BIC TALKS
Bangalore International Centre (BIC) is a non profit, public institution which serves as an inclusive platform for informed conversations, arts and culture. BIC TALKS aims to be a regular bi-weekly podcast that will foster discussions, dialogue, ideas, cultural enterprise and more.
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433. The Long Game: Opportunity, Excellence and Institutional Power
09/15/2026
433. The Long Game: Opportunity, Excellence and Institutional Power
Opportunity is abundant. Outcomes, however, are strategic. The three women on this panel have navigated all of it. Venture capital and enterprise strategy. Global talent transformation. The slow, necessary work of making the technology industry legible to the women coming up behind them. Startups built from scratch and careers that kept becoming something new. They have done this inside institutions that weren’t built for them, in markets that moved before they were ready, in moments that required a decision before the picture was clear. Together they examine how signals and opportunities are recognised, and sometimes missed. How excellence is sustained over decades, not just built in a moment. How to navigate boards, capital, and institutions. How and when to seek help from the mentors, sponsors, and allies who make the difference. The answers come from lived experience. The lessons, hard-won as they are, turn out to be universal. This event is a part of our programming to celebrate International Women’s Day. Music, theatre, and conversation: by women, for everyone. In this episode of BIC Talks, Nidhi Shanbhag, Veena Satish, Shreya Krishnan will be in conversation with Srinivas Gorur. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Mar 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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432. Left Off the Blueprint
08/29/2026
432. Left Off the Blueprint
Good design is invisible. Bad design is something women navigate every day. In public spaces, designers have rarely looked closely enough at how women actually move through streets, neighbourhoods, and informal gathering spaces. In digital infrastructure, women’s needs and safety are an afterthought, if considered at all. In healthcare, the gap is starker still. A space meant for healing leaves too many women negotiating their right to be there, be it fair inclusion in clinical trials or access to safe examinations. This panel examines what it would take to change these systems to include those left off the original blueprints. This event is part of our programming to celebrate International Women’s Day. Music, theatre, and conversation: by women, for everyone. In this episode of BIC Talks, Rajani Surendar Bhat, Kiran Keswani and Sarayu Natarajan will be in conversation with Nia Thandapani. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Mar 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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430. Living Authentically
08/25/2026
430. Living Authentically
Courage is not the beginning of self-knowledge. It is the constant condition of it. Courage to Be You follows two people asking that question from very different lives. Amit and Najib are a gay couple navigating not only their relationship but the religious and social distance between them. Rajeshwari, Amit’s childhood friend, is quietly working to reclaim an identity fractured by early trauma. Their stories run parallel, but their questions are the same: what does it take to choose yourself, and what do you risk when you do? Rashna Imhasly-Gandhy draws on Jungian psychology and chakra healing, offering the reader a framework for the same inner work her characters undertake. Their guide, in both cases, is a therapist. Their destination is their own. Yasmeen Premji will introduce the session. Rashna’s presentation will be followed by a conversation between her and Malini White. In this episode of BIC Talks, Rashna Imhasly-Gandhy will be in conversation with Malini White. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Mar 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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431. Cities We Carry
08/25/2026
431. Cities We Carry
Two questions plagued her for five years, living between Delhi, Venice, and Istanbul: how do we lose what we lose, and why do we love whom we love? Drawing on her collection of essays Place: Intimate Encounters with Cities (2026), written across 25 years and 13 cities, Ananya Vajpeyi will explore what cities hold for us. The memory and meaning held in street corners and corridors of light; the way personal loss and political trouble have of finding each other in the very same spaces. Architect Prem Chandavarkar brings his own lifelong reckoning with cities to the table. Between them, the conversation promises to move across continents, disciplines, and the question of what it means to love a place. In this episode of BIC Talks, Ananya Vajpeyi will be in conversation with Prem Chandavarkar. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Mar 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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429. Invisible Empire
