This is a kids podcast about current events. In each episode, the host Sangeetha chats with a child about a news story and engages with them on their ideas of what the world looks like, to them. Topics include recent science discoveries, emerging tech, sports events, countries fighting wars, books they like to read and more.
This is a kids podcast about current events. In each episode, the host Sangeetha chats with a child about a news story and engages with them on their ideas of what the world looks like, to them. Topics include recent science discoveries, emerging tech, sports events, countries fighting wars, books they like to read and more.
A few days ago, under the bright skies of Paris, four men sauntered into the Louvre museum after climbing onto its balcony, picked up a few glittering jewels that belonged to French royalty, hopped onto a scooter and drove away. This episode was recorded on the 2nd of Nov, 2025. Four young kids from India joined me to discuss
- what they found most fascinating about this robbery
- what they link of European museums hoarding artifacts taken away from their former colonies
Guests: 11-yr old Dhruv from Kolkata, 13-yr old Aditya from Mumbai, 11-yr old Devansh from Kolkata and 12-yr old Shaarav from Mumbai.
Other stuff you'd like to check out
1. Read my newsletter 'Lighter Side'
2. Subscribe to our childen's magazine in print and digital - 'Lighter Side'
3. We run Writing Courses for kids that help them become published authors. Find out more on the writing courses.
The Secret Garden is a story that combines elements of adventure like an Enyd Blyton's Famous Five story, pieces of climate fiction like an episode of 'Planet Earth' and some elements of magic like a Harry Potter story. The story revolves around a household with children living in a manor on the moors. Amongst the many secrets that the manor holds is a secret and locked garden. Through working in the garden, healthy friendships form and lives are redeemed.
Young reader who joins in reviewing this book: Prakriti (11 yr old, Mumbai)
Related links
1. The Book 'Secret Garden' available on Amazon
2. Read my newsletter 'Lighter Side'
3. Subscribe to the hard copy of the children's magazine 'Lighter Side'
4. We also run Writing Courses for kids that help them become published authors. Find out more on the writing courses.
How did the global war on terror reshape the Kashmir conflict? This podcast episode explores the dramatic shifts that transformed the players and stakes in the Kashmir dispute over the past decade and a half.
During the Cold War, the US sought allies to support it during the war against the Soviets. Pakistan was one of those allies. In exchange, Pakistan received financial aid and military support from the US. How did the state of Jammu and Kashmir become an unintended recipient of trouble during this cold war?
Source material for my research
1. 'India after Gandhi' by Ramachandra Guha
2. Sarah Paine's lectures on the 'War for India'
3. How to constrain the Pakistani Jihadi Complex - research piece by Pranay Kothasthane from Takshashila Institution
4. Tarekh Fatah's 'The Bloody Partition seen through a Pakistani's eyes'
Read other pieces by Sangeetha on the 'Lighter Side' on Substack.
Drop your questions or comments via email to hello@wsnt.in
When the British left India in 1947, they decided to leave one lasting impression - divide the lands between two factions that had different views of the world. The partition of India and Pakistan had a large impact on the hills and valleys of Jammu and Kashmir. The most recent massacre in Pahalgam in Apr 2025 has left many of us wondering - why a conflict that began in 1947 still remains unresolved? I went back to the pages of Ramachandra Guha's 'India after Gandhi' to find answers to some of my questions. This episode is part 1 of 3, where I narrate the story of how this conflict began in 1947.
Source material for my research
1. 'India after Gandhi' by Ramachandra Guha
2. Sarah Paine's lectures on the 'War for India'
3. William Dalrymple's piece 'The Great Divide'
4. Article in Awaz the Voice by Saquib Salim 'When brothers were pitted against each other'
5. Tarekh Fatah's 'The Bloody Partition seen through a Pakistani's eyes'
Read other pieces by Sangeetha on the 'Lighter Side' on Substack.
Drop your questions or comments via email to hello@wsnt.in
Pope Francis, a man who embraced the need for environmental protection, a man who sought to undo some of the past damages done to indigenous tribes across the world, a man who tried hard to help immigrant refugees, recently passed away.
The 1.4 billion Roman Catholics across the world now need a new leader. How will they elect their next leader? 11-yr old Dheer from Surat, India tries to find out more about this.
