Indicast Podcast Network - Mother Feed

While Obama took office in the US, the Indian politics was having a ball of a time in amusing its citizens. What is the former Indian captain, Azaruddin doing in Indian politics, you may ask, but when Sanjay Dutt's wife Manyata is rumored to contest for Samajwadi Party, nothing seems weird. On a more hopeful note, our martyrs were awarded Ashoka Charkra on Independence Day for showing unparalled courage fighting the terrorists. Slumdog millionaire has made it to almost all possible award ceremonies and now it's time for the big one - The Oscars. But we are not too happy with the film makers for paying peanuts to the three young stars of the film who still wake up in their thached huts and hae nowhere to go. In another news, Qutub Minar is tilting and the authorities are doing everything to save the monumentfrom collapsing!

2009 has started off with what might turn out to be the largest scam in India Inc's history. Raju revealed how ordinary people can do extraordinary things just like Satyam's website mention. But the week had some positive news with AR rahman winning at the Golden Globe for his work in SlumDog Millionaire. Talking about people in Bollywood, SRK has been listed as the 41st most influential person in the world and Sanjay Dutt has finally decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a Samajhwadi Party ticket. We end the episode talking about Pamela Anderson's letter to BMC about being kinder to the stray dogs.

As we get into the new year, we look back at 2008 and talk about the significant events that took place. Sadly, the negative events dominated 2008 and we really had to look for something that cheered us up in the year gone by.

A wounded tiger is far more dangerous than a hungry one. India has lived this cliche for a long time now, but only to the extent of being hungry and wounded. It is far from dangerous; in fact, if you listen closely, you might hear some whimpering. It has been a fortnight since the terrorists ripped through Mumbai. Since then, the Taj has been rebuilt; Trident announced that it will be reopening soon, the CST is back to being a host to millions of people daily and our politicians do not have any concrete answers about why it all happened, what steps should we take now and whether it will happen again. Aditya, who travels through local trains in peak time, shares his observations about how his fellow passengers now double up as detectives and how daily traveling has become an unfortunate adventure.

It's an epidemic of sorts now. It struck again. It lasted for 60 hours. Mumbai bled. As viewers stitched to the TV set like umbilical chords, it was psychologically draining to watch the footage of Hemant Karkare readying himself to take control before he was shot dead with two other ranking cops Salaskar and Kamte, to see the deserted CST station daubed in red, to stare at the burning Taj as the our men with woefully inadequate infrastructure brought it to an end. Amid the chaos, journalists became household names whose voice, sometimes desparate, sometimes hopeful blared through our TV sets. While some sensationalised it, a few others acted responsibly. Yogita Limaye is one such reporter from CNN IBN who clocked two nights straight near the Taj runing relentlessly on adrenalin and in this podcast, she gives us an on-ground perspective of the events that unfolded.

"They can have it in any colour they want as long as it is black," Henry Ford's arrogance back in the 19th Century was justified when he was selling his cars and telling consumers what they NEEDED because he didn't believe that the customers knew what they wanted. Given a choice, Ford's customers would have demanded a faster horse, but he built the Model T anyway. CUT TO 2008. The swaggar which the auto makers had gotten used to is now reduced to a limp. With people shoving their hard earned money under the mattress, today, a sleek sports car is no more than a gas guzzling peace of metal meant for the foolish few who are skating on thin ice. With the auto industry consistently posting losses, it hope to get a 25 bn USD loan from the treasury to fix a few things. We talk about the mess and some dope from the aviation industry in India as well.

With companies going bust and countries filing for bankruptcy, newspapers are hunting for less cliched headlines. One story from NYT caught our attention. It claimed that pets are not recession proof. People who cannot afford to pay their rents are now forced to abandon their pets! In Sports, Sachin Tendulkar gave us a reason to celebrate his world record of scoring the highest number of runs in test match cricket. We cheered for Arvind Adiga who won himself the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his book, 'The White Tiger'.

Two years after TATA announced the one lakh car, argubly a revolution of the magnitude of Henry Ford's Model T, the car industry's most binouculared project is yet to lay its foundation stone. After elaborate protests, some violence and lots of confusion, TATA took the painful call of relocating to another state. A week later, all the newspapers carried a picture of Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat shaking hands with Ratan Tata. This podcast is more about our thoughts on how politics can ruin capitalism. We want to know your take on this one. In another news, HCL is set to acquire Axon, an SAP consulting firm and TCS has bought over the back office arm of Citigroup.

It's been about three years now and it has been fun all along. Here's a huge shoutout to all you folks out there from across the world who have stayed with us and helped us through your comments (both nasty and encouraging!). Until this episode, we didn't know how countries could go bankrupt. Back home, Maharashtra government decided to sort of legalise the live in relationship model where the woman will be eligible for limony (conditions apply, of course!). Our beloved dada, Saurav Ganguly has announced retirement from all forms of cricket, but Aditya is still hopeful that Ganguly might reconsider it. Look forward to your comments in this podcast.

The American stock markets are in the mood for some adventure. On their way down the cliff, they brought the Indian Sensex to one of its all time lows in the past two years. While in one news, India is all set to sign the Indo American nuclear agreement, in another, the Government has declared a nationwide smoking ban in India. Mamata Banerjee successfully tests Ratan Tata's patience and gets the better of him. The One lakh car project gets delayed. India which has been known for its religious tolerance is giving away as communal riots erupt in different parts of the country.

