and low points for India. While India got thrashed by Australia in the cricket, India, with a lot of help from many organizations, has achieved to be Polio free for an entire year. The later is a lot more important that cricket so it not really a fair comparison. There are a few more such topic in this topic.
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Indicast #158 - Pink Elephants in Noida
Welcome to the first episode of the year 2012. We begin our episode with our ramblings about how cold it has been in India and we somehow manage to figure out the meaning of lyrics for one of Govindas hit song. The topics that we cover in this episode include the update on UP elections, Bhaichund Bhutia playing his last match, Kingfishers woes continuing, $1 doctor visits for urban poor and Indias dismal performance in Australia.
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Indicast # 157: Particle Physics - Aaj Tak Style
Time magazine put the protester on the front page of its Person of the Year issue. 2011 was truly a year of revolutions and we sum up some of them in this podcast. This year also saw some astonishing inventions in the world of Physics. A few weeks ago some scientists claimed that some particle can indeed travel faster than light. A few days back physicists have finally seem to have put their finger on what is called the God particle. In India, such news is being pushed to the back pages of...
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Indicast # 156: The Unsen-sibal move of the year
Kapil Sibal is not the first Indian politician to trend on Twitter, but perhaps the first one to trend with a dubious adjective (or noun, whatever), idiot. His lack of knowledge about how the internet works was evident when he asked companies like Facebook and Google to prescreen content which is posted by Indian users after he found a few morphed pictures of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh which showed them in bad light. This year has seen quite a rew RIPs and Dev Anand and Indira Goswami...
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Indicast # 155: The Mistry Man
Right from the days when trade was in barter format, the retail world has always been exciting. In the west, it has graduated from mom and pop stores to big box. The Indian government believed that India too should ape the movement, and has rejigged the Foreign Direct Investment rules in the retail sector. The opposition was not amused. In other corporate news, Cyrus Mistry will take over from Ratan Tata in December 2013. In the science field, the world's lightest material caught Adityas...
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Indicast # 154: Of New States and Lost Women
Mayawati has follows a strict routine for ensuring to make it to the front pages of Indian newspapers at least once a week. This time she succeeds in convincing her party to pass a resolution demanding four different states. In Himachal Pradesh, more than 800 women have been reported missing in the past few years. The Unhate Benetton advertising campaign was the most talked about news story in business and in science, a startling discovery that one can travel faster than the speed of light...
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Indicast # 153: Fly Kingfisher Fly
Kingfisher is all over the place. Thats the news that everyone is feeding on especially in the business newspapers. Vijay Mallyas airline company has declared its 16 straight quarterly loss and things are not about to improve in the short term. In politics, Rahul Gandhi is now been slated to be the next man in charge as he contests elections in Uttar Pradesh. Government will soon be launching a Right to Education Act which promises education to every kid upto 14 years of age. In world news,...
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Indicast # 152: Bhupen Hazarika RIP
We start off this episode by talking a bit about the noise surrounding the Armed Forces Special Power Act which was established back in 1958. It turns out that Omar Abdullah wants it revoked in Jammu and Kashmir for it gives the army right to arrest and sometimes kill without the need of a warrant or necessary paperwork. In other news, Bhupen Hazarika and Joe Fraiser passed away this week and the mystery surrounding Michael Jackson's death was finally out when his personal physician was...
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Indicast # 150: Tiger, Jagjit, Steve RIP
The 150th episode of Indicast is finally here but this time with a new voice. Abhishek is out on his bike in the Himachal Pradesh and so Akhilesh, who has been on Bizination a few times, joined me on for the 150th. God seems to be feeling lonely and has called in for company of 3 greats in quick succession. We talk about Tiger Pataudi, Steve Jobs and Jagjit Singh passing away, Murthys comment on quality of IIT students and the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winners.
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Indicast # 151: Vrooom
Finally, after all these years, Formula One comes to India. Thankfully, the event went off without a glitch. Sebastian Vettel won it by a huge margin and saw Mayawati on the podium hand him the trophy. In other news, Metallica performed in Bangalore after its show was cancelled in Delhi due to a lapse in security. Meanwhile, the seventh billion baby was born. In cricket, three Pakistan players were convicted for spot fixing on a day when the Indian captain was given the title of Honorary Lt...
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Indicast # 149: Sikkim Rocked
This is an attempt to bring to our listeners a happier and less politically inclined episode of Indicast. We will make a conscious effort to have topics from a wider interest areas. This episode covers the Sikkim earthquake, Modi ending his fast, the DMIC mega project, Indias loss in Tennis Davis Cup, BCCI banning the Kochi franchise from IPL and our regular digressions.
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Indicast # 148: Graand Pricks
Barely a month had past since the Mumbai Serial blasts when the terrorist struck again. This time it was Delhi. Delhi is the latest entrant into the list of unresolved (yet) terror strike. Afghanistan and Pakistan also witnessed much large terror strike. The other topics that Abhishek & I discuss include Supreme Courts ruling in the Gulberg Society case, Amar Singh arrest, Ra.One marketing campaigns, Gautam Rajadhyksha death, and India winning the Hockey Asian Cup.
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Indicast # 147: Anna Lokpal Hazare
After being missing in action for over a month, we are glad to be back. The recent has had some big ticket happenings in India including Lokpal bill and India losing its #1 test ranking spot. Given the significance of the event, we spent most of the time talking about Anna Hazare's movement against corruption and discussed the key points only. Even that took about 20 minutes to cover. The other topics include India's test drubbing by England and 2011 sports awards.
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Indicast # 146: Mumbai again..
Mumbai went through another series of blasts leading to another pointless discussion on Indicast about it. Frankly, we are tired of talking about terrorism in India, especially Mumbai. We try to bring up several points about the blasts and not talk about the usual things. Minal, who is part of Indicast Sport podcast, joined us int his episode to tell her about us experience of being at Lords Cricket Stadium on Day 1 of India vs England Test. needless to say, we dragged her into things she...
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Indicast # 145: Dandi March Trivia
We decided to start this episode by running through the top stories during our absence and then come to this weeks newsmakers. The talking points this week include the treasure found at Sri Padmanbhaswamy Temple and its interesting legal aspects. We then moved on to talk about Ghulam Nabi Azad and his panache for getting into verbal trouble, Rahul Gandhi's PR Padyatra and Indicast's Mobile apps.
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Indicast #144:The Fourth Estate Murdered in Pakistan
Acclaimed Pakistani journalist, Saleem Shahzad was brutally murdered in Islamabad a few days after he wrote an opinionated article about the talks between Al Quida and the Pakistani Naval officials breaking down. Back home in India, Baba Ramdev chose to go on a fast unto death to fight against corruption. Angela Merkel visited India for a day and in sports, Afridi announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. India, on the other hand leaves for the West Indies tour with...
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Indicast #143:The Grand Ladies of Indian Politics
Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalitha shine in their respective states to win landslide victories. In this podcast, Aditya gives us a run down of state elections that is currently on in India. The biggest coup came from Mamata didi who ended the 34 year long Marxist regime in West Bengal where as Jayalalitha continued the cyclical phenomenon by toppling DMK in Tamil Nadu. In other news, we also talk a bit about the recently released diaries of Osama Bin Laden.
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Indicast #142: A deadly episode
The weekend Royal wedding festivities continued in some parts of the world when a confident, and emotionless Barack Obama declared that US had killed Osama in Pakistan. The incident has left Pakistan red faced since it always maintained that Osama was not in Pakistan. Some see this military operation as a blatant disregrad to Pakistan' sovereignty. As soon as the news hit India, Chidabaram was on it asking Pakistan to now hand over Dawood and Saeed Hafiz (26/11 strategist). But this seems...
