Can one become English? What does this have to do with the Suez Canal? Are you white? Are we free? Is it good to be obedient? Is the Other always an enemy? Or, could it be a reference group? Did everyday defiance (say, by the peasants) play a role in India’s struggle against the British Empire? Is nationalism necessarily anti colonial? How is Indianness linked to the Aryan Invasion Theory? Was the British conquest of India always partial? Are Gandhi, Gandhism, & Gandhi-ites the same thing? Had Tagore read Marx? Why does dissent take time? How do wild elephants live within the market economy? Do rivers have their own unruly ‘erratic’ lives? Are forest fires often an act of defiance? How/why do we defy Nature’s will? Does geography change the way we think? Is Assam Bengal? Can the seemingly peaceful bear a lot of conflicts within? Was Tibet seduced differently from the other colonies? Does assimilation/citizenship always follow acculturation/subjecthood? What happens to Sutlej in Nathpa Jhakri? Will there always be defiance? How can one learn from dissent/friction? &, might modern democracy survive because of defiance? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas and concepts from literary/post-colonial studies (Dr. Sayan Chattopadhyay, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur), philosophy (Dr. Bharati Puri, IIT Delhi, New Delhi), & history (Prof. Arupjyoti Saikia, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati). Listen in...