Shows
The Literary CityThe Soviets, Rajiv Gandhi And Delhi In The '80s - 'For No Reason At All' A Novel By Ramjee ChandranSend us a textFor No Reason At All is a thinly fictionalised version of a very interesting and a very real story. High stakes and high intrigue—the story follows a young, feckless lobbyist, Solly Nilla, who is tossed into a situation that attracts the involvement of foreign interests including the embassies of France and the Soviet Union. And eventually, the direct involvement of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the President of India, R Venkataraman.The Prime Minister must decide if he will standby locally developed technology or allow a government de...2025-03-2934 min
The Literary CityCelestial by Abhay K And 10 Indian Languages by Karthik VenkateshSend us a textIn this episode of The Literary City, we embark on a journey with two distinguished guests—each bringing a unique perspective to our exploration of literature and language.Abhay K, a poet-diplomat, and the author of "Celestial," a poetic masterpiece comprising 100 couplets that intricately weave the enchanting tales of the 88 constellations in our galaxy. Abhay's journey into the realm of poetry was sparked by a mesmerising night beneath the southern skies during his tenure as the Indian ambassador to Madagascar. His book "Celestial" stands as a testament to the wondrous inspiration fo...2024-03-0543 min
The Literary CityThe Literary Life Of Ramachandra GuhaSend us a textMy guest today is a titan of Indian history, Ramachandra Guha.He is known for his monumental works on Gandhi and Indian history, but today we're taking a detour into the realm of literature.We'll be diving into his latest book, "The Cooking Of Books," a slice-of-life memoir that offers a poignant glimpse into his relationship with his first editor, Rukun Advani. It also offers us a look into Ram's literary side and the bonds that have shaped his writing journey.My first encounter with Ram Guha’s...2024-02-2047 min
The Literary CityThe Lighthouse Family: A Compelling Novel From The Turkish AmbassadorSend us a textMy guest today, is an author from Turkiye, Firat Sunel. He is a career diplomat. He is currently the Turkish Ambassador to India.Firat is a demonstrably fascinating novelist. His latest novel, “The Lighthouse Family”, is a wonderful example of storytelling, of craft and of everything literary. I venture to say without qualification that it is one of the best novels I have read in recent years.Because this novel embraces a universally-resonant human sentiment, it makes it relatable across cultures, to anyone anywhere, even if the story it tell...2024-02-1341 min
The Literary CityChurchill And India Fighting Retreat With Historian Walter ReidSend us a textYou know how some people just seem to have that star quality? Winston Churchill, he was one of those. No matter how many books, documentaries you may have imbibed—or, speaking of imbibed, tales you may have heard of his brandy-infused mornings, there's always an insatiable appetite for more and more Churchill.His wit, his wisdom, and yes, even his lack of a filter in his shock-jock pronouncements—all adds up to a mystique, often a respect, that even the former colonies do not deny. Maybe the respect comes from his sens...2023-12-1243 min
The Literary CityA Disquiet In The Queen Of All Nations With Abhijit SenguptaSend us a textIn what is meant to be his quiet and reflective corridor of retirement, my guest today, Abhijit Sengupta grapples with a disquiet that lingers. A former senior IAS officer and therefore, you might say, a custodian of order and democracy, a lifetime of service to the nation has clearly left him with a profound sense of duty that refuses to retire with him.Abhijit’s expression of angst—a visceral response to the erosion of the democratic foundations that he cherished—has resulted in his latest book, The Queen of All Nation...2023-11-2840 min
The Literary CityThe Secret Of More With Tejaswini Apte-RahmSend us a textThe essence of historical fiction is telling stories set in a particular period of time. They transport us to a different place, offering insights into the past while exploring themes that are relatable across generations.In the craft of historical fiction, authors take creative liberties with places, events, and characters, using them as foundations for their stories. Here are some noteworthy examples: "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell, "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy, "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, and “The Great Gatsby”... Fitzgerald. Among such works most...2023-11-2133 min
The Literary CityMani Shankar Aiyar And The Memoirs Of A Very Literary MaverickSend us a textMy guest today is the remarkable Mani Shankar Aiyar. If you haven’t heard of him, let’s simply admit that you’ve been living under a rock.If you've been anywhere near the worlds of diplomacy, politics, or literature, you will know of him in detail but let me sum up his remarkable journey as succinctly as I can.Mani Shankar Aiyar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1963. He then went on to become the Consul General in Karachi, Pakistan in 1978 through 1982. His path took a significant turn when he ent...2023-11-0752 min
The Literary CityThe Art Of The Thriller And The American Boyfriend With Ivy NgeowSend us a textIn an essay, published in a 1964 edition of The Times Literary Supplement, V S Naipaul wrote:"The language was ours, to use as we pleased. The literature that came with it was therefore of peculiar authority, but this literature was like an alien mythology. There was, for instance, Wordsworth’s notorious poem about the daffodil. A pretty little flower, no doubt; but we had never seen it. Could the poem have any meaning for us?"He was talking about the irrelevance of English language education that was bottled in th...2023-10-2439 min
