Books and Beyond with Bound

Эпизоды

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  9.20 Karan Mahajan on Writing Entitled Men Who Live Without Consequence 02.06.2026 54мин

  If your family has ever felt like a soap opera you can't escape, this episode is for you. For the finale of Season 9, Tara sits down with Karan Mahajan to discuss The Complex, a sweeping family saga set in Delhi across the 1980s and 90s. Through the rise and fall of the Chopra family, they unpack the emotional realities of marriage, the loneliness of immigration, family expectations, male inadequacy, and the uncomfortable question of how personal disappointments can evolve into politica...
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  9.19 Who Gets Written into History? The Lost Voices Of 19th Century Tawaifs ft. Tarana Hussain Khan 26.05.2026 44мин

  A love story, across timelines as one woman tries to reach the other through the words she left behind. In this episode, Tara sits down with Tarana Hussain Khan, writer and food historian, to talk about her novel The Courtesan, Her Lover and I, a book that moves between two women and their love stories separated by a century, bound together by letters that almost didn't survive. The conversation explores how Tarana first discovered Daag’s letters to Hijab in archival material and why Hijab be...
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  9.18 Inside Asia's Largest Anti-Trafficking Institution With Sunitha Krishnan 19.05.2026 53мин

  This episode contains discussions of sexual violence, human trafficking and child abuse. Please listen at your discretion. Have you ever read a headline, felt the rage to make a difference, but didn’t know where to start? But an 8-year-old girl acted on it and inspired millions to make a difference, no matter how small In this episode, Tara sits down with Sunitha Krishnan, founder of Prajwala, Asia's largest institution combating sex trafficking, and Padma Shri recipient, to discuss her mem...
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  9.17 Your Next Meal Could Be A Time Machine ft. Lavanya Lakshminarayan 12.05.2026 56мин

  If you’ve ever wished for food to transport you to new places, this episode is for you! In this episode, Tara sits down with Lavanya Lakshminarayan, international award-winning sci-fi author and game designer, to explore the world of Primus in Intergalactic Feast, a sequel to her Interstellar Megachef. They dig into her two-book series, where food is not just sustenance, but culture, conflict, memory and resistance all at once. Lavanya talks about how it all started with a bowl of rasam made ...
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  9.16 What Makes a Bestseller? Naiyya Singh Decodes 05.05.2026 39мин

  Do you actually need a big personality online for your book to succeed? The answer might surprise you. In this episode, Tara sits down with Naiyya Singh, Assistant General Manager of Marketing at HarperCollins India, to pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to get a book into the right hands. They get into what a book marketing campaign really looks like and why fiction and nonfiction get treated completely differently. Naiyya tells us how plans have to adapt to news cyc...
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  9.15 What Comes After Coming Out? ft. Rahul Singh 28.04.2026 46мин

  What do you do when the person you love wants something you're not sure you can give? In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara speaks with Rahul Singh, debut novelist and academic, about his book Unfolding, which follows two gay men navigating a long-term relationship where their expectations of love begin to diverge. The conversation moves through the emotional complexity of open relationships, and how the book holds space for desire without rushing to label or judge it. They also discu...
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  9.14 Being “Nice” Is Getting You Nowhere ft. Ankur Warikoo 21.04.2026 43мин

  Are you one of those who cancel plans because you’re tired, then spend the next two hours feeling guilty about it? Let’s talk. In the latest episode of Books & Beyond, Tara chats with Ankur Warikoo about his new book Winning People Without Losing Yourself, and what it actually looks like to keep everyone happy all the time. Ankur talks about spending years trying to be the person everyone liked, and why that never really works out the way you think it will. They get into boundaries (esp...
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  9.13 Can Men Truly Write Women? Ft. Rahul Bhattacharya 14.04.2026 50мин

  If you've ever felt the pull of a new city and the desperate need to start over, keep listening. In this episode, Tara sits down with the award-winning author Rahul Bhattacharya to discuss his latest novel, Railsong. Writing about the freedom of a woman set in the 1970s, as a male author, is no small task. Rahul talks about Charu, a motherless daughter of a railway worker who flees to Bombay to build a life from scratch, on her own terms, in a country that's also figuring itself out. Together...
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  9.12 ‘Is This Instagrammable?’ And Other Online Crises ft. Ria Chopra 07.04.2026 1ч 7мин

  If you decided to go analogue this year but still find yourself doomscrolling at 2 a.m., then this episode is for you. In this latest episode, Tara sits down with Ria Chopra, writer, influencer, and Youth Advisor to Google, to unpack what it really means to grow up with the internet, how it builds identity, memory, relationships and sometimes completely messes with all of it in her debut book, “Never Logged Out.” Ria dives into the rebirth of antiquated notions of love through dating ap...
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  9.11 The Wrong Interview That Led to the Right Decision ft. Dr. Ashok Ganguly 31.03.2026 36мин

  What if the most defining moment of your career was the one you never planned? In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara speaks with Dr. Ashok Ganguly, former Chairman of Hindustan Unilever, former Rajya Sabha member, and author of We Are Our Future. From failing in school to becoming a global business leader, Dr. Ganguly reflects on a life shaped as much by chance as by choice. He shares the idea that who we become is influenced long before we make conscious decisions; by our genes and o...
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  9.10 Bombay Food Isn’t As Local As You Think ft. Pronoti Datta 24.03.2026 46мин

