Indicast - All Podcasts

Football World Cup 2010 - Group E Review

In this episode, we review Group E consisting of Netherlands, Denmark, Cameroon, and Japan. Jan Roskott joins us as a special guest and long with Vikram, our resident contributor. Jan is the chief blogger at the NEtherlands World Cup Blog. He was also fortunate to be present behind the nets when Netherlands won the Euro 88. While Netherlands seems to be favourite to move on from this group, but the second spot is still up for grabs with Cameroon, Denmark and Japan vying for it.

Indicast #121 - Its Mamata Didi All the Way

Abhijit Dasgupta, the Deputy Editor of India Today Magazine was kind enough to join us on a Skype call from the beautiful city of Kolkata which is lately the cynosure of all Indian political news. Mamata Banerjee helped get WB on the front pages by winning the civic polls and two days before her landslide victory she made some rather controversial remarks about the Gyaneshwari Express train derailment. Abhijit, very eloquently talks about his experience of interviewing and covering the colour...

Sports Bench - Football WC 2010 - Group B Review

In this episode, we review Group B consisting of Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, and Greece. Nani calls this group of indiscipline. All teams, ecept South Korea are still figuring out their match strategies, including Argentina. Argentina is having problems with selecting their final 11, Nigeria's got a new coach just a week back and Greece has never won a world cup match. The group could see South Korea causing some havoc once again.

Sports Bench - Football WC 2010 - Group A Review

In this episode, we review Group A consisting of South Africa, Argentia, Mexico and Uruguay. But even before getting into the podcast with the group discussion, guess how was the Soccer City Stadium inaugrated? to say the least, it was a bit different. Group A is very close to being the Group of Death and Nani tells us why.

Sports Bench - Football WC 2010 Podcast - Kick Off

It's that time again. The World's most popular sport will see which country is the world's best. The Football (not soccer) World Cup 2010 is all set to kick off in 3 weeks. Indicast intends to bring you a special series covering all things Football World Cup 2010 in South Africa. We will not only with doing a weekly review of the matches once the World Cup starts but will also be bringing you a round up of all teams participating group by group. In the first Sports Bench Podcast - Football W...

Indicast #120 - Manmohan Meets the Press

The episode starts on a very sombre note with discussions around the Mangalore Air crash however the topics get a bit cheerful after that. On the occassion of completing one year of UPA II, the Indian PM Manmohan Singh decided to sit face to face with the press and provide an update about the work done. the other topics on this episode include, an All India bengali team conquering Mt Everest, Dawood 3rd on the Forbes Most Wanted List, and the 99 year old half marathon runner.

Indicast #119 - In Fond Memory of "Nabindra" Tagore

It was the 150th Birth Anniversay of India's, for that matter - Asia', first Nobel Laureat. We start with remembering and talking about Rabindranath Tagore and a few side stories about his Life. We then digress to general opinions about Bengalis (hardly a surprise). The other topics include Jayram Ramesh getting pulled up by Manmohan Singh for mouthing off, Anand's winning streak, Nithari killer getting death sentence, and the death of tongas in Delhi.

Point Blank with Rajdeep Sardesai

In this podcast, Rajdeep Sardesai takes us back to his school days and talks passionately about his cricket, table tennis and quizzing before drifting into journalism after studying Law at Oxford University. His dad, Dilip Sardesai, comes to life in the conversation when Rajdeep talks fondly about the values that he grew up on. Rajdeep started his career at a time when Television was yet to make its debut and in his words, Journalism was not as glamourous as it is today. There was a lot of dr...

TKM #45: Super Angels

In this episode, I have two TV Tech Show hosts - Sudhir Sayal of ET NOW and Aalaap Ghag, formerly of UTVs Techtree. We talk about Microsoft buying Skype - one of the most high profile acquisition in recent times. Microsof has received a lot of bashing in the press for the sort of money they spent to buy skype but here is the TKM panels take on it. Also, after discussing about the huge VC investments in the US, Indian enterpreneurs are finally seeing their share. There are no prizes that eComm...

