Postcards

Nikunj Agarwal
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  • Politics
  • Updated Biweekly

Postcards, Your passport to all things people, policy, and politics! Postcards is a platform dedicated to discussing topics often overlooked or underrepresented in mainstream media. Each episode is a one-on-one journey with a guest, designed to engage everyone—from policy experts to those simply curious about the world around them. Dive into conversations that amplify unheard voices, explore transformative ideas, and spark meaningful change.

  1. 4d ago

    Postcards Podcast with Nikunj | The 0.67% Reality: Rural India with Shalini Singh

    Why does rural India remain largely invisible in mainstream newsrooms? In this episode of Postcards, Nikunj Agarwal sits down with Shalini Singh, journalist and co-founder of the People's Archive of Rural India (PARI), to explore the gaps in mainstream media coverage and the importance of reporting stories from the ground. The conversation looks at why rural India receives so little space in national newspapers, how parachute reporting can misrepresent communities, and why empathy is essential to meaningful journalism. From reporting on child labour in Meerut to working towards policy change for leprosy survivors who faced barriers in accessing welfare schemes due to fingerprint verification, Shalini reflects on her two-decade journey in journalism. The episode also explores the realities of Delhi's polluted Yamuna stretch, the relationship between journalism and public policy, and what development with dignity looks like when the experiences and voices of communities are placed at the centre of the story. 📰 Why does rural India receive so little attention in mainstream newsrooms? What happens when journalists reports on communities without understanding their lived realities? Can empathy make journalism more accountable and inclusive? And what does it take to tell stories that lead to meaningful change? Want to explore the stories, articles, research, and recommendations discussed during this conversation? You can find these resources, along with the episode transcript and information about our events and community, on our 1-1 Notion page. 🔗 https://app.notion.com/p/postcards-community/Episode-13-Postcards-Podcast-with-Nikunj-The-0-67-Reality-Uncovering-Rural-India-with-Journalis-3f3d561a65a280199abacefa43b31a62 TEAM 🎙️ Host: Nikunj Agarwal 🎤 Guest: Shalini Singh, Journalist and Co-founder, People's Archive of Rural India (PARI) 📖 Research: Nazaneen and Alfiya 🎬 Production: Nazaneen 🎞️ Video Editing: Nazaneen 📝 Mentors: Anjani, Shaiza and Shafali 📩 Enquiries: postcards.inbox@gmail.com 💬 Have thoughts, questions, or reflections on the conversation? Leave them in the comments. We'd love to hear from you. Postcards — People. Policy. Politics.

  2. Sep 4

    Art as an Advocacy

    This episode with Ita Mehrotra — visual artist, researcher, and educator — explores how illustration functions as advocacy, archive, and act of witness. The episode traces her practice from Shaheen Bagh: A Graphic Recollection (2021), which documents the 101-day anti-CAA sit-in led by Muslim women in Delhi, to Uprooted (2025), a slower, monochrome account of the Van Gujjar and Taungya communities' generational struggle for forest rights in Uttarakhand. Across both works, Mehrotra positions drawing as a form of "visual testimony" — a way to archive erasure, dissent, and memory that official records and data-driven policy reports routinely miss.

  3. Aug 15

    The Radical Promise of a Library: Reading, Community & Social Change with Mridula Koshy | Episode 11

    The Radical Promise of a Library: Reading, Community & Social Change with Mridula Koshy | Episode 11 This episode explores the power of libraries, reading, and access to knowledge through the journey of Mridula Koshy, Founder of The Community Library Project (TCLP). Mridula shares her journey of building community libraries and creating welcoming spaces where children can read, explore, ask questions, and imagine possibilities beyond their immediate circumstances. The conversation also explores the role of community, volunteers, storytelling, and collective action in making reading and learning a meaningful part of everyday life. 📚 What does it take to build a library that truly belongs to a community? 📖 Can access to books change how children see themselves and their futures? 🏘️ What can community-led learning spaces teach us about education? 🔗 To access the episode transcript, explore our events and community, and learn more about Postcard, visit the link below: https://app.notion.com/p/postcards-community/Episode-11-The-Radical-Promise-of-a-Library-Reading-Community-and-Social-Change-with-Mridula-Kosh-39ad561a65a280d6ba03ecf07778c4bb Team 🎙️ Host: Nikunj Agarwal 🎤 Guest: Mridula Koshy, Founder, The Community Library Project 📖 Research: Natasha 🎬 Production: Nazaneen & Neehra 📝 Mentors: Shaiza & Anjani 📩 Enquiries: [postcards.inbox@gmail.com] 💬 Have thoughts or questions? Leave them in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!

