BIC TALKS

Bangalore International Centre
  • 4.5 (10)
  • Politics
  • Semiweekly

Bangalore International Centre (BIC) is a non profit, public institution which serves as an inclusive platform for informed conversations, arts and culture. BIC TALKS aims to be a regular bi-weekly podcast that will foster discussions, dialogue, ideas, cultural enterprise and more.

  1. 2d ago

    442.Rights, Reality and Red Flags

    India has a brilliant constitution with nuanced laws on preventive detention, manual scavenging, military justice, free speech. Reality, as we well know, isn't always so perfectly packaged. Discovery of New India (Conditions Apply) is a graphic novel by Aakar Patel and political cartoonist PenPencilDraw that moves through courtrooms, prisons, police stations, and the quiet machinery of bureaucracy to show how rights in contemporary India often exist with conditions attached. What makes it unusual is its form: stark, unsparing illustration that makes legal and constitutional realities, the kind that would otherwise stay buried in fine print, feel visceral and immediate. This is reportage you can't look away from. Aakar Patel joins journalist Priya Ramani for a conversation about how the book was made: the rigorous research, the visual language it demanded, and the particular courage it takes to illustrate how power actually behaves. The session then opens to audience questions. In this episode of BIC Talks, Aakar Patel  will be in conversation with Priya Ramani. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

    442.Rights, Reality and Red Flags

  2. Oct 27

    Human Rights in an Age of Precarity

    1948, Paris in winter. The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, against the backdrop of two bloody wars. The first time nations across the world agreed, in writing, on the fundamental rights owed to every human being. Eighty years later, we have forgotten why the declaration was made in the first place. The rights enshrined in that document are no longer treated as fundamental. In a world shaped by profit-driven economies, human value is increasingly measured by productivity and utility alone. The violation of human rights has become unremarkable, treated as a practical feature of modern existence. This panel brings together advocates across law, academia and activism to examine the historical, economic, and psychological conditions that determine whether people experience human rights as inalienable and foundational. The conversation is as much diagnostic as it is restorative: an attempt to re-anchor rights in human dignity. After the discussion, there will be an open Q&A. In collaboration with: Lawyering For Change In this episode of BIC Talks, Matthias Mahlmann, Aditya Sondhi, Arvind Narrain and Maitreyi Krishnan will be in conversation with Mrudula Vanangamudi . This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

    Human Rights in an Age of Precarity

  3. Oct 25

    441. Mother Is No God

    She was stubborn, fearless before teachers and gods alike, and completely convinced she was right about everything. She usually was. Vasudhendra wrote these essays after losing his mother. What started as an expression of grief turned out to carry so much more: a son slowly realising that the woman he'd spent years misreading was, all along, just a person. Flawed, fierce, and holding everything together anyway. I Love My Amma was originally written in Kannada, the language of his home. It found readers in Tamil and Telugu. To mark the release of the English edition, author Vasudhendra joins translator Narayan Shankaran in conversation with Harini Nagendra. They discuss the essays, the North Karnataka childhood that shaped them, and what it means to carry something this personal from one language into another. After the conversation, they will take audience questions. In this episode of BIC Talks, Vasudhendra and Narayan Shankaran will be in conversation with Harini Nagendra. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in May 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

    441. Mother Is No God

  4. Oct 18

    We Need to Talk about Ritwik Ghatak

    If he wasn't feted in his time, Ritwik Ghatak most certainly is today. Since his death in 1976, at just past fifty, Ghatak's stature has only grown. His humanist cinema, his uncompromising vision, his deep engagement with the history and culture of the land, have made him one of the most indelible figures in Indian film history. With Meghe Dhaka Tara, Subarnarekha, Komal Gandhar, Ajantrik, and Titas Ekti Nodir Naam, Ghatak changed the very nature of Indian cinema. As a teacher at the Film and Television Institute of India, he shaped the next generation: Kumar Shahani, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Kaul, Saeed Mirza, Ketan Mehta, Jahnu Barua. Shamya Dasgupta, editor of Unmechanical: Ritwik Ghatak in 50 Fragments (Westland Books, 2026), joins writer and publisher Karthik Venkatesh to sit with the full contradiction of the man. Unflinching and even ruthless. Alcoholic and irresponsible. An irrepressible genius and a relentless innovator. In this episode of BIC Talks, Shamya Dasgupta will be in conversation with Karthik Venkatesh. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

