The Coffee House Experience

In this episode, we speak with Deepta Roy Chakraverti—Wiccan, author, and daughter of India’s pioneering priestess Ipsita Roy Chakraverti. Deepta unpacks the origins of Wicca and how it took root in her life, not just as a spiritual path but as a lens through which she views the world.

We explore how her supernatural fiction is influenced by her beliefs, and whether her rational, academic background ever clashes with her love for the mystical. At the heart of it all is the legacy of her mother, a figure both commanding and inspiring, whose presence continues to s...

In this episode, Prof. Debak Das helps unpack the evolving dynamics of nuclear proliferation in the 21st century. From Cold War doctrines to contemporary strategic rivalries, we trace how major powers like Russia, France, and China shaped their nuclear trajectories — and what lessons were learned (or ignored) along the way. We also examine India's nuclear history, exploring the 24-year gap between Pokhran-I and Pokhran-II, and how Pakistan, often dismissed as a client state, managed to build a credible nuclear arsenal in response. The conversation takes a sharp turn into the aftermath of the 2025 India-Pakistan skirmish, analyzing why nuclear rhetoric — once...

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Debashish Bhattacharya, whose remarkable journey spans decades of cultural engagement and intellectual curiosity. From his formative years at the India International Centre in Delhi to intimate conversations with some of the world’s most influential figures, Debashish shares how these encounters shaped his outlook on life. In his new book, “Whispers of an Ordinary Journey,” he weaves together personal memoirs, hard-won lessons, and a selection of essays written over many years, offering an extraordinary perspective through the eyes of someone who considers himself “ordinary.” In this episode, Debashish delves into the stories behind his...

CHE#60 | Bangla Podcast | Democracy at the Grassroots: Is Panchayati Raj in Crisis? | ​Suvojit Chattopadhyay

In today’s episode, we’re diving into the state of the Panchayati Raj system in India — a vision once rooted in grassroots democracy and self-governance, now facing serious challenges.

Joining with us today is Suvojit Chattopadhyay , a seasoned development professional currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, where he works as Head of Adam Smith International. With a rich career spanning multiple countries—including India, Ghana, Kenya, and Somalia—Suvojit brings deep insights into governance and international development practice. He is the author of a...

Ishita Tiwary’s book, published by Oxford University Press in 2024, offers a groundbreaking exploration of India’s analog video era. Through interdisciplinary methods—including oral histories, archival research, and recovered tapes—it reconstructs the evolution of analog video culture. The book also provides crucial insights into the socio-political landscape of the time, addressing gaps often found in digital media studies. Dr. Ishita Tiwary is an Assistant Professor of Film Studies and the Canada Research Chair at the Department of Cinema, Concordia University, Montreal. She also leads the research lab “Raah.” Her research focuses on video cultures, media infrastructures, migration, contraband m...

🔴 Can You Hack Indian EVMs? | CHE#58 | Bangla Podcast ft. Subhashis Banerjee 🔴

🎙️ The Coffee House Experience

Can Indian Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) be hacked? 🤔 Does VVPAT matching actually ensure transparency? 🗳️ Is India's electoral process truly beyond manipulation? ⚖️ What about voters' lists—are they foolproof or prone to tampering? And why does an EVM’s battery charge matter in elections?

Prof Subhasis Banerjee (ex HOD CS IIT Delhi) of Ashoka University has been studying Indian elections for many years now. He also served as a member of the Citizens' Commission on Elections, whose mandate was to evaluate & suggest impro...

Autism in India - From Denial to Empathy | Bhismadev Chakrabarti

🎙️ The Coffee House Experience

What is autism, and how do we move from misunderstanding to empathy? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Bhismadev Chakrabarti, a leading neuroscientist specializing in autism and social behavior.

The process of socialization in human beings has us responding to social stimuli and reinforcing those behaviours that are labelled as 'desirable' by our milieu. On the flipside, our species (Homo Sapiens) also abounds in agents who inherently don't find social interactions rewarding, therein upending the antecedents which frame...