Explore more
1. Listen to the episode recommended by Dheer - about refugee Olympics
2. We have a newsletter for kids and families about current affairs. You can read recent posts here for free.
3. If you are 8-14 years old and would like to join this podcast, (just like Dheer did), write to us via email at hello@wsnt.in.
4. We have a printed magazine for kids about news stories, written through comic strips. To buy our most recent edition for INR 399/-, please click here
For any comments or questions, please write to Sangeetha at hello@wsnt.in
If you ever wondered if there was any place on earth without mosquitoes, or about how big the largest library on earth looked like, or about where you would bump into the most number of English speakers in the world - you have landed upon the right podcast episode.
This summer special features a quiz between two sixth graders (Advik and Devansh).
More things to check out
1. Listen to the episode on Captain Underpants and its author
2. Listen to the episode on wheat and lemon in Yemen
3. To join Sangeetha as a young cohost on a podcast episode, please register here
4. We publish news stories for children as a children's magazine. To buy our most recent edition for INR 399/-, please click here
For any comments or questions, please write to Sangeetha at hello@wsnt.in
In this episode, we review a book ‘the Immortals of Meluha’ by Amish Tripathi. This is the first book in a 3-part series, and is based on Lord Shiva. Earlier this month, a group of kids signed up to read this book along with me, and we got together at the end of the month, to discuss what we felt about the stories, the characters, the author’s writing style and the opinions of some critics.
Co-hosts: Prakriti (11 yrs), Agastya (12 yrs), Smyan (10 yrs), Shambhavi (15 yrs)
Additional info
1. More about the book 'Immortals of Meluha'
2. To join Sangeetha as a young cohost on a podcast episode, please register here
3. We publish news stories for children as a children's magazine. To buy our most recent edition for INR 399/-, please click here
For any comments or questions, please write to Sangeetha at hello@wsnt.in
A photo with sled dogs of Greenland wading through knee-deep water, surrounded by pristine glaciers and mountains, has gone viral. The scientist who took this photo realised that most people who saw it on social media found the picture scenic, but he realised that something about the picture was scary. If the same place were photographed year after year, we would notice all that is unusual. Aesthetics aside, these photos would show us a changing trend in many corners of the earth. Climate change is real. If you want to find out exactly what about the photo is scary, listen to the episode where middle-schooler Darsh solves this puzzle.
Explore More
1. To join Sangeetha as a young cohost on a podcast episode, please register here
2. To listen to the episode on healthy foods for children, please click here
3. We publish news stories for children as a children's magazine. To buy our most recent edition for INR 399/-, please click here
4. To view the photo of sled dogs that has gone viral, please click here
5. For any comments or questions, please write to Sangeetha at hello@wsnt.in
Darjeeling's zoo recently got a rare upgrade. Its zoo will serve two purposes: on one side, it will house creatures that tourists can visit and watch as they stroll around; on the other side there will be something rare and new housed in these premises. This makes it the first of its kind in India. This episode is along the lines of a 20-questions game, where 13-year old Sathwik joins the host Sangeetha, asks a series of questions and finds out what is rare and new in this zoo.
Explore More
1. To join Sangeetha as a young cohost on a podcast episode, please register here
2. To listen to the episode on S.Korea with more dogs on strollers than babies, please click here
3. We publish news stories for children as a children's magazine. To buy our most recent edition for INR 399/-, please click here
4. For any comments or questions, please write to Sangeetha at hello@wsnt.in
India's SPADEX (Space Docking Experiment) mission, led by ISRO, aims to demonstrate autonomous docking between two spacecraft. It is sort of like a hug in an orbit in space. This skill is critical for future lunar bases, satellite servicing, and space stations. Think of it like high-tech Lego in space—snapping parts together perfectly! A big step for India's space adventures, given India's ambitions for deep-space exploration.
Other interesting things
1. We write a weekly newsletter on current events and news stories that help kids and families appreciate the world around us. It is called 'Lighter Side' and is free. Check it out here.
2. If you are aged between 8-14 and would like to speak on this podcast channel, please drop us a note via email at hello@wsnt.in.