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Indicast #141: The Lokpat Bill
Anna Hazare waited for a few days before he broke his fast. The Congress relented. In this podcast, we try and bring you what the Lokmat Bill means and why did Hazare press for it. In Sports, Sachin Tendulkar has been declared the Wisdens Leading Cricketer of the year. Pakistan plans to bring their own version of IPL amidst their captain Afridi making some interesting comments on India.
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Indicast #140: Anna Hazare, Take a Bow
Sanjeev Agarwal, the Joint CEO of Big Bazaar joins us to talk about his experience of watching India play at Mohali, Ahmedabad and finally at Mumbai where India lifted the World Cup trophy after 28 years. Anna Hazares fast unto death has finally succeeded in moving people in the parliament to come up with the Lokpal bill after a longer wait of 42 years. Aditya brings up a puberty related topic where our adolescents are getting bolder by the era.
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Indicast #139: India Vs Pakistan
India takes on Pakistan in the second semi final later today at Mohali. In the universal set of India and Pakistan, if set A were cricket and Set B were politics, then A intersection B is confusion, tension and a false sense of security. But we do rely on hope. In this podcast, we talk about this and more. Warren Buffet is in India. The DGCA spanking continues on pilots who have forged their way into the service. And Adityas better half makes her debut in a film titled Bal Gandharva which is...
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Indicast #138: Wiki Leaks aims at India
Wiki Leaks has found a new market. It is India. After tying up with The Hindu, it has released a few cables which accuse some of our politicians of selling votes for cash. Japan is still recovering from one of its worst nightmares after suffering from one of the biggest earthquakes of the century. Back home in India, Jairam Ramesh, our Environment Minister is gearing up to carry out a security check across all of Indias 20 nuclear plants. In other news, Vidharbha is the new Tiger capital of...
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Indicast #137: When will Aruna Shanbaug RIP?
Did you know that there were 18,000 Indians holed up in Libya about a week back. The Indian government is going all out to evacuate all Indians in the region as Col Gaddafi refuses to let go of his assumed control over Libya. Back home, Aruna Shanbaug lies in a vegetative state for 37 years running but sees a glimmer of hope as the court allows passive euthanasia in her case. We would love to know your views on euthanasia. Have you heard of a state stocking up on blood in anticipation of...
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Indicast #136: The JPC Jugaad
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh woke up to the din surrounding him and ordered a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the corruption scandals that have rocked the government in the past few months. The High Court has upheld its death penalty sentence on Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist who was involved in the 26th November attacks. The Cricket World Cup 2011 is here and the the official website entrusted with selling tickets to fans was overwhelmed when 10 million hits landed on the website in...
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Indicast #135: Can India have a Jasmine Revolution
Egypt showed the world how the common man can wake up and throw everything hes got against an oppressive regime. Aditya feels that India has reached its inflection point too. I beg to differ and the argument continues... In our neighbouring country, not all is well. Former president Musharraf has been accused of murdering Bhutto. In sports, the Cricket World Cup 2011 has begun. Who are you betting on
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Indicast #134: Pandit Bhimsen Joshi RIP
The legendary artist, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi passed away and Aditya recounts some of his experiences of watching Pandits live concerts. This week saw high profile exits of top CEOs from India as well as the US hopefully for the best. In some good news, India set up its first tidal plant in Gujarat. In politics, the Ekta Yatra orchestrated by BJP was predictably stopped in Jammu and Kashmir. In sports, Coke has poached Sachin from Pepsi and Gary Kirsten, argubaly India's best coach will call it...
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Indicast #132: The Year That was and what will be
2010 came and went. Aditya dubs it as the year of scams and names such as A Raja, Swami Nityananda, Nira Radia, Kalmadi, Chavan come to mind. But ironically, one man who made a tremendous mark on India is from the world of politics Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar. India probably had one of its best years in sports. In this episode, we celebrate our 5 years of tormenting and entertaining each one of you. Thanks for sticking with us. Spread the word.
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Indicast #133: The IPL Monty
With the World Cup only a month away, one would have thought that all TV ad spots would start advertising the biggest spectacle which is played once in four years, but IPL auctions stole the wind out of the World Cup with players being bought and sold in an open English auction. In other news, India is undertaking the biggest operation in the decade census and this time the transgenders have been recognised under the others category.
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Indicast #131: JPC demystified, sort of
It has been 2 weeks since our honorable members of Parliaments havent done anything productive. Parliament continues to be in suspended mode. Why? Opposition is asking for a JPC. What is a JPC? We had the same question, so we decided to dig deeper. In other stories, we talk about Arundhati Roy and Geelani to be arrested for Sedition (we explain Sedition too), Indian ranked 6th in terms of nuclear power generation capabilities and 600,000 dying due to passive smoking.
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Indicast # 130: The Corruption Continues
When an IAS officer is caught for corruption, it isn't a big deal, but when he uses encrypted language in his telephone conversations to cover up, we also get a trailer of the hilarious side of such crimes. Listen to know what we mean! The 2G license scam has banks having withdrawal symptoms. While Dalai Lama contemplates retirement, the pope approves selective condom use. In sports, Kumble and Srinath become the new face of Karnataka cricket.
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Indicast #129 - 2G, What an Idea, Sir ji
The episode covers the opinions on the 2G spam that has been reported in the CAG. Adding fuel to the fire, OPEN magazine leaked telephone taps which reveals the level of lobbying that happened while the cabinet portfolios were distributed. While politics dominated this episode, we managed to squeeze in cricket, BCCI contracts, and the latest American of Indian origin to make the news.
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Indicast #128: Obamania in Bombay
One of the biggest scams of 2010 unravel as the Adarsh Housing Colony in Colaba finds itself occupied by certain politicians and their kins. Obama visits India and the preparations are in full swing; Aditya who works in the heart of Bombay feels that we have added one more reason to the traffic jams - the Obama visit. In some good news, India comes tantalizingly close to eradicating polio. In Sports, Venkateshwara Hatcheries is betting big on an English Premier League team.
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Indicast #127 - India in UN Security Council
The Navratri and Durga festivals have ended along with the Common Wealth Games but, the action surrounding CWG seems to be heating up. CBI, Enforcement Directorate and several other investigation bodies are readying themselves for games. In other top news stories of the week, India got elected as a non permanent to the UN Security Council after 20 long years, Kerala police bust a gang of telemarketers, and Nirmohi Akhara and Muslim law board decide to take the Ayodhya issue to the supreme...
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Indicast #126 - Get your Aadhar
After a lot of negative press leading upto CWG, the opening ceremony has a bit hit. The jugaad worked, again. India has had a successful CWG campaign so far and are ranked 2nd in the medal tally behind Australia. The other topics discussed include Sachins and Laxmans exploit against Australia, launch of Project Aadhaar, and Indias billionaire list.
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Indicast #125 - Kalmadi steps up
Kalmadi, finally, stepped up and owned up to his responsibility with a few caveats about the money spent by the organizing committee but the bad press for CWG continues. The Ayodhya verdict is expected today and the government has taken the security concerns very seriously. Offices and schools plan to remain closed in anticipation of problems but does the Ayodhya issue really matter any anymore? In other topics, we discuss the unfortunate incident that killed 7 elephants, visa requirements...
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Indicast #124 - CWG mess
We might have missed the pakistan "spot fixing" saga and then the Gokulashtami celebration but are back in time for Ganpati. The recent Jama Masjid firing might just cause a dip in the collections at Mumbai's largest Ganesh mandal. The other stories include waiting for the decision on Ayodhya, CWG mess, Sania's faux pas, Mahesh Bhupathi's innovative tax planning and China making me thank for being an Indian. In the interest of avoiding further delays, we recorded the episode via cell phone...
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Indicast #123: Rebuilding Leh and Pakistan
This episode of Indicast starts on a rather sad note with the flood situation in Leh and Pakistan. The rescue efforts are in full swing in both places, but like most desperate situations the aid is still far from sufficient. The rest of the world is also facing a lot of heat due to climate change. The magnitude of news that the Commonwealth Games is churning has reaching new proportions with new scams and cases misappropriation of funds showing up.
