

Dispatches from Kolkata
Sandip Roy
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 1, 2026 • 6min
Who Are You?
It would seen that in India, at least, there's an acceptence of non-binary people. Ah, but there's always one more box to check.

Mar 25, 2026 • 6min
Fresh Air
On a recent trip to San Francisco Sandip reflects on a certian "luxury."

Mar 11, 2026 • 6min
World War Meme
A TikTok video by Madhu Raju, an Indian immigrant in the US on an H1-B visa sparks a lot of controversy, but Sandip wonders, are we missing the point?

Mar 4, 2026 • 6min
Art Boxes
Sandip ponders the need to over-explain everything.

Feb 25, 2026 • 6min
Epstein's Island
Jeffrey Epstein and his connections to rich and powereful people seems never ending, but Sandip wonders if we had been invited onto that gilded island, how many of us would have had the willpower to refuse.

Feb 18, 2026 • 6min
A Carnival of Books
At the Jaipur Literary Festival Sandip considers books and festivals and weather they go together.

Feb 11, 2026 • 6min
A Beefsteak at Stake
We are all a little too sensitive these days. In Kolkata one influencer got a little burnt with his post about being served a wrong dish at a popular restaurant. Sandip considers that maybe we all need to cool down a little.

Feb 4, 2026 • 6min
Saraswati Prayer
Saraswati Puja may not be the most well known of India's festivals, but for Sandip it connects him to family long past.

Jan 21, 2026 • 6min
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.

Jan 14, 2026 • 6min
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.


