Our Last Week

Anuvab and Kunaal are back and are as bewildered as ever. Come join them every week with new questions and new conundrums, only on Spotify.

Do people greet each other properly only when they have an agenda? What do we need to do make moments ‘truly’ memorable? What makes you relate to characters in movies? Do we live in a post-truth world where nothing can be trusted or even distrusted? Is Twitter finally enabling people to be their ass***e selves? On this last episode of Season 1 of Our Last Week, listen to Kunaal Roy Kapur and Anuvab Pal looking back at a year of conundrums.

With all Anuvab’s personal conversations with Kunaal are making it to the podcast, he laments their private lives have now become ‘conundrums’ for the benefit of the show’s producers. Which begs the question, do our personal lives even matter? For e.g. do the rights to Dhoni’s life belong to him or to the producers of his biopic? Also, how many middlemen do you need to get anything done? Can Indians ever have an event that doesn’t go into a crisis

Can a Global Citizen Fest really eradicate poverty where a head-exploding variety of celebrities get together to sing and dance for an audience hell-bent on enjoying itself? Are human beings beyond pleasing? What pleasure do us Indians get in circumventing the rules? What is the greatest sacrifice any RBI governor has ever made for India? How much work can you avoid by saying soldiers are dying? How much knowing is knowing enough? OLW asks the right questions once again.

This week there are no conundrums, life itself has become a conundrum. Kunaal and Anuvab contemplate the brave new world where Trump is President and their cash is worth nothing. They are distraught that the basic promise printed on our bank notes has been broken. Anuvab looks for all things he can barter for some tandoori chicken and they talk about how Donald Trump as president will change how we fundamentally look at the western world.

Why doesn’t anyone in a position of power ever retire? Are people with a family business really that happy or are they better off with jobs? How our phone battery is giving us anxiety? As we get older, do we inevitably become the people we hated in our youth? Are WhatsApp groups another reason to hate our parents? OLW has answers to all of life’s important questions.

Should you be obliged to tip for a service you have already paid for? What is the point of an air mile if it doesn’t actually equal a mile? Do you have kids only so that you can play on a bouncy castle in your 40s? Do you really need a temperature controlled bum shower (aka health faucet)? How do you handle a meeting that turns pointless while you’re in it? Life throws us questions and the OLW duo have the answers.

Kunaal and Anuvab are back with more conundrums about the events gripping the country and its borders. Anuvab is fascinated with Bollywood extras and how the Indian caste system plays out with how they are treated. The duo has a suggestion for a new act for the government, which would be a boon for doubting spouses. And Anuvab talks about a difficult time when he had to choose between greed and conscience.

Anuvab Pal and Kunaal Roy Kapur return with another set of fresh conundrums. Why we don’t take instructions very well. How we don’t follow our own dreams but follow someone else’s. And why a veteran film star went to an awards show dressed as a tomato. How Kunaal has a very keen sense of fashion, which is to be determinedly unfashionable. And how our self-expression is always about whom we hired to do it for us.

Kunaal and Anuvab on the importance of that ONE signed piece of paper in India and how it can validate your ENTIRE existence. The duo on how being a freelancer is not very different from being a daily contract labourer. Kunaal on how India already has driverless cars. Anuvab on his visit to a business school.And why America is a nation of illegal immigrants.

The Olympic games are on and Kunaal has been staying up to watch various events, he shares his unique (peculiar?) observations with Anuvab. The duo discusses a new set of games where you have to compete with the animals to win a medal/save your life. Anuvab reads an essay and finds fault lines in the Indian education system. Also the ultimate conundrum, is life elsewhere?

Polo matches with Dras’ who’s who (who?). Instead of Shanghai, Mumbai can become Venice. Inspired by Hitler’s house in Salzburg, the duo formulates a theory on natural beauty and ugly minds. Anuvab discovers some stunning facts about Victorian hygiene. Recipes for Indian cooking can be quite confusion, but Kunaal thinks they’re downright conniving.

Have you been catching Pokémons lately? Anuvab and Kunaal have dreamed up an even better game, Passport Go, where each level you excel brings you closer to finally getting your passport. And what about too much specificity —do you really want to know where every tower of your phone company is? You just want to have ONE uninterrupted phone call! And have you ever automatically respected someone just because they were sitting behind a glass window? “Should you hit the dog?” The duo investigate...

Why are Bengalis so obsessed with South American football? Is it Maradona and Messi or just the idea of a human being moving so quickly? As Brexit leads to Bregret, the practice of making up words is so confusing that you have no idea whether it’s about teeth whitener or a coal scam. Why ransom is the best strategy for getting smooth courier deliveries. “Deep down everyone wants to leave”, why getting a visa in India is such a big deal. What does being rude to waiters say about us? And what...

Hens giving eggs is a usual occurrence, but Kunaal encounters a Coorgy cat who pushed coffee beans out of its backside! What did they call it though— potty spice latte? Anuvab wonders why restaurants have started barbecuing everything —pineapples, cricket bats and even children. Where do we draw the line? Also, do you want to scratch your head? Need to find where the remote is? Don’t worry— there’s an app for that! The duo shares it’s thoughts on Udta Punjab — and how some people in a...

This episode of Our Last Week was performed LIVE at the Cheer! festival at the NCPA in Mumbai in front of a packed and by-and-large appreciative house (one uncle seemed very upset). For those of you who could not make it we bring you all the conundrums presented there right here. The OLW duo talks about (unique) biometrics in India, ISIS vs. Amit Tridevi and why healthy smoothies can by yucky.

Have you ever counted your clothes before handing it to your dhobi? That’s because everyone in India is a conniving thief! Kunaal explains why he doesn’t take working from home seriously— how can you make a presentation when you’re cooking an omlette? Anuvab gives saintly advice to all lost souls — you can be successful if you do something, even if that something is a corruption scandal or a terrible reality show. They wonder why millenials are like immature 12-year-olds—they don’t want to...

“Ma mati manush”— is that a campaign slogan or a password from Star Trek? Was the ‘Acche din’ slogan ‘inspired’ by the Chilean one ‘Happiness is coming’? In this season of elections, Anuvab Pal and Kunaal Roy Kapur decode campaign slogans. The duo talk about an African politician whose life story sounds like an episode of Game of Thrones and how anything that happens exactly as it is supposed to, is considered revolutionary in India. Lastly they are exasperated on being subjected to reading...

Why did Doordarshan’s news anchors talk in high-pitched English accents? And do IPL organisers think the sport is not entertaining enough, is that why you have movie promotions, cheerleaders, synchronized swimming and celebrity commentators to make the game more enjoyable. Summer vacations are here, Anuvab and Kunaal discuss the ridiculous children’s that are advertised, such as: advanced comedy for under 6-year-olds, how to write a novel in 4 days, skydiving from mars and such. And the most...

Anuvab brings his expertise on the British monarchy to this week’s episode and suggests the former Empire sent the less fun royals to India. Then talking about accountability in large organisations and how much Pepsi Indra Nooyi actually owns. Also, do urban folk ‘know’ something is ayurvedic if they can’t identify the smell? And Our Last Week actually solves the world’s problems with a simply brilliant tax-solution. Not even kidding.