Indicast Podcast Network - Mother Feed

In sports, everyone loves a good contest. And when Magnus Carlsen, the 22 year old Norwegian prodigy beat Vishy Anand, chess entered a new era. In this podcast we talk about how these giants of the game prepare to get there. Another prodigy, Prithvi Shaw smashed 546 in the 2013 Harris Shield tournament. This week also marks the 50th anniversary of Indias first rocket launch from Thumba, a small hamlet in south India. And of course, some Ashes updates right at the end.

Statisticians love to debate about whether Sachin Tendulkar is indeed the best batsmen that the game has ever seen. Perhaps not. He ranks 29th according to one analysis. But Sachin has captured the imaginations of world cricket like no other player. In India he is revered for his performances on and off the field. As he calls curtains on a glorious career, we look back at his exploits with the bat including the stroke filled 74 at the Wankhede. We were there. At the stadium. And it was a joy to watch him regain some of his lost touch.

In this podcast, we talk about Manna Dey, one of the greatest singers known to us. In sports, Ajit Agarkar retires. Aditya talks about his experience of watching Sachin get out in the 90s at the Wankhede stadium as he prepares to play his last two Tests. In Australia, tree leaves can offer clues for spotting gold deposits and why voting cannot us any good, says an MP.

With Telangana fast tracked into another state, we found an excuse to talk a bit about the history of Indias princely states and how the country was formed as an amalgamation of more than 500 mini states ruled by princes. In cricket, India whitewashes Zimbabwe while the IPL runs into further mess.

The week started off with the shocking news of kids in Bihar dying from eating food that was cooked in utensils previously used for storing insecticides. The mid day meal program from across India has mixed reviews, but this episode highlights how, when it comes to even the bare essentials, we are way off. In other news, Britains royal baby tumbled forth, the great Arun Bose of Bose speakers passes away and Indian Badminton league makes a debut.

A lot of water has flown under the bridge since we recorded a podcast last time. Uttarakhand remains buried, telegram is dead, Murray has won the Wimbledon, Modi is slammed for wishing happy Ramadan to a few of his Muslim friends and a bloke from Rajasthan gets himself a hall ticket with Barack Obama's picture on it.

One of the most versatile actors of his time, Pran was chosen for the Dadasaheb Phalke award earlier this month. India makes progress to get its polio erradication certificate from the WHO. A single man cultivates an entire forest in Assam. His name is Jadav Peyang. And the most expensive dog fetches close to a million pounds in UK.

With Vijay, Pujara, Kohli, Jadeja, Dhoni all getting their personal bests, all seems well with Indian cricket. For now. Sanjay Dutt has been ordered to serve his time in prison. A new pope gets appointed and Bill Gates floats a 100,000 USD grant for anyone who can come up with a next generation condom. Also, tell us what you think of our new website.

In this episode we talk about the Hyderabad blasts, the successful launch of a PSLV by ISRO and Fauja Singh, the 101 year old running his last marathon.

Sorry about the radio silence. In this long coming episode and the first one of 2013, we talk about the Maha Kumbh mela, changing rape laws and the perpetual peace talks that continue with our friendly neighbour inspite of the cross border firings and the most recent brutal killing of Jawans on the front.

A spate of rape cases show up on the radar as media mercifully covers the most recent gang rape of a 23 year old woman in Delhi. All politicians including the home minister and the prime minster make a mockery of themselves by reading out prepared statements or making careless remarks on television. In Gujarat, Narendra Modi gets elected for third time in a row. In sports, Sachin Tendulkar retires from One Day Internationals. And DARPA comes up with a magic foam to help army men in rescue operations.

Pandit Ravi Shankar passes away. The great man was a bundle of energy and had performed on stage with his daughter in the US at the ripe age of 94. Text messaging turns 20. Saudi Arabia adds SMS tracking of wives to its increasingly long list of injustice towards women. At a village in Bihar, a local committee has banned women from carrying mobile phones. The Panchayat believes that this will lead to fewer elopements.

This week, the Lok Sabha gives a green signal for allowing FDI in retail. Bihar pulls off an amazing track record of growth by beating Maharashtra and Gujarat. In sports, Ricky Ponting retires and Freddie Flintoff takes to boxing. Sachin finally gets a fifty after his worst slump in two decades. The Kabbadi world cup is being played in Punjab. And a weed wacking robot from two Stanford trained engineers trawls lettuce fields, identifies weeds and kills them using a concentrated dose of fertilisers.

The French government has made the classic mistake. Of interfering in business. Lakshmi Mittal is miffed as he has been asked not to shut down two of his loss making blast furnaces in Florange unless he wants to see all his French outfits getting nationalised. Greece gets another bail out package and in Australia, cigarette packaging will no longer carry any glamorous images or colours. Just plain packaging.

BCCI has been quite the negotiator. It got Pepsi to pay twice as what DLF had paid in the previous edition of the IPL. This comes at a time when the popularity of IPL is possibly at its lowest according to many surveys. Amidst all the talks of recession, in October, Porsche sold a record number of vehicles in India. Also, according to a recent World Bank report, India receives more money through repatriation than any other. And typewriters are called off the shelves in UK.

Four years after the grisly event, Ajmal Kasab was hanged at the Yerwada Central Jail in Pune. In international news, Israel pummels Gaza for eight straight days. More than 140 Palestinians were killed before a cease fire came into effect. Somewhere on this planet, a few people still believe that the world will come to an end this December and hope to seek refuge near a hill in France. The French authorities, fearing commotion have blocked entry to the venue. And a bunch of folks at Carnegie Mellon Robotics institute have devised a way for us to drive safely during a thunderstorm. Their smart headlights illuminate the road and not the rain drops.

The Euro Zone goes under all over again. The latest numbers suggest that all seventeen countries of the Euro have posted two consecutive quarters of negative growth. And when that happens, the economy is said to be under recession. The US, which is known to come up with fancy phrases to describe their economic plights, have done it again. This time the popular phrase is the fiscal cliff. Back home in India, Raymond, the apparel maker will soon launch its own brand of beer shampoo.

In this podcast, Jon Fasman of The Economist talks about his on ground experience of covering the US presidential elections. Over the past few months Jon travelled across the country, attended rallies, conducted interviews, met strangers, filed articles, wrote online, did live blogging, recorded podcasts and met crazy deadlines. To report the greatest political event on the planet, a little bit of insomnia came in handy too. Given a chance, would he do it again. In a heartbeat, he says.

The man had a mafia like control over the city so much that he had it change its name because he did not like it. In this podcast we talk a bit about Bal Thackerays beginnings, his quirks, agendas and of course his legendary oratorical skills. In other political news, Rahul Gandhi has been asked to lead the Congress poll campaign in the upcoming 2014 general elections. In some happy news, a bunch of doctors from University of Michigan claim to have devised a pacemaker which can be powered by the motion of heart beats.

The greatest spectacle on the American soil comes to an end and Barack Obama wins it for the second time. But we are more interested in George Bush Jr accidentally voting for Obama. Back home, Arvind Kejriwal tops the popularity charts on all news channels and newspapers. Vijay Mallya sells off a majority stake in his spirit business in the hope to rescue his airline company. And Happy Diwali to everyone.