"The elite local forces that the CIA had established and operated with since the early years of the war in Afghanistan were both effective and very brutal, and were responsible for ... Read more
"The elite local forces that the CIA had established and operated with since the early years of the war in Afghanistan were both effective and very brutal, and were responsible for scores of civilian deaths" - Andrew Quilty, author, August in Kabul, talks to Manjula Narayan about the 10 years he spent covering the country, trying to presents facts so the reader can draw her own conclusions, death of Indian photographer Danish Siddiqui, the suicide bombing among the crowd at Kabul airport desperate to escape the Taliban, and the militia killings of Talibs in the chaos that accompanied the American withdrawal from the country. Read more
"I always try to bring in a people's history point-of-view into my work. So, in the telebhaja, sweets, and the dak bungalow sections, I have mentioned the people who created the di ... Read more
"I always try to bring in a people's history point-of-view into my work. So, in the telebhaja, sweets, and the dak bungalow sections, I have mentioned the people who created the dishes. I like to bring in their stories to make it more human. The lives of the makers are equally important to me," says Nilosree Biswas, author, Calcutta On Your Plate. She talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about everything from Bengali sweets, the history of cookbooks, the influence of Awadhi cuisine via Wajid Ali Shah on Bengali food and how the Victorian "good wife" code was transported to the bhadralok and the effect it had on the region's food culture. Tune in! Read more
"People come from all over the country to Mumbai and it is cosmopolitan. But if you look at the history of the city, there has been tremendous violence and communities have clashed ... Read more
"People come from all over the country to Mumbai and it is cosmopolitan. But if you look at the history of the city, there has been tremendous violence and communities have clashed every 10-15 years," says Jitendra Dixit, author, Bombay After Ayodhya, which chronicles events that affected the city over the last 30 years. The journalist who has experienced and covered many of the events that form part of the narrative of this book talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about the city's gang wars, communal riots, police encounters, the real estate boom and increased ghettoisation, natural disasters, and the unionisation of Bollywood that could push the industry out of the city. Read more
"I took it as a mission to do this anthology because a lot of things are known about Bihar but literature is not one of them. This book is also an invitation to literary translator ... Read more
"I took it as a mission to do this anthology because a lot of things are known about Bihar but literature is not one of them. This book is also an invitation to literary translators to explore the rich world of Bihari literature" - Abhay K, editor, The Book of Bihari Literature, talks to Manjula Narayan about the many languages of Bihar, its ancient history, the challenges of translation, and this anthology that includes a range of writing from poems in Pali by Buddhist nuns from 600BCE and pieces by 19th-century writers like Sake Dean Mahomed and Avadh Behari Lall to stories by such stalwarts as Phanishwar Nath Renu and contemporary figures like Abdus Samad and Anamika. Read more
"Looking at a cookbook should take the reader down memory lane and inspire them to recreate the dishes," says Nandita Iyer, author, The Great Indian Thali, which features vegetaria ... Read more
"Looking at a cookbook should take the reader down memory lane and inspire them to recreate the dishes," says Nandita Iyer, author, The Great Indian Thali, which features vegetarian dishes from across the country. She talks to Manjula Narayan about foraged foods, the great variety of vegetables and fruits in India, putting the spotlight on lesser known foods and such wonderful recipes as amrood sabzi, chenna poda, the cheesecake from Odisha, and Manipuri Chak Hao, among many others! Read more
"What's unique about this book is that it has stories originally written in English and ones translated from the Portuguese, Konkani and Marathi, but all of them are Goan." - Manoh ... Read more
"What's unique about this book is that it has stories originally written in English and ones translated from the Portuguese, Konkani and Marathi, but all of them are Goan." - Manohar Shetty, editor, 'The Greatest Goan Stories Ever told' talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about the new anthology, which features the writing of a range of accomplished writers across generations including Damodar Mauzo, Augusto Do Rosario Rodrigues, Ramnath Gajanan Gawade, Savia Viegas, Selma Carvalho and Roanna Gonsalves, among others, and picks up where Shetty's earlier anthology of Goan writing, Ferry Crossings (1998), left off. 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 ... 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
"The stories in the book are propelled by the character of retired DGP Anoop Jaiswal. They tell you how difficult it is to work within a system and what police jobs really are like ... Read more
"The stories in the book are propelled by the character of retired DGP Anoop Jaiswal. They tell you how difficult it is to work within a system and what police jobs really are like. They straddle a grey area and you begin to wonder who the criminals are and who are the good people. Really, when you go a little deeper, a criminal no longer appears to be a criminal; he becomes a human being at some point." - V Sudarshan, author, 'Tuticorin; Adventures in Tamil Nadu's Crime Capital'. He talks to Manjula Narayan about the book based on the officer's recollection of his time policing a poverty-stricken district prone to caste conflict and high levels of often bizarre violence. 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
