Dispatches from Kolkata

Sandip Roy

4.6 (21)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Every week NPR contributor (and former San Franciscian) Sandip Roy brings you a little taste of the 'new India' – a letter home from his other home.

11H AGO

Winter Chill

Winter in Kolkata has a sound of it's own, and many reasons to enjoy the outdoors.But, Sandip has seen a troubling trend infringe upon what was once a time of cool reverie.

6 min
JAN 14

Eat Your Veggies

"Eat your veggies.” That’s an order many of us have grown up with. But now a deli in Cornwall in the U.K. wants to have its veggies and eat it too. And let no one else have any.

6 min
JAN 7

Solace and Meaning

Sandip reflects on the past year and while reading his mother's diary finds that the real of one's life may be in the smallest of details.

6 min
12/24/2025

A City with Room for Everyone

The recent Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk meant more than just a weekend party to Sandip.

6 min
12/10/2025

Wine o'Clock in Shillong

A small state with hilly terrain is turning into India’s fruit wine haven. Sandip Roy samples the vintage.

6 min
12/03/2025

Rubber, an Indispensable Substance.

Humans have bounced al over the globe in search of Rubber, but is there an infinite supply or do we need to cultivate a different source.Sandip seaks with Vidya Rajan, adjunct associate professor at the University of Delaware and the author of "Rubber - The Social and Natural History of an indispensable substance."

6 min
11/26/2025

Turkey in a Trash Bag

Thanksgiving was one of Sandip's favorite "American" holidays, now he considers what to give thanks for.

6 min
11/19/2025

Bright Lights Big City

A city with lights galore is proof of how successful and important it is.Yet darkness too is an old friend. Sandip ponders the shadows.

6 min

See All (20)

4.6

out of 5

21 Ratings

Namaste Alabama

04/29/2021

hoy día

I used to hear Sandip on my local radio station in San Francisco KALW and luckily he still has a 6 minute segment that I can hear on the radio or here by podcast. I appreciate his endless curiosity and clear eyed empathy tempered by a wonderfully sly sense of humor. The sound production is wonderful, the voices and ambient sounds takes one right there. Bravo !
Love it!

08/21/2020

123dip

One of my favorite podcasts!
Orange Hat

10/23/2019

vybgior

I enjoy listening to this podcast! Sandip Ray is succinct in his expression and keen in his observation...