Books and Authors

"I've shot almost 10,000 pictures of dogs across the world over the last four years. But the pictures in this book were all shot on the beaches of Goa in the monsoon. I began shooting them during the pandemic. A deep grey sky is like a photographer's ideal studio. The atmosphere and the subdued palette came because of the season. The whole intent of this book was to create awareness about dogs in an oblique way. Somebody like me who's spent his life bullying people to do his bidding, whether it's the PM or Jeff Bezos, was now suddenly confronted by these stray dogs who don't listen to you for anything in the world! So these images are the result of serendipity; they are a happy accident. About the poems and short pieces in the book, I chose them because I wanted unpretentious voices" 

- Rohit Chawla, author, 'Rain Dogs', talks to Manjula Narayan about the magnificent Indian street dog, how the world has almost forgotten the pandemic, the need to alleviate the suffering of dogs, cattle, donkeys, camels and elephants on the streets of India, Ratan Tata's legacy, the return of the physical magazine, and AI in photography, among other things on the Books & Authors podcast 

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There are stories in every nook and cranny of Delhi and rightly so because this is the 11th or 12th city built one on top of the other; sometimes cannibalizing one city to make the other. So, there are stories of the city's multiple pasts and of the people who have lived here. Heterogenous in every sense of the word, it is a melting pot. So many places in the city have witnessed history in the making. The title brings together multiple strands about the city': Basti' means 'habitation' and this has been a continuously inhabited city for centuries; 'Darbar' because Delhi remains a politically important city"

- Rakhshanda Jalil, editor, 'Basti & Darbar, Delhi-New Delhi; A City in Stories' talks to Manjula Narayan about an anthology of short fiction about the capital that includes pieces about the old city, the early days of building New Delhi, its caste and class snobberies, student life, gay scene, political elite, the vast armies from the hinterland who built it and continue to expand it, its scavengers, and its sarkari workers too.

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The span of the book is so wide that we had to leave out some great people. The book gives you a sampling of some of the best writing. My favourite is the first story, Rebati by Fakir Mohan Senapati, translated by KK Mohapatra. In the stories written in English, Ruskin Bond's The Prospect of Flowers is so poignant. It has been difficult to get good translations from languages like Nepali, Dogri, Bodo and Santhali. Also, in certain languages there are no real translators into English. When it comes to translations, any translator who is capable and confident is half the author of the story. We are fortunate to be able to use the English language. Even now, after 230 years, there are people who say it is a foreign language. Now, it's part of your life, country, ethos!"

AJ Thomas, editor, 100 Indian Stories, talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about short fiction in Indian languages, the key role of translation, Indian after-modernism, and the future literatures of emerging languages

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"When you look at history across the world and across centuries, there are some things that are well remembered and there are many things that are forgotten. In some way, it's interesting to ask, 'What is remembered and why?' and then maybe take that further and ask, 'by whom?' It's really interesting for me as a historian to ask why is it that this particular event, this particular escape and the camp itself and the thousands of Indians who were there... Why has it been pretty much forgotten until now? It's fascinating that these guys were so resourceful. They were looking after each other and some were helping the French too in that critical time. 100s of them got to Switzerland and that was a triumph of resilience, really!"

- Ghee Bowman, author, 'The Great Epinal Escape; Indian Prisoners of War in German Hands' talks to Manjula Narayan about the most successful escape of the Second World War, and the forgotten story of the hundreds of soldiers of the British Indian Army from all across the subcontinent, who broke out of the prison camp in the French town of Epinal and hid from the German army as they trudged across 100 km to freedom in Switzerland, with some like Jai Lall from Rohtak even joining and fighting alongside the French Resistance. 

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In terms of photography, this is not a book about Banaras or the Himalayas or very specific things; a name-place-animal-thing kind of book. In terms of narrative, of visuals that follow the structure of a novel or something in that space, we are yet to broaden our reach and scope, especially in India" - Ritesh Uttamchandani, author, 'Where Are You', talks to Manjula Narayan about his photobook of pictures clicked in Manchester, UK, that touches on everything from ways of being in public to Partition, memory, othering, family and love.

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"You find fasting in every culture, across the millennia. We carry within us the ability to hold back. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Judeaism vary in specifics about fasting but the idea is the same. You step back from something that you normally enjoy - it doesn't have to be a luxury - and then you hold off partaking of it. That holding back is, for me, at the heart of fasting. It is such a powerful realization that this power of absence is real, that we can shape our world by stepping back, by refraining from doing things. Then, in the 20th century and earlier too this manifested itself politically in the form of boycotts and hunger strikes. In many ways fasting is close to meditation. You pull yourself out of the daily stream of things, you step aside, you contemplate how you have been living, and then you go back into it" 

- John Oakes, author, 'The Fast; The History, Science , Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without talks to Manjula Narayan about the spiritual aspects of fasting, its use as an effective form of protest by the disenfranchised, the great role it played in the independence struggles of Ireland and India, political prisoners fasting in imperial Russia, its darker side seen in anorexia nervosa, and how fasting can perhaps contribute to well-being and longevity in intensely consumerist societies.  

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"On the one hand we are proud of the fact that India has one of the lowest rates of divorce, globally. It's about 1.1 percent annually. However, UN reports indicate that the number of divorces has multiplied twofold since the advent of the millennium. Why is this happening? The answers are many and this was the premise for writing this book. 

This book has taught me that education, class, financial independence and status are not necessarily protection against domination and toxic equations. I have tried not to demonise either of the sexes because men and women are not each other's enemies. As the saying goes, a generation was spent empowering women to lead their lives with as much independence and dignity as they could muster. Sadly, we forgot to teach men how to live with these empowered women. It's not as if these men did not wish to do better or did not wish to do right by the women. They did not know how; they did not have the role models. I do have some sympathy for that. Indian women's expectations and aspirations have changed and it's genuinely puzzling to quite a few men. 

Some women do misuse the law but in percentage terms, they are very few. Atrocities against women, cases of violence and dowry continue to be far higher. 

We need to have more conversations on marriage. It's a very private business which affects society at large. Abroad, the top reasons for divorce are finances and infidelity. Here, the top reasons are finances and parental expectations and interference. This book is meant to be a relationship guide with the law as the cornerstone" - Kalyani Sardesai, author, 'When Love is Lost' talks to Manjula Narayan about divorce in contemporary India. 

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On the one hand we are proud of the fact that India has one of the lowest rates of divorce, globally. It's about 1.1 percent annually. However, UN reports indicate that the number of divorces has multiplied twofold since the advent of the millennium. Why is this happening? The answers are many and this was the premise for writing this book. 

This book has taught me that education, class, financial independence and status are not necessarily protection against domination and toxic equations. I have tried not to demonise either of the sexes because men and women are not each other's enemies. As the saying goes, a generation was spent empowering women to lead their lives with as much independence and dignity as they could muster. Sadly, we forgot to teach men how to live with these empowered women. It's not as if these men did not wish to do better or did not wish to do right by the women. They did not know how; they did not have the role models. I do have some sympathy for that. Indian women's expectations and aspirations have changed and it's genuinely puzzling to quite a few men. 

Some women do misuse the law but in percentage terms, they are very few. Atrocities against women, cases of violence and dowry continue to be far higher. 

We need to have more conversations on marriage. It's a very private business which affects society at large. Abroad, the top reasons for divorce are finances and infidelity. Here, the top reasons are finances and parental expectations and interference. This book is meant to be a relationship guide with the law as the cornerstone" - Kalyani Sardesai, author, 'When Love is Lost' talks to Manjula Narayan about divorce in contemporary India. 

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