Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata

Series produced by KALW

Caption: Sandip at the Grand Hotel in Nainital.
Sandip at the Grand Hotel in Nainital. 

Award winning writer, radio host, NPR contributor and novelist Sandip Roy brings his wit and insight to these personal audio diaries from his new life in his old home, India.

After ten years of hosting New America Now, Sandip Roy brings you a little bit of the story of the new India every week – a letter home from his other home.

"A lot has been written about the changing India," says Roy, "but reporting about a changing India is one thing. Living in it and dealing with a country where newspapers are still being launched instead of folding, internet rumors spark mass exoduses, and cricketers advertise skin-whitening creams called Fair and Handsome, that is another thing altogether."


460 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Trump as Baahubali
Sandip Roy looks at all the ways Trump’s recent visit to India has been a benefit to all concerned.

  • Added: Feb 24, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
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Sandip Roy spoke with James Crabtree about his new book "The Billionaire Raj."

  • Added: Feb 17, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: The police patrolling the Kolkata Book Fair, Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip takes us to one of his favorite places, the Kolkata Book Fair, now in it’s 44th year!

  • Added: Feb 11, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Bottle of Lies book cover
Katherine Eban's book "Bottle of Lies" exposes the criminal dealings of some of India pharma's drug producers

  • Added: Feb 03, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
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Sandip explores the very unique sounds that make up a Kolkata winter.

  • Added: Jan 27, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
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After watching “Tales of the City” on Netflix, Sandip reflects on his own tale of the city.

  • Added: Jan 21, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: variouys social media icons
Sandip Roy reflects on the fast paced decade that defined “Social Media.”

  • Added: Jan 13, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Joseph Narendra Muhammad, Credit: Sandip Roy
There are protests in many cities all over India with signs saying No NPR.

  • Added: Jan 06, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Sandip Roy and William Dalrymple
How did just a few thousand British control the country of India?

  • Added: Dec 02, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: 2 Kali's in Kolkata during the holiday Kali Puja, Credit: Sandip Roy
While the rest of India celebrates Diwali with its sweets and fireworks, Kolkata gets ready for the arrival of the Goddess Kali, the one of the dee...

  • Added: Nov 23, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
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Many things divide a country, but it’s the overlooked, personal slights, that hurt the most.

  • Added: Nov 18, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Nabaneeta Dev Sen with her daughter at Antara at the Kolkata Literary Meet, Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip Roy remembers on of India’s most beloved writers. Nabaneeta dev Sen

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Nov 11, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Cat Sticks Poster
Sandip speaks with filmmaker Ronny Sen about his film “Cat Sticks,” a personal and disturbing look at the ‘brown sugar’ heroin explosion at the beg...

  • Added: Nov 04, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, Credit: Bryce Vickmark for news.mit.edu
Abhijit Banerjee, an MIT economist from Kolkata, India wins a Nobel Prize for his work on alleviating global poverty.

  • Added: Oct 21, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Snacks on a local train, Credit: Sandip Roy
An ode to the local trains in Kolkata, moving and harboring life daily.

  • Added: Oct 15, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Gandhi statue at the Ferry Building, San Francisco, Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip considers the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, 150 years after his birth.

  • Added: Sep 30, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
Piece image
Amitav Ghosh’s newest novel Gun Island is a story about both two of his great themes - migration and climate.

  • Added: Sep 10, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Sandip's neighborhood Ganesh, Credit: Sandip Roy
As the monsoons recede the time has come for Ganesh.

  • Added: Sep 03, 2019
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Ilish in mustard sauce, Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip, who does not like fish, relishes his annual dish of Ilish, the prized fish of Bengal. But at what cost?

  • Added: Aug 27, 2019
  • Length: 05:57
Piece image
Zomato delivers a food born controversy

  • Added: Aug 19, 2019
  • Length: 06:00