3. Our children's magazine 'Bag of tales - 2024' can be purchased here. It costs INR 399/-.Order it here.
4. To support us and keep the production of this podcast ad-free, you can buy us a cup of coffee here
Captain Underpants is a super popular book series that has sold more than 80 million copies all around the world. Kids love its funny jokes and surprising story twists. The author, Dav Pilkey, wasn’t always great at reading or sitting still—he had something called dyslexia (a reading disorder) and ADHD (which makes it hard to focus). But as a kid, he used his time while he was sent out of class to draw funny pictures and tell stories to his friends. Instead of letting challenges stop him, he turned them into something awesome!
Young guests: Agastya (12 yrs), Darsh (10 yrs), Dhruv Agarwal (11 yrs), Dhruv Gandhi (11 yrs), Dhyan (11 yrs), Nayra (10 yrs), Satwik (12 yrs)
Explore More
1. Our children's magazine 'Lighter Side: Bag of tales - 2024' costs INR 399/-.Order it here.
2. If you are aged between 8-14 and would like to speak on this podcast channel, please drop me a note via email at hello@wsnt.in.
3. I write a weekly newsletter on current events to help kids and families make sense of the world with greater ease. It is called 'Lighter Side' and is free. Check it out here.
4. Support our show by buying us a cup of coffee
Project Tiger was launched in the 1970s in India. There was much fanfare, wildlife reserves were created and tiger protection became important to the Indian government. While Project Tiger stopped the killing of tigers, these big cats did not grow in numbers that much. But that trend changed in 2010. For the first time, between 2010 and 2022, tiger numbers nearly doubled, from ~1700 to over 3600. This has happened despite a rise in India's human population and a decline in forest area. How did India achieve this? What lessons can other countries learn from India's practices?
Co-hosts: Devansh (10 yr old), Eesha (14 yr old)
Check these out as well
1. Story of Saroj Raj Choudhury and how he raised Khairi, alongside pictures of the family
2. Podcast series on India's wildlife stories
3. I write a weekly newsletter on current events and stories like the tiger resurgence in India. I'd like to help kids and families to appreciate the world around us. It is called 'Lighter Side' and is free. Check it out here.
4. If you are aged between 8-14 and would like to speak on this podcast channel, please drop me a note via email at hello@wsnt.in.
5. Our children's magazine 'Bag of tales - 2024' can be purchased here. It costs INR 399/-.Order it here.
What does it take to write well? Is it about acquiring better language skills or is there a secret recipe for developing intriguing plots, or does it come from consistent writing practice? Sonia Mehta, a children's author with more than 170 published titles to her credit, shares stories from her writing journey.
She has authored both fiction and non-fiction books for children as young as five, and for young adults as well.
More about our guest in this episode
2. About Sonia Mehta - on Penguin Random House's website
4. Sonia's published books on Amazon
We publish a weekly newsletter for children about news stories from around the world. You can check it out here.
To support us and keep the production of this podcast ad-free, you can buy us a cup of coffee here
There are startups that solve problems for people - like the ones that help people rent a pet for their Instagram photos. And then, there are startups that solvereal problems - like bringing light into people's homes. Soma Bags is doing just that. This episode carries the story of how its founder Innocent James got the spark of an idea from one of his professors in university. He had seen him sew a small solar panel onto the pocket of his jacket and this had help him keep his smartphone charged through the day.
This episode narrates the story of how James used this idea to bring electricity into the homes of Africans in an affordable manner. This is no charitable venture - it makes profits for his company as villagers are willing to pay for a dependable solution priced at $4-$8 a month.
While rejoicing at these solutions, one should also wonder, if we are exchanging one problem for another?
To BUY our children's magazine 'Lighter side - bag of tales from 2024' (cost INR 399/-) for delivery in India,please click here
Story narrators are the voices that brings stories and characters to life on stage. Both children and adults often stay mesmerised and get a very different perspective to both the plot and the characters, compared to what they get when they read the story. Story narrations help readers think of different plot twists, story endings and even appreciate characters with grey tones. In this episode, Antara Goswami, a story narrator shares how she goes about putting together her narrations, what props she uses and how she scripts these performances.
Also, in this episode, five young guests (aged 8-13) share their questions on story narration with Antara.
1. More onAntara Goswami on Instagram
2. We write a weekly newsletter on current events. It is meant for kids and families to read and appreciate the world around us. It is called 'Lighter Side' and is free.Check it out here.
3. If you are aged between 8-14 and would like to speak on this podcast channel, please drop me a note via email at hello@wsnt.in.
