Indicast Podcast Network - Mother Feed

Forbes has dubbed Groupon as the fastest growing company in the world. In this podcast, we talk about the Groupon anxiety and how has Ritika learned to deal with it in Australia where she takes us through her experience of using different Groupon like services. In other news, Maruti employees went on strike which lasted until the time we recorded this podcast. And a Gujarathi businessman in UK buys himself a flying car.

Manan and I talk about the much talked about Google Street view mapping program being launched but as soon as it did the Bangalore police sent them a shut down notice. YouTube also launched the Box Office with Band Baja Baaraat seems to be making an aggressive push into publisher content. We also spend sometime talking about 100 glorious years of IBM and wonder which new age company will still be around 100 years from today. We also briefly talk about Aaramshop.com, and NIC website getting hacked.

Lately, Africa has seen a spate of investments from Indian private companies and Dr. Manmohan Singhs visit to the continent a few weeks back only adds to the growing importance of being present in an economy which is growing at 6 per cent per annum. In this podcast, we talk about all the Indian companies which have set up businesses in Africa in the past year. Back home, Hero launches its first dirt bike after splitting with Honda motors and Naomi Campbell is not too happy with Cadbury.

OECD ranked Australia as the happiest industrialised nation in the world. The Indian middle class, on the contrary is facing troubled times as the government considers increasing prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG a couple of weeks after pushing petrol prices. In the midst of this, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor visits India. In the world of IPOs, LinkedIn has a blockbuster start but we also talk about how the investment banks made more money in the deal than investors and Samsonite, the luggage maker gets listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Acclaimed Pakistani journalist, Saleem Shahzad was brutally murdered in Islamabad a few days after he wrote an opinionated article about the talks between Al Quida and the Pakistani Naval officials breaking down. Back home in India, Baba Ramdev chose to go on a fast unto death to fight against corruption. Angela Merkel visited India for a day and in sports, Afridi announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. India, on the other hand leaves for the West Indies tour with Suresh Raina taking charge from Dhoni.

Dominique Strauss Kahn preferred to gamble with his position by allegedly sexually assaulting a chambermaid from a Manhattan hotel. He lost his hand, rather literally and with it out went his chances to France's president in the next term. In this podcast, we talk about what this means for IMF and the European nations who are trying to flap their hands and legs in the middle of the oceanic debt that stares at them. At Citibank, Vikram Pandit gets a retention bonus totaling to more than 10 million USD. Closer home, Ratan Tata passes some remarks on Mukesh Ambani and the Brits.

Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalitha shine in their respective states to win landslide victories. In this podcast, Aditya gives us a run down of state elections that is currently on in India. The biggest coup came from Mamata didi who ended the 34 year long Marxist regime in West Bengal where as Jayalalitha continued the cyclical phenomenon by toppling DMK in Tamil Nadu. In other news, we also talk a bit about the recently released diaries of Osama Bin Laden.

When Microsoft makes its biggest purchase in its history, everyone loves to talk about it. Skype got acquired for more than 8 billion USD. In this podcast, we talk about this and other related tech stories such as the LinkedIn Initial Public Offering (IPO) scheduled on May 19th. Reid Hoffman, the 43 year old should be happy considering that his company will be the first social network from America to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In other news, Facebook was caught planting negative stories in the press against Google.

Normal is boring. That is the tenet that India seems to be working on in the wake of the biggest petrol price hike of all time. A record 32 per cent year on year and 8 per cent overnight increase has caused some discontent among the middle class. Akhilesh joins us in this episode and we talk about the hike and more. A Rs. 3000 crore subsidy package is being made ready for BSNL and MTNL with the hope of pulling them back into profits. Royal Enfield, the bike company which has a cult following in India has new plans for India. With a waiting period of more than a year, what do you expect.

The weekend Royal wedding festivities continued in some parts of the world when a confident, and emotionless Barack Obama declared that US had killed Osama in Pakistan. The incident has left Pakistan red faced since it always maintained that Osama was not in Pakistan. Some see this military operation as a blatant disregrad to Pakistan' sovereignty. As soon as the news hit India, Chidabaram was on it asking Pakistan to now hand over Dawood and Saeed Hafiz (26/11 strategist). But this seems far from happening. We cover a few more deaths that happened in India in this episode.

K V Kamath has been appointed as the Chairman of Infosys Inc while Mohandas Pai, the HR director of Infy quits. In this podcast, we also cover a bit about the business impact of the royal wedding. In other news, Air India has multiplied its self inflicted problems with more than 1000 pilots going on strike. This episode is unexpectedly all over the place. Hope you like it nevertheless. Ritika is back in this one.

