TidyBytes with Reagan and Eisha
TidyBytes is a series of 'micropods' and podcasts produced by Reagan Gavin and Eisha Sarkar. Reagan and Eisha are Writers and Journalists and 360-degree media experts with over 20 years of experience in all forms of media and their specialities include all the areas that we talk about on TidyBytes. When he is not singing for supper, he’s busy discovering new films music, food and trying to stay out of the rain. We cover a range of topics: music, places, travel, psychology, spirituality, nature, design, film, books and food. Eisha is a writer and educator who can make a rock ta...
Dreams, connections, music
In this episode of TidyBytes, Reagan and Eisha talk about their dreams. Most of Reagan's dreams are about his deceased parents. Eisha surprises him by telling him that after the fallout they had during the first season of TidyBytes, when she had to abruptly end the season (she called it a 'roadblock'), she saw his mother in her dream and complained to her about his offensive behaviour. Reagan had a dream where his parents wagged their fingers in front of his face and admonished him. Bizarre! They then talk about music and how Paul McCartney dreamt up the lyrics...
Art, video games and perception
It's not often that one comes across a talent that, despite latent brilliance, often is so modest as to not really speak about the same. Sometime after they finished their previous piece, Reagan rhetorically asked Eisha why on earth he hadn’t coaxed her into talking about her art. So, he did, adamant as he was about it and they started off on what he knew would be quite an engaging episode. However, true to their form, their conversation quickly rocketed from art to video games to a whole bunch of subjects, all however, having art as a common thread. In...
Reagan's mountaineering tales: Butter chicken, a giant spider, a haunted well and an avalanche
In 2002, Reagan went to the lesser-known parts of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh. The dak bungalow where he stayed after a ride in a rickety bus dated back to the times of the British Raj. His curiosity led him to a raised cemented structure, which was a huge squat toilet. Not many have the nose for shit but Reagan's not ordinary. What he found was a huge spider, the sight of which has traumatized him for 19 years. Next, he listened to a chowkidar tell him the story of a girl who drowned in a well there, which reminds Eisha...
A Hitchcock fan, Reagan now has crows eating out of the palm of his hand!
In this episode of TidyBytes, Reagan talks about his interest in Corvids that began in middle school with Alfred Hitchcock's movie, Birds, and later Brandon Bruce Lee's film, The Crow. The intelligent birds have become his friends and stopover for lunch in his balcony. Watch the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/Q3LDRYBhlUc #crows #corvids #reagangavinrasquinha #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha #tidybytes #crowfeeder #feedingcrows #birds #hitchcock #brandonbrucelee #thecrow #film #music #hive
Fiction became real: Dreams she wrote into a novel led Eisha to her twin-flame, Reagan
After the death of her beloved granny-in-law in 2016, Eisha had the same recurring dreams for four years. Then in 2020, while she struggled with depression trying to cope with the pandemic, she started writing them. New to fiction-writing, she first wrote a film and then turned it into a novel. Over the course of three months, the words just flowed into a 1,55,000-word trilogy. After sending the first part to a publisher, who promptly gave her a positive reply, she started chatting with Reagan, and discovered, to her astonishment that he is exactly like the fictional character in the book...
From getting belted to belting out tunes: Reagan and Eisha talk about abuse, bullying, music, movies and writing
Reagan talks about his childhood. His father worked in Kuwait and whenever he was back in Bombay, he would be physically abusive towards his mom. Reagan took the blows on his back to protect her. It was from his mother he learned about movies and music. With his friend, Nikhil Chatterjee, he would spend hours browsing music at the iconic Rhythm House that is now closed. Eisha talks about how she was always the target of bullies and how writing gave her a voice. This episode of TidyBytes with Reagan and Eisha is about re-emergence. #bullying #abuse #childabuse #pandemic #covid19...
Adopt, don't shop: Reagan talks about the people he loves the most, his dogs
It was the privilege of knowing and living with a pure-bred German Shepherd named Schneider, that kindled Reagan's eternal love for dogs. His two adopted dogs, Handsome and Tiger, are a part of a pack of four who are taken care of by the residents and tenants of the iconic 250-year-old Great Western Building in Bombay, where he lives. The kindness Tiger showed him when Reagan was down with malaria during the lockdown brought about by the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 has remained with him. In this episode, he talks about how much the dogs take care of him.
