The idea of the old and the new has always had an interesting relationship with the city of Delhi; the name 'Delhi' has been shifting from site to site. I'd say the Qutub Minar and the Meherauli Archeological Park are the most important sites. If you look at the Qutub Minar complex you can understand a lot about the evolution of architecture and culture in Delhi, and also about Indian history and the historical underpinnings of what we call our composite culture" - Swapna Liddle, author, 14 Historic Walks of Delhi, talks to Manjula Narayan on this week's Books & Authors podcast about the new and updated edition of her very popular book, the history of Delhi's many cities, Metcalfe's bizarre holiday home, Nizamuddin Auliya's pronouncements, the jugaad in the false arches of the Qutub Minar, and about successfully bridging the gap between serious academic history and the general public.

For women of a certain class, there was a tremendous romance attached to Indian swamis and gurus. That's perhaps because gurus of that time presented themselves as an antidote to the very stiff, rigid idea of manhood that prevailed in Victorian and Edwardian society. What could be more romantic than this figure talking about liberation and enlightenment experiences? For these people it was as if Jesus was walking on the earth again. That had an attraction to women who were educated but were not able to pursue careers and do the things that women take for granted today. Yoga is probably the longest lasting legacy of what happened in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Minds in the West were considerably broadened by the sense of spiritual enquiry and that was a tremendous benefit to people." - Mick Brown, author, The Nirvana Express talks to Manjula Narayan about Indian gurus and the West's search for enlightenment

Ever since my release, I've been thinking of what can be done to improve the situation in prisons. One of the byproducts of people like us going to jail is that we get a glimpse into the world behind bars. If we are able to do even a little bit to help that, this book would be very much worth it" - Sudha Bharadwaj, author, 'From Phansi Yard; My Year With the Women of Yerawada' talks to Manjula Narayan about the need to improve the quality and accountability of legal aid, to make psychological counselling available in prisons, the collectivising of housework, keeping her sense of humour alive in trying times, the tragic consequences of girls being brought up to make relationships the centre of their lives, the police habit of holding female family members hostage for the crimes of absconding gangsters, how her book could serve as a manual to improve Indian jails, and much more.

"What we assume is gut instinct when it comes to the cooking of our mothers and grandmothers is actually hours and hours of practice. They didn't have much choice, they had to cook. So, just by dint of spending 10,000 hours on something, you become good at it. Really, someone who develops a recipe is a scientist and someone who cooks at home and makes delicious food is a chemical engineer" - Krish Ashok, author, 'Masala Lab; The Science of Indian Cooking' talks to Manjula Narayan about everything from the influence of flavour memories and the wisdom of Ratatouille to electronic pressure cookers, instant food and how his strategic laziness as a software engineer helped him write this book.

"There is so much diversity in one plate of a chaat dish and there is so much diversity from one end of the country to the other. In a plate of chaat, there are differences in texture, temperature, colour, spices and condiments. Chaat, for me, is an ideal representation of what Indian food stands for" - Sonal Ved, author, 'India Local; Classic Street Food Recipes' talks to Manjula Narayan about everything from pani puri, ragda patties and lal aloo Wai Wai to jinni dosa, phaley, kathi rolls and other fantastic street foods from across the nation and her own amazing street-inspired recipes too

"Stone carving is really one of the great accomplishments of India's architecture. The jali is part of that larger rock cutting and carving tradition. It has a special place because it wasn't just a decorative feature. It filtered light onto the most sacred spots around the graves and shrines of saints and created a kind of metaphorical language which involved the interaction of light and shadow in the creation of spaces and in the experience of space for the people who visit these shrines. The jali, for me, also becomes a kind of key to the way the mind thinks in India -- not always directly approaching things but through layers, filters and frameworks that exist" - Navina Najat Haider, author, 'Jali; Lattice of Divine Light in Mughal Architecture' talks to Manjula Narayan about palaces, Sufi shrines, contemporary jalis, the traditional craftsmen whose skills continue to be passed down through generations, and more

"Incense was the original perfume. There was the belief that if you burnt it, the smoke was able to transcend the barrier between the worlds. Things like sandalwood may have remained in the realm of worship but once the kings and the nobles began smearing it on their bodies, it became popular with everybody. Technically, you can have your incense smell of anything just like you can have your perfume smell of anything but the connotations remain and they are very strong" - Divrina Dhingra, author, The Perfume Project talks to Manjula Narayan about the wonderful fragrances of sandalwood and vetiver, rose, jasmine and saffron, how towns like Kannauj and Madurai continue to be important centres of the creation and trade in specific perfumes, the complexities of Kashmiri saffron, the skilled craftsmen at the centre of it all, the impact of climate change and changing land use, and the personal associations that make individuals prefer specific scents

