"Unless you are a good mimic, you cannot be a good playback singer and Kishore Kumar used to mimic voices left, right and centre. He was a very good actor himself and was also very ... Read more
"Unless you are a good mimic, you cannot be a good playback singer and Kishore Kumar used to mimic voices left, right and centre. He was a very good actor himself and was also very observant. He observed heroes and internalized their characteristics. That's why he could sing differently for each of them. His songs will remain" - Anirudha Bhattacharjee, the co-author with Parthiv Dhar of 'Kishore Kumar; The Ultimate Biography' talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about the legendary singer's childhood in Khandwa, rise to stardom in Bombay, his doomed marriage to Madhubala, his deep relationship with SD Burman, and his run-ins with the government during the Emergency. Read more
"In the last decade there has been a greater stress on marketing. This is partly because of climate change, globalisation, and because other countries too produce coffee so there i ... Read more
"In the last decade there has been a greater stress on marketing. This is partly because of climate change, globalisation, and because other countries too produce coffee so there is competition. There is more focus now on how to sustain coffee growing as an industry," says Kavery Nambisan, author Cherry Red Cherry Black; The Story of Coffee in India, which traces the growth of the crop from the days of Baba Budan, who returned to Chikmagalur from the Haj with coffee seeds from Arabia, through the colonial period to the contemporary era. She talks to Manjula Narayan about the social changes that accompanied coffee drinking in India, the personalities who contributed to the growth of plantations in the country, expert contemporary coffee tasters, the challenges facing this labour-intensive industry in a time of climate change, and the deep satisfaction that comes with sipping on a good cup of coffee. Read more
"About the 'fortress approach' to conservation, many conservationists might feel that the end justifies the means because wildlife is so threatened and anyway most of the land is f ... Read more
"About the 'fortress approach' to conservation, many conservationists might feel that the end justifies the means because wildlife is so threatened and anyway most of the land is for people. But many species actually thrive outside protected areas and might also move outside and coexist with people. We have to share our space with nature and if you want wildlife to be saved, you need the support of local communities. The kind of tolerance that exists in India is very different from that seen in many Western countries when wild animals attack or steal livestock. So, while protected areas are needed, there is also a need to look at other models of governance of forest areas," says Aparajita Datta, co-editor, 'At the Feet of Living Things'. This collection of essays by scientists and conservationists that looks at some of the projects undertaken in the wild in India over the last 25 years by the Nature Conservation Foundation includes great pieces on nesting hornbills, regenerating rainforests, birding, preventing conflict between wild elephants and humans, and dugongs, among other wild and wonderful subjects Read more
"In India when someone does a menial job, he isn't respected. But I'm so inspired by Jodie Underhill who founded Waste Warriors in Himachal Pradesh and is cleaning the mountains. W ... Read more
"In India when someone does a menial job, he isn't respected. But I'm so inspired by Jodie Underhill who founded Waste Warriors in Himachal Pradesh and is cleaning the mountains. We have to kill the ego to do such things. In all kinds of menial jobs, the caste system figures. I have always been fascinated by Varanasi but I have also always been afraid of dead bodies. It's almost impossible fora sane person to work at the cremation ghats burning 100 bodies in a day. You have to be high to forget what's happening around you; you need to be in a non-conscious state! I had the smell of burning flesh in my nostrils for a month after that," says Jubanashwa Mishra, author, 28 Jobs, 28 Weeks, 28 States, a fascinating memoir-travelogue. He talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about his adventures doing everything from selling condoms in rural Bihar to working on a houseboat in Kerala, assisting at a Bullet workshop in Aizawl, and burning bodies in Varanasi Read more
"India's southern states have diverged to an impossible extent compared to the rest of the country. The problem in health, for example, is that the union government wants to centra ... Read more