<...Reagan goes to the MTNL office to get his WiFi connection, gets vada pavs instead
The non-stop ringing of the landline at Reagan's house irritates Eisha during one of their recordings. She asks him to answer the call. He says the MTNL guys are calling to check out if his WiFi is working, which it isn't. Reagan tells her he went to the MTNL office to get it fixed but the elderly women officials there offered him vada-pav, the popular Mumbai snack. A conversation between giggles makes this episode.
#mtnl #wifi #vadapav #food #mumbai #bombay #utilities #tidybytes #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha
Relationships and Heartbreak
This episode of TidyBytes with Reagan and Eisha starts with Reagan singing Lionel Richie's Hello. He and Eisha then talk about marriages and live-in relationships including the latest news of Aamir Khan separating from Kiran Rao after 15 years of marriage. Reagan enumerates the life lessons about love he learnt from his mother. Eisha tells him he is very similar to Florentino Ariza, the protagonist in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love In The Time Of Cholera, which Reagan has gifted her. They discuss Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel that Eisha gifted him a while ago and then Yuval Noah Harari's...
Pizza and Ponderings
Eisha talks about how she discovered vegetarian pizza after moving to Bombay in 1997, when one of her friends invited her for her birthday party at Pizzeria (now Pizza By The Bay) on Marine Drive. Reagan's favourite there is Bombay Masala. Eisha agrees. Reagan and Eisha share their anecdotes about pizza and how they love it before they start discussing art and why you need to feel pain to make good art. #pizza #dominos #smokinjoes #pizzeria #pizzabythebay #bombay #mumbai #marinedrive #anecdotes #memories #birthdayparties #michigan #travel #uae #grandfather #mother #love #relationships #art #music #cranberries #linger #lingerie #crawfordmarket #jalapenos #socialaudio #podcast #anchorapp #tidybytes #ti...
Eisha's unsmiling like Mona Lisa, Reagan's the Bad Boy and "we're talking now!"
While browsing through her pictures on Facebook, Reagan discovers one where Eisha's posing in front of the Mona Lisa at Louvre. There starts a conversation about her smile and then she asks him why he wrote a story about, "Why good girls fall for bad boys?" Rhetorical? This episode has laughs, jokes, sarcasm and a few tears.
#natkingcole #monalisa #monalisasmile #louvre #paris #france #tourism #tourists #travel #song #music #thesmashingpumpkins #disarm #badboys #goodgirls #whywomenfallforbadboys #timesofindia #bombaytimes #bombay #mumbai #newspapers #features #writing #songs #podcast #socialaudio #spotify #anchorapp #tidybytes #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha #anger #outbursts #fighting #emotions #mind #laughter
Reagan asks Eisha to make his portrait
Eisha is an artist so Reagan asks her to make a portrait in the Renaissance style. She tells him it's not her style and goes on to do what she does best, paint and crayon with her fingers only, intuitively. Here she talks about why she created what she painted.
#art #portraiture #eishasarkar #reagangavinrasquinha #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha #podcast #spotify #anchorapp #socialaudio
The sorpotel that wasn't right!
In this micropod, Reagan talks about how he learned to cook from his mother as she progressively succumbed to illness. #cooking #memories #anecdotes #sorpotel #porksorpotel #goan #mangalorean #portuguese #goancuisine #comfortfood #soulfood #food #homemade #momscooking #mothermakesbest #kitchentales #cookery #micropod #podcast #tidybytes #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha #anchorapp #spotify #googlepodcasts #applepodcasts
Convenient kebabs, Caprese and Waltzing Matilda
In the first episode of TidyBytes Season 2, Eisha talks about how she started cooking elaborate breakfasts in Australia so she could skip lunch and save money during her initial months there. Reagan warns her against cooking frozen seekh kebabs for him. She won't, she says. As the mother to a toddler, she has to rely on the convenience of frozen foods twice a week while the rest of the week she makes brekkies from scratch. Reagan is surprised she cooks vegan too. Then the conversation veers into Waltzing Matilda. Reagan is surprised by Eisha's knowledge of the song's history and...
In this final episode of TidyBytes, Eisha talks about her love of birds and conservation
With lockdowns in the wake of the pandemic, humans have been forced inside and Nature has had a chance to rejuvenate herself. In this final episode of this season of TidyBytes, Eisha talks about how she developed ornithology as a hobby since college over the last 21 years, wetlands in Gujarat, bird photography and bird-feeding. We thank all our listeners from all corners of the world for their love and support.