08/11/2026
429. Invisible Empire
You’ve received the call. The scam artist trying to get your information. Perhaps you fell for it, perhaps you knew better. In either case, it becomes a story to tell over coffee. But who are the people on the other end of line? In her new book, Scamlands, journalist Snidha Poonam explores the vast fraud economies stretching from small-town India to global scam hubs. Nuanced, detailed and above all, personal, Poonam reports on the many lives that run parallel to our own. Tracing the supply chains of fraud, she reveals an economy that’s both ruthlessly efficient and heartbreakingly human. In this talk, she is joined by columnist Aakar Patel to explore the themes of the book. They will examine how scam economies thrive in the gaps of inequality, why trust is collapsing faster than we can rebuild it, and what it means when fraud becomes a viable career path for an entire generation. The session ends with an audience Q&A. There are no easy answers, but you’ll know more when that unknown number calls again. In this episode of BIC Talks, Snigdha Poonam will be in conversation with Aakar Patel. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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428. Citizen, Republic, Conscience
08/01/2026
428. Citizen, Republic, Conscience
What did the architects of the Republic want our symbols to represent? Acclaimed musician and public intellectual T M Krishna launches We, the People of India: Decoding a Nation’s Symbols, a rigorous exploration of the tricolour, the Preamble, the national anthem, and the symbols that define Indian democracy. In conversation with urban researcher Gautam Bhan and journalist Dhanya Rajendran, Krishna traces the historical and philosophical origins of these symbols. Together they will unpack how these symbols were born, what they were meant to represent, and how their meanings have shifted in contemporary India. A thoughtful inquiry into the past, present, and enduring significance of India’s defining symbols. Presented by: Contxt In this episode of BIC Talks, TM Krishna and Dhanya Rajendran will be in conversation with Gautam Bhan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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427. Tell Me a Story about Our World
07/28/2026
427. Tell Me a Story about Our World
A single family. A small village. An entire nation’s story hiding inside. Tell Me A Story About Our World brings together academic and translator Vanamala Viswanatha and novelist Kavery Nambisan for a conversation about the art of fiction and storytelling, based on Nambisan’s latest novel, Rising Sons. Set in a village in Karnataka, following one family from pre-independent India through to the 1970s, threading through the complexities of caste and colonialism while painting vivid landscapes of rural and urban life in a bygone era. What makes Rising Sons sing is how Nambisan inhabits her world. Kannada coexists comfortably within the English, not as a novelty but as a force of realism, enabling the reader’s sensibility to percolate through society at every level. Then there is the narrator: never formally introduced, yet unmistakably present, speaking of “our village” and “our daily lives” with a voice that is not quite impartial. The resulting text reads as both narration and remembrance, an immersion into a carefully crafted world. The stories we tell are as much about the Word as they are about the World. Expect an interesting and illuminating conversation, followed by a Q&A with the audience. In this episode of BIC Talks, Kavery Nambisan will be in conversation with Vanamala Viswanatha. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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426. When Poetry Refused to Obey
07/22/2026
426. When Poetry Refused to Obey
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 Sanskrit and handed it to the masses. This conversation around Raghavan Srinivasan’s book Rebellion in Verse, explores how poetry has long served as a space of defiance: challenging hierarchy, authority, and inherited social orders. Drawing from Bhakti and other traditions, the discussion reflects on how verse carried ideas of equality, desire, and resistance, and why these voices continue to matter today. A Q&A with the audience will follow. In this episode of BIC Talks, Raghavan Srinivasan and Sharada Srinivasan will be in conversation with Karthik Venkatesh. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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425. Bangalore Raani
07/07/2026
425. Bangalore Raani
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 hilarious, always real. Relatable yet aspirational, intimate yet energizing, this is the rare space where women’s stories don’t just resonate, but reverberate through lingering conversations, lasting inspiration and undeniable connection as a result of being deeply, and truly, seen. In collaboration with: Shethepeople In this episode of BIC Talks, Kubbra Sait and Yasmin Sait will be in conversation with Shaili Chopra. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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424. Does Bangalore Offer a Healthy Life to us Citizens
