My Book

Nicholas Nugent, former BBC broadcaster and author of a new book ‘Spice Ports: Mapping the Origins of Global Sea Trade’, is in conversation with broadcaster and author Andrew Whitehead on MY BOOK podcast, produced by Cine Ink in London. ‘Spice Ports’ has just been published in September, 2024, by the British Library in London. 

Discussing his book Nugent says: “It’s an account of how the trade of spices led to the modern-day globalisation and maritime communication which brought benefits apart from culinary delights: the spread of ideas on art, literature and science”. But he adds, “There's a darker side to this history, in that each of the European nations who were engaged in the trade then attempted to maximise their profits, first by enslaving local people, and later by transporting labourers between continents to work as slaves.”

This wide-ranging account of a fascinating period of global history uses original maps and contemporary artists’ views to tell the story of how each port developed individually; while encouraging us to consider contrasting points of view of the benefits and the damages of the maritime spice trade. 

Nick has more than 40 years’ experience researching and reporting for BBC World Service. He is the author of a biography of India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,  published by BBC Books. He has also authored books on   Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Andrew Whitehead, a PhD in the contemporary history of Kashmir, is a veteran broadcast journalist of the BBC and has  reported extensively from India. Currently, he is an honorary professor at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the University of Nottingham. Author of several books including, ‘A Mission in Kashmir’, ‘The Lives of Freda’ and ‘A Devilish Kind of Courage: Anarchists, Aliens and the Siege of Sidney Street’, Whitehead also teaches journalism as a guest faculty in India.  

The podcast show ‘My Book’ is produced by Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam for Cineink, based in London.

Shahbaz Taseer is in conversation with Pervaiz Alam, discussing his book ‘Lost to the World: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Five Years in Terrorist Captivity’ published by Penguin Random House.

Shahbaz also talks about his family, grand dad MD Taseer, renowned Urdu scholar, and Faiz Ahmad Faiz, legendary Urdu poet whose wife Alys was the sister of MD Taseer’s wife, Christobel.

The story goes back to 2011 when Shahbaz Taseer was kidnapped, tortured and remained in captivity for almost 5 years. Just seven months before his kidnapping Shahbaz’s father, Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, was assassinated by his own guard in Lahore for speaking out against Pakistan's blasphemy laws in the Asiya Bibi case. The kidnappers of Shahbaz demanded a ransom money of $65 Million dollars from his mother.

My Book is a podcast show in English produced by Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam for Cine Ink, a hub of podcasts based in London.

Emmy Award–winning journalist and professor at New York University, Ruchira Gupta, is in conversation with Loveleen Kacker in this 10th episode of Cine Ink podcast show MY BOOK.
I Kick and I Fly, published by Scholastic, OneWorld, Rock The Boat and Harper Collins, is Ruchira’s first novel based on real events about finding the courage to create one’s own destiny.

In the outskirts of Bihar's Red Light District, fourteen-year-old Heera is living on borrowed time. Her father plans to sell her into the sex trade to pay off the family’s debts. But after watching her cousin suffer this fate, Heera is determined to find a way out. A chance encounter introduces her to the power of kung fu. Through martial arts, Heera learns to harness her own strength to protect herself and those around her. When her best friend goes missing, Heera suspects the worst. So she embarks on a daring rescue mission – one that will take her straight into the path of danger and halfway across the world.

Ruchira Gupta is the founder-president of Apne Aap Women Worldwide. She is a social justice activist, feminist campaigner from India. Author and Podcaster, Loveleen Kacker is a former Indian administrator now based in London.

The podcast show ‘My Book’ is produced by Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam for Cineink, based in London.

The life and work of Indian film actor Irrfan Khan (1967 – 2020) is the subject of a new book ‘Irrfan: A Life in Movies’ by Shubhra Gupta who is in conversation with Sangeeta Datta in the 9th episode of ‘My Book’ podcast show. The book has been published by Pan Macmillan.

In this episode, Shubhra Gupta discusses the art and legacy of Irrfan Khan, one of India’s finest actors, known for his stellar performances in films such as The Warrior, The Namesake, Haasil, Maqbool, The Lunchbox and Pan Singh Tomar.

