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."


456 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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The Partition of India uprooted 10 -15 million people, the largest mass displacement of the 20th century. 250,000 – two million died. Yet no museu...

Bought by KUOW


  • Added: Mar 03, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
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A new film touches on some touchy subjects, sex and disability. But the end result is as light hearted as it is complex. Shonali Bose's new film is...

  • Added: Mar 10, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
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If you think Asian-Amerian man, chances are you don’t think of sweaty guys pushing, shoving and shouting on a court. But that’s exactly what 9-Man ...

Bought by WABE


  • Added: Mar 16, 2015
  • Length: 05:00
  • Purchases: 1
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For Sandip Roy, after growing up in India America was a culture shock. After 20 years in America living in India was its own culture shock. Everyth...

  • Added: Mar 24, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: "Downward Dog" or adho mukha shvanasana
It's safe to do yoga in American schools, so says the 4th District Court of Appeals. Its great that an Indian tradition has found an American home,...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Apr 07, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Calcutta food festival, Credit: Sandip Roy
Contrary to popular belief, Diwali or the Festival of Lights is not New Year everywhere in India. Some celebrate their New Year during Holi the fes...

  • Added: Apr 13, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Priya Vedi
It is all very well to castigate the Supreme Court for its failure to affirm gay rights. But rights mean nothing without responsibility and those r...

  • Added: Apr 20, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
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The world will need to remember that Nepal is not just a home for temples and palaces and Everest expeditions. It is a country that millions call h...

  • Added: Apr 27, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Abhishek Bachchan and Keith Vaz
In the last decade Bollywood has snuck into America. Bollywood aerobics. Bollywood theme parties. It even snuck into the Oscars via Slumdog Million...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: May 04, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Salman Khan
One hot muggy afternoon last week I understood first hand a fact of life in India – the system never works for you unless you know someone with con...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: May 11, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Nepalese/Indian-American author Prahjwal Parajuly is not your usual "trope."

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash.


  • Added: Jul 28, 2014
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Sandip Roy listens back to the music of Manna Dey.

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash. and PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 19, 2013
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Modi rally
I was reporting on India’s 2014 general election which would bring Narendra Modi to power a year ago. Sultan, though that’s not his real name, was...

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash.


  • Added: May 26, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
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When I moved to Calcutta from San Francisco, I’d often marvel, that for a city of 4 and half million, everyone seems to know everyone. But writer...

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash.


  • Added: Jun 02, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
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India has tied itself in knots thanks to a noodle problem. The country has been in an uproar since tests alleged that some packets of Maggi instan...

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash.


  • Added: Jun 09, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Satyajit Ray
It might take a village to raise a child. But it took three continents to raise one little village in Bengal from its ashes.

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash. and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 16, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 2
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In India the Supreme Court did not realize that when it recriminalized gay sex, society had come a long way. Like toothpaste it just cannot be pus...

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash. and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 23, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: The White House lit up in a rainbow, Credit: USA Today
After the historic ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on gay marriage, Sandip Roy reflects on... his Facebook feed.

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash. and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 29, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Rare Mangoes at a festival, Credit: Sandip Roy
What we call mango in English has a hundred different names in India. Indians don’t love their mangos. They form fanatical fan clubs of different k...

Bought by WDBM, KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash., and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 07, 2015
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Naveed Mahbub
What do immigrants carry with them to America? The obvious reminders of home -- Spices. Pressure cookers. Pickles. What’s far more unpredictable i...

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash.


  • Added: Jul 20, 2015
  • Length: 05:58
  • Purchases: 1