The Times Of India Podcast

Twinkle Khanna's been writing the Mrs Funnybones column for a decade now and has a collection of columns from over the years compiled into a new book titled 'Mrs Funnybones Returns'. 

In this episode she's in conversation with The Sunday Times editor Neelam Raaj - who got her to start writing the column and has edited it for a decade.

Twinkle talks about how she got started on the column, how it evolved, why women write women and men better, criticism she takes seriously and more.     

Journalist-columnist Harinder Baweja talks about writing about conflict over four decades, terrorism in Punjab, her multiple trips to Pakistan, exposing Pakistan’s claims on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and more that are documented in her new book.

The Prime Minister has resigned, political leaders were attacked in the streets, the Nepal Army is now in charge.

Roman Gautam, editor of magazine Himal Southasian and resident of Kathmandu, explains why 'Gen Z' protests in Nepal erupted, why it brought down a government and what next for Nepal.  

Poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar was recently invited to a Urdu literature festival in Kolkata and then saw the invite withdrawn after Muslim groups objected to his presence, on the grounds that he is an atheist.

In this episode, he speaks with Alka Dhupkar about his atheism, why a community can't claim ownership over a language and why he's happy to receive abuse for his views from all religious groups.

The preliminary report on the Air India flight’s crash in Ahmedabad has raised more questions instead of answering them. Captain Amit Singh, co-founder of aviation safety think-tank Safety Matters Foundation, explains the problems with the report, what it should have done and what India can do to make its skies safer.

There has been a lot of opposition to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls from opposition parties and there are multiple petitions against it in the Supreme Court. 

One of the petitioners, Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), explains why they have opposed the Election Commission's drive and the many problems they see in this initiative. 

Author and security analyst Sudeep Chakravarti - a long-time observer of the Maoist rebellion - explains what the Indian state really needs to do to end Maoism completely. 

Even as the central government plans to conduct a caste census across the country, Karnataka has data on the socio-economic data of backward castes in the states for nearly a decade that it hasn't released fully. 

Political analyst and author Sugata Srinivasaraju explains the partial release of data and why the state may have inspired caste-based reservations in India in the past, it hasn't done very well with the current survey's data. 

Strategic affairs analyst Manoj Joshi decodes the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, how much both sides gained and lost with Operation Sindoor, the role the US played, China's role in the conflict and what it means for the future of ties between the two nations. 

Commodore (retd) C Uday Bhaskar, director of think-tank Society for Policy Studies, talks about the significance of Operation Sindoor, what will decide how high tensions go between India and Pakistan and which country will decide if Pakistan escalates things.