Indicast #118 - Kasab is Guilty

Terrorist Ajmal Kasab has been given the death sentence. Ujjwal Nikam, the public procecutor deserves a special mention. INS Shivalik marks a historic breakthrough in the history of Indian navy by becoming india's first stealth warship which is non detectable in high seas. Manmohan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar among many others find their name in TIME magazine's annual list of achievers. The Delhi University gave itself a bad name this week when it sold radioactive material to a scrap dealer!

Indicast #117 - No Cheersgirls in IPL4

The IPL ended and so did Modi's regime. Chirayu Amin has been brought in as the interim chief of IPL. The Glocodyn man is thinking of doing away with Cheergirls and IPL nights and focus on cricket. (Modi is laughing somewhere). The other taopics include the 364 passenger having a near death experience and India's very own matahari.

Indicast #116 - The Lalit Modi Saga Continues

We recorded this episode a day before Modi was suspended. This podcast also talks about how the Mobile service providers in India have found new ways to milk the devotional customers where you could directly connect with God through an SMS. Aditya has some interesting examples. In Jammu and Kashmir, the government almost succeeded in banning the use of bulk SMSs for the fear of spreading rumors which could cause unnecessary panic.

BiziNation # 44: Government Subsidies Get a New Meaning

The Indian government is contemplating on giving out direct subsidies to the poor by distributing food coupons which can be exchanged for food items at market prices. Do not hold your breath. The government is only in a contemplation mode, but in this podcast we talk about what are the highlights, advantages and consequences of such a step. The prototype of executing this step is already ready with Sri Lanka which had done this way back in 1979. In the auto industry, Daimler joins Nissan and ...

Point Blank with Santosh Ostwal Farmer, Engineer, Inventor, Life Saver

Santosh Ostwal is a maverick engineer who made it possible for the Indian farmer to trigger his irrigation pump with the help of a mobile phone. Do not rub your eyes. You read it right. As an adolescent, Santosh watched his 82 year old grandfather toil hard during the day and then make multiple rounds to the farm with a walking stick in the middle of the night to switch on the electric pump. This entailed facing the grave risk of being mugged or being attacked by snakes and other wild life a...

Indicast #115 - The Maoist Massacre

This week was all about Sania Mirza becoming Sania Malik. Aditya gives us a crash course in islamic weddings. We also end up talking a bit about the concept of VOIP marriages which Aditya is strictly against. In some sad news, 76 CRPF jawans were killed by the maoists. Mr. Chidambaram offered to quit, but his resignation was not accepted. We hold ourselves back this time before going on a rant on criticizing the government. You will know why when you listen to the episode.

This Week in IPL - Week 3

Ayaz Memon and Minal, join me to talk all things IPL for the 3rd episode at the end of 37 matches of IPL 3. The top of the IPL 3 league standings remains unchanged with Mumbai still on top but Chennai Super Kings has moved up significantly.

Indicast #114 - Bhag Milkha Bhag

It's very rare for abhishek to get excited about any story that we discuss on Indicast with the exception of sachin scoring a century. But Milkha Singh selling his life story to be made into a movie for Re. 1 was something that got him going. He was so impatient that I spent most time figuring out how to get thim talking on other topics like the Kingfisher bomb scare, Mayawati's Maharally, and new teams being introduced in IPL 4.

BiziNation # 43: The Business of IPL

The cricketing world sees it as a money making machine. But what are the different sources of revenue for the IPL. In this podcast, we try and give you the business side of the IPL by talking about the deals that have been signed in the run up to the third season of the IPL. All teams without exceptions have recovered their money which only proves the success of the business model which is evolving at best. In other news, Carlos Slim was declared as the world's richest man.

