All episodes
Full show notes for every conversation, in order.
October 18, 2026 · 1 hr
Building a Tech Company: Before vs. After AI
Building a tech product looks completely different today than it did just a few years ago. In this episode of The Sunday Draft, we sit down with two founders from two completely different eras of software development to share their raw, unfiltered st
October 12, 2026 · 1 hr 28 min
Uncovering Butler: What the FBI Missed and Why It Matters
How did a 20-year-old with a rifle get a clear line of sight to a former president from just 150 yards away? In this episode of The Sunday Draft, we sit down with investigative journalist Ken Silva, editor of Headline USA and author of the explosive
October 5, 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
How to Master Executive Presence & Workplace Conflict with Dan Messinger
How do you build true executive presence when the corporate ladder feels built on defensiveness and ego? In this episode of The Sunday Draft, we sit down with Dan Messinger, an elite leadership development consultant and conflict resolution expert wh
September 30, 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
He Rode 3,700 Miles in Protest for Our Rights
What happens when an engineer with zero prior bike-packing experience decides to cycle 3,732 miles across a supposedly fractured nation? In this episode, host Raj sits down with Teddy Bloom, a New Mexico-based engineer who spent 87 brutal days riding
September 28, 2026 · 1 hr
Why Highly Articulate Leaders Still "Shrink" Under Pressure
On this week’s episode of The Sunday Draft, we sit down with Douglas Brewer—former corporate HR director turned elite communication coach based in Spain. Douglas works exclusively with C1+ fluent English speakers in European boardrooms who have the
September 23, 2026 · 59 min
Why Leisure Cycling is the Ultimate Form of Freedom | with Alan Cheesley
Prefer video? You can watch our full visual breakdown of this conversation, including an exclusive look at Alan’s travel routes, directly on our channel. 📺 Watch Raj ride in to the conversation with Alan on YouTube Show Notes & Summary We’ve al
September 20, 2026 · 41 min
Are We Running an AI Race Toward a Cliff?
With tools like Claude Code allowing developers and entrepreneurs to build features and MVPs in mere minutes, the playing field has officially leveled. Anyone can create anything instantly. But with great power comes great responsibility. In this epi
September 14, 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
Leaders Eat Last: What 27 Years in an F-16 Squadron Actually Taught Him
Twenty-seven years in the Air Force, and Captain Makatura says it like he’s the one who got something out of the deal. By the end of our hour and a quarter together, I understood why. Who Mak is, and why he wrote the book Michael Makatura flew F-16s
September 7, 2026 · 1 hr
Zolal Habibi: Inside Iran's Resistance — the 1988 Massacre, NCRI, and What Comes Next
Zolal Habibi was three days old at her first demonstration. She was seven when she learned, from a newspaper poem, that her father — a writer and human rights activist — had been executed in the summer of 1988, one of roughly 30,000 political prison
August 31, 2026 · 43 min
Build Wealth in Real Estate with a W2 Job | Andrew Postell
Is it possible to build generational wealth through real estate without quitting your day job? In this episode of The Sunday Draft, Raj sits down with Andrew Postell—a veteran real estate investor with 25 years of hands-on experience and 15 years in
August 25, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
Stop Chasing Followers. Start Chasing Purpose.
Most people chase followers first and hope purpose shows up later. Zhara York — teacher, author, mentor, and real estate professional — thinks that’s exactly backwards. In this episode of The Sunday Draft, we talk about why validation-driven succ
August 17, 2026 · 49 min
Cartoons, Obama, and India with Matt Damon: The Peter Moore Story
Peter Moore spent 30 years in magazines — 10 years as articles editor at Playboy, then two decades running Men’s Health, where he landed a rare 20-minute interview with President Obama in the Oval Office and traveled to rural India with Matt Damon f
August 10, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
Points, Miles & Travel Hacks (What Actually Works)
Linda King has spent years traveling the world and helping others do it smarter — and this week she’s sharing the real tips most people never hear: how to actually score an exit row for a few hundred dollars, why you should save your points for long
August 2, 2026 · 58 min
Is the Internet Still Real? (with Ross Thorpe, founder of Rooverse)
This week on The Sunday Draft, श्रीraj sat down with Ross Thorpe — founder of Rooverse, a social media platform built on one radical rule: no AI, ever. Every post is human-verified. Every image, video, and piece of text is checked and blocked
July 27, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
The Fixer: 33 Years Inside the Middle East with CBS News' Amjad Tadros
For 33 years, Amjad Tadros was the man CBS News and 60 Minutes relied on to get the story — the fixer who arranged access, built trust, and quietly made the impossible interviews happen across Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, Yemen, and beyond. He c
July 19, 2026 · 54 min