The Literary CityWhat Happens When The Big Man Passes On? After Messiah With Aakar PatelSend us a textMost of us do not colour code our threat levels. But nations do.Following 9/11, the Homeland Security Advisory System in America in 2002 came up with the warning system that we all know and love today in our TV shows—green, blue, yellow, orange and red, depending, obviously, on the severity of the threat.Government officials plan and practice their responses to each threat level—war games for the bureaucrats.What if the threat was not a threat in the conventional sense of some action that the nation must defe...2023-10-1050 min
The Literary CityReason And Hope In A Dark Time With History's Angel And Anjum HasanSend us a textGood literature can help us navigate our own emotions and motivations, and it helps us see the world through the eyes of the writer. The best literature touches our hearts and our minds. It triggers our emotions, and makes us think critically about the world around us, by challenging our assumptions and consequently, expanding our understanding of what it means to be human.Some writers write from the heart, some from the head. The truly literary among them speak from the junction of emotion and reason—and this is what makes li...2023-09-2645 min
The Literary CityProf Ganesh Devy - The Man Who Discovered Over 700 Languages In IndiaSend us a textAs a curious and casual reader of linguistics, one of the first things I learned is that there is no monolithic object called a single language. Languages are like a living organism, they grow and sometimes they are said to die, and sometimes, like humans, they disappear into a bureaucracy. Age and origins of language are not straightforward because languages evolve gradually over time, their origins, often, shrouded in prehistory. So, to determine that a particular language is “pure” or that another one is the world’s oldest language is to make sp...2023-09-1249 min
The Literary CityTree And Serpent With John Guy Curator At The Met In New YorkSend us a textAs part of Siddhartha’s awakening, he became aware of a spiritual energy in nature where trees had souls, birds had wisdom, and flowers bloomed no matter what the season. And snakes had the power of protection. And then there was all manner of mythical and hybrid creature contributing to the magical art and literature of Buddhism.Of the many symbols and icons of Buddhism, there are two that are easily identifiable—the tree, everyone knows the most remembered thing is that the Buddha came to his enlightenment under one—the Bodhi...2023-08-2938 min
The Literary CityAhmed Naji Discovers Literature In An Egyptian Prison - The Story In Rotten EvidenceSend us a textToday I‘m excited to be speaking with Ahmed Naji, a writer who spent two years in prison in Egypt for writing what the authorities judged to be objectionable material.But while Ahmed Naji was in prison, he discovered literature and through that, himself. It’s an amazing story of a person who finds magic and hope in the unlikely environs of the library of a stereotypical prison—a pestilential and dank hovel, one biscuit short of hell.But before I talk to him, I thought it might be useful...2023-08-1543 min
The Literary CityCentres Of Power - In The Den With Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi And Chinmay GharekhanSend us a textWhy were the 1980s pivotal in so many respects? Think the giddy days of glasnost and perestroika, the end of the cold war—of the whole Soviet Union in fact, liberalisation and globalisation, GATT and open borders, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the rise of Rajiv Gandhi—who stepped on the gas and pushed the country towards a more open economy.I became a lobbyist in Delhi in the 80s. I was barely twenty when I joined as a fresher, in 1980. When I quit my job and returned home to Bangalore in 1...2023-08-0140 min
The Literary CityWith Tenzin Dickie And The Defiance Of Tibetan Literature In The BardoSend us a textA few weeks ago, I was reading LitHub, one of the many literary magazines I enjoy greatly, and I found an essay that caught my immediate fancy. It is titled, “Literature in the Bardo: Tenzin Dickie on the Past, Present, and Future of the Tibetan Essay”. Not only was I captivated by her prose but importantly, it opened a window to the world of Tibetan literature.Growing up in India, Tibet exists by default, if nothing else. We know a smattering of things about that country and its culture. Ther...2023-07-1835 min
The Literary CityGodfrey Pereira And The Insane Story Of An English Smuggler In BombaySend us a textThis is the incredible but true story of an Englishman—a dockworker in Bombay in the 1940s, who became a smuggler around the time of Independence.Not far offshore from the Ferry Wharf in Mumbai is a small island. It’s only some 100 metres out by boat, and you can see it from Ferry Wharf. It’s called Cross Island. You can see Cross Island on Google Maps. But even people who have lived in Mumbai all their lives are not aware that this island even exists.Mystery has always...2023-07-0436 min
The Literary CityA Tumbleweed In Shakespeare & Company - Jeremy MercerSend us a textWhen George Whitman, in 1951, established a bookstore he wanted it to be more than a literary sanctuary for book lovers. He turned it into a sanctuary for writers seeking inspiration.The bookshop — as any devotee of books or, really, any of my listeners would have guessed — is the legendary Shakespeare & Company in the heart of Paris. Whitman welcomed all writers who needed a place to stay as his own personal guests at the bookstore — and to accommodate them, he had rooms and beds and made space available, entirely free. This philosophy is bes...2023-06-2041 min