Cover picture: Cormorants at Nalsarovar near Ahmedabad shot by Eisha
#birdwatching #ornithology #bnhs #salimali #birdsofindiaandpakistan #southasianbirds #pandemic #lockdown #birdphotography #birds #migratorybirds #flamingos #wetlands...
Jumping frogs, splashing salamanders, hungry sharks and kangaroo insurance
After the devastation wreaked by cyclone Tauktae, Reagan finds an unwanted guest in a bucket of water in his bedroom. In this episode of TidyBytes, Reagan and Eisha discuss their encounters with animals and pests, between many laughs and some squirms.
Cover pic: Eisha feeding wild kangaroos in Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia
#animals #amphibians #reptiles #tauktae #cyclone #mumbai #tidybytes #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha #pests #kangaroos #caribou #moose #lizard #spiders #monitorlizard #pythons #vadodara #australia #brisbane #brissy #huntervalley #newsouthwales #nsw #sharks #crocodiles #crocodileinsurance #kangarooinsurance #barackobama
Reagan's apology, Eisha's laughter, TidyBytes' logo and Page 3 parties
TidyBytes completed a month and on the auspicious occasion, Reagan and Eisha fought, again. This episode has it all. Reagan apologises and then analyses Eisha's laughter before they discuss TidyBytes logo and minimalism in design and then get nostalgic about Page 3 parties.
#marypoppins #ilovetolaugh #julieandrews #music #beatles #whitealbum #bauhaus #design #font #powerpoint #adobe #NID #ahmedabad #designers #designthinking #art #artists #laughter #alligatorsmile #emoji #crocodileemoji #alligatorsmile #page3 #celebrities #celebs #bombaytimes #southbombay #parties #logo #tidybytes #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha
Tech Review: Eisha and Reagan analyse the Anchor App by Spotify for podcasts
On 26 April 2021, Eisha and Reagan created TidyBytes to reach out to an audience with their stories and experiences through podcasts and 'micropods'. A month later, we celebrate our anniversary, with a review of the Anchor App by Spotify, the tool we use to create our podcasts. Thank you for all the love and support. Enjoy!
#podcast #podcasting #tidybytes #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha #spotify #anchorapp #micropods #techreview
Reagan's interview with Rudolf Schenker, guitarist and founder of hard rock band, Scorpions
Few bands in the history of music have celebrated 50 years. In this episode of TidyBytes, Reagan replays an interview he recorded with Rudolf Schenker, the German guitarist and founder of the hard-rock band, Scorpions, after they turned 50. Schenker talks about his childhood, guitars, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Facebook fans, rock and roll music, Cream, Greenday, butter chicken, Ravi Shankar and yoga, among other things. You may or may not be a fan of rock music, but what touches you is Schenker's humility.
#scorpionsband #scorpions #klausmeine #rudolfschenker #scorpionslive #hardrock #mathiasjabs #rock #reagangavinrasquinha #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha #tidybytes #scorpionsfans #heavymetal #german...
Fifty Shades of Risqué and Rapture
Eisha tells Reagan that she has finally watched Fifty Shades of Grey on Netflix. They start discussing the movie, the scenes, nudity and move on to the subject of identity, of how actresses who have played certain roles have not managed to have long careers. This episode of TidyBytes is full of laughs, as they talk about sex in Hollywood movies and romance in the real lives of Hollywood stars.
#fiftyshadesofgrey #dakotajohnson #jamiedornan #bdsm #submissive #dominant #control #sex #nudity #identity #Hollywood #movies #film #filmanalysis #netflix #sharonstone #basicinstinct #bradpitt #onceuponatimeinhollywood #hollywood #ladychatterleyslover #dhlawrence #books #literature #erotica #macaulayculkin...
Coffee-snobs, Chicory and Civets
Reagan loves chai. Eisha cannot do without her coffee. Then one day, she finds that Reagan's searching for Indonesian civet coffee and Columbian coffee online. When he cannot get any, she gifts him Hathmic Gold Freeze-dried coffee from Erode in Tamil Nadu, which she loves but before he tells her whether he likes it or not, he goes out to prove how much of a coffee-snob she is. Packed with humour and nostalgia, listen to this episode of TidyBytes with a cuppa for company.
#coffee #indonesiancivet #columbian #espresso #cappuccino #hathmicgold #freezedriedcoffee #chicory #coffeesnobs #podcast #anchorapp #spotify...
