Cricketing memory and a quest for rare video archives

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Our special guest this week is Jai Galagali, a cricket fan who runs a YouTube channel focused on Indian cricket history.

Jai talks about falling in love with the game in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and his quest to seek out clips from the Films Division of India.

"How do we remember so much from some phase of our life and so little from many others?" Jai explores this question through the conversation.

Talking Points:

• Discovering the inner child and love for cricket


• Seeing Chandra, Vishy, Prasanna and so many larger-than-life figures for the first time


• Watching cricket highlights in the cinema theaters in the 1970s


• Viswanath and the poetic essence of cricket


• The history of the Films Division and documenting a young nation's evolving cultural, political and social landscape


• Zul Vellani - the master of the universal Indian accent


• The difficulty of procuring archives from the Film Division of India


• The cancellation of his YouTube channel and Shashi Tharoor's role in its revival


• A personal trauma that propelled Jai towards his passion project


• Interviewing CD Gopinath about India's first Test victory

Participants:

Jai Galagali (@jaigalagali)

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Related:

Jai Galagali's YouTube channel

India v West Indies, Bangalore, 1974 - YouTube

Vinoo Mankad: interviews - YouTube

Kapil Dev's first Test century - India v West Indies, 1979 - YouTube

Subhash Gupte original bowling action - YouTube

India v England, Golden Jubilee Test, 1980 - YouTube

Vijay Hazare radio autobiography - YouTube - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Now playing: vintage Indian cricket reels on YouTube - Kanishkaa Balachandran - The Hindu 

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