In this episode, we are honoured to host Dr Manas Ray, a renowned cultural theorist and storyteller, who revisits his childhood as a refugee in the vibrant yet tumultuous Netaji Nagar of Kolkata. From the struggles of displacement to the shaping of a unique cultural ethos, Dr. Ray offers an intimate glimpse into his personal experiences and reflections. Join us as we explore the profound stories that illuminate not only his past but the larger tapestry of post-Partition India.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/fd-92iKXGVc

#TheCoffeeHouseExperience #DrManasRay #CulturalTheorist #NetajiNagar #KolkataStories #PartitionStories...

Today we are joined by Anirban - the founder of “ the Painted Sky “ which is an art-based training organization and the “ UBQT Design Thinking School “ (one of the first design thinking schools in India). He has been an executive coach and an experienced facilitator in various art-based behavioural programs for many corporate clients across geographies. He has also mentored different organizations in empathy-led leadership at various levels. In this episode, we delve deep into the nuances and mindset of design thinking and its applications along with how our country’s leaders and administrators can adapt this to solve “human problems “ w...

Manu Bhagavan is a historian and professor of history and human rights at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is also a senior fellow at the Ralph Bunche Institute. Bhagavan's research focuses on 20th-century India, intellectual history, human rights, and constitutional history.

In this episode we discuss about his latest book ‘Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit’ published by Penguin India, which tells the untold story of India's First Woman Cabinet Minister, the First Woman to lead the UN General Assembly - Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, popularly known as Madame Pandit. Watch the auth...

Indian politics today - a ringside view

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Y3mKoJIPMVk

Hosted by: Srinjoy Ganguly Special

#thecoffeehouseexperience #englishposdcast #srinjoyganguly #Indianpolitics #ruchigupta #bjp #congress #kejriwal

In this unique episode, we discuss the evolving situation in the unprecedented situation in Bangladesh, with Sharmee Hossain, a Bangladeshi and Soumik Pal, an Indian, both faculties of North South University in Dhaka.

Note: This was recorded on August 10, 2024

Youtube: https://youtu.be/N6LDGIT96p0

#bangladesh #Bangladeshquotareformmovement #quotamovement #sheikhhasina # #Bangla #bengalilanguage #banglabhasha #bengali #bengal #PratyayMukherjee #BanglaPodcast #SharmeeHossain #SoumikPal

-------------------------------------------

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecoffeehouseexperience

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coffeehouseexp

RSS Feed: https://rss.com/podcasts/thecoffeehouseexperience/

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3...

While the festivities around the national election just came to an end, there were many facts that did surprise/puzzle/mesmerize us. For example: amateurs like ourselves were much closer to predicting the accurate outcome (see here: https://youtu.be/fKMHjVM9L50?si=I_tmG_VDaQVDH_AP for our data-based prediction for Bengal) than the poll giants; despite all the social media hype CPIM is yet to open their account in Bengal for the second time in a row; surprise turn around of UP; limitation of political gymnastic appeared to have limitations as manifested in Maharashtra, and many other...

Like many, Kasturi and Dwaipayan, an independent documentary filmmaker couple, were shell-shocked when the 2019 election results came out, especially by the huge surge in support for right-wing politics in West Bengal. From then on, they dedicated themselves totally to building long-term socio-cultural fronts to resist the neo-fascist right-wing hegemony. Using their forte in documentary film-making, they delved into making a unique documentary, called A Bid for Bengal, which not only captures this unprecedented phenomenon in its current avatar, but explores the deep rooted connection between Bengal and right-wing ideologies in a not-so-distant past. Their objective approach demonstrates how the...

Srinjoy and Pratyay analyze the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal using voting statistics since 2011. The predictions are also informed by qualitative insights such as anecdotal evidence, candidate selection and varied local issues. This is the first endeavour in amateur psephology by the hosts and should only be taken as a quasi-pedagogical exercise. In other words, don't take the prediction too seriously.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/fKMHjVM9L50

#CHE #thecoffeehouseexperience #election #Bangla #bengalilanguage #SrinjoyGanguly #banglabhasha #bengali #bengal #election2024 #electioncommission #westbengal #westbengalelectionopinionpoll #westbengalelection2024 #exitpoll2024

--------------------------

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com...