4. Our children's magazine 'Bag of tales - 2024' can be purchased here. It costs INR 399/-.Order it here.
(00:00) Introduction
(01:47) What is story narration
(09:17) Mono-acting
(11:35) Where she narrates
(12:30) Shadow Theatre
(14:55) Writing stories
(16:48) Confidence on stage
(19:21) Favourite story amongst children
Ten young readers from India (aged 8-15) recommend one book from amongst all the books they read in 2024. If you thought all recommendations would hover around the fantasy and adventure genre, be prepared to be surprised.
I have listed below the books they recommended. If you want to hear the whys and the whats of the book, give the episode a listen.
Books recommended
1. Atomic habits by James Clear
2. The Midnight Gang by David Walliams
3. The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi
4. Sherlock Holmes - A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5. One More Step : My Journey with the world’s largest contingent of school students to Everest Base Camp by Chandrashekar D P with K V Subramanyam.
6. The Harry Potter series by J K Rowling
7. The Island of Dragons (from Geronimo Stilton's Kingdom of Fantasy series)
8. Stellarlune (part of the Keeper of the Lost Cities) by Shannon Messenger
9. Vedas and Upanishads (for children) by Roopa Pai
10. Diary of a wimpy kid series by Jeff Kinney
To BUY our children's magazine 'Lighter side - bag of tales from 2024' (cost INR 399/-) for delivery in India, please click here
(00:00) Introduction
(07:44) Aadya's reco
(08:40) Abdul's reco
(09:47) Agastya's reco
(12:00) Darsh's reco
(15:08) Devansh's reco
(17:17) Kiaansh's reco
(18:27) Maanya's reco
(19:40) Prakriti's reco
(20:45) Shambhavi's reco
(22:28) Zuhair's reco
2024 was a year that marked some interesting achievements in the field of space. Missions to moon have been relaunched by NASA, the International Space Station's ending days have been charted and India's defense systems just tested new missiles. To speak about the space stories that inspired them the most, four primary schoolers joined us to share their views.
1. Order your copy of our book for kids 'Bag of stories from 2024' by clicking here. Each copy costs INR 399/- (we are able to fulfil all orders placed inside India only at the moment)
2. Read our newsletter for kids ‘Lighter Side’ about space stories and current events
3. To join Sangeetha and speak on this podcast (kids aged 7-15), register here
4. Follow What’s new today on Instagram
5. If you have any thoughts or comments, email us at hello@wsnt.in. We pledge to give your ideas the deep, meaningful consideration that we normally reserve for selecting a dessert.
6. Support us by buying us a cup of coffee
Paleontologists uncovered that the T-Rex was quite likely way bigger than they had originally thought it was. Based on recent fossil finds and some intelligent computer simulation, it turns out that if we remade Jurassic Park today, we would have had to create a much larger version of the T-Rex. Apart from this scientific discovery, there were lots of other interesting news stories in science and wildlife this year. To speak about these, four primary schoolers shared their picks of the best stories from the year.
Co-hosts: Anina, Chandrika, Smyan and Venkatesh
1.Read the story of why some people think ghosts are real
2. Read the story of how C.V.Raman discovered why the sea was blue
3. Listen to the podcast on how our brains behave when we type vs write
4. Listen to the story of Roger the search and rescue dog from Taiwan
Order your copy of our book for kids 'Bag of stories from 2024' by clicking here. Each copy costs INR 399/- (we are able to fulfil all orders placed inside India only at the moment)
Children come up with ideas and stories like magicians pulling rabbits out of hats—nobody knows how, but it’s endlessly entertaining. It’s a mix of imagination (and maybe a little too much candy). But how can they turn their ideas into a well-written story? Menaka Raman, an award-winning children’s author, joins us in this episode. She chats with five young, budding authors about the tricks in her bag for writing great stories.
1. More about Menaka Raman on her website
2. Follow Menaka on Instagram
3. Follow Menaka on X (formerly known as Twitter)
4. More about the book ‘Bird by Bird’ by Anne Lamott
5. Read our newsletter for kids ‘Lighter Side’ about current events
6. To join Sangeetha and speak on this podcast (kids aged 7-15), register here
7. Follow What’s new today on Instagram
8. If you have any thoughts or comments, email us at hello@wsnt.in. We pledge to give your ideas the deep, meaningful consideration that we normally reserve for selecting a dessert.
9. Support us by buying us a cup of coffee