The Literary CityAamina Ahmad And The Return Of Faraz AliSend us a textAuthors have for a long time used literary expressions of anguish as a powerful tool to connect with readers. They may use language and symbolic references to nuance the emotions associated with it, but whatever their approach, they look to inspire emotions that deliver that gut punch.My guest today, Aamina Ahmad clearly knows how to handle the literature of conflicted emotions. Her debut novel, The Return Of Faraz Ali—set in the walled city of Lahore, Pakistan—is the story of a cop who is asked to hush up the murd...2023-05-0937 min
The Literary CityJohn Keane And The Shortest History Of DemocracySend us a textThere are many who believe that the cradle of democracy was Greece. But if anything, Greece may lay claim to the etymology of the word democracy, but not to democracy itself. Whence then?The short answer by many historians is that the first evidence of democracy was in the Syrian-Mesopotamian region (Mesopotamia would be a large region around Iran as we know it today). That was around 2500 BC and this democracy was characterised by assemblies of people. And then—about 1000 years later—around 1500 BC the Indian sub-continent saw people assembling for publ...2023-04-2540 min
The Literary CityThe Insatiable Feminism Of The Fabulous Shobhaa DeSend us a textThat was my guest today, the incomparable Shobhaa De.Shobhaa is one of the most famous writers in India and her reputation has travelled everywhere, but it behooves me to talk about the realpolitik of Shobhaa De’s literature.Let me tell you why Shobhaa De is so significant to English writing in India. Not only was her great success as an author inspiring, but to my mind, the most significant thing I can say about Shobhaa is that she kicked down the doors for generations of women writers wh...2023-04-1139 min
The Literary CityNilanjana Roy And The Literature Of The Black RiverSend us a textNilanjana Roy is the girl who, as a child, ate books — in fact, she was known to have devoured them whole. This is obviously a reference to her book The Girl Who Ate Books, a paean to writing, writers and other such pursuit.Nilanjana is, most recently, author of the novel, Black River and she is my guest on The Literary City and we will talk about her fascinating career, from her early love of reading and writing, which led to her becoming a respected voice in the literary world.2023-03-2134 min
The Literary CityJeet Thayil And The Epic Of Names Of The WomenSend us a textIn the beginning of the episode, you will hear my guest Jeet Thayil read from his book, Names Of The Women — women whose paths crossed with Christ, and who, it is said, stayed by him during the crucifixion. And after.I have been fortunate to read so many books since I started hosting this podcast. Each book is as wonderful and as compelling as the next. And then a book comes along, like Names Of The Women that holds the craft of writing to a higher standard.Let me ta...2023-03-0747 min
The Literary CityThe Compelling Prose of Lynda Rutledge And West With GiraffesSend us a textIt is said that you don’t rescue dogs. They rescue you. This saying reflects the connection we can have with our pets. Especially dogs, who are said to have had a relationship with humans for thousands of years.When we adopt a dog, we think we're giving them a new lease on life, but in reality, they often give us so much more in return. Joy, comfort, companionship and a sense of purpose. They make us better humans. This idea of animals rescuing humans is the central theme in my gu...2023-02-2138 min
The Literary CityThe World–A Family History With Simon Sebag MontefioreSend us a textThis interview was recorded live at Blossom Book House, Bangalore.Many years ago I saw a TV commercial that stuck with me. It showed a montage—sepia tinted portraits of older couples, with rather interesting last names:Alois and Klara HitlerBeso Jughashvili and Ekaterine Geladze (Josef Stalin’s parents)Andruta and Marie Ceausescu (parents of Nikolai Ceausescu, the genocidal leader of Romania.)And a few similar others. And then the punchline “If only these people had heard of Trojan condoms.”This com...2023-02-0747 min
The Literary CityKaren Anand - The Culinary And Literary Adventures Of The Masala MemsahibSend us a textThere’s something primal about watching food shows on TV. Or any food show. Even restaurants that have a glass pane through which you can watch the chefs in the kitchen doing their thing. It engages your attention while they ham it up. No that’s not a pun.The business of someone setting about chopping up ingredients and turning them into masterful creations of art–truly subliminal and soul stirring to watch on the couch, while you eat instant noodles, unmindful of the irony.I had no better exampl...2022-12-1343 min
The Literary CityTo Hell And Back With Barkha DuttSend us a textWhen the government exempted media from the lockdown, logically, this was to ensure that the media could do its job—which was to bring information and news to the people who were sequestered in their homes.My guest today did just that. She is Barkha Dutt, one of India’s best known journalists. Barkha decided that she was going to bring information to the people. True to her wont, she did not do this by halves. She stepped out and travelled across the country with a small team of colleagues....2022-12-0639 min
The Literary CityThe Compelling Book Of Bihari Literature With A Poet-Diplomat Abhay KSend us a textThe ability to write well used to be a necessary qualification for high office. Whether prose or poetry, literature was important as a tool of communication.It all makes sense. The more skilled you are in the medium of instruction, the better the instruction. The highest thinkers of the realms were always great writers. The founding fathers of the USA—such as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams only to name two very good examples. They pursued letters and learning as a necessary part of their ability to create law and to go...2022-11-2938 min
