426. When Poetry Refused to Obey
BIC TALKS
A new dawn was breaking. And its light would reach far beyond its time. Rebellion in Verse unfolds a journey that goes back to the sixth century CE; a time when many yearned for a reprieve from the constraints of Vedic orthodoxy and caste hierarchies. The Tamil Bhakti movement emerged as their clarion call, a grassroots surge of devotion that redefined spirituality and the social fabric itself. The saints of this movement were poets of the people, composing their hymns in Tamil and their verses, brimming with simplicity and profundity, wrestled divine wisdom from the elite grip of...
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425. Bangalore Raani
BIC TALKS
In SheThePeople’s signature style, this is a session of wit and grace. Bangalore Raani is a vibrant celebration placing female voices precisely where they’ve always belonged: centerstage. Unapologetic and electric, this dialogue brings together women whose presence, choices, and courage bring Bengaluru to life. In this edition, Shaili Chopra is joined by mother and daughter, Yasmin and Kubbra Sait. Through candid storytelling that moves from ambition to reinvention, relationships to those small everyday rebellions that shift culture, the conversation flows freely: sometimes...
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424. Does Bangalore Offer a Healthy Life to us Citizens
BIC TALKS
Once known as a garden city and a pensioner’s paradise, Bengaluru has undergone extraordinary economic and demographic change over the past three decades. While growth has brought opportunity, it has also reshaped everyday life in ways that go far beyond traffic and waste. This second edition of The Bengaluru Debates turns a critical lens on our city to ask whether it still supports healthy lives for its citizens. Public health research increasingly shows that the roots of urban ill-health lie not only in hospitals or clinics, but in planning, infrastructure, and governance....
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423. The Realms of Dharma and of the Mahabharata
BIC TALKS
Dharma is difficult to translate, and even harder to understand. In this talk, scholar Frederick Smith draws on nearly five decades of study to illuminate how the concept of dharma moves, shifts, and comes alive across the subcontinent. By tracing regional retellings of the Mahabharata, he reveals how different communities have interpreted its moral tensions. Turning to modern literature such as U.R. Ananthamurthy’s Samskara, he connects these ancient debates to contemporary questions of responsibility, community, and moral action. With clarity and depth, Smith examines how ideas of...
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422. Eye of the Cyclone
BIC TALKS
Overwhelmed? Disoriented? Exhausted? In this reflective session, Dr. Shyam Bhat draws on his expertise in psychiatry and integrative medicine to unpack the rising sense of disorientation shaped by hyperconnection, constant noise, and emotional overload. He explores how these forces fracture our inner clarity, and offers practical ways to rebuild a steadier sense of purpose. Drawing from both clinical experience and contemplative traditions, Dr. Bhat charts a path toward reconnecting with our values and rediscovering direction in an increasingly fast-paced world. A gentle invitation to pause,...
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421. Adoor, Jaya, Shabana, Girish… How India’s Finest Filmmakers Were Made
BIC TALKS
What does it take to shape a filmmaker? How do you ‘make’ a Jaya Bachchan or an Adoor Gopalakrishnan? Radha Chadha’s new book The Maker of Filmmakers: How Jagat Murari and FTII Changed Indian Cinema Forever takes us through the life and legacy of her father Jagat Murari, and the iconic film school he built. With uncanny consistency, FTII produced top talent: Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Subhash Ghai, Shatrughan Sinha, Girish Kasaravalli, Mani Kaul, and many other cinema legends. His alumni became the big names of Bollywood, spearheaded the Indian New...
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420. Funding Freedom
BIC TALKS
What is the Indian reader willing to pay for, and what do they expect for free? This panel moves past the familiar lament and into the mechanics of the business. They explore what it actually takes to run a news organisation outside the influence of advertisers, owners, and the state. Subscription models, donor funding, collaborative structures, and open access: each approach comes with its own compromises, its own pressures, and its own relationship with the reader. The conversation will examine how different kinds of journalism, from daily news to long-form investigation and data-driven...
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419. Science, Stewardship and Solidarity
BIC TALKS
Madhav Gadgil (1942-2026) was the country’s pre-eminent ecologist, whose work and writing had a profound influence in shaping environmental policy and action in India. Educated in Pune, Mumbai and Harvard, Professor Gadgil spent more than three decades at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, where he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences. In the course of his rich and varied career Professor Gadgil conducted fieldwork in most of India’s states, acquiring an unparalleled knowledge of the country’s cultural and ecological diversity. He authored numerous scientific papers that...
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418. Ghost-Eye
BIC TALKS
Narratives illuminate what often lies just out of sight. In this exciting conversation, Amitav Ghosh discusses his latest book, Ghost-Eye, with writer Anjum Hasan, tracing the hidden histories and environmental undercurrents that shape human lives. Moving between folklore and the contemporary world, the discussion explores how landscapes remember, how ecological forces linger beneath the visible, and how storytelling can recover what modern life trains us to ignore. Hasan’s thoughtful questioning bring out the novel’s deeper concerns: the fragile relationship between people and place,...
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417. Who Owns India's Past?
BIC TALKS
Just outside Madurai, beneath the scorching southern sun, the excavations at Keeladi have unsettled long-held ideas about India’s ancient history. Since its discovery in 2014, the site has emerged as one of the country’s most contested digs: celebrated by some as evidence of a thriving urban civilisation in South India, and questioned by others as political mythmaking. In her book The Dig, journalist and author Sowmiya Ashok traces this journey from serendipitous find to cultural flashpoint, traveling from Iron Age Tamil Nadu to Harappan Rakhigarhi, revealing how battles over the...
info_outlineJust outside Madurai, beneath the scorching southern sun, the excavations at Keeladi have unsettled long-held ideas about India’s ancient history.
Since its discovery in 2014, the site has emerged as one of the country’s most contested digs: celebrated by some as evidence of a thriving urban civilisation in South India, and questioned by others as political mythmaking. In her book The Dig, journalist and author Sowmiya Ashok traces this journey from serendipitous find to cultural flashpoint, traveling from Iron Age Tamil Nadu to Harappan Rakhigarhi, revealing how battles over the past shape our understanding of India’s layered identity today.
Sowmiya will be joined by archaeometallurgist Dr. Sharada Srinivasan whose pioneering work has brought to light insights into ancient mining and metallurgy, having also worked on Iron Age-Early Historic sites especially in Tamil Nadu. They will be in conversation with Pooja Prasanna, of The News Minute. Together they will explore how archaeology, science, and power intersect: revealing an ancient diversity that continues to shape contemporary India.
In this episode of BIC Talks, Sowmiya Ashok and Sharada Srinivasan will be in conversation with Pooja Prasanna. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026.
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