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Indicast #122: Women in Bihar defy biology
We are back after a break and you might be getting a bit tired of us saying that over and over again. We missed a few important events like the world cup, and the pakistan peace talks breaking down for the nth time. However, we start with the new Indian rupee symbol, Bihar women fast tracking their pregnancies, Ministers by passing the gag order by Congress by taking to twitter and the active sports sections - Saina is #2 and Murli reached ends his test cricket with 800 wickets.
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Indicast #121 - Its Mamata Didi All the Way
Abhijit Dasgupta, the Deputy Editor of India Today Magazine was kind enough to join us on a Skype call from the beautiful city of Kolkata which is lately the cynosure of all Indian political news. Mamata Banerjee helped get WB on the front pages by winning the civic polls and two days before her landslide victory she made some rather controversial remarks about the Gyaneshwari Express train derailment. Abhijit, very eloquently talks about his experience of interviewing and covering the...
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Indicast #120 - Manmohan Meets the Press
The episode starts on a very sombre note with discussions around the Mangalore Air crash however the topics get a bit cheerful after that. On the occassion of completing one year of UPA II, the Indian PM Manmohan Singh decided to sit face to face with the press and provide an update about the work done. the other topics on this episode include, an All India bengali team conquering Mt Everest, Dawood 3rd on the Forbes Most Wanted List, and the 99 year old half marathon runner.
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Indicast #119 - In Fond Memory of "Nabindra" Tagore
It was the 150th Birth Anniversay of India's, for that matter - Asia', first Nobel Laureat. We start with remembering and talking about Rabindranath Tagore and a few side stories about his Life. We then digress to general opinions about Bengalis (hardly a surprise). The other topics include Jayram Ramesh getting pulled up by Manmohan Singh for mouthing off, Anand's winning streak, Nithari killer getting death sentence, and the death of tongas in Delhi.
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Indicast #118 - Kasab is Guilty
Terrorist Ajmal Kasab has been given the death sentence. Ujjwal Nikam, the public procecutor deserves a special mention. INS Shivalik marks a historic breakthrough in the history of Indian navy by becoming india's first stealth warship which is non detectable in high seas. Manmohan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar among many others find their name in TIME magazine's annual list of achievers. The Delhi University gave itself a bad name this week when it sold radioactive material to a scrap dealer!
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Indicast #117 - No Cheersgirls in IPL4
The IPL ended and so did Modi's regime. Chirayu Amin has been brought in as the interim chief of IPL. The Glocodyn man is thinking of doing away with Cheergirls and IPL nights and focus on cricket. (Modi is laughing somewhere). The other taopics include the 364 passenger having a near death experience and India's very own matahari.
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Indicast #116 - The Lalit Modi Saga Continues
We recorded this episode a day before Modi was suspended. This podcast also talks about how the Mobile service providers in India have found new ways to milk the devotional customers where you could directly connect with God through an SMS. Aditya has some interesting examples. In Jammu and Kashmir, the government almost succeeded in banning the use of bulk SMSs for the fear of spreading rumors which could cause unnecessary panic.
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Indicast #115 - The Maoist Massacre
This week was all about Sania Mirza becoming Sania Malik. Aditya gives us a crash course in islamic weddings. We also end up talking a bit about the concept of VOIP marriages which Aditya is strictly against. In some sad news, 76 CRPF jawans were killed by the maoists. Mr. Chidambaram offered to quit, but his resignation was not accepted. We hold ourselves back this time before going on a rant on criticizing the government. You will know why when you listen to the episode.
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Indicast #114 - Bhag Milkha Bhag
It's very rare for abhishek to get excited about any story that we discuss on Indicast with the exception of sachin scoring a century. But Milkha Singh selling his life story to be made into a movie for Re. 1 was something that got him going. He was so impatient that I spent most time figuring out how to get thim talking on other topics like the Kingfisher bomb scare, Mayawati's Maharally, and new teams being introduced in IPL 4.
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Indicast # 113: Rahul Bose Uncut
Here is a question for all you folks. See if you can crack it. What do you call a man who is an actor, screenwriter and director by profession, a sportsman who represented his country in one of the most physically demanding sports, a well informed social activist, a food lover, a stand up comedian and someone who describes himself as half Bengali, one fourth Maharastrian and one fourth Bengali by birth. Well, you can call the man Rahul Bose.Whether it is the Womens Reservation Bill which is...
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Indicast # 112: Sachin Tendulkar Plays God
The day started with all of us reading about the tragic death of more than 10 people living in Bangalore when an office building caught fire. One of our listeners from Bangalore, Lakshmikant joins in to give us the ground zero POV of the unfortunate event. Later in the day, Sachin made history by scoring the first double century in the history of One Day International cricket. Pune blasts toll reach 15 and Telangana state claimed the life of a 19 year old to suicide. In other news, schools...
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Indicast # 111: Mumbai Indians: Say it at Your Own Risk
Whats common between Rahul Gandhi, SRK, Mukesh Ambani and Sachin Tendulkars apart from their rather envious bank accounts Yeah, its not too hard to guess. Their strong affinity towards Shiv Sena and MNS. In other news, in Egypt, some Muslim Scholar issued a fatwa stating that a woman browsing a social networking site will be considered to be a sinner. Back home here in India, Rahul Mahajan is part of an interesting reality show.
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Indicast # 110: An Encore with Gul Panag
Some good soul has said that Having a good conversation is one of the great joys of being human And if it is coupled with the sustained charm, wit and energy of Gul Panag, you are in for a treat. A big shout out to Gul who did an encore of sorts by firing away on topics ranging from the controversial Padma Shree awards to the relevance of National awards in todays context. For a self confessed cricket un-fan, Gul was pretty vocal about the non selection of the Pakistani players in the IPL....
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Indicast # 109: Delhi Fogged Out!
Sidin, the Managing Editor of LiveMint.com joined us to talk a bit about his forthcoming book, Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese and a bit more about the Chetan Bhagat controversy which has found a lot of newspaper space lately. This podcast was free-flowing (uh another way of saying that we were all over the place). We spoke about how beautifully the Indian Hockey Federation is handing its hockey players demands by breaking new records in unprofessionalis
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Indicast # 107: The Copenhagen What?
One venue: Copenhagen. 192 countries. One goal To reduce carbon emissions which isnt doing any good to the climate. The Copenhagen accord was reached after rigourous debate among representatives of 192 countries. Whats it all about? You tell us if you have figured it out so far. Back home in India Congress has sanctioned the formation of a new state Telangana and in Gujarat, the Panchayat elections will now be made compulsory. In cricket, India and Sri Lanka give each other a run for their...
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Indicast # 106: Bhopal - 25 Years and still waiting
25 years after the biggest man made tragedy and the victims are still on the streets fighting another tragedy the government. The Bhopal Gas tragedy completed 25 years and people out there are still hoping to receive fair compensation for the genocide that was caused due to a gas leak from a Multinational company. The absenteeism in the parliament is at a new time high. In soprts, India are world number one in cricket and Tiger woods beats all records off the field this time .
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Indicast #108 - Ending 2009
The last episode and week of the year 2009 and infact the decade was full of controversies and dejections. Starting from Sheila Dixits prayer for a successful CWG to 86 year old Governor beging serviced at Raj Bhavan. Any case, keep listening in the upcoming decade.
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Indicast # 105: Indian Judiciary in Permanent...
Some would say 17 years is a long time for a report to be publised especially if its a judgement coming from the Supreme Court for a genocide like a riot which killed 2000 people (reported figures) in the Babri Maszid riot (read: pogrom). 26/11 is one year old now and Maharashtra has set up a Special Task Force called Force 1 for combating any terror strikes. In another news, pilgrimage places are becoming sex hot spots. The biggest exam in town, CAT goes online and sends servers crashing.