India may soon have cardless banking if Nandan Nilekani and his team working on the Unique Identification Number can complete the project in time. After the initial testing among a sample size of 58,000 people, the project looks like it's in the right direction. In this podcast, we talk about this new way of exchanging cash from the technology as well as the consumer perspective. With an influx of 3G ads on television, we cover a few ads which have been successful in breaking the clutter, if only marginally. In other news, Kishore Biyani plans to recreate a Big Bazaar like model in the finance world.

Anna Hazare waited for a few days before he broke his fast. The Congress relented. In this podcast, we try and bring you what the Lokmat Bill means and why did Hazare press for it. In Sports, Sachin Tendulkar has been declared the Wisdens Leading Cricketer of the year. Pakistan plans to bring their own version of IPL amidst their captain Afridi making some interesting comments on India.

Sanjeev Agarwal, the Joint CEO of Big Bazaar joins us to talk about his experience of watching India play at Mohali, Ahmedabad and finally at Mumbai where India lifted the World Cup trophy after 28 years. Anna Hazares fast unto death has finally succeeded in moving people in the parliament to come up with the Lokpal bill after a longer wait of 42 years. Aditya brings up a puberty related topic where our adolescents are getting bolder by the era.

In our film industry, what Amitabh Bachchan or Dilip Kumar is to acting, Nitin Chandrakant Desai is to art direction. The winner of four national awards and many successful movies such as Lagaan, Devdas, Jodha Akbar, Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam, Munnabhai, etc talks about his craft and the challenges of his everyday job. He takes us through his experiece of working with directors like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansai, Danny Boyle and Ashutosh Gowarikar. His job demands him to think on his feet and deliver results in open sets where temperature can soar up to 45 degrees.This podcast charts the journey of the man who once lived in a 10X10 Worli chawl and today is Indias most respected Art Director who still maintains the modesty of a newcomer.

India takes on Pakistan in the second semi final later today at Mohali. In the universal set of India and Pakistan, if set A were cricket and Set B were politics, then A intersection B is confusion, tension and a false sense of security. But we do rely on hope. In this podcast, we talk about this and more. Warren Buffet is in India. The DGCA spanking continues on pilots who have forged their way into the service. And Adityas better half makes her debut in a film titled Bal Gandharva which is going to the Cannes Film Festival.

Sudhir Naik, the ground incharge and the curator at Wankhede joins us to talk about the efforts that went behind making the pitch, the outfield and the stadium which will soon host the finals of the World Cup on April 2, 2011. As a former test cricketer and Mumbai Ranji captain, Sudhirji speaks passionately about his role and how he kept his head when all about him were losing theirs. He along with his team made it possible to get the ground up and running for the three matches of this World Cup by spending months together on the ground and toiling it through the summer and rains.

Even by Japans standards, the crisis is of enormous proportions. In this podcast, we try to cover the economic impact of the earthquake and the tsunami that followed. The radiation leaks in the nuclear reactor only added to the problems. Quite a few Indian IT companies have their operations in Japan and in turn Japan happens to be Indias third largest investor. While it may not affect India gravely, it is definitely not decoupled from this crisis. In other news, Rajat Gupta resigns from ISB and Grameen Banks Yunus is having his problems hanging on to the company that he created.

Wiki Leaks has found a new market. It is India. After tying up with The Hindu, it has released a few cables which accuse some of our politicians of selling votes for cash. Japan is still recovering from one of its worst nightmares after suffering from one of the biggest earthquakes of the century. Back home in India, Jairam Ramesh, our Environment Minister is gearing up to carry out a security check across all of Indias 20 nuclear plants. In other news, Vidharbha is the new Tiger capital of India and right at the end of this episode, Aditya is genuinely fascinated by a pair of silicon implants killing a snake!

Did you know that there were 18,000 Indians holed up in Libya about a week back. The Indian government is going all out to evacuate all Indians in the region as Col Gaddafi refuses to let go of his assumed control over Libya. Back home, Aruna Shanbaug lies in a vegetative state for 37 years running but sees a glimmer of hope as the court allows passive euthanasia in her case. We would love to know your views on euthanasia. Have you heard of a state stocking up on blood in anticipation of state elections. We just did. It is West Bengal. In other news, our beloved Uncle Pai, the creator of Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle series passed away. RIP.