07/05/2026
424. Does Bangalore Offer a Healthy Life to us Citizens
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. Air quality, water and sanitation, food systems, mobility, housing design, open spaces, and access to light and ventilation all shape how healthy a city allows its people to be. Yet these questions rarely enter public debate in Bengaluru. Opening with a short context setting, the session will move into a panel discussion between Dinesh Gundu Rao, Hon’ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka; Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan, Former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and Member of the Legislative Assembly for Malleshwaram; Dr. Shreelata Rao Seshadri, Professor and Director, Ramalingaswami Centre for Equity and Social Determinants of Health, Public Health Foundation of India(PHFI). Moderated by Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO, Janaagraha, the panel will reflect on the relationship between the health of a city and the that of its citizens: what Bengaluru must rethink to secure a healthier future. The session will also include a talk by Nachiket Mor, Economist & Health Systems Researcher. The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A. The Bengaluru Debates: A BIC–Janaagraha Dialogue Series on Urban Governance in Bengaluru and Beyond aims to expand civic space in the city by fostering conversations through a civic lens. The series is designed to be informative, constructive, and entertaining, while also serving as a trigger for local community action. Its objective is to bridge the gap between policy, practice, and public discourse on urban governance challenges, and to catalyse citizen and policymaker engagement towards systemic solutions. In collaboration with: Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, founded in 2001 in Bengaluru, is dedicated to transforming the quality of life in India’s cities and towns. Their mission is to strengthen the systems of urban governance so that cities can deliver clean, green, safe, and liveable environments for all citizens. For them, “quality of life” is not only about infrastructure and services, but equally about responsive institutions, citizen engagement, and transparent, data-driven governance. In this episode of BIC Talks, Dinesh Gundu Rao, C N Ashwath Narayan, Shreelata Rao Seshadri and Nachiket Mor will be in conversation with Srikanth Viswanathan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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423. The Realms of Dharma and of the Mahabharata
06/25/2026
423. The Realms of Dharma and of the Mahabharata
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 dharma and adharma operate in the Sanskrit Mahabharata and how these ideas ripple outward into contemporary India. A Q&A with the audience will follow, offering space for reflection and dialogue. In this episode of BIC Talks, Fredrick Smith delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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422. Eye of the Cyclone
06/22/2026
422. Eye of the Cyclone
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, understand what’s unfolding within, and realign with what truly matters. The talk will be followed by an audience Q&A. Presented by: Nirvikalpa Integrated Therapy Foundation Founded by Dr. Shyam Bhat, the Nirvikalpa Integrated Therapy Foundation blends India’s philosophical and psychological wisdom with modern Western science to create a rigorous, evidence-based therapeutic model grounded in non-duality and transcendence. The foundation conducts scientific research, develops therapist-training programs, and shares integrative mental-health insights with the public. Its work aims to build a culturally rooted, systematic approach to therapy that strengthens resilience, deepens connection, and supports collective well-being. NIRVIKALPA In this episode of BIC Talks, Shyam Bhat delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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421. Adoor, Jaya, Shabana, Girish… How India’s Finest Filmmakers Were Made
06/16/2026
421. Adoor, Jaya, Shabana, Girish… How India’s Finest Filmmakers Were Made
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 Wave, kickstarted regional language cinema, and helped usher television into the country. It’s this extraordinary creative legacy that leads to the book’s tantalizing question: Did Jagat Murari have a secret formula? In conversation with author Radha Chadha, Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, legendary filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli, and iconic cinematographer G.S. Bhaskar, this session will delve into how Jagat Murari and FTII shaped generations of filmmakers – and how their work transformed Indian cinema into the global powerhouse it is today. Both Radha and Talmiz grew up at FTII, where their fathers served as Principal and Vice Principal. The session will include a montage of student film clips of iconic FTII alumni Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Subhash