"There's an upsurge of interest in natural history at every level and that's a positive sign. The diversity of work by these biologists is a reflection of that interest. There are people working at various levels to bring about change and conserve species. I wanted to write about women who had substantially impacted landscapes and ecosystems, who had changed the direction of conservation outcomes. That was the framework within which this book was planned. I also wanted to focus on the journeys of these women and not just the outcomes, which is why the long form essay was the perfect form in which to do this book" - Anita Mani, editor, Women in the Wild; Stories of India's Most Brilliant Women Wildlife Biologists talks to Manjula Narayan on The Books & Authors podcast.

We need to recognise that the rural has always been a fluid place and it continues to be a fluid place. At the same time, in the case of India, it is not dying, it is not even shrinking. The absolute size of the rural is also expanding. We think in linear terms. We think that there is a process of urbanisation and that there's an inevitability of urbanisation. What happened during the pandemic will have interesting spatial consequences. The manner in which New Media has integrated all kinds of settlements, there is a tendency for smaller level settlements to persist for much longer. There might even be a reverse trend. We are now living in a new tech age which might produce new kinds of settlement patterns" - Surinder S Jodhka, author, The Indian Village; Rural Lives in the 21st Century, talks to Manjula Narayan about how the idea of the Indian village as a never changing space was a colonial one, the great changes happening in the country's villages, patterns of migration, and the persistence, even expansion, of the rural in contemporary India.

"The structure of religious division may keep changing; the structure of political oppression may keep changing; the details may keep changing, but the Reality that Kabir evokes beyond this is timeless. So, his words are also timeless. Social activists use Kabir for their own agenda. They say Kabir is about Hindu-Muslim unity. That's not really true. He is lambasting both Hindus and Muslims. All he says is there is only 1 truth and there is only one reality and what is the point of these useless and stupid arguments and fights? In that way, he is unifying, but he isn't interested in social brotherhood or harmony. He talks about something much higher than that. So, everyone uses Kabir for their own agenda. And that is OK" - Vipul Rikhi, author, 'Drunk on Love; The Life, Vision and Songs of Kabir' talks to Manjula Narayan on this week's Books & Authors podcast.

"Today, the internet makes it possible for us to get into multiple businesses; there's a convergence of technologies which opens up new opportunities. We are at a real cusp. In all my 40 years of working, I have never seen a technology with such a wide sweeping impact as Generative AI. But you can't stop technology, you have to keep moving with it." - Ashok Soota, co-author, 'Busted; Debunking Management Myths with Logic, Experience and Curiosity' talks to Manjula Narayan about everything from multitasking and toxic managers to risk management and anticipating the future.

"Many of the challenges that Anandibai faced are universal - whether it's childbirth or trying to please everybody - but she had a strong sense of self so she was constantly trying to juggle, and that's something that women today face too. In many ways, I feel like I was able to examine my own voice, my own experiences through writing about her. It was very liberating to be able to take someone else's story and translate that and hopefully, give that story back to her" - Shikha Malaviya, author, 'Anandibai Joshee; A Life in Poems' talks about giving a voice to India's first woman doctor through her poetry.

"Today, the reason I've been completely marginalised is that the leadership of my party regards me as a loose cannon. My commitment to secular fundamentalism is of such a basic character that pragmatic people in the Congress party think I'm being too extreme" - Mani Shankar Aiyar, politician and author, 'Memoirs of a Maverick' talks to Manjula Narayan about the difference between Hinduism and Hindutva, being brought up as a "coconut", Rajiv Gandhi as India's most misunderstood PM, standing up for Nehruvian values, the need to talk to Pakistan, and why he will never stop speaking his mind

"Prime ministership is a continuum. If VP Singh had not done Mandal to empower the OBCs, the story for Mr Modi might have been very different. He is today an OBC PM and he's talking about taking power to the most backward, the Mahadalits, the Pasmanda Muslims; those who have been on the peripheries of power are to be given a stake. If VP Singh hadn't done as he did, maybe the BJP would have continued as a Brahmin-Bania party, which it used to be known as" - Neerja Chowdhury, author, 'How Prime Ministers Decide', talks to Manjula Narayan about Indira Gandhi's religiosity, the central issues that each Indian PM has grappled with, Manmohan Singh and the Indo-US Nuclear deal, the friendship between Vajpayee and PV Narasimha Rao, Sonia Gandhi asking VP Singh and Vajpayee for advice and much more.

