India Booked

An appeal to the Lord to arise and save the world, the Venkatesa Suprabhatam is the first of four recitations that are sung together every morning in the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, where it was originally sung.

Prativadi Bhayankaram Anna, who composed this prayer in the fifteenth century, was a saint, a poet and an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. The poet’s devotion shines through, most unforgettably in M.S. Subbulakshmi's rendition, which rings through many south Indian homes in the mornings.

Venkatesa Suprabhatam: The Story of India’s Most Popular Prayer is a translation of the prayer, a journey through its verses. This episode finds host, Ayushi Mona in a deep dive into the history of its composition and the circumstances with author Venkatesh Parthasarthy.

The Green Revolution resulted in spectacular advancements in Indian agriculture. Having achieved food security for its citizens, the country has now become a net exporter of different agricultural commodities. But sadly, this does not reflect the real state of the Indian agricultural sector. In truth, our farmers are plagued by crop failures, poor income, and indebtedness. Such is their misery that they are of late driven to commit suicide. 

Join the author Prof. Narayanamoorthy in conversation with host Ayushi Mona where we dive into temporal and spatial data to figure what's right and what's gone terribly, terribly wrong!

Colaba, the southernmost tip of Mumbai, is Mumbai's most iconic neighbourhood. This bustling locality—with the Gateway of India, the world-famous Taj Mahal Hotel, and the Colaba Causeway, a shopper’s paradise—is an unparalleled tourist attraction. But barely 200 years ago, it was a rocky, jackal-infested island, separated from the rest of Bombay by a temperamental creek. In this episode, host Ayushi Mona discusses the compelling biography of the neighbourhood with author Shabnam Minwalla. The podcast much like the book unravels accounts of colonial rivalries and dowry negotiations; and of shrewd industrialists who transformed this doomed island into the centre of trade during the cotton boom of the 1860s. She navigates through the sometimes charming, sometimes seedy streets to track its evolution from a spiritual and recuperative retreat for British soldiers to a coveted residential area for the Brits and Indians alike. Tune in!

Do you often wonder— ‘Is my money safe in banks?’ India is grappling with its worst banking crisis ever, and we are still trying to figure out what landed us here. This podcast episode with economist Madan Sabnavis analyses the role of the government and RBI in allowing the problem to reach the dimension it has assumed today.

When will the never-ending NPA issue be resolved? Does it make sense to merge two PSBs when the culture and governance structures are alike? Should the RBI reserves be used in times of crisis? Should the tenure of a CEO be long or short? The book ponders and debates on some of these questions.

Hits and Misses presents the two sides of the Indian banking story by giving an account of the reforms as well as quandaries in times of extraordinary economic and political challenges. The podcast just like the book, answers many relevant questions by highlighting the highs and lows of the banking sector, which became subjects of debate in media and financial circles today.

Tune in!

In this episode of India Booked, host Ayushi Mona talks to Rajat Chaudhuri about 'The Butterfly Effect', on how his work as a climate activist is reflected in his fiction, the necessity of "enveloping scientific ideas in a story" to make it more accessible, the interconnected roles of technology, politics, public health and the environment, especially in India, and more. Listen in for a scathing yet succint breakdown of how consumption and corporate lobbies work, and the role activism can play in correcting injustice. The Butterfly Effect reveals a grim picture of humanity, it brings to life an eco-dystopian story revolving around the threats of technology and genetically modified crops. It goes on to show the disastrous circumstances that may befall humanity when scientific experiments go horribly wrong. Humans are thus pushed into a bottomless pit of dystopia and dejection; and with the theme of a pandemic running through the narrative, it is a timely adventure story to watch out for.

It simultaneously addresses classism, capitalism, extreme poverty and inequity, as well as the rise of autocracy (none of which is unimaginable or restricted to the pages today).

