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Dispatches from Kolkata
Wednesdays at 7:35am and 4:45pm

Every week NPR contributor (and former San Franciscian) Sandip Roy brings you a little taste of the 'new India' – a letter home from his other home.

Latest Episodes
  • Wes Anderson's new adaptations of Roald Dahl short stories have won a lot of critical praise. Sandip notices that two of them neatly sum up two colonial attitudes towards India - one sugary and one more poisonous.
  • Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary was celebrated on October 2. While he is revered in India, his charisma drew some Americans to him, Americans who gave up their lives in the West to follow his ideals.
  • Khalistan - a word that used to be on the front pages of Indian newspapers in the 1980s has resurfaced in headlines thanks to the diplomatic row between India and Canada. As Indian and Canadian relations go into free fall over a killing in Canada, Sandip explains how the two countries find themselves butting heads over the idea of Khalistan, the dream homeland for Sikh separatists.
  • India’s famous “toilet man,” Dr. Bindeswar Pathak, died last month at the age of 80. But he was far more than just an inventor and business man. Sandip Roy explains.
  • Joe Biden and other world leaders landed in Delhi to a grand multicolored G-20 welcome. But the beautification of the city left some of its residents seeing red.
  • This week's 'Teacher's Day' celebration in India was marred by reports of a teacher telling her class to beat a student for not knowing his multiplication tables.
  • On August 23, 2023 India became the first nation in the world to pull off a soft landing on the moon's south pole.
  • The death of a Kolkata teen allegedly because of ragging, or hazing, has re focused attention on bullying in schools and colleges.
  • India celebrated its 77th Independence Day this week. Sandip talks with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni about the turbulent and traumatic years of Independence.
  • Barbie has made the color pink a"thing," but in India a Bollywood film is even more pink and it celebrates a shade of pink called Rani Pink.