"Every civilization has its territory of fantasy. The Mahabharata seems to have drawn the boundaries of that territory for the Indian people. At the time that it got into circulati ... Read more
"Every civilization has its territory of fantasy. The Mahabharata seems to have drawn the boundaries of that territory for the Indian people. At the time that it got into circulation, other texts too were being composed but they were restricted to certain groups, to Buddhists, Jains, or Brahmins. The Mahabharat, however, could get into anyone's imaginative territory. That freedom to wander around was the Mahabharata's great gift from the beginning and that's why it is still appreciated in different forms - on television, in films, in digital media, in art, and in drama." - GN Devy, author, Mahabharata; The Epic and the Nation talks to Manjula Narayan about the Indian obsession with the epic, the need for a Mahabharata institute that can collate versions in different languages, and his belief that India will never have a revolution that entails a definitive break from the past because we've imbibed the idea of Kalachakra or of Time as cyclical from the Mahabharata. Read more
"People who are powerful and wealthy are always complex and layered characters," says Anirudh Kanisetti, author, Lords of the Deccan, in this week's Books & Authors conversatio ... Read more
"People who are powerful and wealthy are always complex and layered characters," says Anirudh Kanisetti, author, Lords of the Deccan, in this week's Books & Authors conversation with Manjula Narayan, about the ambitious, adventurous, charismatic and bloodthirsty medieval dynasties of southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas. Read more
Raj Kapoor's passion for film making made him literally chase clouds across the country to get the perfect shot, his great ear for music that ensured that songs and the background ... Read more
Raj Kapoor's passion for film making made him literally chase clouds across the country to get the perfect shot, his great ear for music that ensured that songs and the background score added to the storytelling, his ability to get just what he wanted from his actors, his willingness to teach his team, and his eccentricities. Filmmaker, Rahul Rawail, who began as RK's assistant, talks to Manjula Narayan about his new book, Raj Kapoor: The Master at Work. Read more
"Vajpayee was a ruthless politician but he couldn't do with Modi what he did with others like Madhok and Govindacharya," says @sagarikaghose, author of 'Atal Bihari Vajpayee'. She ... Read more
"Vajpayee was a ruthless politician but he couldn't do with Modi what he did with others like Madhok and Govindacharya," says @sagarikaghose, author of 'Atal Bihari Vajpayee'. She talks to @utterflea about the first BJP Prime Minister's humour, likeability, unconventionality and great belief in Parliament on this week's Books& Authors podcast Read more
"I'm sure there are a lot of people who are not very fond of me. I'm like that proverbial Trishanku figure," says film critic and Bollywood insider Anupama Chopra in a conversation ... Read more
"I'm sure there are a lot of people who are not very fond of me. I'm like that proverbial Trishanku figure," says film critic and Bollywood insider Anupama Chopra in a conversation on her new book 'A Place in My Heart' with host Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast. Read more
The ethnic discrimination and genocide that preceded the birth of Bangladesh exactly 50 years ago, international apathy to the carnage, factionalism among the Bengali freedom fight ... Read more
The ethnic discrimination and genocide that preceded the birth of Bangladesh exactly 50 years ago, international apathy to the carnage, factionalism among the Bengali freedom fighters, the role of the Indian armed forces in training the MuktiBahini and underwater demolition squads... Manash Ghosh, the first journalist to report on the unfolding crisis in erstwhile East Pakistan, and author of 'Bangladesh War; Report From Ground Zero' talks to Hindustan Times' Manjula Narayan on this week's Books & Authors podcast. Read more
Why some states need to shut down family planning departments, the possible story behind the improved sex ratio, the truth about the higher minority fertility rate, why states that ... Read more
Why some states need to shut down family planning departments, the possible story behind the improved sex ratio, the truth about the higher minority fertility rate, why states that show the highest rates of COVID are not the ones that are worst afflicted, the criminalisation of young love under Sec 376, the consequences of treating an FIR as the basis for crime statistics and an understanding of women's safety... @Rukmini, author of Whole Numbers and Half Truths that interprets data to present a clear picture of contemporary India talks to @utterflea about all that on this week's Books&Authors podcast. Read more
The lotus in the Kashmiri Pandit imagination, the falcon in the north Indian Muslim one, the growth of East Pakistan Displaced Persons Colony... @AdrijaRoychow, author, 'Delhi, In ... Read more
The lotus in the Kashmiri Pandit imagination, the falcon in the north Indian Muslim one, the growth of East Pakistan Displaced Persons Colony... @AdrijaRoychow, author, 'Delhi, In Thy Name' talks to @utterflea about the stories contained within the names of Delhi neighbourhoods like Pamposh Enclave, Shaheen Bagh, CR Park and Saket and what they reveal about the post-independence history of the city and the country Read more
Vaccine hesitancy, cannibalism and immunity to prion disease, viruses and depression, the streaked tulip crisis and the potyvirus, industrial foods and poor gut health... @pranayla ... Read more
Vaccine hesitancy, cannibalism and immunity to prion disease, viruses and depression, the streaked tulip crisis and the potyvirus, industrial foods and poor gut health... @pranaylal, author of Invisible Empire; The Natural History of Viruses talks to @utterflea about all that on the Books & Authors podcast. Read more
Ordering a Rolls Royce through a catalogue, Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore endorsing products, companies advertising that their rivals use human waste to make soaps, the cachet of ... Read more
Ordering a Rolls Royce through a catalogue, Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore endorsing products, companies advertising that their rivals use human waste to make soaps, the cachet of swadeshi goods in the pre-Independence era, and the business losses of Partition, @crypticcaprice, author, Branded in History talks to @utterflea on the Books and Authors podcast. Read more