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Indicast # 104: Sachin Aala Re All Over Again
When two Sachin fans get together to talk about Him, you might expect a rather one sided conversation, but Aditya surprised me with his take on the recent unintended controversy that Sachin kicked off in the midst of his 20 years of international cricket which was spiced up a little bit with his seemingly innocent and matter of fact remark about Mumbai being a part of India and that it belongs to everyone equally. In other news, in the assembly elections, MNS MLAs beat up Abu Azmi for not...
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Indicast # 103: The Great Indian Congress Coup
The General Elections results are out and Congress is back in power in major states. Aditya describes his experience of watching Rahul Gandhi deliver a speech in Adityas home town, Panvel. In other news, Rajdhani Express was hijacked by Maoists but the only relief was that no one was hurt. In education, Kapil Sibal makes it even more difficult to get into an IIT college in India. ISRO and IAF are fighing a healthy battle to send a representative into outer space.
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Indicast 102 # Obamania all Over Again!
Happy Diwali Folks. In this unusually lighthearted episode, we talk about Adityas voting experience in the recently concluded state elections. Then we move on to talk about a very serious issue of Obama winning himself an Oscar. Or was it a Nobel? In Sports, Serena Williams posed nude for the body issue of ESPN magazine. Somewhere in India, a couple was asked to tie a rakhee because the Village Panchayat did not approve their love.
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Indicast #101: Moilys Mission Document
We start our 101st episode by talking about how the Indian cricket team was knocked off from the Champions trophy in the second round itself. But we were a bit more fascinated with Kirsten who wanted to use sex as a weapon against other countries, but failed. In other news, 100 Indian pilots demand for VRS scheme and our PSUs are draining Rs. 31,000 crore every year. ISRO brings a smile to all our faces by launching 7 satellites in 1200 seconds.
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Indicast #100: Gul Panag Uncut
Indicasts much awaited episode #100 is here and its in video as promised. Gul Panag was kind enough to join us in the fracas and add to it! The episode is probably the lengthiest episode of Indicast but its worth every minute.
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Indicast # 99: India's Sports Week
The last week was an exciting one for Indian sports. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati went head to head in the US Open. In billiards, Pankaj Advani made history. In cricket, India beat New Zealand in the tri series being played in Lanka. In other news, in real estate, a 3000 Sq feet house in Mumbai was sold for a paltry Rs. 38 crore. An Hitler ad was taken off air because it was derogartory (to whom, we wonder). The political party, RSS changes its stand on BJP.
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Indicast # 98: Go Force India Go!
With Force India finishing second in the Belgian Grand Prix, the news was awash with the first "Indian" team to have made it big in the Formula 1 circuit and Aditya in his sarcastic way opines about the so called Indianess of the victory. Back home, the government has rejected to invest in the 2011 Formula 1 track that Vijay Mallya is aiming for on the grounds that Formula 1 is not sport, but entertainment. In other sports news, we had Sania Mirza advancing in the second round of the US open...
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Indicast # 97: The Beauty Called Ladakh
This episode is dedicated to Ladakh and it's magnificent beauty. It is said that this is the only place where you can get a frostbite and a sunburn at the same time. 14 of us did this trip on bikes and a car and it was memorable. In this episode, we end up talking about why it is one place to be visited before we die. In other stories, we had the unfortunate event of Swine flu in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. Ganpati is here and we belive that over the years, the Ganesh Chaturthi festival is...
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Indicast # 96: Has Omar Abdulla pulled off a Shiney...
Omar Abdulla, the youngest CM of Jammu and Kashmir resigned from his post after being accused of being part of a sex scandal sometime back in 2006. Our illustrious politicians have many crimes to their name, but if Omar is proven guilty, it'll be hard for him to comeback considering that it's not murder or burglary. In another news, our Power minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde has optimistic hopes of 'Power to all' by 2012. In Sports, the 37 year old Lance Armstrong finishes on the podium of the...
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Indicast # 95: An Eclipse of a Lifetime
The odds of Bihar being in the world spotlight are a million to one. An eclipse made it possible. NASA declared a small town named Taregna in Bihar as the best place to witness what was the longest and one of the most beautiful sights in the sky. Planed earth experienced a complete solar eclipse on July 23. Back on the ground, the Continental Airline has been taken to task because some ground crew member had the audacity to frisk our former president, APJ Kalam. Outside in France, Sarkosy...
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Indicast # 94: Calling Panipat
Dr Manmohan Singh is a natural remedy for sleep disorders, says a western journalist and we couldn't help but comment on that as our PM is back from an overnight visit from Paris where he attended the French National Day Parade as the the chief guest. In politics, the Supreme court has given clearance to Mayawati to erect those statues costing crores of rupees. Aditya has strong opinions on this one. Also, we call in our listener to discuss a rather amusing story of Air India stuffing in...
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Indicast # 93: Happy to be Gay?
No one knew about Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code until the High Court fished it out, amended it and the media splashed it on prime time and front pages. Section 377 stated that no man or woman could engage in sexual activity which is against the order of nature. This archiac law was finally amended by the High Court and in this episode, we mull about how big a deal is it really? The Kargil War completes its 10th anniversary and in another international news, Bernie Madoff is sentenced...
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Indicast # 92: A Statue State
She might be the chief minister of one of the poorest state in India but that doesn't mean the state has no money to splurge. Mayawati in on a statue inaugration binge which has now been challenged in the Supreme Court. In other news, we talk about the Below Poverty Lines stats that have been anounced, Nandan Nilekani joining as a cabinet minister, Afzal Guru mercy plea, and ICC's attempt to make tests interesting. But the highlight of this episode is the Lalu and Mayawati joke by Abhishek.
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Indicast #91: Empty your wallets
Indians are once gain reminded about how how diverse the country is. While North India was undergoing a heat wave, the South eastern country was washed away by heavy rains. In the other significant news, we talk about our plans for the upcoming 100th episode of Indicast. We are looking forward to some generous financial support this time from you and hope that you empty your wallet for a good cause. IN other news. we talk about India's T20 exit, new lady Lok Sabha speaker, and what's up...
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Indicast #90: Indian Attacked
There is a new trend in Australia - Beat the Indians. Until a month ago, it was only on the cricket field but now its on the street. Indian students are being targetted and beaten up in hate crimes. While this is going on in Australia, Indian Sikhs are killing each other in Austria. As a result people went crazy in Punjab and caused damages worth Rs. 7000 crores that too in recessionary times. Other topcis include Afzal Guru mercy plea, air traffic woes, Cabinet ministers and other ramblings
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Indicast #89: Singh really is King
Congress scores a big win in the World's largest democratic election. It no longer depends on any of its alliance parties to keep it in Power but will that mean better and sensible governance remains to be seen. In the other big news, LTTE chief Prabharakaran has been killed by Sri-lankan. We talk about what the LTTE has given the world. You will be surprised to know that the list is pretty interesting.
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Indicast #88: The Bofors Deal
We made a passing reference to Bofors deal in the last episode which made a research it a bit and thought that it would be good to talk about what the big deal about it was and sub inspector has been punished for possibly doing his job. Other topics include women topping the UPSC exams this year, and ISI training women for terrorism.
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Indicast #87: Giving democracy the finger
After all the drama and ruckus created by the Mumbaiites post 26/11, it was a no show on election day. Only 43% of us decided to vote while the rest most probably enjoyed a long weekend but a few voters in Madhya Pradesh decided to cast a "no-vote". This episode also covers the suprising death of the man who discovered pebbles in Ambani's helicopter, how the slowdown has resulted in the increase in UPSC applications, and why a tigress in Ranthambore was conferred the Lifetime achievement...
