"Dr Salim Ali told me, if you're not a scientist, don't show off your secondhand scientific knowledge. Just write simply and share that. So that's what I've done" - Bulbul Sharma, ... Read more
"Dr Salim Ali told me, if you're not a scientist, don't show off your secondhand scientific knowledge. Just write simply and share that. So that's what I've done" - Bulbul Sharma, author, 'Sunbirds in the Morning, Grey Hornbills at Dusk' talks to Manjula Narayan about the variety of birds and trees and the dramatic change of the seasons in the capital city. Read more
"I've heard its changed but when I was first in Tibetan regions, it was illegal to have a photo of the Dalai Lama. There's a lot of propaganda against the Dalai Lama and other lama ... Read more
"I've heard its changed but when I was first in Tibetan regions, it was illegal to have a photo of the Dalai Lama. There's a lot of propaganda against the Dalai Lama and other lamas in China and I've actually heard Tibetan people there parroting that propaganda. There's also tremendous ecological damage through mining, the building of large dams and other forms of destructive resource extraction. It's not happening only in Tibet. I am trying to communicate a template of what we seem to be witnessing all across the world. I did feel at times that I was physically being pummeled by what I was observing" - Scott Ezell, author, 'Journey to the End of the Empire; In China Along the Edge of Tibet' talks to Manjula Narayan about travelling through Tibet, the vast changes taking place there, the world's move towards uniformity and extreme ecological degradation in the Anthropocene and how we are all implicated. Read more
"The community of corpse burners or Doms take pride in their ability to give moksh but it's also a way of justifying their place in a society that otherwise shuns them, humiliates ... Read more
"The community of corpse burners or Doms take pride in their ability to give moksh but it's also a way of justifying their place in a society that otherwise shuns them, humiliates them and treats them as untouchables. They believe they have religious capital. But at the end of the day, there are no privileged caste people who want to do this job. That's why the Doms are continuing to do this job and that's why they are not able to break through the caste barrier" - Radhika Iyengar, author, Fire on the Ganges talks to Manjula Narayan about her book that documents the customs, harrowing work and lives of the keepers of the sacred fire, the Doms of Varanasi Read more
"Poetry is not instant coffee; that is undrinkable. What is slow brewed coffee or a tea ceremony? Everything is slow, which means you can appreciate the nuances of the sounds, the ... Read more
"Poetry is not instant coffee; that is undrinkable. What is slow brewed coffee or a tea ceremony? Everything is slow, which means you can appreciate the nuances of the sounds, the cadence of the language, the content of the poems. The good young poets and the good older poets are not very dissimilar. That's because the focus of these poets is grounded on the same things and measured on the same framework: originality of thought, width of creativity, good grammar and a cogent argument. These are the elements that make good writing." - Sudeep Sen, editor, 'Converse; Contemporary English Poetry by Indians' talks to Manjula Narayan about writing in English, poetry as a tough space, attempting to build a community of poets, and the effort that goes into putting together a good anthology. Read more
"Within Rajasthan's Raika culture, camels are raised in a system that's cruelty free - the calves are not separated from their mothers, camels walk around and choose their own diet ... Read more
"Within Rajasthan's Raika culture, camels are raised in a system that's cruelty free - the calves are not separated from their mothers, camels walk around and choose their own diets and have a close relationship with humans. It's an alternative model of livestock and food production that has great value. The Raika demonstrate a way of keeping animals that's in tune with the environment and has high animal welfare standards. It should be a model for the rest of the world. Slowly, we are getting to the stage where people are recognising this. Modern India's thinking about livestock needs to be decolonised because India's traditional livestock keeping systems are a treasure. There's enormous heritage value in them and this intangible heritage also creates wealth and has a lot of commercial potential. What's missing is an appreciation of the value of this heritage. I don't regret that I've been here for the last 30 years." - Ilse Kohler-Rollefson, author, Camel Karma talks to Manjula Narayan about her work with the camel herders of Rajasthan, the great health benefits of milk from free-range camels, and why sustainable methods of livestock farming make more sense. Read more
"Nehru and Ambedkar represented two very different visions of the way Buddhism could be imagined. Buddhism is a full-fledged revolution for Ambedkar and Nehru's government was not ... Read more
