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."


460 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Sometimes it seems 70 years after Independence India is just unable to shake off its suited and booted colonial hangover, as a recent Facebook post...

  • Added: Jul 31, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
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A debate about whether Nolan’s Dunkirk whitewashes history is perfectly legitimate but seventy years after India’s Independence isn’t it also time ...

  • Added: Aug 08, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
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Sandip Roy reflects on India’s journey as it turns 70.

  • Added: Aug 15, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Amar Kapoor's Diary, Credit: Partition Museum
This August 15th marked 70 years of India’s independence. But this also marks 70 years of one of India’s greatest human tragedies. The partition ...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Aug 21, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Gay Pride marchers in Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
The Indian Supreme Court caught everyone by surprise, including Sandip Roy. Did the court unwittingly decriminalize being gay?

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Aug 28, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: MSG 2 Movie Poster
At first he was funny. A bearded man with flowing hair dressed in his garish best, his forearms curly with knots of hair. But Ram Rahim is no ordi...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Sep 05, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: A Thai temple replica for Durga Puja, Credit: Sandip Roy
It takes only a few hours to fly from Kolkata to Bangkok, and a weekend in Bangkok is quite common. But there’s very little of Thailand in Kolkata.

  • Added: Sep 25, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Comics on the panel about comedy and politics, Credit: Sandip Roy
70 years after Independence it sometimes feels as if Indians are still to develop a funny bone. Especially when it comes to politicians.

  • Added: Oct 10, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Chinna Masta Kali, Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip Roy has a different perspective on India's version of Halloween.

  • Added: Oct 17, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Ashe Bhosle in Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
Once Asha effortlessly brought India to my kitchen in California. Now she transported me from a balmy night in a park in Kolkata to a foggy evening...

  • Added: Oct 26, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
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The "MeToo" hashtag carries more weight than your average social media meme.

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Nov 01, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: New America Media Logo
Sandy Close, a MacArthur genius with an idea a minute, created an organization of ethnic media providers 20 years ago so as to fill in the gaps of ...

  • Added: Nov 07, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
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Once the white man came to India to lift the natives out of their heathen darkness (and take their jute, iron and Kohinoor diamond). But in the fil...

  • Added: Nov 27, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
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A work of art sparking protest is nothing new, but Padmavati takes the art of taking offence to another level.

  • Added: Dec 04, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Trans activists protest the Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Bill, Credit: Sandip Roy
In 2014 the Indian Supreme did something amazing. In a country that still criminalizes gay sex, it said transgender community deserved the right to...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 12, 2017
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Sandip forgets to feed his social media stream, and reconnects with the world.

  • Added: Jan 08, 2018
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: A jungle cat (aka not a Tiger), Credit: Sandip Roy
What's in a tiger sighting? For some it's more important than anything else.

  • Added: Jan 15, 2018
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Jaipur Lit Fest panel, Credit: Sandip Roy
Writer Sandip Roy experiences a deeper meaning to the 'Lit fest’ circuit.

  • Added: Jan 23, 2018
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Amy Tan and Sandip Roy at the Jaipur Lit. Fest., Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip and writers Amy Tan and Rabih Alameddine explore what makes Jaipur one of the greatest literature festivals in the world.

  • Added: Feb 05, 2018
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: The tree house
Sandip struggles with a “getting back to nature” trip.

  • Added: Feb 12, 2018
  • Length: 06:00