Talking Books

Today’s episode features well known Pakistani journalist, scholar and diplomat, Mr Husain Haqqani. Mr Haqqani has served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States from 2008-2011 and has been an adviser to three civilian prime ministers, including Nawaz Sharif and the late Benazir Bhutto. He has previously authored books like Reimagining Pakistan and India vs Pakistan that detail the two countries relations and tell the story of how Pakistan’s politics has changed over the years. He will be in conversation with Sushant Singh, Indian Express’s Deputy Editor.

Today’s episode features, the former Minister of Finance and ex-BJP leader, Mr Yashwant Sinha and his book India Unmade: How The Modi Government Broke The Economy. In this book, he takes a look back at the Modi government’s economic and development track record and also compares the political leadership and vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He will be in conversation with journalist Aditya Sinha, the co-author of the book.

Today’s episode features author Tony Joseph and his book, Early Indians: The story of our ancestors and where they we came from. Tony is the former editor of Businessworld, has been a columnist and contributor to leading newspapers and magazines. His book talks about the first modern humans who reached the Indian subcontinent nearly 65,000 years ago, who went on to populate the mainland, Andaman and Nicobar islands, south-east Asia, east Asia and Australia, and whose ancestry still forms the foundation of the Indian population. He will be in conversation with Parth Mehrotra, the editor of the book. You can buy Tony's book here: https://amzn.to/2EHwQ5G You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on http://www.indianexpress.com/audio.

Today’s episode features author Deepa Narayan and her book, Chup: Breaking the Silence about India's Women. Deepa is a well-known sociologist and adviser on poverty, gender and development. In Chup, she brings to light the degree to which women internalise negative views about themselves, and how society further reinforces these views. She also highlights 7 bad habits that women learn because of such an environment – habits that she says they need to unlearn. She will be in conversation with Neela Kaushik, the founder of Gurgaon Moms, an online community of over 28,000 mothers that helps women network, socially and professionally. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on http://www.indianexpress.com/audio.

Today’s episode features author Parvati Sharma in conversation with journalist Supriya Nair. They will be talking about Parvati’s new book, Jahangir: An Intimate Portrait of a Great Mughal. In this book, using her skills as an acclaimed fiction writer, Parvati manages to break the strictures that often bind historians, and tells a compelling story about one of the most fascinating and perhaps the most undervalued rulers of India. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on http://www.indianexpress.com/audio.

A scientist. A photographer. A rock climber. An artist. A neurosurgeon. An actress. And behind every success, a young woman chasing her dream. In her book, Wonder Girls, Varsha Adusumilli has collected stories that are unconventional, unusual and more than anything else, relatable. It's these stories that she hopes will inspire countless young women from across the country, and find them their role models. In this episode, Varsha talks to author and columnist Aparna Piramal Raje about the need to find those role models and the change that it can inspire. You can buy the book Varsha wrote here: https://amzn.to/2B9LejU You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook (https://indianexpress.com/about/facebook/) and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple (https://indianexpress.com/about/apple/) Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on http://www.indianexpress.com/audio.

Air pollution is becoming a bigger and bigger issue in our lives. According to the World Health Organisation global air pollution database, India has 14 out of the 15 most polluted cities in the world in terms of PM 2.5 concentrations. But staying indoors will not help as indoor air is just as toxic as outside air. Today on Talking Books, Ameya Nagarajan talks to Barun Aggarwal, air pollution expert and founder and CEO of Breathe Easy, about the gravity of India's air pollution problem, what we can do to fight it and how bleak our future will be if we do nothing about it. You can buy the book Barun co-wrote here: https://amzn.to/2zbq96P You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on www.indianexpress.com/audio.

Today's episode is a recording of a live conversation between Ruben Banerjee, author of the acclaimed first biography of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Jay Panda, former member of the Lok Sabha, and founding member of the Biju Janata Dal, though no longer with the party, moderated by Rajesh Mahapatra, senior editor and journalist. Over the course of the conversation they discuss the way he runs the party, his incredible success despite being an outsider, and how seemingly unbeatable politician who may well play a critical national role after the 2019 general elections. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on www.indianexpress.com/audio. You can buy the book here: https://amzn.to/2zbq96P

In a very special episode of Talking Books, we bring you a discussion between Kevin Rudd, President of the Asia Society and former Prime Minister of Australia, and Shyam Saran, former Ambassador of India to Myanmar, Indonesia and Nepal, as well as former High Commissioner to Mauritius. They explore the shifting power balance between India, China and the US, especially in the light of the escalating trade war between China and the US. How will this situation affect India's position in international trade? Will we benefit from better or worse relations between China and US? All this and more.  The conversation was recorded live at the India International Centre, Delhi. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on www.indianexpress.com/audio.