India's Gen-Z Movement Crisis: Why Modi's Government Reacted Now
Two months ago, a satirical jab at India’s Chief Justice — who called Gen Z’s unemployed youth “cockroaches” — sparked an online joke. That joke became the Cockroach Janata Party, and the joke became a movement: peaceful protests across Indi
July 12, 2026 · 48 min
Why Socialism Struggles: An Economist Takes on the Mamdani Effect
Democratic socialism is on the rise in America — and it all traces back to one election. Zohran Mamdani becoming Mayor of New York City kicked off a wave of politicians breaking from traditional Democratic politics toward democratic socialism. But wh
July 6, 2026 · 57 min
Why Companies Aren't Getting ROI on AI (with Brenn Hill)
Everyone’s spending big on AI coding tools — but is anyone actually measuring if it’s working? In this episode, we’re joined by Brenn Hill, a Berlin-based engineering leader and author of “The Delivery Gap,” to break down the AI ROI myth: wh
June 29, 2026 · 1 hr 22 min
Think Your Way Out of Billionaire-Driven AI Replacement
Nabil went from spray-painting harassers' backs in Cairo to building a framework for how humans survive AI displacement. He's not pessimistic. He's proposing three interconnected ideas: a methodology for using AI to sharpen your thinking, a path t
June 22, 2026 · 59 min
"We Left a Piece of Us There" — Everest Base Camp Trek, Part 1
Varun and Aneesh flew into one of the world’s most dangerous airports, laced up their boots, and started walking. No warm-up day. No easing in. Just a 17-seat plane, a thin cotton curtain between them and the cockpit, and a Sherpa named Prakash setti
June 14, 2026 · 1 hr 29 min
Piff-Paff Politics: The Cockroach Party, One Month In
My cohost Nidhin and I have a complicated personal history with cockroaches. Growing up as NRI kids in the Gulf in the 80s and 90s, the first thing every household bought was a can of Piff Paff. You’d spray it into every crack in the bathroom, hold y
June 7, 2026 · 1 hr 22 min
Are We Enabling AI to Replace Us?
In the episode of The Sunday Draft, Raj sits down with his oldest friend and fellow IT veteran Nidhin for an honest, unfiltered conversation about the one question nobody wants to answer at work: are we actively enabling AI to replace us? These are t
May 31, 2026 · 1 hr 34 min
Raising Them in Your Cage — AMA with a Child Psychologist
This month’s AMA started with a question most of us have never thought to ask: what if the anxiety your child carries isn’t theirs? What if it was handed down — through rituals, rules, and family beliefs — before they were old enough to question
May 29, 2026 · 26 min
Troll Wars: Explaining Indian Culture to the Internet
🎙️ Episode Overview In this episode, we address, dismantle, and answer the most common (and sometimes wacky) questions, misconceptions, and online trolling points regarding India’s massive, diverse population and rich heritage. From language ba
May 17, 2026 · 1 hr 22 min
Is the Era of Cheap Oil Over?
Raj and Varun unpack the shifting landscape of global energy, geopolitical power plays, and whether America is ready to pivot away from cheap oil.
May 11, 2026
The War That Broke America’s Spirit
Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesundaydraft.substack.com
May 3, 2026
From Invisible Children to ICE Detention — The Story So Far | The Sunday Draft LIVE
One Month In — Five episodes. Stories that matter to people paying attention. This week marks one month of The Sunday Draft, and instead of the usual format, the tables got flipped. Alicia — globetrotter, Substack regular, and the very first person
April 27, 2026 · 31 min
Monthly AMA on Child Psychology, Social Media, Screen Time & AI
Your Questions. Real Answers. Honest Conversation. In this inaugural Ask Me Anything episode of The Sunday Draft Podcast, we sit down with Tvarita Iyer Vemuri, an award-winning child psychologist, to tackle one of the most pressing challenges facing
April 26, 2026 · 56 min
The Meenu Batra Case: Withheld From Due Process
EPISODE SYNOPSIS In this special episode of The Sunday Draft, we tackle one of the most troubling immigration cases currently gripping the US justice system — the detention of Meenu Batra, a 53-year-old court interpreter who has spent 35 years buildi
April 19, 2026 · 48 min
Can Art Survive War?
War doesn’t just destroy lives — it erases culture, art, and centuries of human heritage. In this episode of The Sunday Draft, we examine how conflict, political corruption, and government decisions under Trump and Modi are putting art and cultural
April 5, 2026 · 1 hr 35 min
The Child Brain Trap: Social Media, AI, and What's Happening to Our Children
The first generation to grow up entirely inside the algorithm is here. What research from Pew, LocalCircle, and child psychologists reveals about anxiety, screens, and developing brains.
March 29, 2026 · 39 min
The Hindu Gym Owner Who Took a Muslim Name — and Paid the Price
A Hindu gym owner in India legally changes his name to Mohammed Deepak — a story about identity, belonging, and what tolerance looks like when it's actually tested.
March 22, 2026 · 27 min
Introducing The Sunday Draft
This is the debut episode of The Sunday Draft, a weekly podcast co-hosted by Raj (based in the US) and Kanti (based in India). The show is framed as a thoughtful, leisurely conversation — akin to reading a Sunday newspaper over coffee — where the tw