How Libraries became Centres of Power

In this episode, we go back to a time when Science was considered blasphemy, reading was synonymous to reading the scriptures, and a University meant a religious guild, and trace the history of a reference system so simple, yet monumental: the index. We discuss how we could all benefit from having an index of our lives—important memories and learnings—in our head. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out the first three episodes of To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC 

In this episode, we discuss the fascinating story of Onesimo Pena, Frans Haartman, Jemboa Tran, and Corlis Benefideo—exceptional writers and cartographers; who were actually the same person. And an American student who was obsessed with this man and his work, and ended up discovering this truth, hunting down the elusive author and meeting him. If you’ve not come across this man’s name in history, that is because he does not exist in the real world. He is part of Barry Lopez’s compelling short story, The Mappist—which made me think. Corlis Benefideo believes that we’re all lighting candles in the pitch dark of this miraculous world. What are your candles that you will never extinguish for anyone? If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn  I now have a YouTube show! Check out the first two episodes of To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC 

As climate change leads to harsher weather conditions and calamities across the world, the ways we travel are definitely bound to get affected. Will tiny island nations be safe for travel in a few decades? What about resorts on secluded hilltops? In today's episode, we discuss how climate stress could impact the world's biggest pilgrimages like the Haj and Kumbh Mela. Would we see a time when the time and the way these are held is governed by what climatic conditions allow, rather than religious decree?  If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn My second podcast, Smartphone Nation, won the Hindustan Times Podmasters award for Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) earlier this year. If you want to understand how Indian startups in the Impact space are changing the lives of India’s Next Half Billion, please check it out: https://open.spotify.com/show/3rs9XhIkizxobxHhPfKVN9?si=64962d49821d4d6c 

The more you look at the iconic painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the more you find in it. Starting off with the explicit nuances of the art that you missed, and then moving on interpretations and meanings to draw from it. In today's episode, we look back into the life of Hokusai, the Japanese artist behind the famed painting who changed his name 30 times in his long-spanning career; and what his work and approach to art can teach us about living our lives better—all versions of it. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn My second podcast, Smartphone Nation, won the Hindustan Times Podmasters award for Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) earlier this year. If you want to understand how Indian startups in the Impact space are changing the lives of India’s Next Half Billion, please check it out: https://open.spotify.com/show/3rs9XhIkizxobxHhPfKVN9?si=852d0217e4d2420e 

In a game of finding the common connection, you get: war, imperialism, wealth, and resistance. Would you guess the answer to be books? In this episode, we go back to a time when libraries were treasures that emperors and elites boasted of, and learn the surprising reason why these prized possessions got neglected after a certain point in history. We find the truth in the maxim Knowledge is Power, and discuss the unfading popularity of biblioclasm as a means of oppression, and as an aid in ethnic cleansing.   If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn My second podcast, Smartphone Nation, won the Hindustan Times Podmasters award for Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) earlier this year. If you want to understand how Indian startups in the Impact space are changing the lives of India’s Next Half Billion, please check it out: https://open.spotify.com/show/3rs9XhIkizxobxHhPfKVN9?si=04ee832982324d4e 

In this episode, we understand the difference between Indian and Western narratology by taking a closer look at Ramayana; what makes the epic quite literally timeless and why our ancient stories usually fail the "history test". If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn My second podcast, Smartphone Nation, won the Hindustan Times Podmasters award for Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) earlier this year. If you want to understand how Indian startups in the Impact space are changing the lives of India’s Next Half Billion, please check it out: https://open.spotify.com/show/3rs9XhIkizxobxHhPfKVN9?si=a439556531bc4ecf 

I'm sure we've all owned, or seen a copy of a guidebook to a country or a tourist destination. While internet itineraries might have replaced the physical guidebooks today, the concept of 'tourist guides' are still very much around. Did you ever wonder why and when making these guides became a thing? In today's episode, we travel back to a time when Rumi lived in Konya, Turkey, and uncover the enchanting story of an Indian fakir who disappeared without a trace one day. We discuss why guidebooks often leave out such stories, and trace their problematic origins in Eurocentricity. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn  My second podcast, Smartphone Nation, won the Hindustan Times Podmasters award for Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) earlier this year. If you want to understand how Indian startups in the Impact space are changing the lives of India’s Next Half Billion, please check it out: https://open.spotify.com/show/3rs9XhIkizxobxHhPfKVN9?si=9a36b9a609284db8 

A baby girl who was miraculously brought back to life after being struck by lightning; a tween girl who obsessively dug up the skeletal remains of a 200-million years old 'fish lizard'; and the woman who ran a fossil-shop that was visited by the King—we dive into the story of Mary Anning's extraordinary life as an unheralded female paleontologist in 19th Century England in this episode.    We also contemplate on how many accomplished women's histories we fail to pay attention to when we travel, because they have either been erased, or overshadowed by men. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn My second podcast, Smartphone Nation, won the Hindustan Times Podmasters award for Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) earlier this year. If you want to understand how Indian startups in the Impact space are changing the lives of India’s Next Half Billion, please check it out: https://open.spotify.com/show/3rs9XhIkizxobxHhPfKVN9?si=3eb0b09dc044461a 

In today's episode we talk about a 19th century canals and railways surveyor in England who was obsessed with rocks, fossils, and maps. And how this obsession made the industrial revolution possible, helped make an English professor in the 1990s a successful Champagne baron, and the police partner with geologists to solve a murder mystery nearly 200 years later! If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn My second podcast, Smartphone Nation, won the Hindustan Times Podmasters award for Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) earlier this year. If you want to understand how Indian startups in the Impact space are changing the lives of India’s Next Half Billion, please check it out https://open.spotify.com/show/3rs9XhIkizxobxHhPfKVN9?si=ebc9d3040dbf4ea3 

This is not your usual episode of Postcards from Nowhere. But it has everything to do with the show - the genesis of the show almost 5 years ago, and it has led to one of the most significant milestones in my life - The 6% Club. To get the entire story, just tune in. Check out The Six Percent Club: https://www.thesixpercent.club/ Follow Deepak Gopalakrishnan aka Chuck on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chuckofalltrades/?hl=en Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckofalltrades/ Deepak runs a wonderful newsletter called Things of Internet. It’s a digital marketing and branding newsletter, with occasional forays into interesting online things. Ideal for marketers and agency folks, enjoyed by the curious and trivia-hungry. Each issue has updates, links to articles, content recos and more! Check it out here https://thingsofinternet.substack.com/ Follow Utsav Mamoria on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42/ My second podcast, Smartphone Nation, won the Hindustan Times Podmasters award for Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) earlier this year. If you want to understand how Indian startups in the Impact space are changing the lives of India’s Next Half Billion, please check it out https://open.spotify.com/show/3rs9XhIkizxobxHhPfKVN9?si=6c0091b3eb304bba