Analyzing ancient DNAs of different populations led to many astonishing discoveries about the past of our species. Unsurprisingly, like other areas, scientific findings through genome analyses collided with conventional wisdoms leading to cultural and political battle. This is especially true for India where a certain political ideology, deeply rooted in conjectured indigenousness, has been gaining strength for the last few decades. While earlier genome studies showed strong evidence (at least partially) refuting such conjecture, a new research on modern genomes of Indian population, and subsequent mapping with ancient genomes bolstered those evidence, in addition to finding new and somewhat...

Analyzing ancient DNAs of different populations led to many astonishing discoveries about the past of our species. Unsurprisingly, like other areas, scientific findings through genome analyses collided with conventional wisdoms leading to cultural and political battle. This is especially true for India where a certain political ideology, deeply rooted in conjectured indigenousness, has been gaining strength for the last few decades. While earlier genome studies showed strong evidence (at least partially) refuting such conjecture, a new research on modern genomes of Indian population, and subsequent mapping with ancient genomes bolstered those evidence, in addition to finding new and somewhat...

Can we attribute the BJP's rise in West Bengal to the efficacy of their welfare programs? Or is Hindutva and / or PM Modi's personal popularity the key to the party's winning formula in the state? Prof Pushkar Maitra (Monash University) joins us in the latest episode of The Coffee House Experience to discuss all this and much more.

Hosted by Srinjoy Ganguly

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Mll6HUt6qSc

#CHE #thecoffeehouseexperience #AcademicResearch #BJP #TMC #CPIM #MamataBanerjee #NarendraModi #Statistics #Welfarism #Hindutva #SwachhBharat #SwasthyaSathi #Politics #Bangla #bengalilanguage #SrinjoyGanguly #banglabhasha #bengali #bengal #IndianConstitution

The Indian Constitution is widely perceived today as a transformative document that sought to ‘educate’ the first citizens of an India, then recently freed from the yoke of colonial rule, about what living in a democracy substantively means. It would be surprising then to note that large parts of the document are essentially re-purposed from the Government of India Act 1935, which was widely reviled as a ‘charter of slavery’ by the very same freedom fighters who deliberated in the Constituent Assembly. So, is it in fact high time that we rewrite our Constitution, which Somnath Lahiri once described as being “f...

Is it inevitable that Bangla as a language will eventually be colonized by the Hindi - Hindu - Hindusthan consensus, which is currently ruling the roost in New Delhi? Garga Chatterjee is at his combative best here as he dissects this possibility and declaims the historical antecedents of the present moment.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/KumuxutFeeo

#CHE #thecoffeehouseexperience #GargaChatterjee #Politics #Bangla #bengalilanguage #banglapokkho #SoumikGhosh #SrinjoyGanguly #banglabhasha #bengali #bengal

---------------------

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecoffeehouseexperience

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coffeehouseexp

RSS Feed: https://rss...

India's democratic experiment presents an interesting dichotomy. While elections have witnessed high voter participation rates on a sustained basis, Indian citizens are quite vocal in expressing their distrust of their elected representatives in the Parliament. Ronojoy Sen, senior research fellow at the Institute of South Asia Studies at the National University of Singapore, joins us in this episode to help analyse the evolution of the Parliament from an institutional lens. We focus on how the practice of Indian democracy has had a bearing of the Parliament's trajectory since Independence.

#CHE #thecoffeehouseexperience #RonojoySen #Indiandemocracy #parliament

--------------------- <...

The Marxism-Leninism (ML) movement in India started in the 1970s with the famous Naxalbari uprising to overthrow the Government and establish a one-party socialist state la China. Later, the movement was divided into several fragments, a number of which attempted to re-interpret the theory of ML in the Indian context, and subsequently joined electoral politics. Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (CPIML) is a prominent front among them. As a national general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya elaborates on the history of the ML movement in India, the evolution from a guerrilla front to a parliamentary force, their ideological interpretation in th...