Twitter has become synonymous with trolling. A recent Bloomberg article claimed that, all over the world, governments are are fashioning digital hate mobs to squelch dissent. India is no different, awash with right-wing trolls who incite online communal tension and abuse, and sexually harass journalists, opposition politicians and anyone who questions them. But who are they? Why do they do what they do? And how are they organised? In an explosive investigation over two years, interviewing  top politicians, bureaucrats, marketeers and trolls, Swati Chaturvedi finally lifts the veil over this murky subject. Today on Talking Books, she's in conversation with veteran journalist, MK Venu, talking about her book I Am A Troll. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes so other people can find us. Our entire podcast catalogue is available on http://www.indianexpress.com/audio.

S. Vijay Kumar, was just an ordinary guy who works in shipping. His love for Indian art got him involved with both Indian and United States law enforcement agencies that were investigating cases of idol theft and smuggling. And suddenly he discovered the world of art theft in India. Talking to Sanjeev Sanyal, bestselling author and principal economic advisor in the Finance Ministry, Vijay tells the shocking story of antiques dealer and temple thief Subhash Kapoor, whose pieces can be seen in every major museum of the world, and how he was finally brought to book. The Idol Thief:The true story of the looting of India’s temples is available at: https://amzn.to/2PRwAU2 You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes so other people can find us. Our entire podcast catalogue is available on http://www.indianexpress.com/audio. You can tweet Juggernaut @juggernautbooks.

India and Myanmar have has a long and connected history. Our guest today on Talking Books, is distinguished Burmese historian and scholar Thant Myint-U, in conversation with Gautam Mukhopadhyay, former ambassador of India to Myanmar. Tune in to hear about the historical religious and cultural relationship between India and Myanmar, as well as understand the roots of the Rohingya crisis and what we can all learn from Myanmar's experience. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes so other people can find us. Our entire podcast catalogue is available on https://indianexpress.com/audio.

In this episode, publisher of Juggernaut, Chiki Sarkar, and editors Nandini Mehta and Sivapriya pool their collective experience of seeing what India reads and writes about to uncover a story of what Indians want to know about themselves and how it has changed in the past thirty years. From the Sahitya Akademi supported translation wave of the 50s through the golden age of Indian writing in English of the 80s down to the present day where non-fiction and commercial fiction rule, this conversation takes you on a fascinating trip through the history of Indian writing and comes to a heartening conclusion about out country. Here are some of the books mentioned in the podcast, plus the books that stand for India in 2018 for Chiki, Nandini and Sivapriya. Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy Ramachandra Guha's India After Gandhi Suketu Mehta's Maximum City Chiki's book: Vivek Shanbhag's Ghachar Ghochar Nandini's book: the upcoming biography of Jahangir by Parvati Sharma, out in September Sivapriya's books: Meena Kandasamy's When I Hit You and Deepanjana Pal's Hush a Bye Baby You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes so other people can find us. Our entire podcast catalogue is available on indianexpress.com/audio. You can tweet Juggernaut @juggernautbooks

What is it like to be a middle-class Muslim kid growing up in India today? In this shocking and eye opening conversation, author Nazia Erum speaks with publisher Chiki Sarkar about the struggles of raising a Muslim child in modern India, coping with the stereotyping of Muslims and how middle-class Muslims, despite their economic privilege, have to change the way they live. Tune in to find out the dark secrets in our playgrounds, gated communities and mommy WhatsApp groups. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on www.indianexpress.com/audio.

On today's episode, Aseem Chhabra talks to Yasser Usman about his no-holds-barred unauthorised biography of Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt. With the release of the blockbuster film Sanju, Yasser tells us what the film got right, what it missed and all you need to know about Sanjay Dutt. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on www.indianexpress.com/audio.

In this episode of Talking Books, Manu S Pillai is in conversation with Supriya Nair, talking about the history of the Deccan, its kingdoms and their wars, and Manu’s new book Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji. You can find the book here. (https://www.juggernaut.in/books/0d1964aba88e471fa639858e3364135a) You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook and Twitter @expresspodcasts, or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. If you like this show, please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so other people can find us. You can also find us on www.indianexpress.com/audio.

Every other Sunday, Juggernaut and the Indian Express come together to feature conversations with Juggernaut’s authors, bringing you the latest from the world of ideas in India. Coming soon on Indian Express Podcasts.