TKM #32 - Mobile handset wars in India

This show is the most "Indian" episode with ALL stories coming from India. The telecom market has been kept on toes by Tata ever since the price war cry by Tata DoCoMo. They have further launched a new internet to TV product called Dialog. The other conversations are around the bunch mobile handset players that have entered India, Google launching metro routes on Google maps in India and a special "dumb" Nexus one being planned for India.

Indicast # 113: Rahul Bose Uncut

Here is a question for all you folks. See if you can crack it. What do you call a man who is an actor, screenwriter and director by profession, a sportsman who represented his country in one of the most physically demanding sports, a well informed social activist, a food lover, a stand up comedian and someone who describes himself as half Bengali, one fourth Maharastrian and one fourth Bengali by birth. Well, you can call the man Rahul Bose.Whether it is the Womens Reservation Bill which is m...

Indicast # 113: Rahul Bose Uncut

BiziNation # 42: The Recall Industry

We all have grown up to looking up to Toyota and Honda as Gods of quality and production standards, but when you find out that a few 100,000 cars are recalled due to unintended acceleration and a few thousands for a faulty door mat which would jam the breaks, you wonder if these Gods have a sense of humour. In this episode we discuss the major recalls of the car industry and how they are dealing with them. In other news, the Wall Street goes easy on this years CEO pay packages.

Indicast # 112: Sachin Tendulkar Plays God

The day started with all of us reading about the tragic death of more than 10 people living in Bangalore when an office building caught fire. One of our listeners from Bangalore, Lakshmikant joins in to give us the ground zero POV of the unfortunate event. Later in the day, Sachin made history by scoring the first double century in the history of One Day International cricket. Pune blasts toll reach 15 and Telangana state claimed the life of a 19 year old to suicide. In other news, schools se...

Indicast # 112: Sachin Tendulkar Plays God

TKM #30 - iPad, Google Buzz and Win Phone 7

We have barely completed 2 months of 2010 and we already have 3 major product announcements. At 53 minutes, this episode is the longest ever for Tech Ka Masala but with the announcement of iPad and the controversy, Google Buzz and WIndows Phone 7, we thought it deserved the extra time.

Indicast # 111: Mumbai Indians: Say it at Your Own Risk

Indicast # 111: Mumbai Indians: Say it at Your Own Risk

Whats common between Rahul Gandhi, SRK, Mukesh Ambani and Sachin Tendulkars apart from their rather envious bank accounts Yeah, its not too hard to guess. Their strong affinity towards Shiv Sena and MNS. In other news, in Egypt, some Muslim Scholar issued a fatwa stating that a woman browsing a social networking site will be considered to be a sinner. Back home here in India, Rahul Mahajan is part of an interesting reality show.

Point Blank with Tom Standage on the iPad

The Economists Business Affairs Editor joined us to talk about his cover story on the iPad. In this podcast, Tom makes some interesting observations on how the device will be more acceptable by the grandmothers and the members of the non geek world. He also shares his opinions on how the iPad will affect the online publishing and the newspaper industry. Tom is known for speaking his mind on the subject that he loves Apple and Technology and thats exactly what he does in this podcast too.

BiziNation # 41: Cadburys Krafted

Although Cadburys is a brand from UK, it elicits a lot of fond memories from Indians here in India. Blame it on their beautiful advertising (credit goes to O and M). So when Kraft decided to make an offer that Cadbury's is mulling over, we thought why not talk about the deal from Indias perspective. Inflation in India is howering at 16 per cent and the prices of essential commodities have gone through the roof. On the other hand in Australia where Ritika is currently residing, the story is th...

Indicast # 110: An Encore with Gul Panag

Some good soul has said that Having a good conversation is one of the great joys of being human and if it is coupled with the sustained charm, wit and energy of Gul Panag, you are in for a treat. A big shout out to Gul who did an encore of sorts by firing away on topics ranging from the controversial Padma Shree awards to the relevance of National awards in todays context. For a self confessed cricket un-fan, Gul was pretty vocal about the non selection of the Pakistani players in the IPL. A...