"India's southern states have diverged to an impossible extent compared to the rest of the country. The problem in health, for example, is that the union government wants to centralise much of its policy but it has within its borders one state which is like sub-Saharan Africa - MP's Infant mortality rate is comparable to Afghanistan's; and another that's like the United States - Kerala's IMR is comparable to the US. No reasonable person would argue for a single health policy for the US and Afghanistan. It is absurd, but more importantly, it is mathematically impossible to arrive at a single policy. And this is true for education, economy and population as well" - Nilakantan RS, author, 'South vs North; India's Great Divide' talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast. Read more
"When the British decided to try the INA (Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army) soldiers at Lal Qila, it was the last nail in the coffin. Intelligence reports of the time ar ... Read more
"When the British decided to try the INA (Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army) soldiers at Lal Qila, it was the last nail in the coffin. Intelligence reports of the time are very clear that the Indian soldiers could not be relied on any more if there was a widespread insurrection. Then, the whole focus from February 1946 onwards after the Naval mutiny was how to ensure the safety of European life and limb in India. And that was why the British wanted to get out of India as quickly as possible. This is so obvious when you read the accounts but it is not what we've been told either in India or in the UK. Had the British had the confidence that they could use the Indian army to put down an insurrection, which they had until the late 1930s, they would have stayed on. They lost that confidence in 1945-46" - Ravindra Rathee, author, True to Their Salt talks to Manjula Narayan about the soldiers of the British Indian army on the Books & Authors podcast. Read more
"Most people who use fountain pens today use foreign ones because they are not even aware that Indian fountain pens are made. We have a serious marketing and distribution problem," ... Read more
"Most people who use fountain pens today use foreign ones because they are not even aware that Indian fountain pens are made. We have a serious marketing and distribution problem," says Bibek Debroy, author, 'Inked in India', which looks at the long history of the fountain pen in the country, points the reader to the best inks, and talks about the remarkable Dr Radhika Nath Saha, who obtained 14 patents on fountain and stylo pens between 1900 and 1927. In this conversation with Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast, he highlights such factoids as BR Ambedkar's fondness for Parker pens, MK Gandhi's belief that fountain pens were extravagant and unnecessary, and talks about his own extensive collection Read more
"Gardening is not about spending lots of money. You can basically start from your kitchen, and that's what I've tried to convey in this book. And don't be scared. Even if you fail, ... Read more
"Gardening is not about spending lots of money. You can basically start from your kitchen, and that's what I've tried to convey in this book. And don't be scared. Even if you fail, it's ok; you can try again." - Dr Ekta Chaudhary, author, Garden Up, talks to Manjula Narayan about her handy guide to growing plants at home. Read more
"The Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Srimad Bhagavatam, and the Buddhist epics like the Manimekalai all recognise that it's a random universe and that anything can go wrong at any t ... Read more
"The Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Srimad Bhagavatam, and the Buddhist epics like the Manimekalai all recognise that it's a random universe and that anything can go wrong at any time. What can a frail human being do but control their own response to what has happened? I was trying to collect a bandwidth of responses to the inevitability of the human condition - things fall apart, we suffer, we grieve. But then what do we do? How do we pick up ourselves and go on? That really was the spine of this book." - Renuka Narayanan, author, 'Learning from Loss' which includes retellings of stories from Hindu and Buddhist texts talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast. Read more
"What stood out for me about Shivaji is that a man who was believed to have no hope at all emerged as a giant killer. There are numerous instances when previous biographies have go ... Read more
"What stood out for me about Shivaji is that a man who was believed to have no hope at all emerged as a giant killer. There are numerous instances when previous biographies have got it all wrong simply because they have not accessed Marathi documents. Also, Shivaji was traditionally disregarded by people who wrote Indian history. My book is part of the attempt to restore the balance." - Vaibhav Purandare, author, 'Shivaji; India's Great Warrior King' talks to Manjula Narayan about Shivaji's long tussle with Aurangzeb, his rise from minor nobility to sovereign of the Maratha empire, his dream of building a navy, and the sack of Surat. Read more
