Sandip Roy

As the Indian heat descends on Kolkata, Sandip considers how our perceptions about the rituals of summer have changed.

Nepal’s constitution protects sexual minorities. Most recently after a long struggle Nepal registered its first same sex marriage, something India next door has refused to do. And now Nepal’s tourism industry is set to cash in.

The very word vacation has its roots in vacare or to be unoccupied. But in reality vacations are anything but unoccupied. Sandip recounts the woes of waking up at the crack of dawn to make your checklist items while on vacation.

Sandip explores a 100-year-old history of Bengali comics and what they gained and lost from their encounter with Laurel and Hardy and Tarzan and Tintin.

Sandip began his Dispatches from Kolkata thinking he would tell listeners in the Bay Area stories from India to show that we were ultimately all connected in this global local world. But as we cross 500 episodes of Dispatches, he discovers something more.

Kolkata is often regarded as a city that has slipped behind other metropolises in India when it comes to money and industry. But the country's crime bureau says it's one of the safest cities in India. And some activists are hoping to keep it that way by encouraging more street life instead of complaining about crowds and dirt.

Sandip Roy remembers his childhood radio guru, Amen Sayani died last week at the age of 91.

It’s wonderful that lit fests are coming out of their English cocoons. At this years Kolkata Literary Meet I noticed so many other Indian dialects on stage, often with an interpreter doing live translation.Finally it seems we are no longer lost in translation. Instead we are finding ourselves.

Kolkata has a reputation as a city that loves books. One evening, at least, it came through, making for our winter of content.

Sukumar Ray is sometimes called the Edward Lear of Bengal. Abol Tabol his book of nonsense rhymes was part of my growing up. And I dare say every Bengalis. That book turned 100 this year. Now we understand why his nonsense still makes so much sense.