BiziNation # 40: Top 10 Business News 2009

In the first Bizination episode for 2010, we bring you a list of top 10 Business news of 2009 that made waves in India. Tell us if you agree with our list!

Point Blank with Neville Roach

Born in India, having spent a major part of his life in Australia, and having worked on building Indo-Australian ties both on the government and business level, We can think of no one better than Mr. Neville Roach to shed light on the current state of affairs between India and Australia. The latest and a significant addition to the already enviable bio is his recent appointment to the Indian Prime Ministers Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians.

Indicast # 109: Delhi Fogged Out!

Sidin, the Managing Editor of LiveMint.com joined us to talk a bit about his forthcoming book, Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese and a bit more about the Chetan Bhagat controversy which has found a lot of newspaper space lately. This podcast was free-flowing (uh another way of saying that we were all over the place). We spoke about how beautifully the Indian Hockey Federation is handing its hockey players demands by breaking new records in unprofessionalis

Indicast #108: Ending 2009

The last episode and week of the year 2009 and infact the decade was full of controversies and dejections. Starting with Sheila Dixit and her prayer for a successful CWG to 86 year old Governor beging serviced at Raj Bhavan. Any case, keep listening in the upcoming decade.

BiziNation # 39: Humara Bajaj RIP

If anyone can come close to playing God today, then it's unargubaly Google. In its latest move it is contemplating on charging its users (virtually all of us) for accessing news online. We cant blame Google for this since this demand has come from folks like Murdoch and the likes who claim to be losing tons of money by inviting readers to browse stories free of cost. In India, Bajaj has taken a bold (but predictable and emotional) decision to discontinue its scooters.

Indicast # 107: The Copenhagen What?

One venue: Copenhagen. 192 countries. One goal is to reduce carbon emissions which isnt doing any good to the climate. The Copenhagen accord was reached after rigourous debate among representatives of 192 countries. What's it all about? You tell us if you have figured it out so far. Back home in India Congress has sanctioned the formation of a new state Telangana and in Gujarat, the Panchayat elections will now be made compulsory. In cricket, India and Sri Lanka give each other a run for the...

Indicast # 106: Bhopal - 25 Years and still waiting

25 years after the biggest man made tragedy and the victims are still on the streets fighting another tragedy the government. The Bhopal Gas tragedy completed 25 years and people out there are still hoping to receive fair compensation for the genocide that was caused due to a gas leak from a Multinational company. The absenteeism in the parliament is at a new time high. In soprts, India are world number one in cricket and Tiger woods beats all records off the field this time .

Rocket Singh Movie Review

An adorable experience. A drama-free which by definition includes melodrama-free execution. Super-witty dialogues that are timed superbly. And a plot that flows smoothly. What more can we ask for?

Paa Movie Review

A film that invokes thoughts on varying subjects from single parenthood, rare diseases to politics. And it does so successfully. As if that werent enough it is all put together in a relatively unusual plot and has one superb performance by Amitabh Bachchan which overshadows brilliant performances by the rest of the cast too.

BiziNation # 38: Dubai Dubaa Dubaaa

For the last decade or so, Dubai invoked awe and admiration for the pace at which it could lead a creative growth which was not limited to building sky scrapers, but other garnishing like man made islands, artificial arctic like winter, etc. All these developments were funded by the Government through its investing arm, Dubai World which announced that it could not pay off the $59 billion loan to the banks. The stock markets came crashing down. While that happened, we also talk about the comp...

BiziNation # 37: India Gets High on Gold

AMD and Intel are the fiercest of competitors. And we've been taught that almost all is fair in love, war and the corporate world. Intel took it a bit too far and had to cough up 1.5 billion USD to AMD for uh cheating. This is what they call out of court settlement. In News from India, the government is on a gold buying spree from the IMF. Toyota, the Japanese auto major has put its papers in F1. We sign off this episode by talking a bit about Inflation waking up after a rather prolonged peri...

