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
Caption: Ambassador Car
Sandip Roy takes one last ride in India's Ambassador motor car.

  • Added: Jun 24, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: Shubha Mudgal
Unexpected reverberations of Narendra Modi's victory come to Sunnyvale California.

  • Added: Jun 17, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: Coolie Woman book cover
But when it comes to women going out by themselves in India, Gaiutra Bahadur comes from a family where the bar was set pretty high. Bahadur's Grand...

  • Added: Jun 09, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Piece image
Photos of the rape and murder of two Dalit girls in Badaun were shocking, but the pictures shocking as they are are not worth a 1000 words because ...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 03, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Narendra Modi
Narenda Modi is the 15th Prime Minister of India, and the first PM born after Independence.

  • Added: May 27, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: Mewat, India, Credit: Sandip Roy
A small unknown town in India has a history that makes it worth stopping in to have a look.

  • Added: May 19, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: Modi supporters at a rally, Credit: Reuters
Sandip Roy sends us an audio postcard from the 2014 Indian election season.

  • Added: May 15, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: Bappi Lahiri at an election rally , Credit: Sandip Roy
The Times of India newspaper called this Indian election a "Dance of Democracy." But for Sandip Roy it's more of a 'Disco' Dance of Democracy.

  • Added: Apr 30, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: Gulaab Gang Poster
This is a story about two films that are in the eye of a peculiar storm in India. One is called Gulaab Gang. The other is called Gulaabi Gang with...

  • Added: Mar 17, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: Lunchbox Poster
The New York Times calls The Lunchbox a Bollywood anomaly - a quiet movie of unexpressed anguish and yearning instead of movies that clutch viewer...

  • Added: Feb 24, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: trafic jan in Kolkata
This is no hip-hop slogan. This is real noise!

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
Sandip Roy talks with documentary filmmaker Nishtha Jain about her film "the Gulabi Gang."

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 04, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Jewelry Box movie poster
"Ghosts" in India are different in more than just their name.

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 28, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
Sandip Roy discovers the very old recordings of the Archive of Indian Music.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 22, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: A Pandal at Durga Puja, Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip Roy makes his way throughout the madness that is Durga Puja.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 15, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Boy in Modi mask
Sandip Roy takes in the theater of Modi's first large scale political rally in New Delhi.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 08, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: The Lunchbox Poster, Credit: Lunchbox the movie
Sandip Roy finds love, in the new movie "The Lunchbox."

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 24, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
The fixation with being of 'fair' complexion would hurt Miss Davuluri - in India.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 17, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Sushmita Memorial, Credit: Sandip Roy
Sushmita Banerjee pled a full life. Full of danger, trying to make a difference in this world. This week Sandip Roy remembers her legacy.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 10, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Father Bouche and class, Credit: Sandip Roy
September 5th is "Teacher's Day" in India, and Sandip Roy remembers one of his.

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 03, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 2