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Indicast #86 The Democracy Drama Begins
The performers are ready. The biggest democracy drama is set to unveil itself. In this podcast we wonder what it would be like if Advani and Dr Manmohan Singh were to debate aka Obama and Mc Cain. But then we have Mulayam Singh Yadav wanting to ban English in schools since it soils our culture. In another news, a son kills his dad for voting for a wrong party .And IPL has kicked off and Bhajji and Dhoni are in the news for other reasons
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Indicast #85 - Huge Election Problems in Meghalaya
Continuing our election updates, BJP released its election manifesto containing all the things that they would do if elected and how did congress react? Congress says that 70% of the manifesto has been ripped from UPA's manifesto. Also, you know that its election time when a leader choses to address the a rally through his cell phone. The other updates include Karnatak topping the list of voters ready to sell their votes for cash, Pooja Chopra winning the Miss India 2009, Kasab getting a...
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Indicast # 83: When Ragging Kills
India celebrated Holi just like any other year, but this time with some organic flavour. After the bomb blasts less than a fortnight ago, Pakistan is confident of hosting cricket matches by the end of this year. Aditya opines that Pakistan has bigger problems and that list is endless. India is not making any healthy headlines either. A 19 year old lost his life to careless college ragging. In cricket, India beat New Zealand and Sehwag became the fastest Indian to score a century in an ODI....
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Indicast # 82: The Strange case of our Neighbours
Pakistan cricket must have stepped closer to its grave with the recent brutal attempt to assassinate the touring Lankan team. Taliban, like a malignant tumor is spreading across Pakistan and the government seems helpless which does not bode too well for India. Back home, the election dates have been announced, but India doesn't surprise the educated world by coming up with options like one Ansari who has a string of legal charges going against him (or for him) on his resume.
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Indicast #81 : When politics gets entertaining
While Obama took office in the US, the Indian politics was having a ball of a time in amusing its citizens. What is the former Indian captain, Azaruddin doing in Indian politics, you may ask, but when Sanjay Dutt's wife Manyata is rumored to contest for Samajwadi Party, nothing seems weird. On a more hopeful note, our martyrs were awarded Ashoka Charkra on Independence Day for showing unparalled courage fighting the terrorists. Slumdog millionaire has made it to almost all possible award...
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Indicast #80 : Satyam Fraud - Ordinary people doing...
2009 has started off with what might turn out to be the largest scam in India Inc's history. Raju revealed how ordinary people can do extraordinary things just like Satyam's website mention. But the week had some positive news with AR rahman winning at the Golden Globe for his work in SlumDog Millionaire. Talking about people in Bollywood, SRK has been listed as the 41st most influential person in the world and Sanjay Dutt has finally decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a...
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Indicast #79 : Top Indian Stories in 2008
As we get into the new year, we look back at 2008 and talk about the significant events that took place. Sadly, the negative events dominated 2008 and we really had to look for something that cheered us up in the year gone by.
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Indicast # 78: A Scar is Born
A wounded tiger is far more dangerous than a hungry one. India has lived this cliche for a long time now, but only to the extent of being hungry and wounded. It is far from dangerous; in fact, if you listen closely, you might hear some whimpering. It has been a fortnight since the terrorists ripped through Mumbai. Since then, the Taj has been rebuilt; Trident announced that it will be reopening soon, the CST is back to being a host to millions of people daily and our politicians do not have...
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Indicast # 77: Spirit of Mumbai can take a walk
It's an epidemic of sorts now. It struck again. It lasted for 60 hours. Mumbai bled. As viewers stitched to the TV set like umbilical chords, it was psychologically draining to watch the footage of Hemant Karkare readying himself to take control before he was shot dead with two other ranking cops Salaskar and Kamte, to see the deserted CST station daubed in red, to stare at the burning Taj as the our men with woefully inadequate infrastructure brought it to an end. Amid the chaos,...
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Indicast # 76: Not Every Dog has his Day
With companies going bust and countries filing for bankruptcy, newspapers are hunting for less cliched headlines. One story from NYT caught our attention. It claimed that pets are not recession proof. People who cannot afford to pay their rents are now forced to abandon their pets! In Sports, Sachin Tendulkar gave us a reason to celebrate his world record of scoring the highest number of runs in test match cricket. We cheered for Arvind Adiga who won himself the prestigious Man Booker Prize...
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Indicast # 75: Platinum's here!
It's been about three years now and it has been fun all along. Here's a huge shoutout to all you folks out there from across the world who have stayed with us and helped us through your comments (both nasty and encouraging!). Until this episode, we didn't know how countries could go bankrupt. Back home, Maharashtra government decided to sort of legalise the live in relationship model where the woman will be eligible for alimony (conditions apply, of course!). Our beloved dada, Saurav Ganguly...
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Indicast # 74: Free Falling!
The American stock markets are in the mood for some adventure. On their way down the cliff, they brought the Indian Sensex to one of its all time lows in the past two years. While in one news, India is all set to sign the Indo American nuclear agreement, in another, the Government has declared a nationwide smoking ban in India. Mamata Banerjee successfully tests Ratan Tata's patience and gets the better of him. The One lakh car project gets delayed. India which has been known for its...
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Indicast # 73: It's a Gold!
China can make cheap goods. We all know that. What we did not know was that China could host the biggest event on the face of the earth in the grandest form ever imagined. We are of course talking about the Olympics which brought us all good news. Heck India won the first individual Olymipic Gold medal in 108 years. Abhinav Bindra, Vijendar Kumar, Sushil Kumar and Akhil Kumar covered the front pages. This podcast is dedicated to all sport lovers. Er we also digressed just a wee bit to talk...
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Indicast # 72: Of book worms and crazy politicians
While India battles double digit inflation, our politicians find a unique way to protest against the increasing fuel prices, but the plan hilariously backfires! While in one story, a small time waiter works his ass off to clear the UPSE exams, another intelligent kid tops the IIT entrance test only to flee his hometown due to the paparazzi pressure. Shiv sena now wants to enter the hearts of the ordinary Mumbaikar by selling vada pavs. Aditya is not too happy with the air hostesses from...
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Indicast # 71: Big B Blog
Big B has a new meaning now. Amitabh has a blog now and he receiving a response similar to Aamir Khan's Blog . Moving on, Who say's money cant buy happiness? With the growing affluence, atleast in the urban areas, a lot of single women have cut the middle man. The sex toy business in brazil is taking off and the same business in India is seeing a surge too. Although, the goods are legally not allowed to be sold but are easily accessible in grey market. Also, while "researching" Abhishek...
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Indicast # 70: Want a gun license
We cover the awesome stories submitted by our beloved listener, Anuj and encourage you to send us stories too using this page (needs you to be logged in). The episode starts with Gujrat being a dry state and then we spent sometime talking about the great indian pot belly followed by how Shivpuri district is giving out gun licenses for people who agree to get a vasectomy done. Believe it or not but its true. Abhishek and I talk about our mixed feeling for the IPL. I believe it's all money and...
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Indicast # 69: Sixth Pay Commission
Episode number 69 is here with lot of stories from India as well as a few weird stories from the UK. The sixth pay commission report dominates the episode after the stories about the rising divorce rates and then make a segway into US wanting hindi teacher. The railway cops have got a new revenue stream and are coning people into getting them to pay for having porn on their cell phone which is not illegal.
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Indicast # 68: Shame on Mumbai
The episode starts with us being proud of a countryman who gave his life just a day after getting sena medal and then how Mumbai was ashmed over the actions of a Mumbai based political party lead by Raj Thackeray. Cabbies, bhelpuriwallas were brutally beaten up by MNS party worker for being norh Indian! Then to make matters worse for the reputation of gurgaon, a 100 cr Kidney scam has been unearthed. We thought these heavy topics were enough for this episodes and moved on to some lighter...
