Abhijit Chavda Podcast

Professor Gautam R. Desiraju is a renowned Indian chemist and educationist. He is one of the most highly cited Indian scientists with over 450 research papers, 60000+ citations and an h-index of 100.  He has been in the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India since 2009. He is a member of the India Science-20 Secretariat in G20 India Presidency Year 2023.  In this podcast we discuss Dr. Desiraju's new book "Bhārat: India 2.0" which analyzes and delineates the problems arising out of the Indian Constitution of 1950, and argues for changes that recast India as a civilizational state rather than a mere nation-state.

Padma Shri awardee Dr. Subhash Kak is an Indian-American computer scientist, theoretical physicist, historian, Indologist, Vedic scholar, linguist, philosopher, and poet. He is Regents Professor and Head of Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. In this podcast we discuss the groundbreaking research papers Dr. Kak has published over the past year and a half. The topics include Dr. Kak's new e-dimensionality theory of the universe, artificial intelligence and the limits of machine consciousness, and Vedanta.

Reela Hota is an eminent Odissi dance performer, yogi, educator and producer. She trained under the 3 doyens of Odissi dance, Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, Srimati Madhavi Mudgal and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She has explored the philosophical underpinnings of classical arts in depth. She is credited for adding a new dimension to Odissi Dance – the spiritual aspect. She has explored themes such as the philosophy of yoga and Kundalini, a concept from the ancient tantric texts of India, in her productions. She has created productions that fuse Odissi with other classical dance forms of India such as Manipuri, Kathak, Bharatnatyam and Chhau. She has collaborated with artists from around the world. Reela Hota founded the Rays of Wisdom Society, an organization dedicated to highlighting how music, dance and vital therapeutic practices in traditional systems of healing can combine to meet lifestyle challenges of today.

Dr. Brian Keating is a Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of physics at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences (CASS) in the Department of Physics at the University of California, San Diego. He is a public speaker, inventor, and an expert in the study of the universe’s oldest light, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), using it to learn about the origin and evolution of the universe. Prof. #BrianKeating is a writer and podcaster and the best-selling author of one of Amazon Editors' "Best Non-fiction Books of All Time", Losing the Nobel Prize.

Chandrachur Ghose is an author, researcher and commentator on history, economics and environment. He has co-authored Conundrum: Subhas Bose's Life After Death. He is one of the founders of the pressure group Mission Netaji that has been the moving force behind the declassification of secret documents related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. His activism led to the declassification of over ten thousand pages in 2010.

Vedveer Arya is a chronologist, historian and author. He has written books such as "The Chronology of India: From Manu to Mahabharata", "The Chronology of India: From Mahabharata to Medieval Era", and "The Origin of the Christian Era: Fact or Fiction".

Gaurie Dwivedi is a journalist, geopolitical analyst, and author of "Blinkers Off: How Will the World Counter China".

Chemi Lhamo is an India-born Tibetan-Canadian activist and former student leader. She is one of the 50 Canadians selected for Maclean’s annual power list 2022.

Dr. Isa Blumi is an Associate Professor of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholm University within the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. He has authored and co-authored numerous books, including "Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World", which was published in 2018.

Dr. Edward N. Luttwak is a world-renowned American military strategist and author known for his works on grand strategy, geoeconomics, military history, and international relations. He has, over a long and fabled career, advised presidents, prime ministers, governments, world leaders, and superpowers. He has published over twenty books and is best known for being the author of "Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook".

Dr. Klaus Pontoppidan is an astronomer and a James Webb Space Telescope project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) located in Baltimore, Maryland. The STScI is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope. It is also the mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Dr. Alok Kumar is a distinguished professor of physics at the State University of New York (SUNY), Oswego. He has authored and coauthored four books, including "Ancient Hindu Science: Its Transmission and Impact on World Cultures".

Dr. Subhash Kak is an Indian-American computer scientist, theoretical physicist, historian, Indologist, Vedic scholar, linguist, philosopher, and poet. He is Regents Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Dr. Kak's scientific research has spanned the fields of information theory, cryptography, neural networks, quantum information, and theoretical physics. He is one of the pioneers of quantum learning. He coined the term "quantum neural computing" which is a theory of consciousness that is partly classical and partly quantum. He has authored and co-authored at least 20 books on a variety of topics. In 2019, Dr. Kak was awarded the Padma Shri, India's 4th highest civilian award, for his immense contributions in multiple areas of expertise.

Aneesh Gokhale is a historian and author of books such as "Bramhaputra - The story of Lachit Barphukan", "Sahyadris to Hindukush - The Maratha conquest of Lahore and Attock", and "Battles of the Maratha Empire".

Virendra Singh Rathore is an author and researcher of history. He has authored a book "Prithviraj Chauhan – A Light on the Mist in History", aiming at dispelling the myths and controversies around the famous Chauhan king's life and events. In this episode, Virendra speaks about the origins and the history of the Rajputs.

Dr. Meenakshi Jain is one of India's most authoritative, influential and consequential historians. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri, India's 4th Highest civilian award. Dr. Jain debunks long-standing colonial myths and fabrications about the practice of "Sati".

Anuj Dhar is an acclaimed historian and author. Did the great Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose die in a plane crash in Taiwan on 18 August 1945? Was he murdered in a Russian gulag on the orders of Joseph Stalin at the behest of Jawaharlal Nehru, as some allege? Or did he return to India and live anonymously as "Gumnami Baba" until 1985? Anuj Dhar reveals the incredible truth about Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's life and ultimate fate.

Velina Tchakarova is the director of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) in Vienna, Austria. Velina speaks about the US-China systemic rivalry, multipolarity vs bipolarity, the Dragonbear (systemic coordination between China and Russia), Russia's central role in the emerging global order, the European Union and its role as a geopolitical player, NATO, Kazakhstan & Ukraine developments, possibility of a future India-China conflict, and more.

Dr. Niraj Rai is one of the world's foremost archaeogeneticists and molecular biologists. He is the group Head of the Ancient DNA Lab at Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow. Dr. Rai speaks about India's deep genetic history, Out-of-India migrations, the demise of the Aryan invasion/migration myth, the flawed ANI-ASI model, Rakhigarhi, Sinauli, Yamnaya invaders, the origin of the R1a1a lineage, endogamy and stratification, Indian horses and cattle, the origin of ancient agriculture, and much more.

Historian and author Virendra Singh Rathore demystifies the life, career, and legacy of king Prithviraj Chauhan on Episode 2 of the #AbhijitChavdaPodcast.