Ghai, Mani Kaul, and others, as also an excerpt from Girish Kasaravalli’s award-winning student film Avsesh. A Q&A with the audience will be followed by book signings by the author. About BIC Elsewhere: While the majority of our events find a home at our premises in Domlur, BIC Elsewhere represents our commitment to bringing conversations, arts, and culture directly to diverse audiences. Through this initiative, we collaborate with various venues, extending the reach of our events beyond our own space. These partnerships not only breathe life into our gatherings but also play a crucial role in cultivating an environment for the flourishing of arts and culture in the city. In collaboration with: SABHA In this episode of BIC Talks, Radha Chadha, Girish Kasaravalli and G.S. Bhaskar will be in conversation with Talmiz Ahmad. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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420. Funding Freedom
05/29/2026
420. Funding Freedom
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 research, demand different economic answers. Can advertising coexist with independence? And how are newsrooms absorbing the growing financial and legal burden of independent reporting? Independent journalism in India is alive. What it costs to keep it that way is another matter entirely. In this episode of BIC Talks, Dhanya Rajendran, Sunil Rajshekhar, Samar Halarnka, Rashmi Koti and Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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419. Science, Stewardship and Solidarity
05/24/2026
419. Science, Stewardship and Solidarity
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 became ‘citation classics’, and pioneering books on environmental history that are still discussed decades after their publication. He was widely known for the report of a committee on the Western Ghats that he chaired, which presciently warned of the ecological disasters that would follow unregulated mining, tourism and road construction in this vital mountain ecosystem. The Bangalore International Centre shall celebrate Madhav Gadgil’s life and legacy in a special memorial meeting held on 26th January. The date is appropriate; for Professor Gadgil himself had a deeply democratic sensibility, and embodied in his person the finest values of the Indian Republic. The speakers are two scientists, two economists, a journalist and a historian, all of whom knew Professor Gadgil and his work well. In this episode of BIC Talks, Harini Nagendra, Gurudas Nulkar, John Kurien, Nagesh Hegde, Uma Ramakrishnan will be in conversation with Ramachandra Guha. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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418. Ghost-Eye
05/19/2026
418. Ghost-Eye
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, the quiet violence of erasure, and the role of curiosity in resisting indifference. Together, they reflect on how narrative can sharpen our awareness of a planet in flux, and why attentiveness to history, to ecology, and to the unseen, matters now more than ever. A chance to hear directly from one of the most compelling literary voices about the inspirations behind his work and the urgent questions it raises. Presented by: Bangalore Literature Festival, Harper Collins In this episode of BIC Talks, Amitav Ghosh in conversation with Anjum Hasan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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417. Who Owns India's Past?
05/12/2026
417. Who Owns India's Past?
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 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. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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416. The Trial that Shook Britain
05/05/2026
416. The Trial that Shook Britain
A courtroom drama that shook an empire. In 1945, three Indian National Army officers stood trial for treason against the British Crown. Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal and Gurbaksh Dhillon were convicted. Then something unexpected happened; events that would accelerate the transfer of power and expose cracks in both British authority and Congress strategy. While Congress built its reputation on passive resistance, at this critical moment it applauded and capitalized on the INA’s use of force. What does this contradiction reveal about the final phase of India’s independence struggle? How did a legal proceeding meant to assert British control instead demonstrate its fragility? Ashis Ray will discuss his latest book, The Trial that Shook Britain, which uncovers how this court martial became a catalyst for independence. Ray’s research unearths material that historians have largely overlooked, throwing new light on a decisive juncture where courtroom drama became political dynamite. Following the talk, Ray will be in conversation with Siddharth Raja. In this episode of BIC Talks, Ray will be in conversation with Siddharth Raja.. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Jan 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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415. Why Doesn’t Patriarchy Die?
