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
Piece image
Kolkata’s streets continue to clog with cars. The fate of an already established, cleaner transit option, teeters in the balance.

  • Added: Apr 18, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: A parade of old streetcars in Kolkata led by a wooden watering car from 1924., Credit: Sandip Roy
Kolkata was the first city in India to have streetcars and the only city to still have them. And they carry within them a rich history of the city ...

  • Added: Apr 11, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Some of the typefaces designed by Rajeev Prakash for Indian scripts., Credit: Sandip Roy
Responsible for typefaces of all slants and bolds, Rajeev Prakash is India’s Fontwala!

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 04, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: 2 avatars of Eggs Benedict from restaurants in India, both missing the English muffin., Credit: Sandip Roy
Where did my English muffin go from my Eggs Benedict?

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 28, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: A billboard in Kolkata celebrates the Oscar win for The Elephant Whisperers. , Credit: Sandip Roy
The short documentary Oscar win for The Elephant Whisperers is being widely celebrated in India because it's a first for India. But what will it me...

  • Added: Mar 21, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Indian newspapers celebrate the Oscar win for the hit song Naatu Naatu. , Credit: Sandip Roy
Sandip Roy is getting nostalgic after Naatu Naatu wins an Oscar for best song in a film, and a real Indian production at that!

  • Added: Mar 14, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Stalls set up to sell Holi colors in Kolkata. , Credit: Sandip Roy
It’s time to play Holi in India and Sandip Roy grabs a fistful of joy!

  • Added: Mar 07, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: The Limeric Lovers Publishers stall at the Kolkata Book Fair, Credit: Sandip Roy
If you think limericks just means Edward Lear, think again. The Limeric Lovers Publishers of Kolkata are devoted fans of limericks in Bengali, a lo...

  • Added: Feb 28, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Andrew Sean Greer talks to Sandip Roy at the Kolkata Literary Meet., Credit: Sandip Roy
San Francisco's Andrew Sean Greer was in Kolkata recently to talk about Less is Lost, his sequel to his Pulitzer-winning novel Less. Sandip Roy sen...

  • Added: Feb 21, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: An artist's rendition of a woman moira or sweetmaker., Credit: Sandip Roy
Kolkata is famous for its love of books. And its love for sweets. And Sandip Roy just went to Jugal's Literature Festival - the  first ever literat...

  • Added: Feb 14, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Cutouts of Pathaan characters at a movie theatre in Kolkata., Credit: Bishan Samaddar
Pathaan, the biggest Bollywood hit of recent times is being hailed as the return of its star Shah Rukh Khan. But a lot more is being read into its ...

  • Added: Feb 07, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: The Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, Credit: Sandip Roy
Literary festivals have returned to the ground in full form for the first time since the pandemic. Sandip Roy sends an audio postcard from a litfes...

  • Added: Jan 30, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Piece image
The French author Dominique LaPierre died recently and that made Sandip Roy think of the author's legacy on his hometown of Kolkata.

  • Added: Jan 24, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: The Ganga Voyager, a boat on a river cruise down the Ganga in India, Credit: Sandip Roy
The longest river cruise in the world is underway on it’s maiden voyage in India.

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  • Added: Jan 17, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: A Google search for chicken tikka masala, Credit: Sandip Roy
Unlike many of the people we lost in 2022 - Queen Elizabeth II, Lata Mangeshkar, Pele - Ahmed Ali Aslam might not have been a household name. But...

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  • Added: Jan 09, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
It’s that time of the year again when dictionaries around the world try to sum up the year in a word or two.

  • Added: Jan 03, 2023
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: A Kolkata Christmas scene, Credit: Sandip Roy
In Bethlehem there was no room at the inn for baby Jesus. But in India there’s always room at the Christmas party.

  • Added: Dec 22, 2022
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: A rainbow cape at 2022 Kolkata Pride March., Credit: Sandip Roy
From the World Cup to Pride Parades, Kolkata is a city that loves to turn everything into a festival.

  • Added: Dec 20, 2022
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: Uttam Saha, founder of the Argentina Football Fan Club in Kolkata, Credit: Sandip Roy
Even though FIFA is a huge multi-national corporation, one fan in India is reminding everyone about the joys of fandom.

  • Added: Dec 13, 2022
  • Length: 06:00
Caption: The Christmas tree in San Francisco's Union Square, Credit: Sandip Roy
Returning for the first time since COVID, Sandip Roy finds a different San Francisco, one seemingly for lease.

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  • Added: Dec 05, 2022
  • Length: 06:00
  • Purchases: 1