Indicast # 105: Indian Judiciary in Permanent Hibernation?

Some would say 17 years is a long time for a report to be publised especially if its a judgement coming from the Supreme Court for a genocide like a riot which killed 2000 people (reported figures) in the Babri Maszid riot (read: pogrom). 26/11 is one year old now and Maharashtra has set up a Special Task Force called Force 1 for combating any terror strikes. In another news, pilgrimage places are becoming sex hot spots. The biggest exam in town, CAT goes online and sends servers crashing.

Indicast # 104: Sachin Aala Re All Over Again

When two Sachin fans get together to talk about Him, you might expect a rather one sided conversation, but Aditya surprised me with his take on the recent unintended controversy that Sachin kicked off in the midst of his 20 years of international cricket which was spiced up a little bit with his seemingly innocent and matter of fact remark about Mumbai being a part of India and that it belongs to everyone equally. In other news, in the assembly elections, MNS MLAs beat up Abu Azmi for not t...

Point Blank with Pritish Nandy

A poet, a journalist, a sportsman, a publishing editor of Indias premier newspaper, a photographer, a traveler, a film maker - all in one lifetime and still going strong. If this were a quiz question, one needn't require any options to choose from. The name that comes at the top of one's mind is that of Pritish Nandy. In this point blank chat with Aditya, Nandy gets candid on his colourful career so far right from his schooling days where his poems would get him plaudits from accomplished wri...

Point Blank with Dr. Shashi Tharoor - Indian Minister of State, External Affairs

Point Blank with Dr. Shashi Tharoor - Indian Minister of State, External Affairs

'Shashi Tharoor Jeetega Zaroor' was the campaign slogan that his supporters chanted when a precocious Tharoor was running for the president of his college union. He won then and three decades later, in 2009, Dr Shashi tharoor won again, this time as the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament from the Trivandrum constituency in Kerala. In this podcast, Dr Tharoor talks about his experience as a diplomat at the UN and the eventful transition to India...

BiziNation # 36: Not all Greed is Good

Scams are back. Three guys from the 1983 batch of Wharton Business School have been accused of orchestrating one of the biggest hedge fund scams in a long time. This is a text book case of Insider trading. But not all news is sad news on the Wall Street. Most companies have posted Quarterly profits. In India, Lakshmi Mittal, the CEO of Arcelor Mittal threatened to quit all his projects from Orissa and Jharkhand. Ritika has strong views on the whole issue of land allocation for such projects w...

Indicast # 103: The Great Indian Congress Coup

The General Elections results are out and Congress is back in power in major states. Aditya describes his experience of watching Rahul Gandhi deliver a speech in Adityas home town, Panvel. In other news, Rajdhani Express was hijacked by Maoists but the only relief was that no one was hurt. In education, Kapil Sibal makes it even more difficult to get into an IIT college in India. ISRO and IAF are fighing a healthy battle to send a representative into outer space.

Indicast 102 # Obamania all Over Again!

Happy Diwali Folks. In this unusually lighthearted episode, we talk about Adityas voting experience in the recently concluded state elections. Then we move on to talk about a very serious issue of Obama winning himself an Oscar. Or was it a Nobel? In Sports, Serena Williams posed nude for the body issue of ESPN magazine. Somewhere in India, a couple was asked to tie a rakhee because the Village Panchayat did not approve their love.

BiziNation # 35: Internet and its money making ways

This episode of BiziNation is dedicated to the Internet. Lately, social networking sites are showing signs of finally making some money USocial, an Australian site is selling friends to companies who can send targeted messages to its audience. On the Operating Systems front, Microsoft launched its new OS with an a very questionable but an effective ad campaign. Yahoo! is spilling $100 million on advertising in the traditional media, a sign of growing desperation. Google on the other hand has ...