04/23/2026
415. Why Doesn’t Patriarchy Die?
This conversation will shift your understanding of power, and of possibility. In this session Rahila Gupta will examine how male dominance persists across radically different societies from theocracies to democracies, dictatorships to socialist states. Her co-authored book Planet Patriarchy asks what makes patriarchy so resilient, and where feminism is not just surviving but genuinely thriving. In conversation with Ashwini Jaisim, content strategist and editor, the session centres on a revelation: a little-known women’s revolution in Rojava, Northeast Syria. Here, women are building a bottom-up democracy rooted in multi-ethnic inclusivity and ecological sustainability. It’s a radical reimagining of power that challenges everything we think we know about governance and gender. Concluding with an audience Q&A, this session invites you to rethink power, resilience, and the possibilities of feminist futures, one where gender equality isn’t an afterthought but the foundation. In this episode of BIC Talks, Rahila Gupta is in conversation with Ashwini Jaisim. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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414. Queer Journeys
04/21/2026
414. Queer Journeys
Some histories vanish not by accident, but by design. In the wake of colonial rule, Forbidden Desire unspools a compelling narrative of how British imperial power erased India’s far-reaching traditions of gender and sexual diversity. The book draws from feminist historiography, anthropology, South Asian queer theory, decolonial studies and the history of medicine and legislation to map the transformation of lives once lived in fluid, expressive spaces. Author Sindhu Rajasekaran invites us into archive after archive where nautch dancers, courtesans, trans and queer persons, ascetics and masculine women once existed beyond the binaries that later came to dominate. In conversation with Arundhati Ghosh, this discussion will trace how colonial authorities turned indigenous multiplicities into “criminals”, folding ancient codes of desire into Victorian moral order: think of Section 377, the Contagious Diseases Act, and the Criminal Tribes Act. More than a simple critique, the evening offers a chance to reimagine our futures by reclaiming what we were taught to forget. In this episode of BIC Talks, Sindhu Rajasekaran is in conversation with Arundhati Ghosh. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Dec 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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413. Election Commission – A Guardian of Democracy
04/04/2026
413. Election Commission – A Guardian of Democracy
At a moment when democratic legitimacy rests on public trust, the role of the Election Commission demands urgent, sober reflection. This Constitution Day session examines the institution at the heart of India’s electoral democracy: one tasked with ensuring free and fair elections for over 900 million voters. Yet recent concerns over voter-roll preparation, election scheduling, enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, and responses to hate speech raise critical questions about its autonomy and constitutional resilience. Grounded in the original vision of an independent referee, the discussion considers whether today’s political pressures and structural vulnerabilities call for renewed safeguards or a deeper reimagining of the Commission itself. An essential conversation for anyone seeking to understand how democratic institutions endure, and what it takes to protect them. In collaboration with: Daksh In this episode of BIC Talks, S Y Quraishi delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Nov 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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412. The Women No Longer Wait
03/26/2026
412. The Women No Longer Wait
A wobbling world tries to find its axis: fabrics tear, lands splinter, loved ones vanish, names fade. This session intertwines conversation and poetry, inviting audiences into the bold, shimmering world of Arundhathi Subramaniam’s luminous new collection. The session will trace the arc through the sacred and the feminine, culminating in this celebration of fierce, unruly womanhood. Sumbramaniam’s collection takes us through shifting landscapes, following the strides of extraordinary women. Women who vault over borders, stroll naked through history, tilt sideways into the unexpected, and sometimes walk entirely upside down. They blur the boundaries between the mundane and the magical, the remembered and the imagined, revealing a world waiting quietly within the old one. Welcome a world that demands new ways of being, new acts of courage, new freedoms! In this episode of BIC Talks, Arundhathi Subramaniam takes us through her book and her process. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Nov 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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411. Rediscovery of a Lost Gandhi
03/24/2026
411. Rediscovery of a Lost Gandhi