  4. Jul 4

    Activism in Algorithm: Mental Health and Disability Rights with Shafali Chadha | Episode #10

    This episode explores digital advocacy as both an opportunity and a risk. It follows Shafali Chadha's journey through education, disability justice, and online advocacy. The discussion begins with how schooling shapes people's ability to question authority and information. It then moves to digital citizenship, asking what it means to participate responsibly in online public spaces.The episode examines storytelling as a tool that makes policy, data, and lived experience accessible.It questions whether Instagram activism builds political learning or encourages shallow and performative engagement.It highlights how disabled people and women face specific forms of online harm, silencing, and platform neglect. 🔗 To access episode transcripts, explore our events and community, and learn more about Postcards, visit the link below:https://app.notion.com/p/postcards-co...Team🎙️ Host: Nikunj🎤 Guest: Shafali Chadha📖 Research: Natasha🎬 Production: Alfiya and Chaithali📝 Mentors: Shaiza, ShafaliEnquiries, contact us at : postcards.inbox@gmail.com💬 Have thoughts or questions? Leave them in the comments. We would love to hear from you.

  5. May 3

    To be Seen, to be Heard : Trans Lives with Pratyay Malakar | Ep #9

    What does it mean to not be recognised in law, and still be expected to survive in everyday life? In this episode of Postcards, we explore the journey of trans rights in India, from community-led movements and the landmark NALSA judgment to the growing gap between recognition and lived reality. We talk about everyday experiences across healthcare, education, employment, and social stigma, and unpack why policy continues to fall short even after years of legal progress. We also explore questions of intersectionality, internal hierarchies, and who gets seen, heard, or left out within the community itself. As the episode builds, we turn to the recent amendment bill and what it means for recognition, dignity, and the future of trans rights in India, especially for those who are now at risk of being excluded altogether. This conversation is not just about law. It is about lived experience, memory, and what it truly means to design policy that centers dignity. 💬 Have thoughts or questions? Leave them in the comments. We would love to hear from you.

  6. Apr 13

    Deconstructing Delhi: History, Heritage and Everyday Life With Dr. Swapna Liddle | Episode #8

    In this episode of the Postcards Podcast, we journey through Delhi not simply as a city, but as a living archive shaped by memory, migration, power, and everyday life.The conversation with historian Dr. Swapna Liddle traces Delhi through its many layered histories, from Shahjahanabad and colonial New Delhi to the city’s contemporary questions of heritage, belonging, and transformation. We reflect on how monuments, neighbourhoods, maps, and forgotten stories continue to shape the way Delhi is lived and understood.We also explore the politics of conservation, the tensions between preservation and redevelopment, and how culture survives through food, language, music, and public memory. The episode further opens up questions of inclusion and exclusion, asking how women, queer communities, and marginalised groups experience the city differently, and what it means to truly belong to a place that is always changing.This episode invites listeners to see Delhi not as a fixed past, but as a city constantly rewritten through memory, access, and imagination.📍 Recording Date: 29th November📌 Don’t miss this episode! Subscribe, share, and join us as we walk through the many cities, memories, and futures that make Delhi what it is.🔗 To access episode transcripts, explore our events and community, and learn more about Postcards, visit the link below: https://postcards-community.notion.site/Episode-8-Deconstructing-Delhi-with-Dr-Swapna-Liddle-340d561a65a280f69565f3bd8cc9eced?pvs=74Team🎙️ Host: Natasha🎤 Guest: Dr. Swapna Liddle📖 Research: Natasha🎬 Production: Natasha, Elvis, Deeksha📝 Mentors: Shaiza, Shafali, ShaleenEnquiries, contact us at : postcards.inbox@gmail.com