  What if we told you that Bombay food isn't as local as you think? In this episode, Tara sits down with writer and journalist Pronoti Datta, author of In the Beginning There Was Bombay Duck, to unpack the delicious and deeply layered history of Bombay’s food. Pronoti and Tara trace the city’s culinary journey, from the Koli fishing communities and early tiffin rooms to colonial clubs, Irani cafes, Goan bakers, Udupi restaurants, and the rise of Indo-Chinese food. Along the way, they explore ...
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  9.9 Can Fiction Tell the Truth Better Than Journalism? ft. Rahul Pandita 17.03.2026 45мин

  What does it mean to feel at home? And what do you do when that feeling never quite arrives? In the latest episode of Books & Beyond, Tara Khandelwal sits down with journalist and author Rahul Pandita to discuss his novel Our Friends in Good Houses, a story about searching for home and a sense of belonging in a world where both can feel elusive. Drawing from decades of reporting in war zones, Rahul reflects on his journey as a journalist, the emotional weight of witnessing a conflict, a...
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  9.8 Why Delhi Never Sleeps (It’s the Ghosts) ft. Eric Chopra 10.03.2026 51мин

  Wait… ghosts were people once too! In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara Khandelwal speaks with historian and writer Eric Chopra about his book Ghosted, which explores the haunted monuments of Delhi. But this episode isn’t just about spooky stories. Eric looks at the histories behind these legends, from the Lathwale Baba believed to inhabit the arches of Feroz Shah Kotla to the mysterious second grave inside the tomb of Jamali Kamali. Together, Tara and Eric wander through some of Del...
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  9.7 A Life Bigger Than a Michelin Star ft. Suvir Saran 04.03.2026 44мин

  What does it take to build a Michelin-starred restaurant when you arrive in New York heartbroken and broke? In the latest episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with Suvir Saran, the chef behind Devi; the first Indian restaurant in North America to receive a Michelin star, to talk about his memoir Tell My Mother I Like Boys. But this episode isn’t just about food. From growing up in Delhi feeling “othered,” to becoming one of the world’s first openly gay chefs, to being left on a New...
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  9.6 Forget the Pandavas, Satyavati Ran the Show! ft. Rupeen Popat 24.02.2026 44мин

  What if the most powerful character in the Mahabharata was a boatwoman? In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with debut author Rupeen Popat to explore his novel Satyavati, a bold retelling of the Mahabharata’s origin story through the eyes of a woman history forgot. Satyavati begins as a ferrying boatwoman, but her courage and resilience transform her into the queen who steered the fate of kingdoms. Rupeen takes us behind the scenes of his lifelong fascination with Indian e...
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  9.5 Welcome to the Internet. It Sucks. ft. Anurag Minus Verma 17.02.2026 1ч 3мин

  Be honest. When was the last time you logged off because you wanted to, not because your battery died? In this brand new episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with Anurag Minus Verma, influencer, writer, and podcaster, to trace how the Indian internet went from cyber cafes and Orkut scraps to algorithms that know us better than we do. From going down random rabbit holes and getting emotionally invested in strangers we’ve never met, to collectively losing our minds over the next big c...
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  9.4 Mumbai Meri Jaan, But at What Cost? ft. Sidharth Bhatia 10.02.2026 42мин

  Is Mumbai still a city for everyone, or just for those who can afford it? In this episode of Books & Beyond, Tara sits down with veteran journalist and author Sidharth Bhatia to discuss his latest book, Mumbai: A Million Islands. The book is not about the history of Marine Lines or the Gateway of India, but the thing that actually builds this city... PEOPLE! Tara and Sidharth explore the bubonic plague of 1896, the transformation of Parel’s textile mills into high-end malls, and what it...
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  9.3 More Than Just Chick-lit ft. Deepanjana Pal 04.02.2026 56мин

  What if the most important love story in your life isn’t romantic at all? In our brand new episode, journalist and author Deepanjana Pal talks about her novel, Lightning in a Shot Glass. It’s a witty, radical look at two Mumbai flatmates navigating love, life, and ambition on their own terms. Tara and Deepanjana dive into why female friendships are often the real love stories of our lives and how having chosen family keeps us grounded. They challenge the notion of genre hierarchies while sh...
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  9.2 Coding Ourselves Into a Future We Can’t Control ft. Akshay Chopra 27.01.2026 52мин

  What happens to “us” when we’re no longer the smartest beings on the planet? In our brand new episode, technologist and global innovation leader Akshay Chopra discusses his debut novel After Us, exploring a world transformed by SUI, a self-aware, benevolent superintelligence that questions the very definition of life and humanity. Tara and Akshay dive deep into the fascinating (and often terrifying) intersections of science and fiction, from the "Longevity Escape Velocity" that could grant ...
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  9.1 We’re Curating Kala Ghoda Arts Festival! 20.01.2026 48мин

  What does it take to actually curate a literary festival? We’re back! Season 9 of Books & Beyond kicks off with Tara and Aishwarya spilling the tea on their latest project: curating the Literature Section for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2026! This episode is a deep dive into the madness of curation. Why is Aishwarya obsessed with color-coded Excel sheets? Why is Tara picking out "apples" for a festival? And how many "healthy skirmishes" does it take to build a schedule from scrat...