The Hindu On Books

In this episode, we are in conversation with author and wildlife conservationist Neha Sinha about her new book Wild and Wilful in which she chronicles tales of 15 iconic Indian species which are in need of conservation. To celebrate nature’s beauty and to also highlight the trauma that humans are inflicting on animals and birds, is a requisite attribute for those who write about the natural world. Sinha does this with an equitable sense of wonder, grief and balance in this book that is a must read for any nature lover.

Host: KC Vijayakumar, Sports Editor, The Hindu

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On this episode of the podcast we are in conversation with Krish Ashok, author of the fascinating new book Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking. In Ashok’s words, the book attempts to bring an engineering approach to Indian cooking, breaking down the physics and chemistry of some of its key processes and adopting an algorithmic approach to the combination of its vast array of ingredients. That may sound daunting at the outset and you may ask, why do we need a scientific approach to cooking? Isn’t it all skill and craft handed down and over generations and innate feel? That is where masala lab attempts to change your perception of Indian cooking. You can either spend years in the kitchen trying to master that innate feel, as all experienced cooks in our families did or you can follow recipe books that can give you a method but not even come close to conveying the craft. If you fall somewhere in between these two approaches, then Krish Ashok has a lot of lessons for you.

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Suchitra Vijayan undertook a 9000 mile journey over seven years to India's borderlands to write Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India. India shares borders with a host of countries including Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and so forth. From the densely populated border that India shares with Bangladesh to the highly disputed one with Pakistan, she meets men, women and children who tell her how they live, struggle, fight and survive. She also offers notes on how the lines came to be and why some of them are arbitrary and still being contested. The award winning photographer -- there are some devastating black and white pictures accompanying the stories -- is founder and executive director of the Polis Project, a research and journalism organisation.

Host: Sudipta Datta, Senior Deputy Editor, The Hindu

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On this episode of The Hindu On Books Podcast, we speak to Dan Moraine, author of Kamala’s Way, the bestselling biography of the current US Vice president Kamala Harris. Mr. Morain has covered California policy politics and justice related issues for more than four decades and has brought his deep knowledge to bear on this riveting narrative about the evolution of Kamala Harris from a county and then San Francisco prosecutor, to the California District Attorney, a harder to US Senator, a presidential race candidate, and finally, then candidate Joe Biden's pick as running mate.

Hosted by Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu

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In this episode of The Hindu On Books Podcast, journalist and author Mohammad Zeeshan discusses his latest book Flying Blind: India's Quest for Global Leadership. He discusses not just India’s foreign policy as it is today but discusses foreign policy history, taking us back through the decades to get an understanding of where India should lead or what kind of a world India should look to build. He also asks the question, how can a proactive foreign policy help India be more prosperous. 

Host: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu

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In this episode of The Hindu On Books Podcast we talk to Chinmay Tumbe, professor at The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and author of two critically acclaimed books, India Moving (2018) and more recently, The Age of Pandemics (1817-1920): How They Shaped India and the World. In his latest books, Tumbe chronicles the many facets of the cholera, plague and influenza pandemics, which claimed over 70 million lives between 1817 and 1920, with India being the epicentre in all these episodes. When we talk of Covid-19 as an unprecedented event therefore, are we forgetting a key part of our history that we could have learned from? These are the questions we address in this episode.

Host: Anuradha Raman, Associate Editor, The Hindu

In this edition of The Hindu on Books Podcast, we talk to Audrey Truschke about her new book, The Language of History, in which she explains why Sanskrit histories of Indo-Muslim rule, ought to be acknowledged as crucial to the study of Indo-Persian political history. Truschke, who wrote a biography of the Mughal king Aurangzeb in 2017 for which she received both kudos and brickbats, takes us through cultural encounters through the ages, the importance of history, and her new project.

Host: Sudipta Dutta, Senior Deputy Editor, The Hindu

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The crisis along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020 and the biggest loss of life of Indian soldiers on the China border since 1967 have put a large question mark on the future of India China relations.

Subramanian Swamy discusses his new book, Himalayan Challenge: India, China and the Quest for Peace, in which he offers an intervention in this on-going debate on the future of relations and suggests a new way of engaging China — one that will involve, in his view, reassessing many of India’s fundamental positions on issues such as Tibet and the boundary.

Swamy also discusses his long association with China, going back to his time at Harvard University in the 1960s, and his visits there in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he met with then leader Deng Xiaoping and helped push the post-1962 normalisation of relations.

Host: Ananth Krishnan, China Correspondent, The Hindu

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We start the series with a freewheeling chat with Ramachandra Guha about his latest book The Commonwealth of Cricket. Mr. Guha wears many hats - as a historian, academician, social anthropologist, environmentalist - and above all, an old word lover of cricket in the true sense. His latest book juxtaposes his life with his abiding love for the game and this conversation could not come at a better time with India and Australia in the midst of an enthralling test series.

Host: K.C. Vijaya Kumar, Sports Editor, The Hindu

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