Aborigines, songlines and germs
We're all missing our travels because of the pandemic but what we can do now is share our travel stories. Eisha tells Reagan about how the ancient aborigines in Australia use songlines for their walkabouts, how the first white settlers used these to map minerals. In their quest for gold, the Europeans brought with them horses and other domestic animals to these newly-discovered lands and with them, came germs that destroyed the native peoples. Eisha finds linkages between ancient civilizations across the globe, though they developed independent to each other, in the form of their dwellings, tools, implements, community...
The first rains of this year brings to Reagan a memory he wishes to wash away
The petrichor after the first rains in Mumbai brings back to Reagan the memories of 2016, an ICU room, a square window and his mother lying on the bed.
#petrichor #memory #death #mother #mothersonbond #lingspavilion #colaba
Cover photography courtesy: Reagan Gavin
Here we go 'round the mulberry tree
In this micropod, Eisha talks about a new skill she has learned during this pandemic, that is, mulberry-picking. The tree in her society bears fruit in spring and she picks the sour red and white berries and the sweet black ones to eat and she has also tried to make them into a squash. The leaves are also edible and packed with vitamin C and iron. She has has used them in tea, sandwiches and burgers. This pandemic story is filled with sweetness.
#mulberries #shahtoot #fruit #pandemicdiaries #Covid19 #lockdown #marketclosures #forager #mulberrytea #simplerecipesforcomplicatedtimes #facebook #squash #iranian #gujarat...
TidyBytes' first film review: Reagan analyses The Courier starring Benedict Cumberbatch
Few big films have released because of the pandemic, so when Reagan gets to watch the spy thriller The Courier (2020) starring Benedict Cumberbatch he's excited. He tells Eisha about the movie and she starts recording their conversation which lasted almost an hour. The edited version here is TidyBytes' first film review and analysis. Hope you enjoy it!
#benedictcumberbatch #thecourier #filmreview #film #english #cubanmissilecrisis #russia #moscow #london #spymovies #espionage #thriller #TidyBytes #TidyBytesWithReaganAndEisha #Reagan #Eisha #CIA #MI6 #KGB #agent #mole #doubleagent
During a midnight rendezvous, Reagan and Eisha discuss their favourite biryanis
A very sleepy Eisha gets her energy back as Reagan and she discuss the origins and varieties of biryani around the world during their meeting at midnight. For these two carnivores, the biryani is both feast and comfort food. This Tidy-licious episode of TidyBytes will make you want to get some biryani on your plate!
#bendysbiryani #vadodara #behrozbiryani #jafferbhais #delhidarbar #mumbai #britannia #berrypulao #hyderabadi #dumpukht #afghan #iranian #iran #persia #food #india #pakistani #pilaf #turkish #muttonbiryani #chickenbiryani #bombay #brisbane #australia #karachidarbar #dubai #middleeast #america #awadhi #murshidabadi #bengali #lucknowi #carnivore #vegpulao #vegbiryani #nonveg #srilankan #buriyani
<...
Reagan saves a spot for an old lady in a queue at the store and she offers him her tomato sauce
In the midst of the raging Covid19 pandemic in Mumbai, the shops close at 11 am. A few young men make a mad dash to the grocery outrunning an elderly woman. Reagan saves her a spot and she returns his helpful gesture by offering him the last bottle of tomato chilli sauce the store had that she had bought. A sweet memory!
#micropod #shops #groceryshopping #pandemicdiaries #maggihotandsweetchillisauce #tomatochillisauce #TidyBytes #TidyBytesWithReaganAndEisha #maggihotandsweet #tomatosauce #covid19 #mumbai
Reagan wants mangoes. Eisha gifts him New Tree Aam Papad. What follows is a review between laughs
Reagan asks Eisha to send him some Badam and Kesar mangoes from Gujarat to Mumbai. She realizes the delivery will take over a week and the mangoes might become over-ripe. Instead, she sends him New Tree Aam Papad. Reagan has never tasted this mango treat before. This review is sprinkled with nostalgia and loaded with laughter. Enjoy!
#aampapad #fruitleather #indiantreats #sweettreats #guavajelly #mango #travel #trainjourneys #nostalgia #childhoodtreats #andhra #delhi #patna #goa #mangalore #mumbai #bombay #gujarat #anchorapp #spotify #podcast #tidybytes #tidybyteswithreaganandeisha
Reagan turns down a slice of French toast to get to the shops on time
Reagan has to run to the grocery before it closes at 11am but on his way out the smell of fresh French toast makes him stop in his tracks. His mother used to make them exactly the way his elderly neighbour is cooking them. She offers him some but he needs to head out before the shops close. There's little traffic on the streets of Mumbai, signs of life, in a city destroyed by the Covid19 pandemic.
