Anonymous

Hello, 

I am writing to give my honest feedback for the last Hafta and Charcha. 

As a regular listener of both podcasts, it was disappointing to see it dedicated to just Bihar elections and everything looked very rushed and incomplete because results were not out yet. It looked more like a “Breaking News” show. We expect in-depth analysis of issues on Hafta and Charcha. Dedicating whole podcasts to incomplete results of the Bihar elections compromised the quality of them. Also, YouTube live compromised the audio quality of both podcasts. 

It is just honest feedback from my side. Keep up the good work.

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Drd 

Question: Women voters are being projected as the force behind BJP’s electoral success (Bihar, Maharashtra etc). Is it just the cash transfers to women or does it say more about how women are shaping politics atm?

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Yuyutsu Kuru

Sohar is sung only when the male child is born; the word lalana in the second line is used for male children only. I don’t know why Raman Sir will recommend a pure propaganda series on Vantara – like what can I learn from this other than know how great the Ambanis are? 

What will Nitish’s legacy be? I think history will judge him way harsher than present. He is praised today because he is winning but he is the enabler of this death of democracy and the democratic system in India. After the 2024 election, he had a chance to fix this but he timidly chose the easier path. A person who has been CM for 20 years couldn’t have the courage to take on the communal forces that will be his legacy. He could have been great but he will be counted as a timid opportunist, whereas Lalu even after losing elections after elections will always be remembered for stopping Advani.

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Rajashree

Hello team, NL Hafta Live was a nice surprise although the topic of the live was not. Given the amount of stories NL and other independent media have done on SIR and voter suppression, I was surprised that there was no mention of the impact of SIR on the election results. Pro-incumbency makes sense for the JDU and Nitish, but there was barely any discussion on how the BJP outscored JDU. Two hours of listening to the same old “caste rules supreme” analysis was depressing. Will our nation ever break out of the caste system? It just seems like a hopeless situation. 

PS: Missed Abhinandan going on a rant this episode – thoda gaali-galoch hona chahiye :) 

Keep up the good work as always,

Rajashree

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Vishakha

Your guest really outdid herself – “all these Beehar date of births”. 

Charming, truly. And your little nod of agreement? Chef’s kiss. She couldn’t even pronounce the name of my state, but sure, let’s all share a laugh.

As a brown person, I’ve had my fair share of discrimination abroad, but honestly, my own country trained me well. After years of internalised mockery and regional sneering, the racism outside just feels...familiar.

So when a Tamilian, Mallu or Panju gets their first taste of that “foreign” discrimination, all I can do is smile wryly. Welcome to the brown club of India, folks; we’ve been serving this dish hot at home for decades.

Have a wonderful weekend.

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Raman 

Hafta 562: I found Manisha's take on the H-Bomb to be too kind on the ECI. The theory of “stock images” for missing EPIC photos was difficult to buy –  remember the “P” in EPIC stands for photo! Can an electoral roll be finalised without an authentic photo? 

There are overwhelming red flags in this matter. The hurried rule tweak to hide CCTV footage, the Chandigarh mayor poll where Anil Masih was caught on video defacing ballots, and the tweak in rules to select the ECs. Dismissing these allegations as glitches is being unduly kind to the ECI, and expecting them to provide convincing reasons as to what is actually happening is naïve. On the other hand, Jayashree’s take was much more balanced. It is now up to the journalists to take it up. Keep up the good work!

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Anonymous

So: 

- the country's capital had a terrorist attack, not even a single minister apologised or was questioned

- hate against Muslims increased, because of course it did

- people tried to protest against the deadly AQI, police detained them

- Hardeep Puri is one of the names in Epstein files

- Remember Sonam Wangchuk, he's been basically captured and removed, because why not?

- The media declared Dharmendra dead...before he died. 

The less we talk about Indian opposition, the better. Rahul is so freaking lazy, he's too gun-shy to come in front of media channels (who are adversarial, agreed) but will help him be in the news and get his point across.The less we talk about Kejriwal the better, he's just disappeared.

Add the seemingly compromised Election Commission in here as well.

Sorry for the doompost, but where’s the hope for a better future even?

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