Migration is now a series! In this episode, Sawant & Ronny discuss domestic migration in India - the numbers, causes, and stories of a few districts that are particularly known for migration - Ratnagiri, MH; Ganjam, OD; Udupi, KA etc.
Show notes
Episode 1 of the migration series (Indentured labour) | Causes of migration according to the Census 2011 | Chinmay Tumbe's book, India Moving - the inspiration and source for most of this podcast (Goodreads) | Channels of Internal Migration in India: A Historical Perspective (paper) | Internal migration in India: Why, Where, How much (article1, article2) | Internal Migration in India: Integrating Migration with Development and Urbanization Policies (paper) |
Surface Scratchers launches a new series! In this one, Sawant & Ronny breakdown a famous speech or quote - and look at the history & events leading up to it, the person behind the quote and its legacy.
This episode is about Martin Luther King Jr.'s I have a Dream speech. We discuss the history of slavery, the emancipation proclamation, civil rights movement, the life of MLK and the legacy of the speech.
Shownotes:
The speech, a short version (YouTube), the speech in its entirety (NPR) | A video essay on how MLK composed the speech (The Nerdwriter, YouTube) | Tim Harford's Cautionary Tales podcast episode - (Website, Spotify) | Emmylou Harris' song My Name is Emmett Till (YouTube)
We launch a new series, looking at migration out of India - indentured labour & Indians in East Africa
Shownotes
Chinmay Tumbe's, India Moving - the book that inspired this series | Charles Darwin in Mauritius (Article) | The Last King of Scotland (Hotstar) | Documentary - Asian Expulsion (Youtube)
New resident expert, Uthara Padmanabhan, joins us for this episode on Dance!
Shownotes:
The role of music in helping building society for early humans (BBC)| Biological origins of music and dance (Article) | The Dragon Dance (YouTube) | The longest Chinese Dragon in 2012 - (YouTube) | The Whirling Dervish (YouTube) | A Brief History of the ‘Danse Macabre’ (Atlas Obscura) | How the beating retreat routine inspired It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (YouTube) | The evolution of dance (YouTube) | Dougie feat. Bhangra makes the best TikTok trends! (YouTube)
Sawant and Ronny celebrate a milestone. Cheers. Also, listener questions are answered.
Shownotes:
Books mentioned in the podcast: Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall; India Moving by Chinmay Tumbe; Akbar, Daughters of the Sun by Ira Mukhoty; Jahangir by Parvati Sharma; Shah Jahan by Fergus Nicoll; William Dalrymple's books; Tom Clancy's books.
Shows: MasterChef Australia, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Sharp Objects, Schitt's Creek, Jack Ryan
Podcasts: The Origin of Things and Getting Meta by Chuck Gopal; The Seen and the Unseen by Amit Varma; The History of India by Kit Patrick; Echoes of India by Anirudh Kanisetti
Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell; Reply All; Arseblog; The Anthropocene reviewed by John Green; Cautionary tales by Tim Harford; Against the Rules by Michael Lewis
If you, like us, don't know much about personal finance, do check out our friend Jai Banga's YouTube channel to become slightly smarter (and richer)
Discover how Indian cities and states got their names
ShowNotes:
People after whom Indian villages are named after [Indian Express] | A handy guide with Indian-place-name-suffixes | McCluskieGanj: an old NDTV report, some beautiful drone shots | Digboi, its toponomy and oil [Article] | Indian city names abroad [Article]
It's Olympics season, learn all about it here!
Show notes:
The USSR, amaeteurism and Ice Hockey [Article] | | The Medals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics [YouTube] | The different types of Fencing, explained [YouTube, Vox] | race walking, explained [YouTube, Vox] | Simone Biles doing the impossible [YouTube]| Madison cycling gets is name from MSG. Not that MSG, but the stadium [YouTube]
In the second episode in the Origins series, learn about the origins of RedBull and Coca-Cola.