In this episode of India Booked, host Ayushi Mona talks to Veio Pou, about his brilliant new debut novel, Waiting for the Dust to Settle, published by Speaking Tiger Books. Set in Manipur, the book is a moving novel about the human cost of the violence that the Naga. The podcast discussed what people have endured since the 1980s telling the story of Operation Bluebird—one of the darkest yet little discussed moments in the history of the Indian Army in the northeast. Above everything else, this is a deeply human portrait of an entire people the novel talks about the human cost of the violence that the Naga people have endured since the 1980s. It tells the story of Operation Bluebird—one of the darkest yet little discussed moments in the history of the Indian Army in the northeast. A moving, timely book that is surely to arrest and impress you in the way that Veio intersperses fictional narratives with the stark reality of life. Tune in!

In this episode of India Booked, host Ayushi Mona talks to Vikram Sampath, the best selling author of four acclaimed biographies, ‘Splendours of Royal Mysore: the Untold Story of the Wodeyars’ on the Mysore royal family; ‘My Name is Gauhar Jaan: The Life and Times of a Musician’- the biography of India's first recording superstar Gauhar Jaan of Calcutta; ‘Voice of the Veena: S Balachander - A Biography’, the story of eminent veena maestro late Dr. S Balachander and ‘Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past, 1883–1924’ which is the first volume of a two-part biography about the legendary Indian revolutionary leader– Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Vikram walks us through the process of research and the writing of a biography (calling it a ‘love affair’) and the surprisingly vexing events that follow post publication. They discuss the account and impact of each of his biographies and lives of the misunderstood and forgotten characters in it, the troubles writers face and about their extensive presence online, the issue with the lack of nuance and the binary perspective of people.

Tune in to find out more about his relation with music and history, his wish to be its ‘night watchman’, and about the Archive of Indian Music, which is India's first digital sound archive for vintage recordings of the country.

RAYA: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara, written by author Srinivas Reddy, is the definitive biography of India’s first truly global leader and one of the greatest kings who changed the course of Indian history. In this episode of India Booked, host Ayushi Mona and author Srinivas Reddy engage in an ardent conversation about Deccan history, the life of Krishnadevaraya and the town of Hampi.

Srinivas Reddy is a scholar, translator and musician, and his previous books include translations of Krishnadevaraya’s Amuktamalyada and Kalidasa’s Meghadutam and Malavikagnimitram.

The podcast delves into a discussion about caste, tolerance and the sensitivities around it, the link between power and value of culture and how the different perspectives and romanticism of the dynamic Indian history are put together to shape its totality.

This episode contains two very vivid excerpts from the book on the routines of the emperor Krishnadevaraya and the striking scenes of warfare, including a translation of one of the beautiful poems written by Raya himself.

By the end, you will be compelled to pick this book up right away and start reading, or pack your bags and go visit Hampi, either of which will give you an extensive idea about the life of Krishnadevaraya and the historic city of Vijayanagara. Tune in now!

In this episode of India Booked, journalist and children’s book writer Priyanka Pradhan takes us on a journey through the Himalayas by discussing stories from her book ‘Tales from the Himalayas’ which features snow leopards to bagpiping girls to the real life stories of heroes from the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, Gaura Devi and Nain Singh Rawat.

This book is for “all the children, including the children in us” as she says, for the stories in it, from the heart of the mountains, though fascinating and fun, are diverse and impactful at the same time.

This podcast is light hearted as Ayushi Mona and Priyanka Pradhan engage in a conversation about her childhood in Uttarakhand and the books she read growing up that inspired her to write one of her own, the causes and reasons of the events addressed in the book and the importance of why children and young readers need to be educated about it early on.

Tune in to this episode to get a sense of what lies in her book, the simplicity and innocence of its writing and its audience, and the way she modified the stories to make it relevant to current world, reflecting the times we live in now.

In this episode of India Booked, Ayushi Mona discusses with social activist, writer and editor Ishmeet Nagpal, an array of essential topics ranging from the upsurge in domestic violence during the lockdown to the plight of migrant workers stranded far away from their homes, the unfair burden of expectations on women during the quarantine and the uncertainty of living in cities.

The podcast explores ‘Isolocation Poems’, which is an anthology of shortlisted poems coedited by Ishmeet that reflects the shared reality of people coping with the shifted reality of life due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Listen now to discover how the anthology came to be, the beauty in the collaboration of different poets from different locations, brought together by verses of joy, pain, desire, acceptance, and catharsis, to voice out themes of mental health, feminism, love, family and the current socio-political climate