Dispatches from Kolkata

The very word vacation has its roots in vacare or to be unoccupied. But in reality vacations are anything but unoccupied. Sandip recounts the woes of waking up at the crack of dawn to make your checklist items while on vacation.

Sandip explores a 100-year-old history of Bengali comics and what they gained and lost from their encounter with Laurel and Hardy and Tarzan and Tintin.

A new food fight has erupted in India. And it’s about one of the most famous dishes to come out of India, one that every other Indian restaurant in the west usually must carry.

The stars are aligned this week. Its a week for Holi, Ramadan and Good Friday, which is a perfect way to showcase how many faiths in Kolkata exist shoulder to shoulder.

Sandip began his Dispatches from Kolkata thinking he would tell listeners in the Bay Area stories from India to show that we were ultimately all connected in this global local world. But as we cross 500 episodes of Dispatches, he discovers something more.

Self-help books promise a secret formula to individual success and Jay Shetty is just the latest Dale Carnegie to do so. But, even after the Guardian’s expose on Shetty, Sandip wonders if the problem lies elsewhere.

Kolkata is often regarded as a city that has slipped behind other metropolises in India when it comes to money and industry. But the country's crime bureau says it's one of the safest cities in India. And some activists are hoping to keep it that way by encouraging more street life instead of complaining about crowds and dirt.

Sandip Roy remembers his childhood radio guru, Amen Sayani died last week at the age of 91.

Pandit Chitresh Das is credited with bringing the Indian classical dance of kathak to America. Now the Chitresh Das Institute takes it back on tour in India but this time with live piano in accompaniment.

Kolkata has India's only Chinatown. The Chinese community is dwindling but they still put up a good show for the Chinese New Year. Sandip got a taste.

It’s wonderful that lit fests are coming out of their English cocoons. At this years Kolkata Literary Meet I noticed so many other Indian dialects on stage, often with an interpreter doing live translation.Finally it seems we are no longer lost in translation. Instead we are finding ourselves.

Kolkata has a reputation as a city that loves books. One evening, at least, it came through, making for our winter of content.

Sukumar Ray is sometimes called the Edward Lear of Bengal. Abol Tabol his book of nonsense rhymes was part of my growing up. And I dare say every Bengalis. That book turned 100 this year. Now we understand why his nonsense still makes so much sense.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's images of the Indian islands of Lakshadweep triggered a social media spat with the Maldives.

Though the plea to recognize same-sex marriage was quashed by the Indian Supreme Court, queer life continues to bloom in India in many different colors making December a veritable Pride Month.

When artist Benigna Chilla got a frayed sari, more than six decades old, from Sandip's mother it set the stage for an artistic conversation that spanned generations and continents.

Sandip Roy’s search for the Christmas experience has taken him from old markets in Kolkata to resorts in the Russian River wine country in California...

Sanjay Patel was the first South Asian to make a Pixar film, Sanjay’s Super Team, but after 20 years with the studio he was ready for a new adventure.You can visit Sanjay Patel’s colorful world of Gods and Goddesses on the Ghee Happy YouTube channel.(https://www.youtube.com/@gheehappystudio)

Sandip Roy tries to call his mother, but it proves to be more challenging than one would expect.