While most electoral contests today are waged in the battlefield of cultural ideas, the free markets vs centrism debate was firmly set at the centre of the early Indian republic's mainstream political discourse. In fact, free markets served as the raison d'etre of the Swatantra Party, deemed as the first classical liberal party in the nation's political history. Prof Aditya Balasubramanian (Australian National University), author of "Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics in Democratic India" to help deep dive into that era, to understand what the Swatantra experiment's enduring influence upon Indian politics is. #thecoffeehouseexperience #englishpodcast #DrAdityaBalasubramanian #RevisitingtheDawnofMarketLiberalisminIndia...

Barna Saha, a professor of computer science at University of California, San Diego, started her journey in computer science at Jadavpur University. Afterwards with a Master’s at IIT Kanpur, she moved to the US for PhD, and eventually became one of the leading theoretical computer scientist researchers, recognized for her unique contribution to approximate algorithms in the fine-grained setting among many other things across the globe. A role model for all aspiring female computer scientists, in this podcast Barna opens up about her own fascinating journey, her involvement to encourage more women’s participation in computer science, culture in the...

Anupam Guha, a computer scientist by training (with graduate degrees from prestigious Georgia Tech and Univ of Maryland), decided to pursue the public policy related questions from a computer science perspective. With the explosive growth in AI technologies, several tech stalwarts (such as the likes of Elon Musk) expressed their deep concerns about its potential disruption in the job market. However, is this a new phenomenon per se? Or is it a continuation of a long-known dichotomy of progress in automation technology and preserving a viable labor market? Or do we hear about this now more often as it is...

He is a leader in the Indian analytics industry with 20+ years' experience. He is a co-founder of the wildly popular digital storytelling medium, Paperclip. Tune in to get a sneak peek into Indranath Mukherjee's journey. #banglapodcast #datanalytics #paperclips #AI #machinelearning #IndranathMukherjee

n India Maoism flourished as a struggle of marginalized groups, such as peasants and several indigenous peoples. While characterized by violent armed struggle and guerrilla warfare akin to other similar movements across the globe, Indian Maoism got its special character by taking the deep-rooted caste-division into account and marry it with the universal class-struggle. Suparna Banerjee, a sociologist based in Germany, explored the Maoist-dominated regions of rural India, documented her experience, and raised legitimate questions regarding the root of several pertinent issues in her new book titled "Maoists and Government Welfare: Excluding Legitimacy or Legitimising Exclusion?", which is an extension...

In India Maoism flourished as a struggle of marginalized groups, such as peasants and several indigenous peoples. While characterized by violent armed struggle and guerrilla warfare akin to other similar movements across the globe, Indian Maoism got its special character by taking the deep-rooted caste-division into account and marry it with the universal class-struggle. Suparna Banerjee, a sociologist based in Germany, explored the Maoist-dominated regions of rural India, documented her experience, and raised legitimate questions regarding the root of several pertinent issues in her new book titled "Maoists and Government Welfare: Excluding Legitimacy or Legitimising Exclusion?", which is an extension...

Since its publication, NEP 2020 has been in the center of numerous controversies. While many lauded it for apparent modernization of Indian education by enabling more flexible curriculum, it has been criticized for over-centralization, politicization and broadening the way to invite more private capital into an already highly unequal education system. In this episode Swati Moitra, a professor at Gurudas College, Kolkata, and an education activist, elaborates on several issues with NEP, more prominently, how it should be seen in a continued global effort of transforming education from a fundamental right to a user-pay commodity and how the so-called modernization aspects...

Be it Edith Simmons (Mahanagar) or Violet Stoneham (36 Chowringhee Lane), the Anglo-Indian community's portrayal in cinema can be deemed enigmatic, to say the least. This dovetails into the challenge of identity that is central to the community's enduring presence in independent India. Barry O Brien, noted quizmaster and ex-MLA of the WB Legislative Assembly, joins us to discuss his book "The Anglo-Indians: A Portrait of a Community", wherein he presents an insider's view of his community. Independent Film Circle (IFC)'s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Independent-Film-Circle-106947891225568