It's a tough gig... to work for one of the most acclaimed publications of the century during the day time, work everyday independently towards writing a book in a half lotus position, research like hell so as to get all the facts and the perspectives right, update a book blog almost daily, then come home late at night to crash on the bed! Andreas Kluth, the humble tech correspondent from The Economist joins us to talk about Hannibal, the Carthaginian general from about 200 BC who marched with an army of elephants over the Alps, defeated the Romans over and over again, but his life ended with an anti-climax; he lost everything and committed suicide! In his book, Andreas intends to draw parallels between Hannibal's life and that of our contemperories like Steve Jobs, Al Gore,and may be even Heath Ledger! No, you won't find it in the 'Self Help' aisle of your book store. In this podcast Andreas shares all his views on this very eventful journey of writing his first book which is slated to come out sometime in 2

When they asked Tom about his occupation, he balked. He wanted to keep that as a secret. But they persisted wanting to know about what Tom does for a living. He finally relented, "I work as a piano man in a brothel." He had lied. He was too ashamed to admit that he was an investment banker. This podcast is dedicated to all the innocent Toms from the unsinkable 'Titanic' like industry in the US called Investment banking where the lifeboats are afloat with people who's jobs and families are on the line. We would love to know your take on this unceremonius downfall of goliaths likeLehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, etc. How bad is it out there?

China can make cheap goods. We all know that. What we did not know was that China could host the biggest event on he face of the earth in the grandest form ever imagined. We are of course talking about the Olympics which brought us all good news. Heck India won the first individual Olymipic Gold medal in 108 years. Abhinav Bindra, Vijendar Kumar, Sushil Kumar and Akhil Kumar covered the front pages. This podcast is dedicated to all sport lovers. Er we also digressed just a wee bit to talk about Mobica Bedi, condoms and a couple of movies.

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. Prof Kanu Doshi is back. This time he fires away on India's convoluted tax structure in a user friendly manner that makes a technical subject like taxation lnteresting and entertaining. All our finance ministers from Chanakya to Chidambaram have steered India through a very eventful journey in the field of taxation and Kanu bhai pulls out fascinating anecdotes from his hat to take us through this ride. Hope you enjoy it!

We are back after getting stuck in a rather unhealthy habit of not being on time. The last month was plump with a number of mergers and acquisitions on a national and an international scale. Spice married Idea in the telecom sector. On the global front, Anil bhais ADAG and MTN, the South African telecom giant are contemplating a merger of sorts, but Mukesh Ambani comes in his younger bro's way yet again. Ranbaxy, the Indian pharmaceutical major has been acquired by its Japanese Counterpart, Daiichi Sankyo in a landmark deal. This season, in India, as the rains pour, so do the mergers.

Though I have huge complaints in most departments, I cant deny that it's perfect packaging for kids in the 3-12 age group. With hardly any sad moments, the characters are mostly colorful and chirpy. But, given my reservations, should I actually encourage my kids to watch this when not too long ago Taare Zameen Par was around? Oh, why not? There's enough room for everybody.

While India battles double digit inflation, our politicians find a unique way to protest against the increasing fuel prices, but the plan hilariously backfires! While in one story, a small time waiter works his ass off to clear the UPSE exams, another intelligent kid tops the IIT entrance test only to flee his hometown due to the paparazzi pressure. Shiv sena now wants to enter the hearts of the ordinary Mumbaikar by selling vada pavs. Aditya is not too happy with the air hostesses from Delta Airlines and for good reason!

The epidemic is back. It is called inflation. USA, India, China, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Haiti, Egypt are searching for the medicine to cure themselves. The medicine itself is not only bitter, but sometimes fatal! Among the developing economies, India leads the pack. In this podcast, we talk about how relavent is this whole issue to the common man or the housewife who buys vegetables on the street in a city in India. We recorded this episode when the inflation was around 7 per cent. Two weeks later, now, as I type, it has notched up to 9 per cent. We would love to know your take on this issue that has perplexed economists from around the world.

Big B has a new meaning now. Amitabh has a blog now and he receiving a response similar to Aamir Khan's Blog . Moving on, Who say's money cant buy happiness? With the growing affluence, atleast in the urban areas, a lot of single women have cut the middle man. The sex toy business in brazil is taking off and the same business in India is seeing a surge too. Although, the goods are legally not allowed to be sold but are easily accessible in grey market. Also, while "researching" Abhishek found the greatest iPod accessory ever and he tells us a bit about it.

It is said that having a good conversation is one of the great joys of being human. When Zanny Minton Beddoes, the Economics Editor of The Economist ruthlessly dismembers jargons like foreclosures, sub prime crisis, inter bank rates, etc, all I can say is that I enjoyed every bit of it. Economics is a fascinating field and Zanny makes it palatable for all of us who do not have a background in the subject. In the first few minutes, she lays a solid foundation giving us the whole build up to the current situation in the US followed by where she thinks it will all culminate into. All this and much more in these 30 minutes that Zanny squeezed in from her busy day which she attributes to America facing pretty interesting times. Presenting to you, economics for the common man.