Shownotes:
SS epi on the Origins of McDonald's (Spotify) | A Twitter thread on the origins of RedBull | RedBull's company profile | The Red Bull sporting dynasty (article) | Mexican coke - a lie, apparently , a taste test (YouTube) | Where they drink 2L of Coke a day (YouTube) | Our favourite ads - Aamir Khan's coke ad, A collection of RedBull-giving-wings cartoons | Pemberton was born in Rome, Georgia, USA. The USA is filled with such cities (a relevant XKCD) | The YouTube video Sawant does not want us to watch
We return with two more battles - the Anglo-Mysore Wars between the East India Company and Mysore; and the Military coup and Rohingya crisis in Myanmar
Ronny & Sawant dig into the origin stories of the names of countries. And play a quiz (do stay till the end!)
Sawant & Ronny talk about those weird things our body does!
Hitch a ride on the cryptocurrency bandwagon with Sawant and Ronny
Shownotes:
Satoshi Nakamoto's paper on bitcoin | The bitcon Energy Consumption Index | Meet Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ether(ium) | Starting a cryptocurrency - an episode from the Radiolab podcast - The Ceremony | Why India Should Buy Bitcoin - an article
Sawant & Ronny scratch the surface on the details behind everyone's favourite beverage, beer!
Shownotes:
A nice article on the history of beer | A handy beer guide | Some beer stats: Largest companies, Countries by per capita consumption | Our favourite beer ads: Carlton Draught 1, Carlton Draught 2, the OG Kingfisher ads, Knock Out, Haywards 5000
Sawant & Ronny discuss airports in today's episode, listen to learn about a few records, fun facts and airports named after people.
Vaccines, vaccines! Hear all about them! Sawant and Ronny discuss their history, how they work, how the Covid-19 vaccines are different, and bust a few myths.
Show Notes (This time, we're linking podcasts we think you may like. All on Covid-19 or pandemics)
Radiolab: The Great Vaccinator - On Herman Miller & the role of chicken eggs in vaccine development (Spotify, Google Podcasts).
Radiolab: Challenge Trials (Spotify, Google Podcasts).
Freakonomics Radio: Why Can’t Schools Get What the N.F.L. Has? - On systematic, widespread and regular testing (Google Podcasts, Spotify)
Freakonomics Radio: Which Jobs Will Come Back, and When? (Google Podcasts, Spotify)
The Seen and the Unseen Ep 221: Science and Covid-19 (Spotify, Google Podcasts)
The Seen and the Unseen Ep 177: India's Economy in the Time of Covid-19 (Spotify, Google Podcasts)
Cautionary Tales: How To End A Pandemic - on smallpox (Spotify, Google Podcasts)
Cautionary Tales: The Village of Heroes - on the plague (Spotify, Google Podcasts)
Planet Money: Fork the Govt - How tech helped Taiwan beat Covid-19 (Spotify, Google Podcasts)
Planet Money: After the plague (Spotify, Google Podcasts)
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Penguins of Madagascar and the Smallpox Vaccine (Google Podcasts, Spotify)
Vox's videos: Why you can't compare Covid-19 vaccines, mRNA vaccines, Why side effects are a good thing, How rich countries are making the pandemic last longer, Can we get rid of Covid-19 forever?
Some festivals we're sure you haven't heard about
Show notes:
James May of TopGear and The Grand Tour fame attends Kanamara Matsuri | A Gatari Amavasya song (Marathi, use headphones - cool stereo effects) | CoCo on Disney+Hotstar
It's alcohol season on Surface Scratchers - this week, is Whisky week.
Shownotes:
Figure out which alco-bev conglomerate owns which distillery | The best Whisky channel on YouTube - Whiskey Vault | How some scotch whisky distilleries got their names - here and here | Whisky glassware explained | Our favourite Whisky (or Music CDs, or whatever) ads 8PM, Imperial Blue Music CDs, AC Apple juice | The 25 Best-Selling Whisky Brands In The World | A Single Malt Whisky Flavor Map, Tasting wheel | Whisky from unheard of places