"The issues of citizenship and identity become very mixed up in the case of cross border communities like Bengalis and Nepalis. And that is something one is seeing now happening with Kukis as well in Manipur, where there is widespread suspicion that a lot of them have come from Myanmar" - Samrat Choudhury, author, 'Northeast India; A Political History' talks to Manjula Narayan about the complex cultural, linguistic, religious and political histories of each of the states of northeast India, how the region became a part of India as a result of the Anglo-Burmese wars, the genesis of the idea of India itself, the ignored history of slavery in the subcontinent, and the need to avoid airbrushing the past.

"Our writers have never divorced themselves from social reality. They have not really gone as much into individual lives without taking into account the social space in which those lives are lived. Almost all these stories are written in a down-to-earth mode. The attempt is largely to depict the real world and not the world of the intellectual imagination or fantasy. There's too much reality to get away from. Writers in our country have taken that reality head on and grappled with it, and have never flinched or looked away. These are the stories that continue to tell you the things that matter" - Arunava Sinha, editor, The Greatest Indian Stories Ever Told, talks to Manjula Narayan about translation, pan Indianism, literature from different parts of the country, and how editing a volume of short fiction like this one is an intense experience.

"Even women who says they are feminist, within the family, they put out messages that they have internalised. Both daughters and sons notice it and the sons profit from it. But in fact, the mother's spoiling of her son is a negative gift because the world outside is not a cuddly place. As a result, it becomes difficult for him to handle that world. If we want to look at the future, we first have to be aware of our past. We need to look at the oral traditions we have inserted in our lives and think, "Is this the way?" We can create a new world of solidarity without competition as men against women." - Mineke Schipper, author, Hills of Paradise, which looks at power, powerlessness and the female body, talks about sexist proverbs from Europe, China, Africa and India, the power of ancient myth in modern life, and the way towards a more equal world.

"Our food memories are hardwired in our brain. I tell parents about the importance of giving your child healthy comfort food so that they return to those foods as adults in times of happiness and stress. If junk food is their comfort food as children, they will return to it as adults, and we know that those foods actually cause depression. Food has a lot of effect on your hormones. When you eat a healthy food that makes you feel good inside, you are cutting down stress right away" - Kavita Devgan, author, '500 Recipes; Simple Tricks for Stress-Free Cooking' talks to Manjula Narayan about food memories, the pluses of including mushrooms and buckwheat in your diet, giving in to occasional cravings for sabudana, and opting for variety on your plate

"There are no ghosts, but ghostliness does exist" - Riksunder Banerjee, author, 'Haunted Places of India' talks to Hindustan Times' Manjula Narayan about the paranormal, horror stories from different parts of the country, and avenging ghost mothers.

"The things she'd seen of the world made her cautious of men in general. So, she never allowed herself to be dictated to by a man. Also, she understood, from the other tawaifs, that it was important to give your child an education, which she hadn't had herself. I was sent to boarding school. I never really faced any discrimination because, the minute I opened my mouth, somehow, people think I come from an affluent background. They just assume you are well off because you are fluent in English. Nobody asks you about your background." - Manish Gaekwad, author, The Last Courtesan, talks to Manjula Narayan about his mother, who was trafficked as a child and her subsequent life as an entertainer in Calcutta and at Foras Road in 1990s Bombay, and about writing a memoir about her life.

"Seaweed is packed with iron, zinc, Omega 3, protein and Vitamin B12 and is especially important for countries with a large vegetarian population like India, where it can provide a lot of the nutritional intake. India also has a huge potential for seaweed farming. It has a 17000-kilometre coastline and 700 types of seaweed but you don't yet know how to cultivate it so there's a lot of research to be done" - Vincent Doumeizel, author, The Seaweed Revolution, talks to Manjula Narayan about the many applications of seaweed including in promoting food security, improving health, in the creation of environmentally friendly clothing, in building materials and in combating pollution, among other things.

