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
Dispatch #375 - Implicitly Explicit
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Joe Pugliese/Harpo Productions
The casual racism of starchy royals was never particularly secret, but in all the debates about whether the Royals are racist or whether Harry and ...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 08, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Dispatch #374 - An Ode for Lawrence Ferlinghetti
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: A photo of Lawrence Ferlinghetti at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, Credit: Sandip Roy
Over a decade ago Sandip Roy was called to service…. By Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

  • Added: Mar 02, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
Dispatch #373 - India's COVID Mystery
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: A crowded Kolkata subway, Credit: Sandip Roy
India’s COVID-19 numbers of late have shown great promise, what’s going on?

  • Added: Feb 23, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
Saraswati's Wisdom
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Worshipers with a figure of Saraswati, Credit: Sandip Roy
A childhood goddess that was once asked for help with math takes on a new significance in adulthood.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 15, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Celebs and Farmer Protests
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: A Still from the video "RiRi" by Diljit Dosanjh, Credit: Sandip Roy
More and more celebrities are tweeting about the farmer protest in India, and while this is about the backbone of India but it’s not the farmers wh...

  • Added: Feb 08, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
Dispatch 370 - Something Funny's Going On
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Faruqui and Khamra's twitter headings
Something funny happened on the way to the comedy club in India but no-one is laughing.

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 01, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Dispatch 369 - Priya's Mask
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: India's Priya and Pakistan's Burka Avenger battle Baba Kaboom in the Priya's Mask comic book.
Priya’s Shakti is a comic and animated film about India’s first female superhero Priya and her flying tiger Sahas. Priya has taken on issues like r...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 25, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Dispatch 368 - Alternate Social Universe
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Piece image
We cannot blame social media for our worst demons. But it is undeniable that social media has made it that much easier to create that alternate uni...

  • Added: Jan 19, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
Dispatch 367 - What Rough Beast
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Piece image
What happened in the United States might feel shocking. But we gloat at our own peril.

  • Added: Jan 11, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
Word Cloud of the Year
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: A Bengali sign that asks visitors to wear masks during the Durga Puja festival in Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
In a big shift from tradition the Oxford English Dictionary said 2020 is a “year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one word,” so maybe this ye...

  • Added: Dec 28, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Feluda
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: A book celebrating 50 years of Feluda, Credit: Sandip Roy
The new paper strip test for COVID-19 in India is called “Feluda.” Why such a name? Sandip Roy sleuths out the answer.

  • Added: Dec 15, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
The Power of a Poem
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Piece image
Never underestimate the power of a poem.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
The Emperor's Clothes
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Sandip at the Grand Hotel in Nainital.
India struggles with its image in the larger world, but so should America reconsider hers.

  • Added: Nov 30, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Dispatch 361 - Giving Thanks
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Live turkeys in Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite American holiday, and this has been a year where we learned to be thankful for all the things we once took...

Bought by RadioStPete Florida


  • Added: Nov 23, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Dispatch 360 - Goodbye Soumitra
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Piece image
A fond remembrance of Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who died Sunday Nov. 15th after battling the COVID-19 virus.

  • Added: Nov 16, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Dispatch 359 - Six Degrees of Kamala
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Piece image
Everybody wants a piece of the first female vice president of the United States; Or at least a few degrees of separation from her.

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 10, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 2
Dispatch 358 - Festival of Democracy
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Piece image
Indians now look at the 2020 American elections and understand that there’s chaos that’s colorful and then there’s chaos thats toxic.

  • Added: Nov 02, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Dispatch #357 - Digital Durga
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Durga Puja in a pandemic
More than anything else the pandemic has forced us to reckon with what really lies at the heart and soul of Durga Puja.

  • Added: Oct 26, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
Little Durga
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: Kids of Bhandarkhali and their Durga, Credit: Meghdutam Foundation
Durga Puja, the festival of the ten armed Goddess Durga, has always been a time of excess in Kolkata. But this is the story of the “Little Durga.”

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 19, 2020
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Dispatch #355 - Saint Rupert
From: KALW
Series: Sandip Roy's Dispatches from Kolkata
Caption: A splash screen for Rupert Everett's talk at the Jaipur Lit. Fest., Credit: Sandip Roy and Jaipur Lit. Fest.
Writer and actor Rupert Everett spoke recently with Sandip Roy for the Jaipur Lit. Festival about pandemics and sainthood.

  • Added: Oct 13, 2020
  • Length: 06:00

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