Free Thinking

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Free Thinking: Pankaj Mishra, Research into Indian history

Pankaj Mishra, Research into Indian history

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Pankaj Mishra, Research into Indian history

Pankaj Mishra discusses his new novel about four friends in an age of upheaval.

Rana Mitter talks to novelist Pankaj Mishra about his new novel Run and Hide. Plus insights into Indian history from Vikram Visana, Pragya Dhital and Sharanya Murali.

Pankaj Mishra's Run and Hide tells a story of modern Indian times, as the hidden pasts of wealthy, Gatsby-style tech entrepreneurs must be reckoned with. 

And to help put this modern India in context, Dr Pragya Dhital will consider the resonances of the tumultuous period of "The Emergency", the response of the Indian government to a period of "internal disturbance" in the 1970s. She discusses the homemade or samizdat style leaflets which journalists like Ram Dutt Tripathi used to great effect. 

The cuisine of India is a national symbol around the world, but Dr Sharanya Murali explores how this most traditional artform, cookery, can become iconoclastic when utilised in performance art by the likes of Pushpamala N and Raj Goody.  

And Dr Vikram Visana will consider populism in India, telling us how differing parties are vying to answer questions of national identity which seem increasingly ill-suited to the challenges facing this modern democracy - and one of the key figures he discusses is KM Munshi. 

Asked for their key cultural figures of India the panel made some eclectic choices. Seek out the short stories of Ismat Chughtai who endured an obscenity trial for her works, and VS Naipaul was viewed as a great chronicler of a crisis in the Hindu struggle with the modern world. Bilkis Dadi was the most recognisable face of the Shaheen Bagh protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the music of Mehdi Hassan was remembered as a culturally unifying force between India and Pakistan. 

Read more at: https://www.shethepeople.tv/news/shaheen-baghs-bilkis-dadi-on-bbcs-100-women-of-2020-list/

 

Presented by Rana Mitter
Produced by Kevin Core

Image: Pankaj Mishra, credit: Windham Campbell Prize

If you want more programmes exploring South Asian culture and history you can find Rana looking at the film Pather Panchali made by Satyajit Ray and the writing of Sunjeev Sahota  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b060zmjs 
Maha Rafi Atal, Anindita Ghosh, Jahnavi Phalkey and Yasmin Khan share their research in an episode called Everything You Never Knew About Indian history  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b069yb6k 
O What a Lovely Savas explores India's First World War experiences https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047zvbj 
Tariq Ali on the 50th anniversary of 1968 uprisings  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05x9zq2 
Rana explores Pakistan politics and water supplies https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s9cg 
Amitav Gosh on weaving the ancient legend about the goddess of snakes, Manasa Devi into a journey between America, the Sundarbans and Venice https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00066px
Arundhati Roy https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08slx9t

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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