The Literary CityThe Amazing Reign Of Raja Raja Chola With Kamini DandapaniSend us a textThere’s much interest of late about the Chola empire.For many reasons. The reason that looms large is the recent blockbuster movie, Ponniyin Selvan, which, is all about the most famous of the Cholas, Raja Raja. The Cholas were one of the longest running empires in history. The earliest historic references to the Cholas dates back to 300 BC and the empire was disestablished in 1279 AD. That’s just shy of 1600 years. By comparison the Mughal empire ran from 1526 - 1857—that’s under 350 years.While the Indian region w...2022-11-2239 min
The Literary CityHuma Abedin The Indomitable Peace WithinSend us a textThere’s something about Huma. Something happens a few seconds after you meet her. You fall in love with her.Now, this immediate attraction is not for the typical reasons—of which admittedly there are many. And it has nothing to do with things like innate goodness, inner light and such other syrup. Well, I'm putting it down to some “cannot tell what it is x-factor” and I’m moving on.My guest today is Huma Abedin. She works with Secretary Hillary Clinton. Huma is former Deputy Chief Of Staff of H...2022-11-1544 min
The Literary CityJerry Pinto, His Muse And The Education Of YuriSend us a textThe way I read the book, the story is about the travails of a young Indian who must make the long and labyrinthine transition from boy to man.A difficult job when a large offset of one's opportunities in middle class India is being beholden to family, with conservative family elders and conversations in a minefield of verbal taboos.It is hard to hold down an adult conversation with elders—always an uncomfortable thing—and incurably hard to avoid. To wit, when you are spoken to as a pe...2022-11-0839 min
The Literary CityWinner of The Booker Prize 2022 Shehan KarunatilakaSend us a textThere is an old saying, “Dead men tell no tales”.But how wonderful and useful it would be if we could follow a conversation into the afterlife? And what more wonderful than if you wrote about it and then won the Booker Prize for your efforts? Is this the stuff from which dreams are made?Clearly true if you consider my guest today, Shehan Karunatilaka, winner of the The Booker Prize 2022.In Shehan’s novel, The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida, the main protagonist is dead b...2022-11-0147 min
The Literary CityTJS George And The Inevitability Of The AbsurdSend us a textThere is a point late in the lives of the very accomplished, when they unscrew the caps of their pens and write a compelling memoir of their lives.But how does a self-effacing journalist write an autobiography? By not writing one. Not in the stock sense, anyway.My guest today is journalist TJS George. He is 94 years old. His life as a working journalist began when he was 19. That was in 1947—in the months following India’s Independence. And ever since, George has had a ringside seat to India—and to...2022-10-2535 min
The Literary CityHow To Find Draupadi With Koral DasguptaSend us a textIn the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, the central character, the fulcrum of the story is Draupadi…in my view. But epics in mythology, the Mahabharata included, are full of tales of male valour. Mythology instills in its male protagonists, high chivalry. Men are always saving women.But whenever women are warriors, they are usually fierce and angry, wreaking vengeful havoc everywhere. I haven’t read many historical or mythological stories of calm and collected women whose battle strategies were super-intelligent and saved a bunch of men.Men, valour. Women, wrat...2022-10-1834 min
The Literary CityOn The Journey To Ithaca With David DavidarSend us a textWhat and when was the first English language novel?There are some contenders for this honour, but the most plausible for me would be Pamela by Samuel Richardson—first published in 1740 and several times since. Widely accepted as the first English novel, it is a racy, saucy, sexually-orientated story—and , of course, for that reason it was the world’s first bestseller.In 1832, the first book covers started to happen. In America and Britain, these books, with designed covers, sold for a penny. They were largely the retelling of gothic...2022-10-1139 min
The Literary CityThe Conspiracy To Love Cubbon Park Bangalore With Roopa PaiSend us a textDifferent cities have different things they buy into. In Paris there’s style—you never want to look sloppy in Paris. In New York it’s the energy of movement—try walking slowly on the sidewalk and you’ll have Fran Leibowitz come up and say "Hey! Pretend it’s a city."In Bangalore, there is a buy-in to preserve trees.You can ride a motorcycle on a crowded sidewalk, drive up the wrong way on a one-way street and only mildly annoy others. But try cutting a tree and th...2022-10-0437 min
The Literary CityIn The Freedom Struggle On A Train To Tanjore With Devika RangachariSend us a textThe great author Gustav Flaubert once said, “The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe."I am not buying that entirely. I believe that the art of writing is to make others believe what you want them to believe.And by that, I don’t mean only storytelling. I mean all writing. Direct and compelling prose can raise even the most academic and arcane subjects to literature.Sometimes academicians couch their findings in thick and opaque prose—sometimes because they don’t know how to e...2022-09-2739 min