Meet Mohandas: experimenting, debating, and testing the ideas that would later define him as Mahatma. This conversation around The Dawn of Life, Prabhudas Gandhi’s newly translated memoir, returns us to the ashram circles of South Africa, where Gandhi was still shaping the ideals that would one day define him. Translated into English for the first time by Hemang Ashwinkumar, recipient of the 2024–25 New India Foundation Translation Fellowship, the book revives a family archive both historical and deeply personal. Written by his young grandnephew who lived alongside him at Phoenix Settlement and Tolstoy Farm, the memoir offers an intimate portrait of shared labour and domestic routines, debates on diet and brahmacharya, experiments in simplicity, and the quiet discipline that shaped a philosophy. Here, Gandhi appears exacting yet tender, fallible yet searching, and alive in the small routines that forged his philosophy. In conversation with Nandini Nair of the New India Foundation, Hemang reflects on recovering overlooked histories and carrying a handwritten chronicle into the present; opening a rare window onto Gandhi in the making. The session will conclude with an audience Q&A. In collaboration with: The New India Foundation and Penguin In this episode of BIC Talks, Hemang Ashwinkumar is in a conversation with Nandini Nair. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Nov 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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410. Worlds Within Worlds
03/18/2026
410. Worlds Within Worlds
Four poets from Bangalore come together for an evening of poetry in English and Hindi, exploring how language moves across geographies, experiences, and ways of seeing. Their poems reveal how words can hold multiple realities, opening up Worlds Within Worlds through translation, memory, and imagination. The event will feature readings from Perennial: The Red River Book of 21st Century Hindi Poetry (Red River, 2025), edited by Sourav Roy and Tuhin Bhowal; So That You Know (HarperCollins, 2025) by Mani Rao; and The Book of Blue (Red River, 2024) by Atreyee Majumder. Together, these books offer distinct yet connected perspectives on how poetry continues to shape and question the world we inhabit. In this episode of BIC Talks, Atreyee Majumder, Sourav Roy and Tuhin Bhowal are in conversation with Mani Rao. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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409. Bengaluru Bus Stories
03/10/2026
409. Bengaluru Bus Stories
Carrying the people and pulse of a city. Bengaluru Bus Stories is a conversation on how public transport weaves lives together by connecting neighbourhoods, opportunities, and communities across the city. Drawing from EQUIMOB, an international research collaboration between the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Utrecht University, Bangalore Bus Prayaanikara Vedike, and SAMVADA, the discussion explores how buses shape daily life, build connections, and remain vital to the city’s social fabric. Moderated by Dr. Ranjana Raghunathan of Vidyashilp University, the panel brings together researchers and activists reflecting on their work with commuters and policymakers, reimagining Bengaluru’s buses as true lifelines that are designed with care, inclusion, and dignity at the core. In this episode of BIC Talks, Shaheen Shasa, Sobin George and Prajwal Nagesh are in a conversation with Ranjana Raghunathan. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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408. India's Development Odyssey
03/10/2026
408. India's Development Odyssey
What happens when one-sixth of humanity undertakes the world’s most complex development experiment? In A Sixth of Humanity, renowned political scientist Devesh Kapur and former Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian unpack India’s audacious journey of nation-building and economic transformation. Blending democracy, socialism, and liberalization in an unprecedented way, India has charted a “precocious” path to development—one that defies conventional models and continues to reshape global geopolitics and economics. Through this conversation, the authors reflect on India’s unique development trajectory, the paradoxes that define it, and what it reveals about the future of large, diverse democracies. In this episode of BIC Talks, Devesh Kapur, Arvind Subramanian are in a conversation with Ramachandra Guha. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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407. Interrogating the Constitution
02/22/2026
407. Interrogating the Constitution