The book ‘Irrfan’ by Shubhra Gupta, renowned Indian Express columnist and film critic, focuses on Irrfan’s films with leading film personalities such as Sutapa Sikdar, Shailja Kejriwal, Shyam Benegal, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Vishal Bhardwaj, Naseeruddin Shah, Mira Nair, Konkona Sen Sharma, Anup Singh, Tillotama Shome, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, among several others.

Sangeeta Datta, the presenter of this episode, is a writer, filmmaker, musician and curator based in London. Her books on cinema include World Director Series: Shyam Benegal and the co-edited Rituparno Ghosh: Cinema, Gender and Art and Tagore: The World As His Nest. Her filmography includes the Life Goes On and her new documentary, Bird of Dusk.

The podcast show ‘My Book’ is produced by Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam for Cineink, based in London.

Aakar Patel discusses Saadat Hasan Manto and his writings with Loveleen Kacker in this 8th episode of My Book Podcast Show, produced by Cine Ink.

'Why I Write: Essays by Saadat Hasan Manto', edited and translated by Aakar Patel has been republished in March 2023. The 2023 edition has two new essays, on hijab and on graffiti, bringing the total number of essays to 27 in the book.

“What would Manto have made of India after 2014? Certainly, he would have found it familiar and understood it in profound ways. He knew and had seen things through his lived experience that we in our generation are discovering decades later.”

“Manto would not at all have been surprised, let alone shocked, at the fact that independent India in 2022 had no chief minister, minister in the union cabinet or legislator in parliament from the ruling party belonging to the Muslim community,” says Patel.

Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955), one of the greatest short-story writers in South Asia, published about 20 collections of short stories in Urdu. Being a multi-faceted author, he went on to write five collections of radio plays, three of essays, two of sketches, one novel, and a number of stories and screenplays for Bombay’s Hindi film industry in the 1940s.

Aakar Patel is a syndicated columnist who has edited English and Gujarati newspapers. His books include 'Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here', a study of majoritarianism in India and Pakistan (Westland, 2020), 'Price of the Modi Years', a history of India after 2014 (Penguin Random House, 2021) and 'The Anarchist Cookbook', a guide on why and how to protest (HarperCollins, 2022). He is Chair of Amnesty International India.

Author and Podcaster, Loveleen Kacker is a former Indian administrator now based in London.

Produced by Cine Ink in London by Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam, My Book is a podcast show in English.

The composite linguistic zone of Bengal witnessed four partitions in the 20th century. Against that backdrop, ‘No Return Address: Partition and Stories of Displacement’ edited and compiled by Manjira Majumdar, published by Vitasta, is a collection of 10 short stories and a short novel exploring different aspects of one’s identity—placing it in relation to one’s family, community, country, social class as well as one’s own self.

In the 7th Episode of My Book Podcast Show, Manjira Majumdar is in conversation with Malvika Kaul, discussing how the displacement through Partition brought in alienation, sorrow, longing and a sense of loss in its tow.

Masters in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, Manjira Majumdar is a senior journalist who has worked with the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Outlook, Tehelka and the Telegraph. She has authored three books for children.

PhD in Media, Malvika Kaul is an academic and writer based in New Delhi. She has reported for The Indian Express, The Times of India and Hindustan Times.

My Book has been produced by Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam for Cineink, based in London.

Chiragh-e-Dair by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1868) is a long poem in Persian on the Indian holy town, Benares. In the 6th episode of Cine Ink podcast ‘My Book’, Maaz Bin Bilal discusses Ghalib’s deep-rooted respect for Hindus and ‘Temple Lamp’, English translation of Chiragh-e-Dair, with Saif Mahmood. Temple Lamp has been published by Penguin Classics.