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Indicast # 67: Republic day honours
India celebrates another Republic Day. It was a marathon day with eminent personalities like being showered with Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan. An NGO finds another innovative way to fight corruption in India. Adam Gilchrist, the prolific entertainer and a great sportsman retires from Test match cricket. And in this era of reality shows, lets get ready for a reality sex show as well!
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Indicast # 66: Wedding Bells Ring at Indicast
Hello and welcome to a whole New Year! The last few days of the last year were eventful and Aditya gives us a run down of he getting married in phool to Maharashtrian istyle! How different was his wedding from that of his elder brother? How many hours of poojas did he clock? Aditya willingly answers many more questions like these. The previous year belonged to women like Pratibha Patil, Shilpa Shetty and Rakhee Sawant. This episode is a special one is dedicated to all you guys for being...
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Indicast #65: Scary Modi
This week the Bollywood Movie Aaja Nachale was banned because it hurt the sentiments of a few people. So nothing new there! Mumbai is jumping on to the energy conservation bandwagon as it declares a black out on Dec 15. We urge all those who are in Mumbai to join in. And in some intimidating news, the Gujrat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi is blunt with his words and scares us all with his speeches. Aditya is all set to start his family and he has a few questions for all you guys at the fag...
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Indicast # 64: The Taslima Nasreen Saga
Aditya mourns the loss of his Apple Mac laptop which was stolen in broad day light! He takes us through an interesting journey of filing the complaint with the humble Mumbai Police. Bada Bhai, Anil Kumble wins his first test captaining India. Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi author currently in exile in New Delhi has nowhere to go and we talked about what the big deal about it is. We would like to know your take on it as well. Mumbai Marshals have taken the onus onto themselves and the...
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Indicast #63 : Is Benazir available?
This diwali, the fireworks industry had to do some rebranding. Govt said no more cracker named after gods. Diwali also brought with it 2 big super hyped movies and both of them failed to impress the masses. Also, did you know About Actor's Day? We also touched upon the things happening in Pakistan and the destruction of cultural relics in the Swat district. As usual we digressed and somehow started discussing Bhutto's marital status!! Dont know how we got there!! Listen to know more..
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Indicast #62: Spiritual Business and Commercial Politics
The podcast begins with our favourite topic- cricket and then we get into how Sri Sri Ravi shankar was present at ET awards and also about the growing trend about political leader signing book deals.
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Indicast #61: Pay your debts
Talking on a cell phone can now land you behind bars in Mumbai. Also recently the loan recovery agents have been in the news for the wrong reasons and did you know that you will have ATMs on trains too. What for? Dont ask.
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Indicast # 60: Succession Planning
The story that got buried by the India team's victory was about the succession planning by congress. Abhishek believes that congress has made their move by giving more responsibilities to Rahul Gandhi who will most probably be ready to take on the Indian Prime ministership in the next term. We also discuss about a landmark in space history, launch of the Sputnik , completing 50 years. A race that the Soviet Union won hands down by sending a beeping ball like satellite around the world. In...
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Indicast # 59: India relives 1983
I didn't think I would live to tell this tale to my grandchildren, said a 73 year old from Dharavi slum in Mumbai. Cricket kindles interest among all classes and cuts through all castes here in India. The youngest and the most inexperienced team of the tournament won it. While Pakistan put a brave effort, India won it in the end! In hockey, the players have finally spoken up against the mistreatment meted out to them for years! In Nepal, they have found a novel way to fix their Boeing's...
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Indicast #58: Ganpati is back
It's Ganpati time and abhishek can't get enough sleep because of Himesh Reshammiya. Pune Municipal Corporation has taken a firm stance by asking the 2000 odd Ganesh Mandals to pay up for the damage to the roads, Mumbai should follow the precedent. In other stories, The Twenty20 is on and the 3 hour cricket format is becoming a huge success. We have some random news about what women perceive kissing as opposed to men and Kurkre is goign to UK.
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Indicast #56: Sanju Baba returns
God must have choreographed Sanjay Dutt's release from the Yerwada jail in Pune where he was slated to languish for six years. The Supreme Court granted the actor an interim bail for dubious reasons! While Sanjay Dutt feeds the headlines for newspapers, Shibu Soren, the former Union Coal minister has been acquitted for a crime for which he was accused in 1994 for lack of "enough" evidence. In another story, the media blamed Orkut for the murder of a 16 year old. Cricket made news for non...
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Indicast #55: 60 and getting sexier
At the stroke of the midnight hour, India turns 60! We do not dwell upon what India has achieved and what it lacks. You'll get that in the newspapers! On the eve of the Independence day, while Rahul Dravid celebrates a series win against England, another celebrity, Sanju baba will cheer for India from the Yerwada jail in Pune where he is serving a sentence. Indicast now allows you to leave a voice message for us! Just drop in a word (literally)!
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Indicast #54: Madam President
This episode covers everything from our new woman president, Pratibha Patil is India's first woman president! While India finds another reason to celebrate what has been one of the most eventful presidential elections which is normally a dull affair, we wonder whether she would be able to pull of a few stunts that our former prez, Abdul kalam did (Read: oldest co-pilot). We also talk about the richest man on earth (nopes, not Gates anymore) to how to get yourself a job as a condom tester!
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Indicast #53 - Wah Taj
US senate was disrupted yesterday for having Hindu prayer reciting the senate's invocation prayer. Taj is voted as one of the seven wonders of the world. But is it really? Abhishek says Indians dont deserve it. Rock stars have $1 million ferrari. Big deal, US astraunauts shit in $19 Million camode . Who rocks now!!
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Indicast # 52 : President of India
It's Rain time in Mumbai and the city is already fealing the heat! (ironically!) While rains disrupted most of the city's roads, it was the chilly weather of Ireland that got to 9 Indian cricket players . Oops! Back in India, the presidential elections is gaining momentum like never before and USA is warming up for its prez candidates as well! While Sunita Williams returned from her 195 day expedition in space, Aditya wonders why is India celebrating her success! In sports, Lewis Hamilton ,...
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Indicast Episode # 51: The Great Indian Summer
Listen to know the heat wave that has struck North India. The 12th results are out and everyones running across to get admitted in the best of colleges. Some are busy collecting caste certificates! Also, in cricket, India is making news.... for non-cricketing reasons... Again!!!
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Indicast Episode # 50: India unbound
Singh is King!! and more insights from our Kullu Manali visit. Check out the photos of the coolest things we came across.No Tobacco Day : May 31st! Dave Whatmore - The new Indian cricket coach!
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Indicast Episode # 49: We are like this only
Sakshi Juneja, the celebrity blogger from Desidabba joins us on the eve of our 50th episode. She also happens to be a huge Rakhi Sawant fan and is an unabashed PR machine for Rakhi on the cyber space. Listen to know more!!! India is a place with a universe of possibilities. 'We are like that only' is a phrase that works well for India, but, not so much when a father rapes his 13 year old daughter and is granted bail for 'technical reasons'! And when they add people on the VIP list who can...
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Indicast Episode # 48: Go do your Homework!
While Richard Gere chose to kiss Shilpa Shetty on stage, as if on cue, the Shiv Sainiks played their "Indian Culture" card and burned effigies of the celebrities. I wonder where they got posters of Richard Gere. While Shiv sainiks were only doing their job, we think aloud why does the Indian media whore itself time and again! If you have some answers, please enlighten us!
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Indicast Episode # 47: Lets talk about Sex
earing that Sex education will corrupt young minds, the state Govt. has put a ban to all constructive efforts towards educating young minds about sex.Load Shedding in Maharashtra has reached new heights! To keep Mumbai awake 24X7, other parts of the state are sweating it out in the sweltering weather. And Aditya and I are not too happy about it! Listen to know more
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Indicast Episode # 46: India World Cup Debacle
Dare not talk about Cricket in India. You will be taxed. I guess, sania mirza is our only sporting hope now. And even that being very hopeful! But a good thing that happened was that Manjunath's murderers get the death sentence. I would like to see that on Youtube. May manjunath rest in peace.