The Constitution promises freedom, but really, how free are we under its design? In 2025, India’s Constitution turned seventy-five: a remarkable testament to endurance and adaptability. Yet, beneath its promise of liberty lies a constant negotiation of power. Gautam Bhatia examines the Constitution not just as a legal document, but as a dynamic terrain where visions of authority clash, intersect, and contend for supremacy. Central to this story is the drift toward centralisation: power increasingly concentrated in the union executive. While certain elements of this concentration are embedded in the Constitution’s design, landmark Supreme Court judgments have, at key moments, accelerated the trend. This talk explores how these structures shape, channel, and sometimes constrain the possibilities for emancipation. Through a careful reading of the Constitution’s text, history, and interpretations, Bhatia sheds light on the subtle (and often contested) mechanisms that govern India’s democracy. A Q&A will follow, giving audiences a chance to engage with these questions of power, freedom, and the ongoing relevance of India’s constitutional experiment. The Vijay Nambisan Trust: was formed to perpetuate the cause of Humanities in its many spheres. The Vijay Memorial Lecture to be held every year is the first event to be sponsored by the Trust in partnership with the Bangalore International Centre. About Vijay Nambisan:One of the best poet-writers of his generation, Vijay Nambisan is known as much for his poetry and prose, as he is for his reclusiveness. He dropped out of IIT Madras in his fourth year of engineering to pursue his love for the written word. He won the first All India British Council Poetry Prize in 1988, worked for a number of years in the literary section of The Hindu and published collections of poetry and prose in his inimitable style. He was married to surgeon and novelist, Kavery Nambisan. In this episode of BIC Talks, Gautam Bhatia delivers a talk. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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406. Unveiling Islamabad
02/10/2026
406. Unveiling Islamabad
dynamics in a society steeped in tradition and inviting us to contemplate not just the challenges facing Pakistan but also the boundless potential for change and understanding. This session delves deeper into their experiences, exposing the layers of tradition that shape societal norms, offering a compelling examination of the challenges and opportunities inherent in the region’s sociopolitical landscape. In this episode of BIC Talks, Ruchi Ghanashyam and A R Ghanashyam will be in conversation with Latha Reddy. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Feb 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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405. Planet of the Apps
02/08/2026
405. Planet of the Apps
A cab in five minutes. Groceries in ten. Biryani in twenty. Who really powers your fast, effortless digital life? OTP Please! (Penguin Random House) uncovers the hidden human stories behind South Asia’s booming app economy. Vandana Vasudevan takes readers into the lives of gig workers racing against the clock, small sellers navigating the algorithm, and the restless customers who keep tapping ‘Order Now.’ From India’s hyperlocal delivery boys to Pakistan’s ride-hail drivers, Nepal’s app startups to Bangladesh’s e-marketplace sellers, the book reveals the invisible ecosystem that fuels our digital ease – and the costs it quietly extracts. Vandana will be in conversation with Mekin Maheshwari, serial entrepreneur, early Flipkart leader, and Founder & CEO of Udhyam Learning Foundation, exploring the realities, challenges, and humanity behind the apps we use every day. An insightful morning unpacking the human side of technology, offering perspectives that linger long after the screen goes dark. In this episode of BIC Talks, Vandana Vasudevan will be in conversation with Mekin Maheshwari. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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404. Reaching for the Stars
01/30/2026
404. Reaching for the Stars
What does it take to dream beyond your time—and make those dreams real? Vikram Sarabhai, founder of India’s space programme, imagined communication satellites that would educate people when even a modest rocket launch seemed audacious. He envisioned agricultural complexes powered by atomic energy, sea water turned drinkable, and a modern India fuelled by science and creativity. But Sarabhai was more than a scientist—he co-founded the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, the National Institute of Design, the dance academy Darpana, and India’s first textile research cooperative, ATIRA. He also ran a thriving pharmaceutical company and launched India’s first market research organisation, ORG. As India navigates its twenty-first century aspirations, this session revisits the humane, imaginative, yet pragmatic vision of a man who built enduring institutions. Drawing from Vikram Sarabhai: A Life, author Amrita Shah offers an intimate portrait of a multifaceted genius whose legacy continues to shape India’s present and future. After her talk, she will be in conversation with Jahnavi Phalkey, exploring the many lives and lasting vision of this extraordinary builder of modern India. In this episode of BIC Talks, Amrita Shah will be in conversation with Jahnavi Phalkey. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Oct 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.
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