#57 Abhijit Iyer Mitra on Indian Bureaucracy, Political Correctness, and Navy SEALs
Abhijit Iyer-Mitra is an anomaly. He terrorizes the left, scandalizes the right, and has zero regard for political correctness. This is why he’s the perfect podcast guest. He is hailed on Twitter as the Archbitchess of Mylapore but holds a day job as a senior fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. When he’s not jabbing at Rana Ayyub’s brand of journalism, Abhijit publishes incisive articles on defence and foreign policy.
In this two-hour conversation, among many things, Abhijit and I discussed:
► How the new Lutyen’s Delhi resident is rich but not classy
► Why India’s elite forces will never be celebrated like Navy SEALs
► Why Indian bureaucrats remain incompetent
► How Western reporting on India is overrun by activists and not experts
► Why India isn’t a homophobic country
Timestamps
0:00 – start
1:00 – Khushwant Singh books
6:44 – 1991 economic liberation
13:50 – Lutyen’s Delhi families
15:58 – Mediocrity in India’s civil services
18:58 – Abhijit’s social circles
23:20 – Central myth of two different Indias
34:32 – The problems of the Indian Left
50:34 – Opportunity to become a personal brand
1:01:31 – Personal boundaries in relationships
1:07:39 – Being born to a communist dad and capitalist mom
1:09:10 – The benefits of having friends across the world
1:11:03 – Growing up in different countries shaped Abhijit’s worldview
1:18:18 – Yogi Adityanath is being canceled?!
1:20:40 – Abhijit’s first foray into casteism in India
1:24:24 – Freedom of speech in India
1:28:39 – Why India represses its sexuality
1:31:16 – India isn’t a homophobic
1:38:00 – Abhijit’s take on sexual freedoms
1:42:42 – Kamala Markandeya
1:46:48 – Matrilineal subcultures in India
1:50:12 – Abhijit’s Twitter
1:52:08 – Abhijit was addicted to the opera
1:54:23 – Mirzapur and Gangs of Wasseypur
You can follow Abhijit on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Iyervval
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abhijitiyermitra/
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About the Podcast:
The Vinamre Kasanaa Show is a podcast made for the modern Indian millennial. Featuring unabashed conversations with multidisciplinary experts, eccentric visionaries, and culturalists alike, the host Vinamre Kasanaa, dissects culture, religion, media, art, science, technology, and politics – all in an attempt to map India of a million identities. Vinamre Kasanaa is a 23-year-old creative with the curiosity of a 5-year-old. A recent grad of Boston University, he justifies his expensive advertising degree by creating original Hindi swear words.
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