Anindya Sen Gupta, a faculty at JU Film studies, and a renowned film critique, is a keen observer of the evolution of cinema. In this podcast he talks about his journey with Cinema, its evolution, and trend in contemporary cinema, in particular with the rapid development in technology aka algorithms. This episode is co-hosted by a special host Anubhav Roy Anindya's academic webpage: https://jadavpur.academia.edu/AnindyaSengupta (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anubhav-Roy-2) Independent Film Circle (IFC)'s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Independent-Film-Circle-106947891225568

Rajibul Islam, physicist at the University of Waterloo, joins us in the latest episode. His research interests are in quantum information processing, in particular quantum simulation and computation. He is also a co-founder of bigyan.org.in, a leading online science outreach platform in Bangla.

Garga Chatterjee, a Harvard PhD and currently working as a faculty at Indian Statistical Institute, is known more for his fervent support for Bengali Nationalism and rigorous opposition to "Hindi Imperialism". He, as the founding member and general secretary of Bangla Pokkho, constantly fights for rights of Bengalis within the Indian Union. Nevertheless, Bangla Pokkho often receives criticism for its oversimplified narratives, tribalism, and inciting anti-Bengali sentiments. In this podcast, Garga opens up about his journey from Medical College to Harvard and back to Kolkata, nuances of federalism, the economic, cultural and political hegemony of Imperial forces in detail. In...

Amartya Bhattacharyya, a software engineer by profession, and a film-maker by passion likes to follow unconventional approaches in making films. He is a truly independent film-maker, who also does cinematography and editing (and even make-ups) in his films. His films contain unusual ideas, abstract narratives and unique subjects. His recent film "Adieu Godard" received worldwide accolades. In this conversation he opens up about his journey in cinema, his highly unconventional and unique approaches, aspects of "Adieu Godard", and his upcoming projects.

Trina Nileena Banerjee, erstwhile actor and currently a faculty member at CSSS Calcutta, joins us to discuss about the history of the theatre movement in Bengal. Within the said context, we double click on the gender politics of the movement to understand how the aesthetic representations of women on stage were often at odds with their role as cultural activists in the movement.

Trina's homepage: https://www.cssscal.org/faculty_trina_nileena_banerjee.php

Review of Trina's book: When Silence speaks https://www.epw.in/journal/2023/2/book-reviews/when-silence-speaks.html

Sayandeb Chowdhury, an academic by profession, explored the legacy of Uttam Kumar in his book "Uttam Kumar – A Life in Cinema". In this discussion he talks about the underlying research he pursued for the book, elaborates on many of his findings and provides his perspective on the present day's cultural vacuum in Bengali society.

Debarshi, an independent journalist, writer and film-maker attempts to demystify the absurdities of the contemporary language of art and culture.

Catherine Masud, along with life-partner Tareque Masud, left a lasting imprint on Bangladeshi cinema with works like Muktir Gaan, Muktir Kotha, and Matir Moina. Catherine’s long and intriguing journey took her from the United States to Bangladesh, just when the young country was waking up to a new dawn in films, steered by a new generation of young and talented filmmakers. She had a ringside view of, and was often an active participant in heralding that dawn. Join us as we talk to Catherine about her illustrious journey.

Catherine's current academic page at U Conn: https://hu...

By trying to marry western-style liberal democracy with soviet-style central economic planning (that too, against the backdrop of Cold War politics), the first crop of leaders in independent India undertook a very bold experiment to say the least. The Planning Commission, with Prof PC Mahalanobis at its helm, was responsible for spearheading a lion's share of the allied efforts. While the whole construct might now seem like a relic of a past that grows more unfamiliar with every passing day, we can't refute the sway that these ideas held over the Indian conscience till the 1991 reforms upended this rather...

Partha Banerjee has been inducted into RSS through his father at a very young age. However, in his early youth the ideological conflict between the RSS ideology and the liberal Bengali philosophy had started to bother him. Finally he raised a number of fundamental questions to the RSS leadership - as the answers remained unsatisfactory, he decided to quit the two decade long association and subsequently started to explore the other side of the political spectrum. Nevertheless, his long quest for a sensible political ideology remained highly unsatisfied until much later in his life when he travelled to the...