The Literary CityJohn Zubrzycki And The Shortest History Of IndiaSend us a textHistory was never considered to be a subject that would lead to gainful employment and I dare say, rewarding matrimony. Maybe that’s why we have paid little respect to it in India. Maybe that’s why our records are shoddy. Most museums and public places of history are disrespectfully maintained—and shabby when compared to those in other countries.Through the ages, the lasting history of India has been principally discovered and recorded by travellers from overseas—from Megasthenes in 300BC to Al Masudi in 950 to Thomas Roe in 1615 a...2022-09-2039 min
The Literary CityThe Art And The Realpolitik Of Mallika SarabhaiSend us a textBeing raised by very famous parents has its benefits. But equally, it is difficult to emerge from their shadows in which one must twist, and then find a spot upstage—for one’s creativity.Growing up in India in the 70s was materially different from what it seems to be today. Materially being the operative expression, because there was not much money to go around.For example, it did not really matter what car you drove…because there wasn’t much choice of automobiles. I’ll spare you the litany of...2022-09-1343 min
The Literary CityWadiyar Of Mysore The Maverick Maharaja With Deepti NavaratnaSend us a textHistorically and traditionally, the arts have enjoyed the patronage of kings.We all know that culture broadens minds. It’s an important basis by which society finds expression and happiness. So it is in the larger common good that culture has been encouraged. It binds a society and gives it an identity. And a personality. And sets up the basis for cultural interaction with other societies.People like kings patronise the arts to allow its exponents the freedom to live in their minds and pursue their muse. Musicians, dancers, ar...2022-09-0636 min
The Literary CityAasma-i-Noor The Cursed Jewel Of Indian History With Sudipta Sen GuptaSend us a textEvery once in a while, you read a book, watch a gripping movie or a TV show; and you ask yourself the question, “Was that a true story?”And then you spend hours googling the hell out of it. How great would it be if you could not find the answer and not be able to reach a conclusion!As every great storyteller knows, the better you tell a story the more you make it come to life. Conversely, even if you tell a real story poorly, it will not...2022-08-3042 min
The Literary CityThe Literature Of The Middle Finger With Saikat MajumdarSend us a textIndians live in many skins.We deal with an extraordinarily diverse and multi-layered thing that we call “Indian culture”.There have been various attempts to reduce its complexities to something simple that represents the sum of its parts. Often, a fool’s errand, not easily expressed by say, a fondness for Bollywood and spicy food.Such cultural differences are stark when we travel; not the differences with other cultures of the world—we always knew that—but but the cultural differences between Indians that we don’t notice so mu...2022-08-2339 min
The Literary CityA Journey To The Top Of The World With Chess Legend Viswanathan AnandSend us a textChess is a finite game with finite variables. Yet, phrases like “infinite possibilities” and “unpredictable outcome” seem completely appropriate when discussing it.It begs the question, how finite is finite? Finite can be a large number. So large that it may as well be infinite. For example, they have calculated that the number of possibilities in moves and resulting positions in the first 10 moves is a 14-digit number- 69,352,859,712,417. It's called the Shannon number. Yes, that’s finite. But not for some. I can’t count that high myself.And then they sa...2022-08-1640 min
The Literary CityOne Crimson Spring Changed History. At Jallianwala Bagh With Navtej SarnaSend us a textNo matter how many times you have heard it, the story of Jallianwala Bagh is terrifying. But when most of us first heard the story of the massacre, we weren’t mature enough to absorb the significance of what we were reading.As schoolboys we were only allowed a casual and dinky relationship with our history text books. Jallianwala Bagh could pass as another tale of woe in chapter after chapter of bloody wars.And it wasn’t until we were older and for many—let’s tell the truth he...2022-08-0938 min
The Literary CityThe Voices Of Trauma. Reliving The Partition With Kavita PuriSend us a textFor those who might not know, when Pakistan was carved out of India to serve as a separate country for Muslims in the sub-continent, people on both sides—of a hasty defined border—found their lives uprooted.The tales from the Partition are many and horrific. The stories expose the raw side of a humanity filled with hatred, with mobs red in tooth and claw setting upon each other. The announcement of Partition caused Hindu-Muslim violence to break out—some say unexpectedly.Millions fled their homes in fear to cross...2022-08-0237 min
The Literary City"Guest In Another's Land." The Remarkable Literature Of Omar El AkkadSend us a textWhat’s literary fiction?It’s not easily defined. Maybe because literary fiction is not what it is but it isn’t. Essentially, it is fiction writing that does not fit into any genre. Like crime, romance, horror, science-fiction, and other what have you genres.Another characteristic of literary fiction is that the story is driven by its protagonists or characters and not by a plot. It can speak of humanity, embrace a philosophy, dwell for pages on describing something that may well be inconsequential to the subject and indeed...2022-07-2641 min
