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.

A new food fight has erupted in India. And it’s about one of the most famous dishes to come out of India, one that every other Indian restaurant in the west usually must carry.

The stars are aligned this week. Its a week for Holi, Ramadan and Good Friday, which is a perfect way to showcase how many faiths in Kolkata exist shoulder to shoulder.

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.

Self-help books promise a secret formula to individual success and Jay Shetty is just the latest Dale Carnegie to do so. But, even after the Guardian’s expose on Shetty, Sandip wonders if the problem lies elsewhere.

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.

Pandit Chitresh Das is credited with bringing the Indian classical dance of kathak to America. Now the Chitresh Das Institute takes it back on tour in India but this time with live piano in accompaniment.