Maaz Bin Bilal is a poet, translator, and academic. His first collection, Ghazalnama: Poems from Delhi, Belfast, and Urdu (2019), was shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. His translation of Fikr Taunsvi’s Partition diary, The Sixth River (2019), was also critically noted. Maaz was awarded the Charles Wallace Trust fellowship in writing and translation in Wales (2018–19) and the Akademie Schloss Solitude fellowship in writing at Stuttgart (2022–23). He holds a PhD on the politics of friendship in E. M. Forster’s work from Queen’s University Belfast.

Dr Saif Mahmood is a bestselling author (Beloved Delhi: A Mughal City and Her Greatest Poets, published by Speaking Tiger), literary critic, translator and an Advocate of the Supreme Court of India. He splits his work between New Delhi and London.

Produced by broadcasters, Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam, My Book podcast covers a wide range of genres and is a part of the London-based, Cine Ink, Private Limited, UK, a well known hub of podcasts in Hindi and Urdu, available on all major podcast networks, including www.cineink.com

Once known as the Queen of Erotica, Dr Alka Pande, author of four books on Kamasutra, discusses the art of seduction with Loveleen Kacker in this 5th episode of My Book, a Cineink podcast show about books and their authors.

The four books by Alka Pande in the Kama traditions in Indian art series are: 'Al Fresco Kama: Love Under the Open Sky', 'Yoga and Kama: The Acrobatics of Love', 'The Nayika and Kama: She Takes Her Pleasure', and 'The Adulterer and Kama: The Seduction of Illicit Love'. They are published by Speaking Tiger.

The Kamasutra by Vatsyayana was written in the 4th century talks about acrobatic sexual positions, same sex love, courtesans and aphrodisiacs like they are all part of everyday conversation. Alka Pande says that the Kamasutra is all of this and much more.

Produced by broadcasters, Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam, My Book podcast covers a wide range of genres and is a part of the London-based, Cine Ink, Private Limited, UK, a well known hub of podcasts in Hindi and Urdu, available on all major podcast networks, including www.cineink.com

Adeel Hussain, author of ‘Revenge, Politics and Blasphemy in Pakistan’, discusses the history of blasphemy in South Asia with Loveleen Kacker in this 4th episode of ‘My Book’ podcast show, recorded in London for Cine Ink. The book has been published by Hurst Publishers.

Described as one of the best researched books on blasphemy by critics, Hussain’s latest work uncovers the hidden stories behind Pakistan’s fixation with blasphemy–tales of revenge, political scheming and sovereign betrayal.

Hussain’s account opens in 19th-century colonial Punjab and traces blasphemy killings to the present, linking their emergence to polemic encounters between Hindu and Muslim revivalist sects, namely the Arya Samaj and the Ahmadiyya.

Adeel Hussain is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies at New York University Abu Dhabi and a Senior Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. He holds two state examinations in German Law (admitted to the bar in 2018) and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Has also authored ‘Nehru: The Debates That Defined India with Tripurdaman Singh (London: HarperCollins, 2021) and ‘Law and Muslim Political Thought in Late Colonial North India’ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).

Produced by broadcasters, Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam, My Book podcast covers a wide range of genres and is a part of the London-based, Cine Ink, Private Limited, UK, a well known hub of podcasts in Hindi and Urdu, available on all major podcast networks, including www.cineink.com

Delhi-based Sharif D. Rangnekar, a gay man, writer, diversity evangelist and CEO of a PR and Marketing company discusses his latest book, Queer Sapien, published by Rupa Publications in India, in this 3rd episode of Cine Ink podcast in English. Rangnekar, in conversation with Bhawani Shankar, explores through lived experiences, LGBTQIA community, the meanings of love, freedom, identity and dignity in a society where family, religion, caste and class dictate how we live our lives every day.

Sharif Rangneker is the author of ‘Straight to Normal: My Life as a Gay Man’, as well as the director of the Rainbow Lit Fest—Queer & Inclusive.


Bhawani Shankar is a London-based speaker, influencer, writer, investor, amateur singer and former journalist.

Produced by broadcasters, Achala Sharma and Pervaiz Alam, My Book podcast covers a wide range of genres and is a part of the London-based, Cine Ink, Private Limited, UK, a well known hub of podcasts in Hindi and Urdu, available on all major podcast networks, including www.cineink.com