#micropod #mumbai #pandemicdiaries #TidyBytes #TidyBytesWithReaganAndEisha #Covid19 #pandemic #FrenchToast #nostalgia #food
Margie Sastry gets nostalgic about scripting Tantri the Mantri in Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha comics
Both Reagan and Eisha love their comics. While discussing Tinkle one day, Eisha mentioned that she has met Margie Sastry, who wrote the very popular Tantri the Mantri and Reagan wanted to meet her too. In this episode, Margie takes a walk down memory lane and talks about how she got the job of a scriptwriter at Amar Chitra Katha and what really went into making the comics that have introduced mythology, folklore, biographies, morals and characters like Shikari Shambhu, Kaalia the Crow and Tantri the Mantri to generations of Indians all over the world.
#tinkle #books...
Reagan talks about how to write a film review and the star-ratings (Part 2)
In the last episode of TidyBytes, Reagan talked about his career as a film critic and what a critic has to do before he writes a review. In this episode, he elaborates about what a review is, why it needs to be simple and that the star-ratings a film earns have more to do with mathematics than guess-work.
#filmcritic #TidyBytes #TidyBytesWithReaganAndEisha #filmreview #tenet #christophernolen #titanic #leokate #mrsdoubtfire #jurassicpark #kingkong #citizenkane #benhur #robertpattinson #toi #thetimesofindia #stars #starratings #hollywood #india #movies #film #cinema #businessofmovies #maidinmanhattan #jlo #lotr #lordoftherings #imdb #rottentomatoes
Reagan talks about his career as a film critic and the work that goes into a film review - Part 1
Eisha loves films and reading reviews. Reagan has been reviewing and critiquing Hollywood films and world cinema for The Times of India for years. In this episode, he talks about how he became a film critic and talks about how much work goes into the process of reviewing a film. It's not just sitting on a sofa in an auditorium and eating samosas!
Reagan runs an errand for an elderly neighbour and she gives him imli
Pandemic Diary: Reagan goes to the bank to withdraw cash for an elderly neighbour and she, in turn, just before the 8 pm curfew in Mumbai, offers him tamarind or imli and pickle to go with his dinner. Reagan's touched by her generosity in this day and age of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies and where we're all so isolated because of Covid.
#micropod #pandemicdiaries #mumbai #errands #Covid19 #cryptocurrencies #barter
Can we have busking in India?
Eisha recalls a time when she was in Australia and her former student asked her if he could try busking in Baroda, India. With Reagan, she talks about why busking is popular abroad but not so much in India.
#micropod #streetmusic #India #Australia #busking #streetmusicians #EdSheeran #RanuMondal #LuckyAli #music #performances #streetperformers #RanuMondal #Paris #Baroda #IndiePop #hoobastank #thereason #switzerland #singapore #newyork #income #buskingisnotbegging #bombay #delhi #travel #anecdotes
Chocoholic Nostalgia and A Review of Prebiotic Dark chocolate from Lil Goodness
Eisha is a self-confessed chocoholic so Reagan sends her Prebiotic Lil Goodness 56 % Dark Chocolate. She eats a bar and takes a trip down memory lane and tells Reagan about the good ol' days when she had chocolates for lunch. They start discussing Lil Goodness' dark chocolate and delve deeper into the meaning of prebiotics. This chocolate review will give you a few laughs. Enjoy!
#foodreview #chocolatereview #productreview #Amazon #LilGoodness #bangalore #madeinIndia #vocalforlocal #chocolates #chocoholic #nostalgia #michaeljackson #collegelunch #mocha #baroda #australia #cadburys #amul #darkchocolate #darkchocolatefans
Recollections: Headhunting in Borneo, skulls as trophies and an interview with Janick Gers of Iron Maiden
In this episode of TidyBytes, Eisha talks about visiting headhunters in Borneo. Reagan discusses how skulls were collected as trophies till as late as World War II and association of the skull with heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden. Reagan recollects an interview he conducted with guitarist Janick Gers a few years ago when they released the album The Book of Souls and we have excerpts from that interview about the band and their music.
Reagan Walks to BNHS in Mumbai to get Bananas
Reagan walks to BNHS to get bananas and sees ambulances drive past #Covid19 in Mumbai #PandemicTales