"We thought that, when it came to mammals, we knew it all. But we've just discovered two new macaques and a new barking deer in Arunachal Pradesh. We now know that we have more than 440 mammals in India. And there must be more. We need many more Indians working on many more discrete taxa. If they do that then we'll have a truer picture. We work with an encyclopaedia of ignorance to guide us. Nature has so many things and we are only scraping the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we see." - Vivek Menon, author, 'Indian Mammals; A Field Guide' talks to Manjula Narayan about the wild asses of Kutch, bats as great pollinators, India having the largest squirrels in the world, and about putting together this impressive volume that includes in depth information about every known mammal in the country from the tiny shrew to the large elephant.

"If the police accuses someone, unless it's proved in court, don't believe them," says Shevlin Sebastian, co-author, The Stolen Necklace, which examines the case of VK Thajudheen, whose safe middle class existence was shattered when he was imprisoned for a petty crime he did not commit. A true story of police excess in a small town in north Kerala, it takes readers into the milieu of the Muslim community of the area, offers glimpses of life in a mofussil prison, and underlines the fragility and randomness of life.

"Every courtesan from Amrapali to Hazrat Mahal has had an impact on the sociopolitical environment," says Madhur Gupta whose 'Courting Hindustan' presents a rich portrait of the legendary performers who enriched Indian culture

"Other people do adventure sports and break their legs; I go and eat and break my tummy" - Zac O'Yeah, author, 'Digesting India' talks to Hindustan Times' Manjula Narayan about eating fresh mussels in Thalassery, exploring Ahmedabad's flea market, munching on Russian salad in Prayagraj, and more

"The cheetah is the only mammal to have become extinct after independence. Today we are an aspirational country. Why can't we restore a species that we lost? I'm asking this from a purely nationalist point of view" - Divyabhanusinh, author, The Story of India's Cheetahs talks to Manjula Narayan about the long history of the cat in India and the many expected benefits to the ecosystem of its reintroduction.Books & Authors podcast with Divyabhanusinh, author, The Story of India's Cheetahs

"This map of Shahjahanabad, what's now Old Delhi, was made in 1847. After the revolt of 1857 was suppressed by the British, large parts of the city were demolished. So much changed that this map is an invaluable look at that city as it was before the destruction of 1857" - Swapna Liddle, author, 'Shahjahanabad; Mapping a Mughal City' talks to Manjula Narayan about the exquisite administrative map of the city that's now in the British Museum and what it tells us about the old walled city, its neighbourhoods, its social life and individual citizens both aristocratic and ordinary.

"Birdwatching is a hobby whose time has come in India today. That's why we're seeing such an explosion of interest" - Aasheesh Pittie, author, The Living Air talks to @utterflea about imitative drongos, the impact of the loss of vultures, and why we love birds

"The Panchatantra is an allegory of humanness. Its animals are not zoomorphic; they are actually humans wearing the mask of animals. The Panchatantra is not at all concerned with morality. It doesn't say that something is right or wrong. None of the stories are judgemental. They don't tell you how to behave; they show you what behaviour is like. It's a mirror held up to humanness. That's one of the Panchatantra's biggest selling points" - Meena Arora Nayak, author of a new retelling of The Panchatantra of Vishnusharma talks to Manjula Narayan about this wonderful collection of stories first compiled around 300BCE, and how they are essentially about the human quest for happiness

"Women have been the maintainers of India's food culture forever. Then, they were empowered by technology and took to blogging about food, and it's grown from there. Most of the really good deep-dive food writing in India now is largely being done by women" - Charmaine O'Brien, author, Eating the Present Tasting the Future talks to Manjula Narayan about everything from India's post-Liberalisation transformation from being a resource-conservative country to a resource-consumptive one, the great influence of Masterchef Australia, the evolution of India's wines and cheeses, the role of food apps, and the great change that's happening with Indians discovering the country's varied regional cuisines.

"The idea of a suitable religion for democracy strengthened Ambedkar's view of Buddhism. His conversion was not just intellectual but also emotional and spiritual" - Ashok Gopal, author, 'A Part Apart; The Life and Thought of BR Ambedkar', talks to Manjula Narayan about his mammoth work. Tune in to now!