The Literary CityAre Translations The Next Big Thing? Inside The Craft Of Kalyan RamanSend us a textRecently Indian author, Geetanjali Shree's book Tomb Of Sand, won the Rest Of The World version of the Booker Prize.In literary circles—as indeed with other circles—awards and prizes always set off ripples of envy and carping. The cynical argument is that prizes are geared to triggering interest in markets—in this case, I presume, to sell more books. I haven’t done a deep dive into this but it makes for great coffee shop mulch.So, whether by honest practice or by greasy marketing, a Booker win mean...2022-07-1936 min
The Literary CityThe Joy Of Breaking Free With Vaasanthi. Her Life, Her Writing. And Her MuseSend us a textIn one of his dispatches from the front lines, in North Africa during WW2, Ernest Hemingway wrote this about Italian soldiers. When these soldiers were slightly injured, they would proclaim loudly, swearing undying loyalty to Il Duce—Mussolini. But when they were mortally wounded and lay dying on the battlefield, they would forget all about Mussolini. Instead, they would invoke their mothers. “Mamma mia,” they said softly, of their fate.In one of many vivid descriptions in Vaasanthi’s book, Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars—a book about a recent period in Tamil N...2022-07-1234 min
The Literary CityUntold Intrigues Of Charles Sobhraj And Fragments Of Farrukh DhondySend us a textMost know who Charles Sobhraj is. But even if he has become something of a legend, Sobhraj was—by many accounts—a thief and murderer after petty gains. And not an international crook engaged in high profile art and diamond heists. Nor an international arms dealer whose shenanigans get the collective underwear of nations in a twist.Or was he?My guest today—the renowned writer, Farrukh Dhondy—spent considerable time with Charles Sobhraj. Farrukh’s descriptions of those meetings resulted in his latest book, Hawk and Hyena. The b...2022-07-0540 min
The Literary CityThe Romance Of Rani Jindan —The Last Queen By Chitra DivakaruniSend us a textThe more experienced writers are aware that the hardest thing to do is to write without trying to be clever. Some writers are born to coruscating prose. And then there are those who can entertain readers without having to use words like...coruscating.My guest today—Chitra Divakaruni— is such a writer.Reading Chitra is like traveling in a car with an excellent suspension—you don’t feel the potholes. Or maybe that’s because there are no potholes in her prose.Her writing is not only ho...2022-06-2137 min
The Literary CityBorn A Muslim By Ghazala Wahab Introspective Quest And QuestionsSend us a textA very interesting study at Hebrew University found that the brain inflates numbers under some circumstances. University psychologists called this a “diversity illusion”.Israelis and American students were asked to assess the size of minorities—Arabs and African Americans—among them. In both cases, people believed there were far more people from the minority than there actually were.Researchers concluded that this is due to the mind’s tendency to focus on and amplify that which is out of the ordinary.In one experiment Jewish students estimated the percen...2022-06-1439 min
The Literary CityLaura Murphy On Violence, A Murder And How The Slaves Of Azad Nagar Won Their FreedomSend us a textForty years ago, in 1982, two young men broke into the New Delhi home of an Indian Member of Parliament—and they held him and four others — hostage for several hours. The pistol packing hostage taker, Ram Narayan wanted to bring attention to the misfortunes of exploited coal miners in a nearby state.Ram Narayan carried pamphlets of a manifesto he titled “Violence Is A Historical Necessity” and in it he underlined the Marxist-Leninist opinion that "No serious student of history will deny that certain historical situations render violence ineluctable."It is co...2022-06-0732 min
The Literary CityFinding The Bebop With Jazz Writer Scott YanowSend us a textMy guest today is Scott Yanow—one of the best known and most prolific jazz reviewers.Writing about jazz is special, because of the dynamic and fluid nature of the music. There is a basic melody in jazz…but only to begin with. The musicians, in their solos, interpret that melody and its underlying harmonic structure.And always, and without exception, that interpretation is different every time a jazz soloist plays.Here’s an analogy for jazz beginners.Classical music, for instance, is like a play...2022-05-3131 min
The Literary CityShrabani Basu On Why Queen Victoria Loved Abdul Karim And How Conan Doyle Saved A Parsee LawyerSend us a textA few years ago, I went to a movie theatre in New York City’s Chelsea, a theatre that screens indie films, to watch this new movie, Victoria & Abdul. It is a story of how Abdul Karim, a servant to Victoria, who was then Queen of England, came to be her closest confidant. A touching tale.After the movie, in the foyer, I overheard one woman asking her friend in a most puzzled tone, “Is that what the museum in London is called? Victoria and...Abdul?!” “No dear,” her friend replied and set her...2022-05-2432 min
The Literary CityAdvaitha, Social Politics And A Romance With Pavan VarmaSend us a textMy guest today is Pavan Varma. He is Vice President of the All India Trinamool Congress, a former member of Parliament, former Press Secretary to the President of India, and as a career diplomat, former Ambassador to Bhutan and Indian High Commissioner, Cyprus.But above all, in my book, he is an author of substance. A historian, he has authored over a dozen books that are treatises in literature, philosophy, socio-political thought and commentary.An early book of his was The Great Indian Middle Class, a book that influenced...2022-05-1733 min
