The playground as a theatre for social and political life: Ramachandra Guha interview

In episode 153 of the 81allout podcast we interview the award-winning author and historian - and one of modern India's most renowned biographers - Ramachandra Guha.

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Talking Points:

• In search of the memories of India's first great cricketer - Palwankar Baloo


• Does the Bombay school of batting begin with the remarkable P Vithal?


• How the city of Bombay is a main character in Corner of a Foreign Field


• The Parsee influence in the history of Indian cricket


• CK Naydu's epochal 153 against the MCC team in 1926-27


• The evolution of the game in post-independence India


• Race, caste, religion, and nation - the fissures around Indian cricket


• The India v Pakistan match in Manchester in 1999 - with their soldiers at war

Participants:

Ramachandra Guha (@ramguha)

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

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Books Discussed:

• Corner of a Foreign Field - Ramachandra Guha - Amazon; Spin and Other Turns - Ramachandra Guha - Amazon; Cricket, Public Culture, and Making of Post-Colonial Calcutta - Souvik Naha - Cambridge University Press; A Stroke of Genius - Gideon Haigh - Amazon; On Warne - Gideon Haigh - Amazon; Beyond a Boundary - CLR James - Amazon; Cricket Country - Prashant Kidambi - Amazon; Pundits from Pakistan - Rahul Bhattacharya - Amazon; Fire in Babylon - Simon Lister - Amazon; Cricket: the game of life - Scyld Berry - Amazon; Late Cuts - Vic Marks - Amazon