The Nanda Devi Mystery Podcast with Sashi Kumar cover art

The Nanda Devi Mystery

How India and America Lost a Nuclear Device

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The Nanda Devi Mystery

By: Asiaville
Narrated by: Sashi Kumar
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About this listen

The Nanda Devi Mystery: How India and America Lost a Nuclear Device is the thoroughly riveting and sometimes bizarre story of how India and America tried to install a nuclear-powered surveillance device on top of the Himalayas to snoop on China and then lost it forever. Narrated by Sashi Kumar and produced by Asiaville, it is the dramatic story of Cold War geopolitics and how the frenzy of the nuclear arms race pushed two nations to do the unthinkable. But, it is also the awe-inspiring tale of some of the world's finest mountaineers who doubled up as high-altitude spies and put themselves at unimaginable risk to execute a wild idea.

Written by Angshuman Choudhury and Directed & Narrated by Sashi Kumar.

©2023 Asiaville Interactive Pvt Ltd. (P)2023 Asiaville Interactive Pvt Ltd. Asia India Military Nuclear Warfare South Asia Weapons & Warfare
Episodes
  • Episode 1: The “Machine”

    Episode 1: The “Machine”
    Jul 20 2023
    As a race between the world’s two biggest superpowers to develop the most powerful atomic bomb intensifies, so does their mutual desire to spy on each other. Strangely, that mind-boggling history is linked to rumours about a recent avalanche in the valley overlooking the Nanda Devi.
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    36 mins
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  • Episode 2: The Dragon Enters the Room

    Episode 2: The Dragon Enters the Room
    Jul 20 2023
    Even as the US continues to obsess over the Soviet Union, the so-called “Far East” gives birth to two formidable communist empires. The Americans would quickly realise that they had underestimated Mao’s China and Kim Il-Sung’s North Korea.
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    30 mins
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  • Episode 3: The Dragon Breathes Fire

    Episode 3: The Dragon Breathes Fire
    Jul 20 2023

    Mao makes it clear that he wants the atomic bomb. Zhou Enlai says China wants “peaceful existence”. The doublespeak confounds both America and the Soviet Union. But, a third major power sits up and takes notice - India. The stage is set for one of the strangest and most intense Himalayan adventures.
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    28 mins
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All stars
Most relevant  
I was already a bit familiar with the intrigues surrounding the nuclear listening device lost near the summit of Nanda Devi. But this podcast offered many details I hadn't heard before and also provided rich background material, from geopolitical context to a information on the mountaineers who transported the device, their training, and mountaineering in general. I noticed a few factual errors, but all in all I loved the podcast--the only one I've ever convinced myself to listen to. Highly recommend!

Occasionally over the top, but fascinating!

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