The Literary CityFinding The Indian Voice In English Literature With Poile SenguptaSend us a textIn the late 80s, the Indian voice in English literature started to be heard in a meaningful way. But in the early days, the writing was criticized as being imitative of colonial English, swollen and bloated, and not keeping up with contemporary usage.Either that, or it swung the other way to bring a self-referential rebellion against colonialism with cringe-worthy caricatures of Indian English. While this Quixotic legacy—of grammar, structure and the idiom being the casualty of a war without an enemy—hasn’t entirely left us. But as...2022-05-1029 min
The Literary CityBringing Grammar To Spirituality With Poet Arundhathi SubramaniamSend us a textThere is no easy definition of spirituality.There certainly is no dictionary definition of it.So I decided to make sport of finding how different people defined spirituality. But every explanation I found was merely another shade of grey. No one really could honestly define it.I suspect that spirituality should be seen, not as a word but rather, as something that ranges from the metaphysical to the paranormal.But my guest today, Arundhathi Subramaniam, has embarked on a more difficult mission—writing about it.2022-05-0331 min
The Literary CityFactors And Fibonacci On The Golden Road With William DalrympleSend us a textI will admit that until I had read William Dalrymple, I knew little of the history of Delhi, which is inextricable from the history of India.Although I lived in New Delhi for eight years, all I ever knew about the history of India—my country—was what was taught to me by middle school history teachers. They regurgitated dry passages from textbooks.There was no romance in the way we were taught history.So when I lived in Delhi—right in the heart of visible history with c...2022-04-2637 min
The Literary CityBrevity, Bio Physics And The Short Story With Indira ChandrasekharSend us a textAlmost every famous author—Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Marquez and many before and after them—has written memorable short stories.The short story has long been celebrated as an important part of literature, and in my view any effort to defend it as such is unnecessary.My guest today is Indira Chandrasekhar—a writer of short stories. She is also a scientist and the editor of Out Of Print, a literary magazine.I have known Indira for many years. We were in college in Bangalore, at about t...2022-04-1935 min
The Literary CityThe Fortuitous Rise Of Sanjoy K Roy And The Jaipur Literature FestivalSend us a textThe reason I use the word fortuitous in the title of this episode of The Literary City is because Sanjoy K Roy, one of the founders of the Jaipur Literature Festival…let’s call it JLF, like everyone else…told me that its success was an accident.Some say there are no accidents. You know, you dinged your dad’s car because you were careless…and not because the fates conspired to override your otherwise cautious and attentive demeanour.Typically, people become successful because of their efforts—not despite them. Usuall...2022-04-1234 min
The Literary CityThe Fabulous Rajas—Last Shakespeareans Of BangaloreSend us a textIn old Bangalore, when you drove past the airport on the largely deserted road towards the suburb of Whitefield, was a farm, with trees and chickens and stuff that farms have.It was owned by a couple whose voices were instantly recognizable as the principal voices of the English language stage in Bangalore—Arundhati and Jagdish Raja. Their farm was called Jagriti. Today, the road is far from deserted and in the place of the farm, stands a theatre. A beautiful auditorium, in what should be described as a cen...2022-04-0539 min
The Literary CityThe Prose Of Protest And The Suppressed Smile With Aakar PatelSend us a textAbout two decades ago I offered Aakar Patel a job as editor of Explocity. And just when we were all set, the famous and reputable newspaper in Mumbai, Mid-Day, offered Aakar a job as Editor and…well, of course I understood. If he had not accepted that job I would have forced him to. But you know what they say… when one editorial door closes and another…oh the hell with the analogies… I heard that Tushita Patel, Aakar’s partner, was leaving her job as Editor of The Asian Age. I called h...2022-03-2933 min
The Literary CityBandleaders In Zanzibar And Chronicles Of The Goan Diaspora With Selma CarvalhoSend us a textEven a mildly curious glance at any of the millions of communities of migrant people the world over will yield something interesting.The Goans of India, are one such. They are a fun and likeable lot as far as most of us can tell. We know them by their state, Goa—a dream vacation destination for many—and their seeming love of life, which is synonymous with a state of bliss—they even have a word for that.And don’t get me started on their feni. I fondly remember...2022-03-2232 min
The Literary CityThe Asanas Of Love, Hate And Mills & Boon With Milan VohraSend us a textThe most difficult prose to write is the prose that is easiest to read.Writing on weighty matters is easy, if you are well-informed on those weighty matters. But any honest writer will admit—in a cloud of envy laced with a silver lining of admiration—that supermarket paperbacks such as whodunits and stories for kids are exceptionally difficult to write.Even more difficult are potboiler romances. My guest today is Milan Vohra—a writer, to be admired for this reason.About 10 years ago, she...2022-03-1530 min
The Literary CityThe Suresh Menon Guide To Assassination And Lesser Forms Of Literary CriticismSend us a textThe largely unspoken reason why so many people believe good grammar is a thing to diss, is because speaking English well is associated with privilege—the better you speak it, the more likely from privilege you must be.Shaw's Pygmalion was vitally devoted to illustrating class distinctions by language; My Fair Lady, its pithy, entertaining adaptation.To excuse the incorrect use of grammar, some others say that language is a mutable thing and the rules of grammar should, and did, change with time. If this were true, it would not...2022-03-0833 min