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Indicast Episode # 45: Cricket World Cup 2007 Live
Another world is just round the corner and we announce our plans for it. Also Aditya getting is getting married and alll indicast listeners are invited. Budget talk, why is railway budget held on a seperate day than the union budget? Find out and tell us.
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Indicast Episode # 44: Indian and Air India Merger
Indibloggies results are out and Indicast has been adjudged as The Podcast of the Year! This episode is dedicated to all you guys who made it happen!!! It features all the stories that you submitted over the fortnight. We hope we've done justice to all!
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Indicast Episode # 43: Tata Corus Deal
Project England worked out pretty well for Tata as CSN lost the 9 round bidding war. Abhishek gives us the complete low-down on what ever happened with the deal. We also spent sometime talking about the Ranji Final where almost almost half of the Indian cricket team had descended. Geofferey boycott, Vinod Kambli, Vengsarkar, Tendulkar family, and Rahul Dravid played a cameo apperance as well...For the first time, We rant about technology. How could microsoft disable the Office 2007 beta...
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Indicast Episode # 42: Indibloggies
Sachin's back in form and peaking at the right time. He has always had a good time at the world cups and I guess this world cup is going to be business as usual for him. Mean while, Abshishek's name is missing from the voter list even though he has a voter registration. So he couldn't get a say in democracy this time. My parents had to go through the same during the elections as well. Debashish Chakraborty joined us on Indicast as a guest to tell us all about Indibloggies. Indibloggies were...
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Indicast Episode # 41: SRK KBC, Kaccha ya Pakka?
After a long weekend and the Republic Day Celebrations, we got together to record an episodes with opinions on the latest thats happening on the Idiot box. While I like SRK's KBC style, my dad's not happy with his hugs and massages for the contestants. Amitabh would never do that is his arguement. KBC probably has the most product placements that I have seen ever. Is it a good thing though? Besides that, I loved the song SRK's KBC song
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Indicast Episode # 40: Hutch to Big Brother
Welcome to the fastest Indicast Episode! You may hear a few horns and disturbances on your way to the last minute coz Aditya is in a cafe using "chori ka wi-fi"!!! The story of the week has been how Hutchison Telecom like a lump of jaggery has attracted ants from all corners of the globe! Essar, Reliance, hinduja, Vodafone all want to taste some success in the telecom sector and Hutchison is enjoying the attention. We predict a bidding war and Mr. Li, the owner has all reasons to be happy!...
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Indicast Episode # 39: Can India be Pro-oogle?
Google has been named as the best company to work for on this planet... Free food, massage, unlimited sick leaves, and that's only a start...Can India inculcate a google like culture in one of its companies? Aditya thinks the Indian mobile market is over hyped and well, I think otherwise! Our Podcast turns out to be a mini debate between the two of us and we decided to release it as it is! We also discuss why the concept of Ring Tone is so amusing! And why can they can get to your nerves!..A...
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IndiCast Episode # 38 - The Ardh Kumbh Mela!!!
This episode is one of the breezy ones which covers everything from the kumbh mela in India to why Tiger Woods may be charged with performance enhancing surgery! We also talk about our favourite topic, the aviation industry and why can't our airlines land when fog hits the sky when aircrafts across the world comfortably land on a lesser known airport in Tibet under near zero visibility conditions.
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IndiCast Episode # 37 - 2006 Year End
We dedicate this episode to the year 2006 which has been a record of sorts for India! We pick the best and the worst stories of the year and keep it simple. Business, Politics, Sports, Sensex, Aviation, Munnabhai, Saurav dada, the highs, the lows of India in 2006. Listen, enjoy and a bear hug to all you listeners for being with us! A happy new year.
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IndiCast Episode # 36 - A Medley
India is making NEWS for the right and the wrong reasons. We discuss business, politics, and cricket in this episode. SRK, Big B, Sanju baba, Greg Chappel, Wal Mart, TATA, et al
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IndiCast Episode # 35 - Justice: Open your Eyes!
If doctors take the Hippocratic oath vowing ethical practice of medicine, do Lawyers have a similar oath? Professionally, the 77 year old criminal lawyer, Ram Jethmalani has every right to defend Manu Sharma. But, does his profession see client above truth and justice? You tell us.
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IndiCast Episode # 34 - Indian Farmers Vs. Life
We at Indicast try to figure out the reason behind the death epidemic and more importantly what can be done to avert the crisis. There are a million unanswered questions. We'll leave it at that. You guys decide what to make of it.
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IndiCast Episode # 33 - The Great Indian Festival
Indicast celebrates one year!!! Indicast style salaam to all our listeners who have stayed with us throughout! Keep those comments coming in. We love em all. Also, we have created a record of sorts in this podcast. It is one of those pacy episodes with a file size that wont annoy you! It is that time of the year when India gets a face lift literally. The festival of lights and fire crackers lightens up the country. And with it comes sweets and the faral! Diwali shopping is a trend which all...
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IndiCast Episode # 32 - Arranged Marriages
Our first podcast with both of us sitting face to face...so it definitely was weird to begin with but we eased up as time passed . We start with a few HR issues that start ups like ours face. Belated Gandhijayanti and a very Happy Dry Day!! Whats up with national holiday's being Dry Days? We consistently digress from one topic to the next and have maintained the tradition in this podcast as well...An arranged marriage is a marriage where the marital partners are chosen by others based on...
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IndiCast Episode # 31 - Gandhigiri, Bole toh non-violence
Gandhi. Poora naam, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Munnabhai, the cult Indian movie has injected a dose of Gandhigiri in India. A nation of billion people is bombarded with news from all media vehicles on how Gandhigiri rocks in todays world of deception. Gandhi had moved a nation to action through his out of the box style of protests against the British non-violence and integrity being his weapons of choice. Munnabhai relives Gandhian philosophy in the 21st Century. We at Indicast try to...
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IndiCast Episode # 30 - Ganapati Bappa Moriya!
Ganapati Bappa Moriya! Thats the mantra in India for the week. There is no festival which is celebrated with more pomp and vigour than the Ganesh Chaturti. People from all age groups participate in programmes to exhibit their talent on millions of different stages across the country. India is immune to blaring loudspeakers at 12:30 in the night during these 10 days! Bal Thakrey is in the news again. Hang on. Dont have any pre conceived notions. This time, he is in the NEWS for the right...
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IndiCast Episode # 29 - For God, Country and Mahim Cola!
The Gods must be crazy! Well, that's what a rational man in his right minds would say to his god fearing friend if the latter were to believe in the "Mahim Sweet-Water Miracle"! We, at Indicast are God fearing men as well, but, we fear science as much as we do God! There is a thin line between science and supernatural and we are careful not to disappoint God by believing in his "miracles" blindly! 20th August, 2006 marked the end of an era. Narayan Murthy, the founder and now, Chief Mentor...
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IndiCast Episode #28 - Cola v/s Tea
Damn! They spend millions in advertising and nobody seems to care. And, now, suddenly they breed a few bacteria in their products and the country sits up to take notice! Well, I don't know whether advertising helps increase sales, but, negative publicity can sure hinder sales! Pepsi and Coke, the notorious giants are in the News again. In this episode we have mentioned a few statistics from the CSE reports and a few other blogs. It wasn't hard to conclude that it is far safer to have a glass...
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IndiCast Episode #27 -B-school ranking farce
An MBA is the "in thing" in India among the "eager minds of tomorrow". We are not complaining. We hold that degree too. What we are against is the unprofessional methods of conditioning these eager minds to pick one B School from the other by publishing half baked survey reports based on perceptions and sheer lack of homework.