    We Need to Talk about Ritwik Ghatak

  5. Oct 7

    Mothers of Daughters

    Idolised, worshipped, immortalised. A mother is asked to be everything while making it look effortless. Alas, a mother is also a daughter. In the face of her humanity, we know not what to do. Meyeder Mayera is a Bangla anthology of mothers written by their daughters. Not the idea of a mother, but the women themselves. Arundhati Ghosh joins four contributors to the book in a conversation about the legacies it carries, the relationships that shaped them, and what it means to truly see the person who raised you. In this episode of BIC Talks, Margaret Rosie, Nisha Abdulla, Sarbari Gomes and Spandana Bhowmik will be in conversation with Arundhati Ghosh. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in April 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

    Mothers of Daughters

  6. Oct 1

    437. Mother Mary Comes to Me

    Memory and identity. Personal and political. Mothers and daughters. Mother Mary Comes to Me is Arundhati Roy's most personal work yet. At its centre is Mary Roy, her mother: abusive, brilliant, impossible to understand, and impossible to forget. A woman who challenged the Travancore Christian Succession Act before the Supreme Court and won. A woman who was, as Roy writes, both shelter and storm. In conversation with Arundhati Ghosh, Roy reflects on the writing of this memoir, her journey from a rocky childhood to literary stardom, and what it means to reckon with a person you have spent a lifetime trying to fathom. A signing with the author will follow. Disclaimer: Any depiction of smoking in this book is for representational purposes only. Penguin Random House India and Bangalore International Centre do not promote or endorse tobacco use. In collaboration with: Bangalore Literature Festival In this episode of BIC Talks, Arundhati Roy with Arundhati Ghosh. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

    437. Mother Mary Comes to Me

  7. Sep 30

    India at the Inflection Point

    Geopolitical realignments. Technological disruptions. The mounting urgency of the climate crisis. As the world undergoes multiple, simultaneous transformations, India is faced with charting its own course. Rajiv Kumar, Kamal Bali, Manish Sabharwal, Nitin Pai, and Mohandas Pai bring together perspectives from policy, industry, and innovation to examine what it will take to navigate this era of uncertainty. As India navigates frontier technologies like AI, strengthening strategic autonomy, addressing climate imperatives and fostering inclusive growth, the choices are critical. How can we become a developed nation in the coming decades? In collaboration with: Pahle India Foundation In this episode of BIC Talks, Rajiv Kumar, Kamal Bali, Manish Sabharwal and Nitin Pai will be in conversation with Mohandas Pai. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

    India at the Inflection Point

  8. Sep 28

    To Be a Millennial

    The world changes, life is hard. That's not news. But are millennials uniquely misunderstood, or simply the first generation to document their own confusion so thoroughly? Deepika Arwind, author of Good Arguments, and AM Gautam, author of Indian Millennials, write from opposite ends of the same experience. One through fiction, the other through reportage. Both millennial. Both wrestling with power dynamics, divided loyalties, and what courage looks like when you have one foot in the old world and one inching towards the future. This conversation, moderated by Arundhati Sridhar, is not about generational angst. It is about the structures we inherit and the space we carve out anyway. Readings. Insights. The occasional uncomfortable truth. In this episode of BIC Talks, Deepika Arwind and A.M Gautam will be in conversation with Arundhati Sridhar. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in March 2026. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

    To Be a Millennial
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Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Bangalore International Centre (BIC) is a non profit, public institution which serves as an inclusive platform for informed conversations, arts and culture. BIC TALKS aims to be a regular bi-weekly podcast that will foster discussions, dialogue, ideas, cultural enterprise and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Bangalore International Centre
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    439
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    BIC TALKS

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