Listen to Manjula Narayan discuss with Anirudha Bhattacharjee, author, 'Basu Chatterji and Middle of the Road Cinema' about how this book tells us many inside stories about the ace director’s films. The anecdotes are not restricted to trivia and behind-the-scene occurrences, as films like Saara Aakash, Piya Ka Ghar, Rajnigandha, Chhoti Si Baat, Chitchor, Manzil, Khatta Meetha, Swami, Priyatama, Baton Baton Mein, Shaukeen and Chameli Ki Shaadi are analysed in detail, even with a mention of their flaws. His shift to television with Rajani, starring Priya Tendulkar, and his work in other Doordarshan serials such as like Ek Ruka Hua Faisla and Byomkesh Bakshi are deal with too. Tune in to know more!

Listen to Manjula Narayan discuss with Avijit Ghosh, author, 'When Ardh Satya Met Himmatwala' about the 1980s in Hindi cinema, it was the decade of the dark and powerful police drama Ardh Satya. It was the decade of the kitschy excess of the action comedy Himmatwala. It was a decade of opposites. It was a time of furious change beyond the silver screen, video cassettes brought cinema to drawing rooms and bedrooms; television and one-day cricket emerged as fierce competition to films; piracy put movie theatres in crisis; film stars were elected to the Indian Parliament in surprising numbers.

Listen to Manjula Narayan discuss with the Aashima Dogra, co-author of Lab Hopping, how from Bhopal to Bhubaneswar, from Bangalore to Jammu, she and her co author Nandita Jayaraj engage in thought-provoking conversations with renowned scientists like Gagandeep Kang, Rohini Godbole, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Prajval Shastri, as well as researchers at earlier stages of their scientific careers.

“We can write on Ancient Indian History but that doesn't mean you are finished knowing all there was to know.“ The history of India through 75 objects is a curation of objects from the prehistoric ages through twenty-first century India, author Sudeshna Guha provides a panoramic view of the rich histories of the subcontinent to the host Manjula Narayan. The incisive essays in this collection detail not just the objects but the histories of their reception: examining how changing times and attitudes cast their shadow on the ways in which the past is interpreted and narrated. In doing so, A History of India through 75 Objects inspires us to interrogate our own notions of a knowable past and fixed national history. Teeming with thought-provoking insights and surprising anecdotes, the essays instill a sense of wonder about the continuous processes by which histories are constructed.

"I've always been a crime beat reporter and I've met a lot of funny characters," says Srinath Rao, author, 'Meow Meow', which looks at the story of alleged drug dealer Baby Patankar, who dominated the news cycle in March 2015. He talks to Manjula Narayan about the blackly comic true crime story set in Mumbai that features drug dealers, crooked policemen, double crossed lovers and large hauls of Mephedrone that incredibly turn out to be Ajinomoto!

"Stories about migration, some of which date back several thousands of years and some of which are much more current, still play a toxic role in the politics of South Asia. But every country has its really odd set of migration narratives. The modern narrative on migration is so messed up that it's impossible to attack it head-on. I've tried to do that by pulling back into history in which some of the absurdity shines through" - Sam Miller, author, Migrants; The Story of Us All talks to Manjula Narayan about his new book, that presents the historical movements of everyone from the Vikings, African Americans, and the Jews to the Yahgans, Pocahontas and the Chinese

"The whole history of photography from an archival point of view is not just the history of the nation or the world; it's also the history of the changing means of representation and the changing ways of producing images. We should not flatten visual history to a linear narrative. We have to think of it as multi-nodal and cross-pollinatory to a great extent," says Rahaab Allana, editor, 'Unframed; Discovering Image Practices in South Asia' that includes interviews with lens-based artists from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and varied pieces on the visual culture of South Asia by critics, curators and

The period leading up to 1857 in Delhi is written about in very contradictory terms. Sometimes it is called the last flicker before the candle goes out. But this is the high point of Urdu literature and poetry; it is the lifetime of Ghalib, Momin, Zauq, Bahadur Shah, and of Delhi college. It is also the time of the total decline of the Mughal dynasty. There were so many interesting things happening yet it is talked about in cliches. Earlier colonial historians pushed the idea that the period was decadent because it served to then justify British rule and the belief that it was needed for India to progress.

"India has taken off as a country in the last 30 years and as India continues to become a more significant force in world politics, the art follows through. We, as collectors, are enjoying the benefits of that. A lot of museums are now very interested in Indian art, which wasn't the case 20 years ago. I think the standing of the nation in the world is projected onto its art and culture." - Umesh Gaur, whose art collection is the subject of Paper Trails; Modern Indian Works on Paper

"I wouldn't say that everything I've written in this memoir is true. Some of it has been added on, invented, embellished. It's been a long process of remembering and becoming as I remembered. This is why I talk about the boundary between memory and fiction being blurred; because while you are writing something, there is some other process that takes over." - Sara Rai, author, Raw Umber, talks to Manjula Narayan about her memoir that touches on growing up in Allahabad, her grandfather Premchand, the ordinariness of death, and drawing from a pool of languages in her writing.

