Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata

This week Sandip remembers his early childhood attraction to that group of 'mustachioed morons.'

As the world self-isolates and more and more countries enact lockdown policies, Sandip reflects on the connections between us, and the responsibility of us all to remain apart.  

Could the global outbreak of COVID-19 keep us apart, in more ways than just physical.

The Indian festival ‘Holi’ is usually a riot of abandonment and color…but then Corona came to town.  

I am a samosa and this is my sad sad story.

Sandip Roy looks at all the ways Trump’s recent visit to India has been a benefit to all concerned.  

To see the video of Trump as Baahubali visit 

  The wealth gap in india is made clear by just a few families' extravgent wealth. 

Sandip takes us to one of his favorite places, the Kolkata Book Fair, now in it’s 44th year!  

American author Katherine Eban has put Indian pharma on the literary map...

Sandip explores the very unique sounds that make up a Kolkata winter.

After watching “Tales of the City” on Netflix, Sandip reflects on his own tale of the city.

Sandip Roy reflects on the fast paced decade that defined “Social Media.”

There are protests in many cities all over India with signs saying No NPR.  

India has scores of literature festivals these days. But the Rainbow Lit Fest in Delhi this December was still special….

How did just a few thousand British control the country of India? 

She comes once a year. Sometimes she is jet black, sometimes she is blue, a dark midnight blue or the powdery blue of a summer evening sky. While the rest of India celebrates Diwali with its sweets and fireworks, Kolkata gets ready for the arrival of the Goddess Kali, the one of the deep blue night.

Many things divide a country, but it’s the overlooked, personal slights that hurt the most.

Sandip Roy remembers on of India’s most beloved writers. Nabaneeta dev Sen.  

"..if someone has to smoke brown sugar on aluminum foil, then you need a uniform flame for a uniform smoke."

Abhijit Banerjee, an MIT economist from Kolkata, India wins a Nobel Prize for his work on alleviating global poverty.

An ode to the local trains in Kolkata, moving and harboring life daily.  

A mother goes back to her parents once every year with all her children. That sounds like hardly the excuse for five days of city wide festivities. But that’s exactly what happens during Durga Puja in Kolkata.  Because This is no ordinary mother. It’s the ten-armed mother goddess Durga coming back to visit her home with her four children. And Kolkata shuts down to welcome her back.

Sandip considers the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, 150 years after his birth.  

Amitav Ghosh’s newest novel Gun Island is a story about both two of his great themes - migration and climate.

As the monsoons recede the time has come for Ganesh, 

Sandip, who does not like fish, relishes his annual dish of Ilish, the prized fish of Bengal. But at what cost?  

Zomato delivered a food born controversy.

Kashmir has been on Sandip’s mind lately,

  As crazy weather makes headlines globally, Sandip Roy reflects on the monsoons of his past.

 This week marks International Tiger Day. And they certainly need one.