Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, published in 1886, is a collection of humorous essays by Jerome K. Jerome. It was the author’s second published book and it helped establish him as a leading English humorist. I read out a few pages from the book in today's podcast.

Yoga philosophy is one of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism. Ancient, medieval and most modern literature often refers to the Yoga school of Hinduism simply as Yoga. It is closely related to the Samkhya school of Hinduism. What is it really and what can we learn about it beyond certain postures and exercises? I discuss this and more in today's podcast.

The Gene: An Intimate History is a book written by Siddhartha Mukherjee, an Indian-born American physician and oncologist.

Inderjeet Singh’s book titled Afghan Hindus and Sikhs aims to prove that Afghan Hindus and Sikhs are an indigenous people and not recent settlers. The books provides a thousand-year history of these communities and how the demography has changed under various regimes.

The Lessons of History is a 1968 book by historians Will Durant and Ariel Durant. The book provides a summary of periods and trends in history they had noted upon completion of the 10th volume of their momentous eleven-volume The Story of Civilization. I discuss this book in today's podcast and take you through a short journey of history.

In his book Being the Other, veteran journalist and author Saeed Naqvi looks at how the divisions between Muslims and Hindus began in the modern era. The book is partly a memoir and partly an exploration of the various deliberate and inadvertent acts that have contributed to the othering of the 180 million Muslims in India. I discuss the book in today's podcast.

Andrew Otis’ book titled "Hicky’s Bengal Gazette; India’s first newspaper" fuses the biography of its remarkable editor with the biography of his time. It's an interesting insight to the colonial India and how newspaper culture developed first in Calcutta. I share some anecdotes from the book in today's podcast.

Jean-Paul Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and phenomenology, and one of the leading figures in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. I discuss some of his books and ideas in today's podcast.

Narendra Achyut Dabholkar was an Indian medical doctor, social activist, rationalist and author from Maharashtra, India. In 1989 he founded and became president of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. He has written a number of books on reason, rationalism, atheism, superstitions etc. I discuss one of his books and tell you the story of discussing atheism in a largely superstitious society of India.

Fail Better is an essay by Zadie Smith. It's about writers and their quest for the perfect novel. As the essay explores a writer's struggles, it ends up teaching us far more about the quest of reading and writing. I narrate this essay in today's podcast.