"Dals have been a part of the human diet for centuries and they are a substitute for more expensive animal-based proteins, and they are also very diverse and versatile. Dals are actually used all over the world. After my book on biryanis, my family urged me to work on another book and we decided on this because dals are an intrinsic part of everyday cooking in every Indian home" - Pratibha Karan, author, The Book of Dals, talks to Manjula Narayan about everything from Telangana sambar and Maharashtrian amti to puran poli, papads, payasams, Kashmiri dals and rajma chawal, among many other fantastic preparations made from lentils.

"One of the principles of Ashoka's dhamma is tolerance and respect for all religions and that really impressed me. Also, the whole idea of inscribing messages on rocks may have come from the Middle East. The Persians did this, but when they did it, they were bragging. They said things like, 'I, Darius, conquered all these people; I slaughtered these people; I built these cities.' They were bragging about it but Asoka uses the same medium not to brag but to tell people to live better lives and he's kind of sad that they don't do so. He's really unique in history. I can't think of any other ruler who's done this," - Coleen Taylor Sen, author, Ashoka and the Maurya Dynasty talks to Manjula Narayan about Ashoka, his grandfather Chandragupta, the Arthashastra, the rock edicts, the figure of Ashoka in Buddhist texts, the colonial effort that reinstated him as a major figure in Indian history, and his significance and place in contemporary India.

"It's not the picture of Vivekananda that people have but he was extremely funny. He tried not to be too hard on the Americans so he did a lot with humour and teasing" - Ruth Harris, author, Guru to the World; The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda talks to Manjula Narayan about the connections Vivekananda forged in Europe and America, his guru Ramakrishna, the contribution of his disciple Sister Nivedita, and his own radicalism and rejection of orthodoxy.

"History has become a big bone of contention in our society. A lot of people are excited by chewing on that bone of contention and I'm very happy about that. People who are writing for serious general audiences are doing a great service but I think that those kinds of books also need to be reviewed very seriously by people who are familiar with those fields and are able to do some amount of public introspection on the art of writing history, on the method of interpretation, and the impact of certain ways of telling narratives on the current struggle over how we tell India's histories." - Annapurna Garimella, editor, The Long Arc of South Asian Art, talks to Manjula Narayan about the essays in the volume that touch on a wide range of subjects including 18th century Udaipur painting, the ancient St Thomas crosses of Kerala, the Shiva temple established by Tamil traders in China in the late 13th century, and Queen Victoria's picturesque Indian servants

"The elite local forces that the CIA had established and operated with since the early years of the war in Afghanistan were both effective and very brutal, and were responsible for scores of civilian deaths" - Andrew Quilty, author, August in Kabul, talks to Manjula Narayan about the 10 years he spent covering the country, trying to presents facts so the reader can draw her own conclusions, death of Indian photographer Danish Siddiqui, the suicide bombing among the crowd at Kabul airport desperate to escape the Taliban, and the militia killings of Talibs in the chaos that accompanied the American withdrawal from the country.

"I always try to bring in a people's history point-of-view into my work. So, in the telebhaja, sweets, and the dak bungalow sections, I have mentioned the people who created the dishes. I like to bring in their stories to make it more human. The lives of the makers are equally important to me," says Nilosree Biswas, author, Calcutta On Your Plate. She talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about everything from Bengali sweets, the history of cookbooks, the influence of Awadhi cuisine via Wajid Ali Shah on Bengali food and how the Victorian "good wife" code was transported to the bhadralok and the effect it had on the region's food culture. Tune in!

"People come from all over the country to Mumbai and it is cosmopolitan. But if you look at the history of the city, there has been tremendous violence and communities have clashed every 10-15 years," says Jitendra Dixit, author, Bombay After Ayodhya, which chronicles events that affected the city over the last 30 years. The journalist who has experienced and covered many of the events that form part of the narrative of this book talks to Manjula Narayan on the Books & Authors podcast about the city's gang wars, communal riots, police encounters, the real estate boom and increased ghettoisation, natural disasters, and the unionisation of Bollywood that could push the industry out of the city.