The Literary CityHamartia, Comma, Hubris, Comma, And The Literary Laws Of Aditya SondhiSend us a textIn this episode we spend quite a bit of time examining the comma.This, the smallest of literary squiggles, is also the most important of all squiggles.Not using a comma correctly could have serious implications - it could change the meaning of a sentence. It's one thing when that happens in daily life. Quite another in courts; a misplaced or missing comma could have serious legal implications.In 2006, a dispute in Canada over a comma in a 14 page long contract in a telecom case resulted in...2022-03-0134 min
The Literary CityRubi Chakravarti Battles Bigotry With Bluster And A Beatific SmileSend us a textThe most enduring mnemonic of theatre is the twin masks of happy and sad. Comedy is Yin to Tragedy’s Yang. The most enduring vision of the Side B of a comedian’s personality is the sad mask. We have all heard the stories; we all wear those twin masks every day.When we are all done with the predictable platitudes of lemons and lemonades, we are all in the realpolitik. But women have additional battles to fight in this realpolitik.And when you are an entertainer, your workplace is t...2022-02-1530 min
The Literary CityAcross The Universe With Douglas Adams And Bruce Lee ManiSend us a textHow many of us stop to consider how much rock music owes to literature? Many of rock or folk lyricists of the 60s and 70s (and into the later years) were very well read. Many were students of English literature.Here are a few examples.Jim Morrison was a published poet. Chris Martin of Coldplay mastered Greek and Latin, Sterling Morrison, a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature, Rivers Cuomo graduated from Harvard University in English, Jeff Schroeder, Ph.D in Comparative Literature at UCLA.A c...2022-02-0833 min
The Literary CityShakespeare, Joan Didion And Amrita Shah Walk Into A Bar. And, "No Loos In Texas".Send us a textMost, if not all of us, who studied English in school will recognize the opening passage in the podcast…which are the opening lines from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Ol' JC was in the curriculum.That passage is a favourite of my guest on this latest episode of my podcast , journalist and author, Amrita Shah.She says she picked that one to read, for its humour.When I was in my late 20s I was burning to write for a national publication. My target was… let’s call it...2022-02-0131 min
The Literary CityThe Utterly Urbane Autobiography Of Mahesh Dattani. And How Do You Break A Leg?Send us a textThe famous Alyque Padamsee said that Mahesh Dattani "...had given 60 million English-speaking Indians an identity."Padamsee's trenchant comment holds much in store.Most Indians who were educated in English became—through literature mostly—comfortable in our bilingual skin; multilingual, even. And Indian at heart.In India, English is not merely a functional tool for administration and management for many. It is lingua franca for a number of urban Indians...a first language, while the mother tongue remains the language in which we best express our emotions. ...2022-01-2532 min
The Literary CityThe Importance Of Being Seated Opposite Oscar Wilde And The Love Story In WordleSend us a textIf there is, at all, succession in life cycles, Prasad was a child of the Roaring Twenties. And not— as many might fall to wrongly assume—a lapsed constituent of the flower power years of the 60s, nor of the decade of anti-establishment protest that was the 70s.Free of dogma, and always curious about where style is headed next, Prasad Bidapa is Downton Abbey meets The Devil Wears Prada.Most people of talent communicate naturally. They use words, sometimes pictures and sometimes fashion; sometimes all of the above. Prasa...2022-01-1832 min
The Literary CityHow To Hurl A Critic With Great Force. Also Bodice Ripper Romances.Send us a textAnita Nair is one of India's best known authors, whose books have been translated variously and widely, into many languages and across the world.Anita and Ramjee Chandran talk about literary critics with some funny examples of the acerbic wit that gives a knowledgeable and competent literary critic the right to "biting sarcasm". Anita is candid about her reaction to receiving a bad review.Ramjee talks about what makes Anita Nair special. Her work ethic. Her training as an advertising copywriter and importantly, her sense of romance....2022-01-1133 min
The Literary CityWhen Schubert Met Shakespeare. And Spilling The Beans About Coat-tailsSend us a textWhat do you ask a guy who is one of the country's foremost classical pianists, a Shakespeare fanboi, a theatre company founder and now, an actor on a Netflix series?Well, Ramjee Chandran asks Preetam Koilpillai everything.In a fun, laughter-speckled interview, they discuss the problems with stilted education methods and the snobbery surrounding western classical music, which is why Koilpillai will not wear coat-tails and a bowtie in a performance.In a double header, Preetam Koilpillai performs Schubert's Impromptu No 2 in Eb and he recites Shylock's...2022-01-0534 min
The Literary CityArm Wrestling Women At Koshy's. And What's A "Duffer"?Send us a textAs everybody knows, the principal measure of gender equality is arm wrestling. Our guest on the show today is well-known actor and TV boss, Darius "Tuffy" Taraporvala. Tuffy handles his roles easily, whether he's playing a petulant Mozart, a clueless spy Bernard Boursicot, caught in his honey trap with Shi Pei Pu, a Peking opera singer or one of the Marx Brothers. Ramjee Chandran peels the layers off Tuffy in a fun, freewheeling interview. THE WORD - "DUFFER"Co-host Pranati "Pea" Madhav joins Ramjee Chandran in the segment, titled "What...2022-01-0422 min