Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata

There is a pandemic demon that needs slaying...

As San Francisco’s heat wave hits 100º Sandip Roy recalls how to battle heat waves in his native Kolkata.  

It was just two years ago that India Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality, but the real hope for change might not lie in politics.

The dogs that wander the streets in Kolkata are not strays, but part of an extended family, cared for and fed by many of the cities lesser known individuals.

Pariah Dog the movie is now available on Apple TV, iTunes and Amazon Prime

http://www.pariahdogmovie.com/  

The furor over a Kamala seems much ado over very few syllables, but how one handles the mispronunciation can be telling.  

Sandip Roy wonders if the new normal is really normal.

"Coronavirus Rhapsody" by Raúl Iravién on YouTube here:

At Bakra Mania, a goat dealership in Mumbai Fahad Zariwala runs the youtube channel FSA Entertainment which showcases many goat gems 

With the news of Olivia de Havilland’s death this week coinciding with the Indian celebration of Rakhi Purnima, Sandip reflects on how the holiday might have helped the de Havilland sisters.  

The social media app TikTok has taken India by storm, but a political storm may mean that time has run out for its users.

"To hear the full interview with Snigdha Poonam on The Sandip Roy Show on Audio Express click here." https://indianexpress.com/audio/the-sandip-roy-show/what-the-tiktok-ban-means-for-young-india-with-snigdha-poonam/6501755/

How can we possibly dream of a better future in the middle of a pandemic? 

When does phobia cross over into hate speech? 

Why is it when there is tension between two countries, the fear always seems to end up at the dining table.

The recent trouble on the 'Line of control' between China and India has spilled over into the streets of Kolkata's Chinatown.

In the midst of Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. Johnson & Johnson has announced it will stop selling skin whitening creams.

  In the news recently, statues have been defaced and pulled down from their perches ala Saddam Hussein.

The Sundarbans in Bengal, India have become a speeded up version of global climate change.

We don’t have to win the war against Covid as much as we need to learn to make peace with its existence in our world for now. 

When life gives you cyclones, make mango rice.

The COVID-19 lockdown has forced many street vendors inside, but now the sounds of the street are returning.  

The COVID pandemic has had a terrible effect on all of us, and opened our eyes to some of those who were invisible before.  

Actor Irrfan Khan wasn’t the biggest star in Bollywood, but he was unique.

I had assumed the lockdown was a time when the frenetic world would finally slow down... 

In the year 1427, there will be no celebration. 

  Nature marks the season whether or not our human world is out of whack, but soon it will all be back to its old noisy polluted self. But for these few weeks as humans suffer, the earth is healing itself. I just wish we didn’t need a pandemic to hear our earth breathe.

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.