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."


455 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Piece image
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 Guardi...

  • Added: Mar 12, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Caption:  City activists are painting sidewalks hoping to encourage more street life in Kolkata., Credit: Sandip Roy
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 crim...

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  • Added: Mar 04, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: A billboard in Kolkata uses his own catchphrase to bid farewell to India's first radio superstar Ameen Sayani., Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip Roy remembers his childhood radio guru. Amen Sayani died last week at the age of 91.

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  • Added: Feb 26, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Photo courtesy the Chitresh Das Institute
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...

  • Added: Feb 20, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: A queue on a rainy evening for author autographs and books at the Kolkata Literary Meet. , Credit: Sandip Roy
As lit fest’s, lit meets, literary carnivals pop up all over India, 3 in Kolkata alone in a month, some wonder whether whether this is about books ...

  • Added: Jan 30, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: A building in the Hatibagan neighborhood in North Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
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 B...

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  • Added: Jan 23, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a beach in Lakshadweep, Credit: Twitter account of Narendra Modi @NarendraModi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's images of the Indian islands of Lakshadweep triggered a social media spat with the Maldives.

  • Added: Jan 16, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Dancers at the Rainbow Literature Festival in New Delhi
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 co...

  • Added: Jan 08, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Benigna Chilla and Sandip with her artwork Birds and Flowers for Reba at Nature Morte Gallery, New Delhi , Credit: Bishan Samaddar
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 sp...

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  • Added: Jan 02, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: A Christmas market in Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
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 Californ...

  • Added: Dec 26, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Hindu gods and goddesses get kiddie avatars thanks to Sanjay Patel’s series of 20 episodes aimed at preschoolers which premiered last month on his YouTube channel GheeHappyStudio.” , Credit: Sandy Patel's ghee Happy Studio
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.

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  • Added: Dec 19, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey congratulated by the Home Minister of Nepal along with activist Sunil Babu Pant (on Right). , Credit: Facebook page of Sunil Babu Pant.
For 16 years Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey could not get married, but now they have the most important piece of paper in Nepal.

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  • Added: Dec 05, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Jasmeen Kaur “Just looking like a wow”, Credit: Instagram/@designmachinesuitslive
“Looking like a wow" is the hot new viral craze in India. Sandip brings us the story and what it means for a boutique owner from New Delhi to sudde...

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  • Added: Nov 27, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Chinna Masta Kali, Credit: Sandip Roy
While the festival of Diwali is well known across the world as the festival of light another festival at the same time, the festival of the Goddess...

  • Added: Nov 13, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Durga Puja that paid homage to destruction and regeneration using the Bamiyan Buddha, Credit: Sandip Roy
Kolkata's biggest festival Durga Puja has earned a UNESCO tag for intangible cultural heritage. This has led to a lot of interest among art fans in...

  • Added: Nov 08, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: An Indian advertisement mourns Matthew Perry., Credit: Courtesy Amul.
The TV show "Friends" might have been about a group of close-knit white New Yorkers but somehow it resonated in many corners of the world including...

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  • Added: Oct 30, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Image of the Goddess at the Samaj Sebi Durga Puja installation in Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
Like all big festivals, Kolkata's biggest festival Durga Puja is big big business. Now a Durga Puja organizer wants the actual  art installation to...

  • Added: Oct 16, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Piece image
Wes Anderson's new adaptations of Roald Dahl short stories have  won a lot of critical praise. Sandip notices that two of them neatly sum up two co...

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  • Added: Oct 10, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Samuel Stokes and Ralph Richard Keithahn (along with his wife Mildred)
Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary was celebrated on October 2. While he is revered in India, his charisma drew some Americans to him, Americans wh...

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  • Added: Oct 03, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: The breakdown of Indian-Canadian relations is front page news in India., Credit: Sandip Roy
Khalistan - a word that used to be on the front pages of Indian newspapers in the 1980s has resurfaced in headlines thanks to the diplomatic row be...

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  • Added: Sep 25, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1