  7. Mar 29

    The People's Constitution: Unpacking its past and present #7

    In this episode of the Postcards Podcast, we explore the idea of a “people’s constitution” not just as a legal text, but as a living framework shaped by history, power, and everyday life.The conversation revisits the Constituent Assembly and Drafting Committee, reflecting on whose voices shaped the Constitution and whose were left out. We discuss the role of women, the meaning of constitutional morality in practice, and how secularism functions as a lived sentiment rather than just a principle.We also examine caste and economic inequality, and how structural disparities continue to challenge the Constitution’s promise of equality.This episode invites listeners to see the Constitution not as distant or abstract, but as something constantly negotiated in society today.📍 Recording Date: 17th JanuaryTo know more about us and what Postcards represents, visit the link below:EnquiriesContact us at postcards.inbox@gmail.com0:00:00 - introduction 0:01:25 - welcome note0:03:19 - introducing the speaker 0:10:41 - explaining the constitution to a 7 year old0:13:31 - the constitutional debates 0:19:00 - the vision of the drafting committee 0:19:30 - debates that stand out 0:22:49 - how did the general public start engaging with the newly formed constitution0:28:24 - anxieties that still linger0:35:29 - role of Dr. Ambedkar 0:45:26 - socio-economic inequalities 0:48:46 - women in the constituent assembly0:54:13 - countries without a constitution1:01:30 - constitutional amendments1:05:28 - the role of courts1:05:55 - explaining basic structure doctrine to a 7 year old1:21:30 - informal labour workforce 1:28:25 - negotiations for equal access1:33:04 - how should students discuss the constitution1:52:54 - recommendations2:02:09 - postcards to future self2:05:18 - speaker's note2:05:50 - outro

  8. 11/29/2025

    Nothing About Us, Without Us: Disability Rights in the Classroom | Postcards Series | #06

    When a child enters a classroom, they bring their ways of seeing, sensing, moving, and being in the world. For children with visible and invisible disabilities, the classroom can become a site of immense opportunities or exclusion. It is not the diagnosis but the everyday barriers, the unspoken biases, and the absence of support that shape their experience of learning and belonging. Postcards brings to you yet another compelling episode which sheds light on disability rights, inclusive education, and the power of centering lived experience. At the intersection of identity, policy, and community, this episode reminds us that inclusion is not an add-on; it is a fundamental right. In this episode, Nikunj talks to Pratik Agarwal, Executive Director at ASTHA Foundation, where we explore what it truly means to build classrooms that don’t just accommodate but embrace every child. Pratik takes us through the layered realities of disability in India, highlighting how systems can transform when they begin by listening to those most impacted. As we follow his journey into the field, we unfolded the stories, struggles, and solidarities that define the disability movement during the course of the episode. He reflects on: 1. The personal motivation that led him to work in the disability sector and the communities that shaped his path. 2.  The policy gaps and resources allocated for an equitable model for a child.  3. The critical role of parents and communities in advocating for and nurturing children with disabilities. 4. The promise and pitfalls of AI and assistive technologies, and how tech must be guided by ethics, accessibility, and lived experience. This episode urges listeners to recognize the everyday forms of exclusion that go unnoticed, and to imagine schools where every child’s dignity, agency, and potential are honored. Hi and welcome to Postcards—your passport to people, policy, and politics! We're a platform dedicated to spotlighting issues often overlooked or underrepresented in mainstream discourse. With a commitment to amplifying diverse voices and lived realities, we offer systemic insight into unseen perspectives and unheard stories. 📅 Recording Date: 8th November 2025  📌 Don’t miss this episode! Subscribe, share, and join the dialogue. Because inclusion isn’t charity but  justice. 🔗 To access episode transcripts, explore our events and community, and learn more about Postcards, visit the link below: https://postcards-community.notion.site/postcards101?pvs=74

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About

Postcards, Your passport to all things people, policy, and politics! Postcards is a platform dedicated to discussing topics often overlooked or underrepresented in mainstream media. Each episode is a one-on-one journey with a guest, designed to engage everyone—from policy experts to those simply curious about the world around them. Dive into conversations that amplify unheard voices, explore transformative ideas, and spark meaningful change.

Information

  • Creator
    Nikunj Agarwal
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Nikunj Agarwal
  • Show Website
    Postcards