"Nehru and Ambedkar represented two very different visions of the way Buddhism could be imagined. Buddhism is a full-fledged revolution for Ambedkar and Nehru's government was not comfortable with that sort of vision of Buddhism. [Similarly] there is a fracture between the Ambedkarite vision of Buddhism and SN Goenka's vision, in which you can be a Hindu or Christian and still practise Vipassana. It unfolds in a wider ecumenical, secularised idea of what a modern India could be like, and I think those two trajectories are really difficult to reconcile. In its totality, what I really wanted to do was paint a picture of all walks of Buddhist life -- the lives of labourers who were inspired to convert to Buddhism, of intellectuals, of both Sanatan Hindus, who had a certain vision of Buddhism, as well as liberal, more secular-minded Hindus, of progressives, Leftists and Right Wing figures... I wanted to understand the whole composite picture of what Buddhism looked like during this broader period of time." Read more
"In our family, whenever anyone goes out, they don't ask him, 'What did you see?' The first question is 'What did you eat?' So, food is paramount. In my childhood, if ever I wanted ... Read more
"In our family, whenever anyone goes out, they don't ask him, 'What did you see?' The first question is 'What did you eat?' So, food is paramount. In my childhood, if ever I wanted to have good food at home, I'd ask my father for it. Funnily enough, it was the men in the family who took on that role. My father is a very passionate cook. I felt that there should be some place where his recipes are documented because everyone in the family has memories associated with his food" - Shreeparna Khaitan, author, 'Bapu's Curries' talks about her father lawyer Umesh Khaitan's culinary repertoire that includes traditional Marwari dishes and fantastic fusion ideas even as co-author Surbhi Anand reveals plans to bring out another volume for the many great dishes that didn't make it to this one. From Rajasthani ker sangri ka saag to delicious santare ka jhol (soupy orange curry) and gucchi biryani (biryani with Kashmiri morels), the food ideas in this volume are both delightful and surprising. Read more
"Hindutva pop stars are trying to make hate entertaining and so normalized that people don't realise they are consuming propaganda. They are changing your life through their work a ... Read more
"Hindutva pop stars are trying to make hate entertaining and so normalized that people don't realise they are consuming propaganda. They are changing your life through their work and yet most know very little about them" - Kunal Purohit, author, 'H-Pop; The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars' follows a singer, a poet and a journalist-spiritual coach to understand polarisation, points of radicalisation, the Hindutva plus bloc, and why it's necessary to understand the dominant political ideology Read more
The idea of the old and the new has always had an interesting relationship with the city of Delhi; the name 'Delhi' has been shifting from site to site. I'd say the Qutub Minar and ... Read more
The idea of the old and the new has always had an interesting relationship with the city of Delhi; the name 'Delhi' has been shifting from site to site. I'd say the Qutub Minar and the Meherauli Archeological Park are the most important sites. If you look at the Qutub Minar complex you can understand a lot about the evolution of architecture and culture in Delhi, and also about Indian history and the historical underpinnings of what we call our composite culture" - Swapna Liddle, author, 14 Historic Walks of Delhi, talks to Manjula Narayan on this week's Books & Authors podcast about the new and updated edition of her very popular book, the history of Delhi's many cities, Metcalfe's bizarre holiday home, Nizamuddin Auliya's pronouncements, the jugaad in the false arches of the Qutub Minar, and about successfully bridging the gap between serious academic history and the general public. Read more
For women of a certain class, there was a tremendous romance attached to Indian swamis and gurus. That's perhaps because gurus of that time presented themselves as an antidote to t ... Read more
For women of a certain class, there was a tremendous romance attached to Indian swamis and gurus. That's perhaps because gurus of that time presented themselves as an antidote to the very stiff, rigid idea of manhood that prevailed in Victorian and Edwardian society. What could be more romantic than this figure talking about liberation and enlightenment experiences? For these people it was as if Jesus was walking on the earth again. That had an attraction to women who were educated but were not able to pursue careers and do the things that women take for granted today. Yoga is probably the longest lasting legacy of what happened in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Minds in the West were considerably broadened by the sense of spiritual enquiry and that was a tremendous benefit to people." - Mick Brown, author, The Nirvana Express talks to Manjula Narayan about Indian gurus and the West's search for enlightenment Read more