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IndiCast Episode #26 -Mumblast
Hope. It's a funny word, isn't it? it's valium for some and marinjuna for others. It's dope. It's contagious. It spreads. It's an inspiration. Mumbai is on it... because it doesn't have a choice... because it can't afford a nervous breakdown. Mumbai is hurt. It is seething. We hope it is not immune. We hope some day we all will start asking questions. We hope that we, mumbaikars stop taking ourselves for granted and not just "Move on".
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IndiCast Episode #25 - World of Dabbawala
When it comes to supply chain, only God can beat em. But, we couldnt interview God. So, we spoke to the second in command, Mr. Raghunath Medghe, the President of the Dabbawala Association, Mumbai. Following is an excerpt from an article from the Forbes Magazine: Mumbai's "tiffinwallahs" have achieved a level of service to which Western businesses can only aspire. "Efficient organization" is not the first thought that comes to mind in India, but when the profit motive is given free rein,...
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IndiCast Episode #24 - Shashi and Rakhee
We are back after a long time. Blame it on my laptop which completed its 5th Anniversary and I had to gift it with a new Hard Disk and adorn it with a few accessories. Yeah, it was a costly affair, but, what the heck? We are back! Thank you for all the comments and the patience! "I am a cheerleader, I am a promoter, I am a salesman, I am a debt collector, I am a father confessor and there are other aspects I still have to discover," Annan has said in describing his job. Will Shashi Tharoor...
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IndiCast Episode #23 - Democracy, my ass
Today, I walked past waiting patients to the quadrangle at the heart of AIIMS, where striking doctors prepare to go hungry for another night. There were candles all around, remnants of a quiet vigil from an hour ago. Little groups of students huddled everywhere, some on benches, others stretched out on red carpets in the centre of the ground. Around them, strung up everywhere, are banners. There's a joke painted on one. It's about Manmohan Singh telling George W Bush of a plan to send...
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IndiCast Episode #22 - Plagiarism
One fine morning, the 19 year old Harvard sophomore, Kaavya Vishwanathan wrote a book, got rich, got famous, and then, got caught. While she seems to have been only "inspired" by one of her favourite authors and that the similarities between her book, 'How Opal Mehta Got kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life' and Sophie Kinsella's 'Can You Keep a Secret' were only coincidental, we at indicast discuss the fine line between inspiration and plagiarism. The NGO that we researched about this week is by...
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IndiCast Episode #21 - Mahajan dies
With the summer season at its peak, this May, has been an eventful one for the shining brand called 'India'. In the past couple of years, India has appeared in more publications and magazines across the world than it has in the past 8-10 years put together! Was India built in a day? We discuss India and its tryst with fame in this episode.
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IndiCast Episode #20 - Load shedding
The summer has always been hot but this time around adding fuel to the fire is the daily load shedding ritual for about 3 hours. I have heard stories where 8 hour load shedding has become a norm. So we decided to take that topic up and present our views on it. I tried hard but couldnt help giving out a few numbers. Abhishek has the honour of hosting the show this time. You will also hear dogs barking in the background for about 2 mins, those are my two dobermans. I tried but couldnt clear...
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IndiCast Episode #19
Has the Indian judicial system become like a cricket umpire where a few bad decision are part of the game? Killers are being let go and then rearrested, rape sentences are being handed out like the christmas cake. And to top it, the quota system is back. We are for merit based selection but at the same time the under previleged have to be helped out. Abhishek presents a solution. What do you say?
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IndiCast Episode #18
For this episode we have picked up two topics concerning women but one of them remains a big issue while the other one is a "fabricated" issue by the traditional media. The sentencing in the Marine drive rape case caught our eye and Abhishek went on a number hunt to get a few facts while I took a look into the Indian Penal Code and its definition of rape. The other topic we cover was about the goof-ups at the lakme India Fashion week. In fact, we were in two minds while talking about it...
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IndiCast Episode #16
This week we aren't late and had a guest with us for this show. A friend of ours, Shalin Mody, works at NASA and we had him over to chat about his experiences. We didn't go into details about ISRO and talked generally about space exploration. The topics covered are Asteroid mission being cancelled, zero gravity, space tourism, Vision for Space explroation.
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IndiCast Episode #15
Its becoming a habit for us to release episodes with a sorry for the delay but this is the last time. A lot of things happened but nothing that we could talk about for 15 mins entirely with boring you people so what we have done is spent time on several topic. So here is Indicasts episode # 15 for you.
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IndiCast Episode #14
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT ( don't ask me why they dont call it NNPT) is in the spotlight with Bush's upcoming visit to India. He's coming over to discuss some Indo-US nucleur deal for civilian use. So we just thought about giving you some gyan about what the hell NPT is about and why is this such a big deal.
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IndiCast Episode #13
we decided to talk about Rang De Basanti (needless to say that its a must watch) and discuss a few facts that were mentioned in the movie (dont worry we havent given out the plot) but just picked on a particular thing that a character says. The discussion lead us to talk about IAS and how to get into it and importantly discuss facts about it.
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IndiCast Episode #11
The vocalist for fabulous Indus Creed and the awesome Alms for Shanti, Uday Benegal, makes an appearance on IndiCast. I had asked him to join us to talk about the past, present and future of his band and also about generral things happening around him. As usual, we had to battle a few technical problems and had to edit a few awesome moments out of our chat. This episode does contain a few fucks here and there and it would have ruined the episode if we took them away. Morover, almost 75% of...
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IndiCast Episode #10
We are huge Sachin fans so we decided to dedicate this episode to Sachin Tendulkar for reaching yet another milestone. The episode contains snippets of sachin's first mainstream interview with Tom Alter and also various incidences as experienced by many greats like Anil Kumble, Dravid, Richie Benaud.
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IndiCast Episode #9
After struggling to get good internet connection, we were able to find a stable connection and record this episode. I invited a college friend, Porus Satwe, to talk about talk NRI related finance stuff. This porbably might be the most informative IndiCast to date. Porus explains the difference between NRE,NRO and FCNR accounts as it relates to NRIs. We had decided to talk about investing options as well but had to cut it short and follow it up in another episode.
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IndiCast Episode #8
I am back from India (grrrrr...) and back to my routine in the US. It was too short a trip but I was amazed at the changes I could see and feel all over the place so I persuaded abhishek to talk about it so its just me and him this week. We decided to mix it up a bit and let Abhishek play the host for this episode.
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IndiCast Episode #7
Rashmi Bansal and Vikram Nanivadekar (Nani) shared the mic with me for this episode. I wanted to be a bit adventurous and record this episode at CCD (my cousin who is in SYJC says calling it Cafe Coffe Day is being unhip) but it was just too noisy so we recorded it at JAMs office.
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IndiCast Episode #6
Toral Mehta from Apprentice joins Indicast for an informal talk, her experiences as a desi on Apprentice. She shares the good and bad experiences that she had on one of US's most popular TV reality show.
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IndiCast Episode #5
The episode features a talk on FDI and our support for it especially for retail industry. We have protected ourselves for a long time and its time to play with the foriegn companies. We change the topic and talk about Sachins response to the critical media. We love you Sachin.
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IndiCast Episode #4
Ash joins Indicast as a guest speaker and to discuss Blog Quake Day. Its an appeal to all Indian bloggers to collaborate for charity for earthquake victims. Aditya and Ash also discuss about how Indians are the 4th happiest in the world inspite of all the disaster happening around the country. Ash says we are just a tolerant bunch.
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IndiCast Episode #3
Aditya and Abhishek discuss the hottest topic in Indian blogosphere - IIPM with reference to freedom of speech and defamation. Episode also features a movement to get Mithun as James Bond.
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IndiCast Episode #2
This is the episode # 2 of Indicast. Shailesh Rege joins us as a guest to discuss low cost airlines . Aditya and Abhishek discuss about Indians news channels and George Bush
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