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."


471 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
A Still Image
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: A photo of Donald Trump’s bandaged ear., Credit: Photo from @MarkHamill on X
In an age where everyone can be a social media influencer, the recent attempt on former President Trump’s life shows that experience still matters.

  • Added: Jul 23, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
The Biggest, Fattest Indian Wedding
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Indian media like this week's edition of t2, a Kolkata-based tabloid had wall-to-wall coverage of the Ambani wedding, India's most expensive wedding ever., Credit: Telegraph 2
A five-month countdown to India's most expensive wedding ever ended last week with the big bash that saw celebrities from all over the world descen...

  • Added: Jul 16, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
The New Swadeshi
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Spices for a Garam Masala
Almost 100 years after Gandhi, the British Prime Minister seems to calling for a ‘British’ Swadeshi movement. But as Sandip Roy points out, Sunak’s...

  • Added: Jul 02, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
25 Years of Progress
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: A rainbow sculpture of a telephone symbolizing the helpline from the group Sappho for Equality before mobile phones were common., Credit: Sandip Roy
June has become Pride Month all over the world. In Kolkata this month groups are celebrating 25 years of Sappho for Equality, the city's oldest sup...

  • Added: Jun 25, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Camp or Cola?
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Sandip Roy with a Campa Cola
India's cola wars have gotten more interesting with the entry of a new cola which is actually an old cola. Campa Cola was once a Coca Cola substitu...

  • Added: Jun 11, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Fountain of Passion
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Dhruva Jain, the vintage fountain pen collector at the Pen Mahotsav festival., Credit: Sandip Roy
Fountain pens might seem part of a vanishing world but a group of pen enthusiasts seen signs of hope in India. Sandip visits a Fountain Pen festiva...

  • Added: Jun 04, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Crypto Crime
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Mitali Mukherjee’s “Crypto Crimes” book cover, Credit: Courtesy of Mitali Mukherjee
Some hailed it as a brave new financial revolution. But where there’s big money to be made, and made fast, there will also be people playing fast a...

  • Added: May 29, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Year of the Netizen
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: election posters in Kolkata., Credit: Sandip Roy
There’s a new focus this election season in India, a new type of influencer, the ‘Netizen.’ But what does this really mean for the democratic process?

Bought by WXXI Rochester


  • Added: May 21, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Happy Birthday Mr. Bond
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Ruskin Bond signing a book for a fan., Credit: Sandip Roy
An Indian institution turns 90 at the end of this week. It’s not a bricks and mortar institution. It’s one of India’s most prolific writers - Bond,...

  • Added: May 15, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Minding the Gap
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: An election rally in Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
It’s election season in India and time for two months of marching bands and rallies, but not much talk about economic and healthcare rights. In fac...

  • Added: May 07, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Summers of Discontent
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Summer Fruits in Kolkata., Credit: Sandip Roy
As the Indian heat descends on Kolkata, Sandip considers how our perceptions about the rituals of summer have changed.

  • Added: Apr 30, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
QueerMandu
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: The faces behind the QueerMandu gay tour group in Nepal., Credit: Sandip Roy
Nepal’s constitution protects sexual minorities. Most recently after a long struggle Nepal registered its first same sex marriage, something India ...

  • Added: Apr 22, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
vix Vacare
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Piece image
The very word vacation has its roots in vacare or to be unoccupied. But in reality vacations are anything but unoccupied. Sandip recounts the woes ...

  • Added: Apr 15, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Bengali Comics
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: The Dressing Room of Europe - Artist Kafi Khan satirizes World War II Europe, Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip explores a 100-year-old history of Bengali comics and what they gained and lost from their encounter with Laurel and Hardy and Tarzan and Ti...

  • Added: Apr 09, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Which Came First?
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: An example of the classic 'butter chicken', Credit: Photo by Joe mon bkk, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
A new food fight has erupted in India. And it’s about one of the most famous dishes to come out of India, one that every other Indian restaurant in...

  • Added: Apr 02, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Good Holi Ramadan
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Piece image
The stars are aligned this week. Its a week for Holi, Ramadan and Good Friday, which is a perfect way to showcase how many faiths in Kolkata exist ...

  • Added: Mar 26, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
Self Help Me!
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
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
Painting the Town Safe
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
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...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 04, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Goodnight sisters and Brothers
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
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.

Bought by WTJU


  • Added: Feb 26, 2024
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Kathak's Return Journey
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
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

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